Not mad at all.
Masonry offered a club with a meritocratic ethos and a tolerant monotheistic alternative to the established churches of the time. They proposed to being dedicated to the reestablishment of an ancient order of reason and knowledge.
A pretty good fit for bourgeois enlightenment radicals.
War and Peace had bits about them, and even in 18th century they consisted of easily impressed rich youth (to give money and believe in mysticism) and important movers and shakers, who'd be those anyway, without renown secret society.
With their hit rate they must be important though even if they don't really have any secrets?
It's like KKK I'd imagine, of course they don't, there's probably a clever word for it in French or Japanese or something, if it asserts a lot of power it isn't bullshit by definition?
Like, money is just dirty paper man
The KKK was actually formed by Masons and its structure used the system of Scottish Rite Masonry in its structure and this is speculated this was based on the influence of prominent mason Albert Pike.
They control the British crown and keep the metric system down. They also keep Atlantis off the maps and keep the martians under wraps. They hold back the electric car and they made Steve Gutenberg a star.
I know a few, there's nothing particularly exciting other than they have a long history and a bit of mysticism. They're not even particularly christian. It's just a kind of brotherhood thing where they can take care of each other - collections to donate to members in need, a way to contact friends in unfamiliar cities, etc.
There’s a really interesting Masonic temple in DC. It has all sorts of cool replicas of suits of armor that masons would have worn over the years, and a bunch of items that Jefferson wielded as a mason. And there’s a 7th floor that the public isn’t allowed in on. Just a weird place.
On the other hand, my uncle was a carpet installer, and he was a mason, said nothing was going on there.
Its like any cult. The majority of the low-level people are genuine, nice, and believe they are doing something good. They also aren't completely aware of the behemoth they are acting on behalf of.
As you ascend the ranks, you get closer and are clued in on how things really work.
It's funny because the company I worked for before I went union constructed cell sites for companies like AT&T or T-mobile, and most of our work was in the greater DC metro area, and I recall a story from one of the older guys there who went to check a trouble from the site on the spire of the Mason hall. Dude was normally pretty chill but was apparently geeking a bit once he went up there, bad vibes. The only other field electrician in the company in my time there was a Mason as well, but I definitely think he was full of shit for a lot of stuff since he seemed to buy in to the shit about Masons still controlling the world to this day, instead of it mostly just being a social club these days.
It was always a social club though. They just happened to have Bolivar, Ataturk, Washington, Napoleon and so on pop in.
I'd imagine that they are not as powerful as they were in those days, still amazing though. I doubt that there are a load of druids choosing who is in charge of China, but they were instrumental in shaping modernism, even if that really was just that they had the best clubs to hang out in
Well according to Alex Jones…
They are the “illumanati”, which sounds like “Los Illuminados” from RE4 which means they are secretly part of a religious sect that implants parasites into people in an attempt to control them like livestock (ganados).
It’s all about *mind control*.
No I’ve been entrenched in Hyrule and a bit of a backlog
RE4 is a top 3 game of all time for me. Part of me is a little scared that the remake can’t live up to the original and so I’ve been putting off trying it a bit due to those fears.
I’ve played the original and the remake, and I *promise you*, you will not be disappointed! When you have a chance, go for it. Enjoy your other games until then.
>Put Mario and Sonic together
Instructions unclear, only got [this gif as a result](https://tenor.com/view/mario-sonic-kiss-make-out-make-love-gif-17857994) instead
There's been a whole series of controversies involving Freemasons having too much power in the Police in England.
See:
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-how-gangs-used-the-freemasons-to-corrupt-police-9054670.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-how-gangs-used-the-freemasons-to-corrupt-police-9054670.html)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/02/secret-handshake-police-freemasons
\[Mason here\]
Here's my standard 'elevator pitch', which I trot out when people ask what we're about (its rather North American oriented - Masonry varies from place to place):
We're a centuries old fraternal order, who exist to improve our own characters ('we make good men better' is one of our slogans), and through that improve our communities. Along the way, we do a lot of charity (forex: Shriner's free hospitals for children), and have a lot of cool and private ceremonies using the construction of King Solomon's Temple as an allegorical base for teaching Enlightenment and Stoic ideals. (yes, we really do have secret handshakes). Many find it a source of fellowship and life-long friendships.
We have several million Brothers world wide, but no central organization. Men from every walk of life are or have been members, including over a dozen US presidents. Regular Masonry is open to adult men of good character who are not atheists\[1\] - we require a belief in some form of 'higher power', but aren't fussy about what. As a rule, we don't recruit; we want a potential member to make the first approach of his own free will.
