Questioning anyone or anything that claims to be an authority and
challenging the status quo are great western traditions and are these are in
sad decline as the ridiculous ideology of political correctness grows in
popularity. I love the fact that people
can recognise that there is something fundamentally wrong with the way we do
society. That’s why the classic sci-fi
film, The Matrix, struck such a chord with the audience, particularly the line, ‘there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there,
like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.’
Sure, asking questions is good
but, just as important, is where you get your answers from. What is your source? What I hate about conspiracy theories is
that, as a Libertarian, I am often compared to one. I am one who wants to be well-equipped with
knowledge of government activity to maintain what liberties I have from further encroachments and hopefully even to see the tide turned against
state coercion. However, when conspiracy
theorists theorise, they typically consult two kinds of poor source material:
1. a mystical sage; or 2. some ideologue with an axe to grind.
Let’s start by examining the sage: David
Icke, whilst he appears to be about as sincere as someone who at one time
claimed to be the return of the Messiah can be, he expects us to believe that
the world is controlled by lizard people.
Automatically, one would have to wonder why the elite of the world are
trying to stem global warming; lizards like it hot! If your theory included penguin people, then
you might have me curious. But where
does he get his information from? A
spirit guide; that is, voices in his head which he claims to be benevolent
aliens. Other people claim that the
world is controlled by Satanists and, again, they can tend to have purely
mystical sources. What this does is
makes another human being your source of truth.
As soon as you create some sage with authority, they can insist that you
believe things that defy empirical evidence and that you do things which defy
your conscience and rationale. This
phenomenon doesn’t just affect conspiracy theorists but is how entire religions
and societies function today.
Now, let’s look at the
second poor source used by conspiracy theorists – ideologists spreading
propaganda. For example, many truly
believe there is firm evidence that the Illuminati control the world, the
Illuminati being anything from satanic cabals to lizard aliens (or more
likely penguins).
The origin of the conspiracy theory that the Illuminati survived being
disbanded by the Bavarian government in 1785 lies ultimately with a French
Jesuit priest, Augustin Barruel. Life had become increasingly difficult
for Catholicism in France during the Revolution. Barruel fled France and found safety in
England. With militaristic Jesuitical zeal, he wrote against Napoleon and
the Revolution and sought to turn the British against the French, hoping Rome’s
enemies would eventually come to war.
As well as popularising theories about the Knights Templar, Barruel wrote Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism in 1797. He postulated that the Illuminati had continued, despite evidence to the contrary, and were working through Freemasonry in a conspiracy to establish governments which were antimonarchical as well as anticlerical, representing a threat to remaining monarchies of Europe. It was soon translated into English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian etc. and became a transnational sensation. Even political figures began to take the claims seriously and public discussion became so unavoidable that Freemasons from across Europe began writing openly in their defence against the theory.
As well as popularising theories about the Knights Templar, Barruel wrote Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism in 1797. He postulated that the Illuminati had continued, despite evidence to the contrary, and were working through Freemasonry in a conspiracy to establish governments which were antimonarchical as well as anticlerical, representing a threat to remaining monarchies of Europe. It was soon translated into English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian etc. and became a transnational sensation. Even political figures began to take the claims seriously and public discussion became so unavoidable that Freemasons from across Europe began writing openly in their defence against the theory.
The reality is that there was not any organised force behind the
enlightenment or the genuine desire to be free from oppression, whether it be religious
or otherwise.
As men became better educated during the Enlightenment and the
Renaissance, the desire was for a separation of church and state and,
furthermore, to question whether we should separate the state from ourselves
while we are at it. This was not brought about by any secret society but
by the public at large. The greatest
evidence for this was the birth of Classical Liberalism and the founding of the
United States of America.
Sadly, at exactly the same time, a Roman Catholic monk and secret agent,
Alexander Horn, who hated the French Revolution and the demise of his hope for
a Holy Roman Empire, personally provided the material for Scots Professor John
Robison to write Proofs of a
Conspiracy against All the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in
the Secret Meetings of the Free Masons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies. Robison’s book was equally successful and influential,
despite the highly questionable source of these ideas. In fact, an American pastor sent a copy to
President George Washington to learn his thoughts on the matter, to which he
responded:
‘It was not my intention to doubt
that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the
contrary, no one is more truly
satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea that I meant to convey, was, that I
did not believe that the Lodges
of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical
tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation). That
Individuals of them may have done
it, or that the founder, or instrument employed to found, the
Democratic Societies in the United
States, may have had these objects; and actually had a separation of the People from their Government
in view, is too evident to be questioned.’
George
Washington could see that the Secularist and/or Classical Liberal principles were
not unique to any secret society but were principles held to by many
individuals and organisations and even expressed by the principles of liberty
in the United States Constitution.
All the secondary sources used to supposedly prove the conspiracy
theories about the Illuminati, such as Nesta Webster and William Guy Carr’s
books, base their theories of the above two primary sources! Are these sources reliable? Obviously not, yet these and similar conspiracy
theories abound. If we
want to discover the truth and not be swayed by some sage or someone with an
axe to grind against some other group, we have to do our research. As a parent, I know we don’t all have the luxury
of time to do our own research and so
it is important that we only defer to those who sources and material are
reviewed by various independent bodies of other researchers and where healthy debate
in that field of research is the norm.
A good place to start on the subject of Illuminati conspiracy theories might
be the book Conspiracy in the French
Revolution from Manchester University Press. Because, come on, all the universities of the
world can’t have been taken over by penguins.
Everyone knows that they’ve been taken over by the Communists.
