
The accidental invention of the Illuminati conspiracy - gpvos
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170809-the-accidental-invention-of-the-illuminati-conspiracy
======
dsr_
_It’s hardly instigated the mind-blowing epiphany – the realisation that it’s
all fake – which the proponents of Discordianism had originally intended._

The article doesn't emphasize this quite right.

The key insight of Discordianism is that all of human society is "fake". If
you can kick it, it's real; if you can't kick it, it's exactly as real as Eris
is -- which is to say, the way people behave is in accordance with the way
that they truly believe.

The first level of Discordianism is to think that Discordianism is a joke.

The second level is to realize that it's true.

The third level is to realize that it's a joke that teaches you that
everything that exists in and shared between minds has the same ontological
basis: Discordia, Islam, Christianity, the US Federal Reserve System, Google
-- they all exist because people believe that they exist and behave in ways
that indicate that belief.

~~~
weeksie
I remember reading RAW back when I was 19 or so. I think it was the
Shrodinger's Cat Trilogy, then the Illuminatus!

Just amazing stuff. And a massive piss take on the post modern novels of the
day. Kallisti!

~~~
PoachedSausage
Wow, what a synchronicity. I was just thinking how the images from
Charlottesville could almost have come straight out of Illuminatus Trilogy.

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empath75
This guy is actually fairly ignorant of the history. The Illuminatus! Trilogy
was a _parody_ of conspiracy literature and was released in 1975. There were
hundreds of books about the freemasons and the illuminati going back to the
18th century. There was a whole anti-Masonic political party in the United
States in the 19th century. In particular, the book parodied the John Birch
society.

The real innovation in the book was how freely they mixed and matched
conspiracy theories from the left and right to turn them into a gigantic ur-
conspiracy.

~~~
jhbadger
Yes, and even the idea of a parody of conspiracy literature wasn't all that
new at that point. Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49" had been published
in 1965 and the group it describes, the Trystero, is the Illuminati in all but
name.

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falcolas
I think the Illuminati, and other conspiracies, are so popular because it's
comforting to believe that someone, no matter how megalomaniacal, is taking
actions that lead to a higher purpose. The thought that nobody is really in
charge - that there is no higher purpose - can be pretty damned scary and
isolating.

~~~
dispo001
Its not like wealthy, powerful, privileged people could actually get together
and forge some kind of sinister plan to expand their wealth power and
privilege - Right?

If that would be possible there would be clear signs of it all over the world.
It would require great effort not to notice it.

~~~
0xcde4c3db
They pretty obviously can and do. However, explanations of world events
quickly get ridiculous when it's posited that there's one such group in charge
rather than multiple ones in conflict/competition.

------
patrickg_zill
The real reason for the prevalence of conspiracy theories: some of them turn
out to be true!

See the recent LIBOR conspiracy.

Hundreds if not thousands of people knew about it, yet it never leaked until
some chance emails turned up during discovery of some other financial
malfeasance.

~~~
sverige
The phrase "conspiracy theory" was coined by the CIA. [1,2] It is one of the
greatest counters to the exposure of secrets ever invented. This article is a
good example of why it is so effective. Who's going to question the authority
and veracity of the BBC?

[1] [https://projectunspeakable.com/conspiracy-theory-
invention-o...](https://projectunspeakable.com/conspiracy-theory-invention-of-
cia/)

[2] [http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-23/1967-he-cia-
created...](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-23/1967-he-cia-created-
phrase-conspiracy-theorists-and-ways-attack-anyone-who-challenge)

~~~
mcguire
[3] _Foucault 's Pendulum_, Umberto Eco.

------
darkphoton
What re-initiated the conspiracy theory was an Anti-Semetic Illuminati book
written by William Carr in 1958 which linked it to the Rothschilds and the
Rockefellers.

Also the conspiratorial aspects were real but represented how the Jesuits
behaved in 18th century Bavaria. The Illuminati was modeled off the Jesuits
and the Rite of Strict Observance, a controversial Masonic lodge that falsely
claimed the Freemasons were attributed to the Knights Templar.

The Illuminati ended in 1793 but did have some connections to the moderates of
the French Revolution through Bode, Bonneville and Thomas Paine.

The hysteria and exposure of the Illuminati, which was a rationalist secret
society fighting for Enlightenment ideals, inspired countless other
revolutionaries and secret societies, many Communist in nature.

One of the most famous, was the conspirator, revolutionary and Freemason
Philippe Buonarroti. Then there was the OTO and Aleister Crowley, which really
had no connection to the Illuminati.

In the 1920s, Milner's Kindergarten did engage in the Cecil Rhodes secret
society promoting the Imperial Federation and Round Table movement. That did
become the Royal Institte of International Affairs and the Council on Foreign
Relations. It was modeled on the Illuminati, but again that was the structure
of the political secret society of the Vatican (Jesuits).

Lord Rothschild was involved with Rhodes and Milner but he was against
Imperial Federation. Mayer Rothschild was not involved in the Illuminati (all
the members were made public) but a few Illuminati members were affiliated
with him.

But their philosophy was more akin to Thomas Jefferson and their structure
just a political device to promote classical liberalism.

The Illuminati was against the occult, but did reference the Alumbrados and
Illumines of France. The core of all the esotericism is mainly from the 14 &
15th century where writers merged ancient Greek philosophy with Jewish
mysticism.

The conspiracy today is more an affront to classical liberalism, with ultra
wealthy people believing in economic integration. The Establishment today is
the complete opposite of what the Illuminati were fighting for.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guy_Carr](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guy_Carr)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Buonarroti](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Buonarroti)

------
dereksine
Like any organization, big or small. You will always have people with more
influence and visibility at the top.

Remember that the term Illuminati stems from the Latin word "illuminatus"
which means "enlightened". I don't believe when people mention the Illuminati
today that they're referring to the same Bavarian Illuminati historians
reference but rather a new generation of the "enlightened". If pay close
attention you're starting to see this today in tech as some of the industry
veterans start to get closer with politicians and the Government through
lobbying and advisory roles. The Illuminati concept often falls into the old
"Us vs. The Man" mentality. Zuckerberg went through the same issues with
privacy and now he's positioned to be a Global Leader.

Hate to break it, but the Illuminati in some form does exist through various
social clubs and organizations. I'd say it's not as direct as people position
it but those groups definitely have an influence on world events and the
future of our everyday lives.

------
dghf
It's a shame that the author has effectively written out RAW's co-author,
Robert Shea: he's not even named, mentioned only in passing as "another
Playboy writer".

------
bitL
Hehe, KLF is gonna rock ya! They are supposed to respawn this August, so I am
curious what would happen (after a 23-year hiatus). I am pretty sure Scooter
will ape them again though...

Anyway, over here in Ingolstadt the original Illuminati were nothing like what
Deus Ex depicts; it was mainly a club of nerds competing with another club of
nerds called freemasons; the latter group making fun of the former that their
"secrets" suck and only the first few levels had some "secrets", the rest had
none. Simply a silly game that people took way too seriously out of boredom.
They then practiced the art of spying on each other and as the mutual mistrust
developed, they later disappeared.