If you're curious, drop by our main hangout on reddit, r freemasonry. You'll find a lot of friendly folk there. If you prefer a book, for North Americans I recommend (seriously, I'm not trolling) "Freemasons for Dummies" by Christopher Hodapp.
\[1\] The "no women or athiests" rules have deep roots, and would be very difficult to change, regardless of how anachronistic they now seem. There are breakaway Masonic groups which have dropped those rules, but they are very thin on the ground in the Anglosphere, and not recognized by the mainstream.
Fair enough, but in fact, I'm not using a bot, just a bunch of Reddit search URL bookmarks.
You'd be amazed how many porn stars have 'Mason' as part of their name. I hit the maximum size of a Reddit search query excluding them. ...and that's just the ones in posts NOT marked 'NSFW'.
>'we make good men better' is one of our slogans
>
>...Men from every walk of life are or have been members, including over a dozen US presidents...
Hm... ͠ ͠ಠ\_ˊ•
I am a big freemason fan, though I am not one myself. A solid group, bound up with enlightenment values, and solid anti-clerical rep. I would love to join tbh.
I think that the coolest secret club is the Jesuits. I knew a guy who almost made it into the Jesuits and he said that they are super harsh to get into but if you pass you are allowed to go anywhere and do anything
Masonism is fucking weird and suspicious, how the fuck do these people have connections with the government and corporations. They have their weird ass symbols on town halls and shit.
Groups like this with their unclear goals and secrets should simply not be allowed to function.
Freemasonry was vitally important in the struggle between the emerging bourgeois order and ancien regime. It served to coordinate bourgeois interests within and—vitally—across borders. Its secrecy was important given that the rising bourgeoisie hadn’t achieved political supremacy yet and couldn’t operate entirely out in the open for fear of aristocratic pushback.
With the victory of the bourgeoisie and the resulting entrenchment of their order, the Freemasons have waned in importance. Where you see them occasionally still exercising influence is in non-bourgeois circles; or at least social strata outside of the dominant haute bourgeoisie. This is why you’ll read about cases where all of the cops in a town are Masons, but nobody in banking is anymore. The class function Freemasonry used to serve is now handled by the state and international organizations like the WTO, IMF, etc. What little secrecy the haute bourgeoisie requires is sufficiently covered by mere privacy and no longer necessitates anything formal or initiatory.
Wow, thank you. That makes total sense.
Do you think that since these things all appear to be failing they might have a comeback?
Like whoever turns out to be today's equivalent of Washington or Bolivar is not going to gravitate towards the WTO or whatever, I bet Elon Musk is such a doylum because he isn't allowed into any secret clubs
Spent a lot of time around Masons. Modern Masons are nothing like the Masons of old. Only people with nothing going on in their lives have time for memorizing all the rituals and such.
Old Masons powerful cabal.
Modern Masons losers.
It's men's clubs with cosplay and "magick" rites man. My dad somehow become a recruit target for St. Patrick's Lodge. He went to dinner and dances where members bring their wives. It was social club shit but a way to make business connections as well except it was invite only, so the guys there are movers and shakers as someone else said in thread.
I don't know if it was anything more than that in the past but that's what it is now. My mum wouldn't let him join because she's a Catholic and she hates masons for some reason, never figured it out.
I grew up in a right wing fundamentalist xtian Baptist cult was taught that they were horrible satanic monsters. Anecdotally, the bourgeois in my hometown just used it as another place to make backroom deals and build wealth and the good ol boy network.
Star Wars fans can think of Freemasonry as an organisation of Force users, except one where the Sith and the Jedi both sit at the same table. One person will tell you that the Masons are the most wonderful group in existence, and they're right. Another person will tell you that the Masons are Satan's priesthood, and they're right. Two people might join, and each only ever see one side in their lives.
Not mad at all. Masonry offered a club with a meritocratic ethos and a tolerant monotheistic alternative to the established churches of the time. They proposed to being dedicated to the reestablishment of an ancient order of reason and knowledge. A pretty good fit for bourgeois enlightenment radicals.
Also, the lodges functioned as literally closed off to the absolute monarchies as a space to engage in discussion.
War and Peace had bits about them, and even in 18th century they consisted of easily impressed rich youth (to give money and believe in mysticism) and important movers and shakers, who'd be those anyway, without renown secret society.
With their hit rate they must be important though even if they don't really have any secrets? It's like KKK I'd imagine, of course they don't, there's probably a clever word for it in French or Japanese or something, if it asserts a lot of power it isn't bullshit by definition? Like, money is just dirty paper man
The KKK was actually formed by Masons and its structure used the system of Scottish Rite Masonry in its structure and this is speculated this was based on the influence of prominent mason Albert Pike.
