Some thoughts on the Illuminati…

Well, as far as a secret society goes, the Illuminati haven’t done a very good job of staying secret in recent years, have they?

As far as history is concerned, I think it is true to say that the Illuminati were a secret society, said to have formed in the late 18th century in Bavaria; well, if we’re trying to be correct, a date of 1776 has been proposed. It’s hard to piece together a meaningful history of this ‘society’ as the whole subject has been tainted with misreferenced conspiracy paranoia, pseudo-historical analysis and a hoax or two. (tricks).

Starting with the choice of name, Illuminati, it seems that the society professed to be in line with some type of information or approach that made its members ‘enlightened’. It is likely that they had a republican political agenda that included the abolition of monarchies. Furthermore, it is suggested that they tried to achieve change through subterfuge, secrecy, and conspiracies, including the infiltration of other organizations. They were not very successful and were destroyed, or at least banned, within fifteen years of their origin (Pipes 1997).

The founder is said to be Adam Weishaupt of the University of Ingolstadt and it seems that the aims of the society were closely related to the ideas of the Enlightenment, namely to combat religious thought and to promote and foster rationalism. Wieshaupt was an anti-monarchist and secularist who obviously influenced the nature of the society he created. In 1777 Karl Theodor became ruler of Bavaria, and in 1784 his government outlawed all secret societies, including the Illuminati, and they were disbanded (or perhaps imprisoned, ‘destroyed’, or otherwise dispatched! )

There is no empirical evidence that this society survived to the 18th century.

What we hear today is a mix of conspiracy theories that have at their core the notion of some kind of elite, powerful and probably wealthy ‘secret society’ behind the veils of other ‘secret’ or at least ‘underground’ groups.

Like an onion skin, although conspiracy theorists would prefer the image of a pyramid, the outer layers are the lowest levels of New World Order movers and shakers and at the center are the Illuminati.

We are sometimes told that this inner core is run by several key families (often 13 are cited for effect rather than genealogy) whose “bloodlines” are linked to and perhaps manipulated by otherworldly visitors.

This inner core of people is so secretive that families are named on various websites… Their existence is so shadowy that they insist on leaving symbols of their existence for us mere mortals to discover…

This then is the real Illuminati!

Looks like they’re not doing a good job of keeping their manipulative presence hidden!

I mean stop for a moment to consider a few simple ideas.

It is very likely that the lineages of the monarchy and the aristocracy are linked in either case, with marriage being the vehicle by which the alliances were made. Such links do not require the organizing agents of ‘secret’ human societies let alone the interference of some passing aliens, or am I missing the point?

Of course, there are “symbols” that seem to survive and repeat themselves from time to time and from place to place. As a species we are very good at creating symbolic language and meaningful patterns (you’re reading some right now)… And of course some ‘magic symbols’ will be part of our everyday society as they have been part of our psyche. for a long time. To assume that these symbols need to have some other meaning is a bit of a stretch. The ‘Great Seal’ on US currency is often cited as being Masonic or Illuminati in origin and was designed by the Illuminati, or at least high-ranking Freemasons. If you really review this story (see Skeptoid), there are more than enough questions that serve to challenge key assumptions in the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists.

What do governments do?

They rule, they plan, they organize, they fight, they assert sovereignty!

There is no need to imagine a global conspiracy to explain the actions of governments.

Now this is where there is, perhaps, an element of truth to all the conspiracy theories you’ve ever heard. It seems obvious to me that governments cannot tell us the truth all the time, the truth after all is a relative concept, and there are things that must be known according to the need. More importantly, some major governments have been shown to be involved in somewhat dubious deals, and certainly the people within governments are not above corruption, error, and just being wrong.

The mere fact that “the truth comes out” of some of these accidental, and not-so-accidental cover-ups, seems to belie the existence of the ability to “keep” secrets of any real magnitude.

Perhaps there is a general rule worth exploring: the more people that need to be involved in any form of cover-up or covert action, the LESS likely that it is possible.

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Google returns over 34,000,000 results for a search on Illuminati and only 1,000,000 for a search on Illuminati + Skeptic. That sure suggests something!