~~~
mattkevan
They're justified and they're ancient and they drive an ice cream van...

The KLF (and Bill Drummond in particular) are truly inspirational in how they
engage with popular culture while still being deeply conceptual artists. And
have a ton of fun.

John Higgs' book on them is a good read. It goes into detail about the
illuminati and Robert anton wilson (fun fact: Drummond did the set design for
the play mentioned in the article).

The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds
[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780226551/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_I....](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780226551/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_I.hKzbX1CB8G5)

~~~
bitL
So, let's conspire a bit here...

The KLF (Kopyright Liberation Front) had a hand in creating music genres such
as trance, acid house, ambient; the song "What Time Is Love?" is arguably the
most remixed song ever (you can even see Armin performing it in Greece). They
took a retired US country singer and made her sing about an ice cream van,
then a Deep Purple singer to spoil America's 500th anniversary, and used a
grind-core band while firing blanks from M16 during Brit Awards. They did the
wicker man burning, obviously to popularize Burning Man in Europe. They
deleted their back catalog in order not to allow anyone to re-release their
music and burned the only million they got from their music.

Upon closer analysis and research, this all is so improbable it obviously
couldn't be an accident, so there must be somebody behind them making all this
happen! I know who that is, it's the Illuminati v2.0!

~~~
mattkevan
Oh my goodness, it's all starting to make sense!

Don't forget the contract signed on the side of a hire car and subsequently
pushed off a cliff. Or mysterious rites on the Isle of Jura...

------
mcguire
" _Then, an Illuminati role-playing card game appeared in 1975 which imprinted
its mystical world of secret societies onto a whole generation._ "

Ahem.

 _Illuminati_ came out in the early '80s
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati_(game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati_\(game\))).

------
Gargoyle
Adam Gorightly, author of a couple of books about Kerry Thornley, has been
documenting the early days of discordianism at Historia Discordia. Lots of
gems from era, info on various Illuminatus Trilogy related things, etc, on
that site.

[http://historiadiscordia.com/](http://historiadiscordia.com/)

~~~
mcguire
[https://www.principiadiscordia.com/index.php](https://www.principiadiscordia.com/index.php)

------
qualitytime
Listen, everyone has an urge to belong to some group.

You might not act on the urge as Woody Allen:

“I'd never join a club that would allow a person like me to become a member.”

The illumaniti exists and it's at the top of the pyramid.

But they are just like you and me, the only difference that they (or their
ancestors) climbed up first.

What do they see? No step to climb higher only others below clambering up.

~~~
cromulent
Groucho Marx was the author of that quote, I believe.

------
regularfry
On the one hand, this is a fascinating fnord look into the history; on the
other, how much should we believe the sources? It's presented as a factual
article, but it would be the very essence of Discordianism for at least one of
the named sources not to exist at all...

------
stirner
The title should say "conspiracy theory". "Conspiracy" is not synonymous.

------
fgandiya
Great, so how do I tell my old pastor who made us watch hours worth of
illuminati exposes In pop culture which relied on a lot of sharp shooting
fallacies?

------
ourmandave
Wait, so Tom Hanks' _Angels and Demons_ wasn't a "recreation from actual
events"?

~~~
tempodox
They want us to believe that so nobody finds out that the Kremlin has that
flask of antimatter stored in the basement.

~~~
mcguire
You don't?