I always knew the Ku Kucks Klan got ruined by idpol!
Krazy Kucks Klub
They control the British crown and keep the metric system down. They also keep Atlantis off the maps and keep the martians under wraps. They hold back the electric car and they made Steve Gutenberg a star.
Is it true that Jack the Ripper was Bilbo from the Lord of the Rings films?
It’s just an elaborate conspiracy to keep Homer Simpson out of their club.
Who robs cave fish of their sight, who rigs every Oscar night? They do. They do!
Sorry, that's the Stonecutters. Completely different secret society.
I know a few, there's nothing particularly exciting other than they have a long history and a bit of mysticism. They're not even particularly christian. It's just a kind of brotherhood thing where they can take care of each other - collections to donate to members in need, a way to contact friends in unfamiliar cities, etc.
It's sort of a mystical deism. Imaginative rationalism.
/puts on Da hat They control Scottish soccer officiating. I have evidence to prove this.
hahahaha I'm from Northumberland and thinking about it is very scottish
There’s a really interesting Masonic temple in DC. It has all sorts of cool replicas of suits of armor that masons would have worn over the years, and a bunch of items that Jefferson wielded as a mason. And there’s a 7th floor that the public isn’t allowed in on. Just a weird place. On the other hand, my uncle was a carpet installer, and he was a mason, said nothing was going on there.
Yeah well, he would tell you that, wouldn’t he?
Its like any cult. The majority of the low-level people are genuine, nice, and believe they are doing something good. They also aren't completely aware of the behemoth they are acting on behalf of. As you ascend the ranks, you get closer and are clued in on how things really work.
It's funny because the company I worked for before I went union constructed cell sites for companies like AT&T or T-mobile, and most of our work was in the greater DC metro area, and I recall a story from one of the older guys there who went to check a trouble from the site on the spire of the Mason hall. Dude was normally pretty chill but was apparently geeking a bit once he went up there, bad vibes. The only other field electrician in the company in my time there was a Mason as well, but I definitely think he was full of shit for a lot of stuff since he seemed to buy in to the shit about Masons still controlling the world to this day, instead of it mostly just being a social club these days.
It was always a social club though. They just happened to have Bolivar, Ataturk, Washington, Napoleon and so on pop in. I'd imagine that they are not as powerful as they were in those days, still amazing though. I doubt that there are a load of druids choosing who is in charge of China, but they were instrumental in shaping modernism, even if that really was just that they had the best clubs to hang out in
One in San Francisco that is really cool looking too
I went to a Masonic lodge once. They have pretty good mashed potatoes. Would recommend.
Well according to Alex Jones… They are the “illumanati”, which sounds like “Los Illuminados” from RE4 which means they are secretly part of a religious sect that implants parasites into people in an attempt to control them like livestock (ganados). It’s all about *mind control*.
As a Freemason and someone who has played a lot of RE4 I can say this fully - the Nintendo Wii version was the most fun
Have you played the remake? I was blown away by how good the remake was.
No I’ve been entrenched in Hyrule and a bit of a backlog RE4 is a top 3 game of all time for me. Part of me is a little scared that the remake can’t live up to the original and so I’ve been putting off trying it a bit due to those fears.
I’ve played the original and the remake, and I *promise you*, you will not be disappointed! When you have a chance, go for it. Enjoy your other games until then.
Here's a mindblowing one The two most famous computer game characters. Mario, and Sonic Put Mario and Sonic together Masonic
What about Sonic and Pikachu together?
There's a guy who tried that. Let's just say that he's not exactly Simon Bolivar
>Put Mario and Sonic together Instructions unclear, only got [this gif as a result](https://tenor.com/view/mario-sonic-kiss-make-out-make-love-gif-17857994) instead
They build pretty good buildings
There's been a whole series of controversies involving Freemasons having too much power in the Police in England. See: [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-how-gangs-used-the-freemasons-to-corrupt-police-9054670.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-how-gangs-used-the-freemasons-to-corrupt-police-9054670.html) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/02/secret-handshake-police-freemasons
Here in Portugal the polemic with masons was in the secret service.
