Opinions by Jack: Secret Societies and Today’s Culture

Conspiracies, secret societies, and cults have been with us for centuries. Many secret societies were quasi-religious in nature to hide their religion or to enforce the mandates of one.

The Knights Templar were the Catholic warriors of the Crusades who took a vow of poverty. They were given tax-exempt status by the pope and, when the Crusades ended, they became wealthy bankers who loaned money to kings. They were disbanded 900 years ago after they were tortured and forced to confess to cat worshipping, sodomy, and naval kissing.

Knights Templar

It is somewhat counterintuitive to acknowledge that something called a “secret society” would be called famous, but the Illuminati is one such group founded in 1776. Even though that year was famous in American history, the Illuminati was founded in Bavaria.

Illuminati

While many of today’s secret organizations seem to promote superstition and extreme religious beliefs, this German society opposed those influences. They were also opposed to obscurantism. That last one, I’ll have to admit, I needed to look up. It seems that obscurantism is the anti-intellectual practice of presenting information in such an obscure, vague, and imprecise manner as to make the topic undebatable. The Illuminati were outlawed as recommended by the Catholic Church, so, as such groups go, this one sounds right up my alley.

Famous Freemasons

Freemasonry traces back to guilds of stonemasons. Members of Regular Freemasonry must acknowledge a Supreme Being but religious and political discussions are forbidden. Women are denied membership. Continental Freemasonry has eliminated most or all of these restrictions. In America after the Revolution, George Washington was the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the US. During the Holocaust, Freemasons were executed in the same camps as the Jews. A current subset of Freemasons are the Shriners known for their charity work.

Two lesser-known “secret” groups and frequent subjects of conspiracy theorists are Skull and Bones started at Yale University and Bilderberg, a group founded in 1954 in the Netherlands. These groups have had US presidents as members. President Taft and both Bushes were Skull and Bones members and Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Tony Blair, and Henry Kissinger have attended Bilderberg gatherings.

Yale University Skull and Bones

So, with all of these “secret” groups around for so long with such high-profile members, is it any wonder that conspiracy theorists have had a field day claiming and blaming such groups of nefarious skullduggeries. Add to the mix, cults like the Manson family, Heaven’s Gate of Marshall Applewhite fame, David Koresh and his Branch Davidians, The Peoples Temple with Jim Jones, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh with his Rajneeeshees, and we have an abridged list of American horror movements.

Famous Cult Leaders

America seems to have among its freedoms, the right to be nuts. It’s right there in the Bill of Rights. It’s included in that seldom-read Third Amendment which primarily prevents the government from forcing homeowners to house British soldiers in the spare bedroom, but also states that Americans are free to be crazy. If your copy of the Bill of Rights doesn’t show this, ask for the special James Madison version with the quill pen notes in the margins.

With cults and secret societies as a foundation, is it any wonder that QAnon exists? With Donald Trump now revered as a quasi-religious figure and the ready availability of social media platforms to spread their message, the American fringe is operating at warp speed. Perhaps I should have said warped speed as in proceeding quickly in an abnormal, strange, or distorted fashion.

For the vulnerable fringe desperate to find a savior to pay off their credit card debt, bring back $1.75 gasoline, fix their teeth, put new tires on their pickup, and erect a giant statue of Dale Earnhardt on Daytona Beach, it’s easy to see how some might be duped. In the America of today, conspiracy theories are as frequent as sightings of fat men in bikinis at Walmart.

That a secret cabal of elites is exploiting children as sex slaves in the back of a pizza parlor is an easy sell to those who feel that their government has failed them. More than a cult, QAnon is a belief system with a logo. Social media postings of Q-drops with cryptic riddles have taken on a religious tone with apocalyptic predictions. While QAnon lacks a central identifiable leader, Trump fills the void with his own cryptic statements that defy clear analysis. The Illuminati would have despised the “Q” people.

QAnon Shaman

There are an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 cults in the US claiming as many as 10 million current or former members. General groupings of cults are doomsday, political, and religious. Trump followers who may also be QAnon believers, seem to have hit at least two of these categories. As in most cults, they seem to have certain traits. There is authoritarian control, there is a belief system that is held inviolate even in the face of clear evidence to the contrary, they may feel isolated from non-believers, and there is normally a charismatic leader. While it is difficult to compare Charles Manson with Donald Trump, they do seem to have that one common trait, charisma.

P.T. Barnum may or may not have said, “There is a sucker born every minute,” but as showmen, hucksters, gamblers, and confidence tricksters go, both Donald and Phineas Taylor have used this mantra to their benefit. The guidance provided is that there are enough gullible people around that they will never be wanting for an audience to deceive.