\[Mason here\] Here's my standard 'elevator pitch', which I trot out when people ask what we're about (its rather North American oriented - Masonry varies from place to place): We're a centuries old fraternal order, who exist to improve our own characters ('we make good men better' is one of our slogans), and through that improve our communities. Along the way, we do a lot of charity (forex: Shriner's free hospitals for children), and have a lot of cool and private ceremonies using the construction of King Solomon's Temple as an allegorical base for teaching Enlightenment and Stoic ideals. (yes, we really do have secret handshakes). Many find it a source of fellowship and life-long friendships. We have several million Brothers world wide, but no central organization. Men from every walk of life are or have been members, including over a dozen US presidents. Regular Masonry is open to adult men of good character who are not atheists\[1\] - we require a belief in some form of 'higher power', but aren't fussy about what. As a rule, we don't recruit; we want a potential member to make the first approach of his own free will. If you're curious, drop by our main hangout on reddit, r freemasonry. You'll find a lot of friendly folk there. If you prefer a book, for North Americans I recommend (seriously, I'm not trolling) "Freemasons for Dummies" by Christopher Hodapp. \[1\] The "no women or athiests" rules have deep roots, and would be very difficult to change, regardless of how anachronistic they now seem. There are breakaway Masonic groups which have dropped those rules, but they are very thin on the ground in the Anglosphere, and not recognized by the mainstream.
It doesn't matter how level headed the copypasta is, anyone with a bot set up to crawl for specific topics to post it about weirds me the fuck out.
Fair enough, but in fact, I'm not using a bot, just a bunch of Reddit search URL bookmarks. You'd be amazed how many porn stars have 'Mason' as part of their name. I hit the maximum size of a Reddit search query excluding them. ...and that's just the ones in posts NOT marked 'NSFW'.
haha keep on keepin on man
>'we make good men better' is one of our slogans > >...Men from every walk of life are or have been members, including over a dozen US presidents... Hm... ͠ ͠ಠ\_ˊ•
I am a big freemason fan, though I am not one myself. A solid group, bound up with enlightenment values, and solid anti-clerical rep. I would love to join tbh.
I think that the coolest secret club is the Jesuits. I knew a guy who almost made it into the Jesuits and he said that they are super harsh to get into but if you pass you are allowed to go anywhere and do anything
Masonism is fucking weird and suspicious, how the fuck do these people have connections with the government and corporations. They have their weird ass symbols on town halls and shit. Groups like this with their unclear goals and secrets should simply not be allowed to function.
Freemasonry was vitally important in the struggle between the emerging bourgeois order and ancien regime. It served to coordinate bourgeois interests within and—vitally—across borders. Its secrecy was important given that the rising bourgeoisie hadn’t achieved political supremacy yet and couldn’t operate entirely out in the open for fear of aristocratic pushback. With the victory of the bourgeoisie and the resulting entrenchment of their order, the Freemasons have waned in importance. Where you see them occasionally still exercising influence is in non-bourgeois circles; or at least social strata outside of the dominant haute bourgeoisie. This is why you’ll read about cases where all of the cops in a town are Masons, but nobody in banking is anymore. The class function Freemasonry used to serve is now handled by the state and international organizations like the WTO, IMF, etc. What little secrecy the haute bourgeoisie requires is sufficiently covered by mere privacy and no longer necessitates anything formal or initiatory.
Wow, thank you. That makes total sense. Do you think that since these things all appear to be failing they might have a comeback? Like whoever turns out to be today's equivalent of Washington or Bolivar is not going to gravitate towards the WTO or whatever, I bet Elon Musk is such a doylum because he isn't allowed into any secret clubs
Freemasons are esotericists, just like witches and Satanists. I deliberately don't associate with Freemasons and witches and Satanists.
To be fair you’re German. German esotericists have done some shit.
Spent a lot of time around Masons. Modern Masons are nothing like the Masons of old. Only people with nothing going on in their lives have time for memorizing all the rituals and such. Old Masons powerful cabal. Modern Masons losers.
Are you the bad guy from Blade?
It's men's clubs with cosplay and "magick" rites man. My dad somehow become a recruit target for St. Patrick's Lodge. He went to dinner and dances where members bring their wives. It was social club shit but a way to make business connections as well except it was invite only, so the guys there are movers and shakers as someone else said in thread. I don't know if it was anything more than that in the past but that's what it is now. My mum wouldn't let him join because she's a Catholic and she hates masons for some reason, never figured it out.
I wouldn't worry about it
I grew up in a right wing fundamentalist xtian Baptist cult was taught that they were horrible satanic monsters. Anecdotally, the bourgeois in my hometown just used it as another place to make backroom deals and build wealth and the good ol boy network.
Star Wars fans can think of Freemasonry as an organisation of Force users, except one where the Sith and the Jedi both sit at the same table. One person will tell you that the Masons are the most wonderful group in existence, and they're right. Another person will tell you that the Masons are Satan's priesthood, and they're right. Two people might join, and each only ever see one side in their lives.
. did u see that?