3 ms·
The most interesting part of this article is there doesn't seem to be any strong evidence that the paranoid people were wrong. Europe has spent most of the last
by roenxi 1y ago
The most interesting part of this article is there doesn't seem to be any strong evidence that the paranoid people were wrong. Europe has spent most of the last 200 years under the control of a relatively small number of families and it is just common sense that there would be conspiracies to seize control of the US government and change its ideology. People debate which of them should gain the ascendancy every election.
> John Robison ... saw [the Masons] as a libertine, anti-Christian movement, given to the corruption of women, the cultivation of sensual pleasures, and the violation of property rights...
That is a pretty accurate description of where Europe ended up in the 1900s to today, so it seems a unreasonable to dismiss the man out of hand. 100 years for a big social project isn't that long a time given how slowly the world moved back then. It is reasonable to say that the Masons might have been a benign organisation - but they also might not have been. There is no contest that groups in Europe were trying and succeeding to push in that direction. The communists had their big breakout in the 1900s but the personality type always has and will exist and the intellectual groundwork was being laid at least as early as the 1850s.
There is this weird social dynamic where people dismiss the idea that radical change is possible in foresight then shrug it off and basically don't care in hindsight. It results in remarkably small groups being able to achieve some incredible things, but it is a bit frustrating an attitude to argue with.
- aredox 1y agoYour post is like listing all the Jewish people in showbiz and politics to show that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion "might be reasonable". >That is a pretty accurate description of where Europe ended up in the 1900s to today Yes, women in Europe are very corrupted. Amazing insight there.
- roenxi 1y agoI don't remember what is in it, but if you want to discredit the Protocols saying "it predicted X" when X then happened is not the easy path. The main counterargument is the idea that organisation could be race-based vs pointing at a voluntary society. If you blame Jews on racial grounds they can't very well disassociate from being Jews. > Yes, women in Europe are very corrupted. Amazing insight there. Not much of an insight, it's generally accepted. By the standards of conservative Europe in 1800AD they're probably more than corrupted, society seems to have gone through the most extreme cases for how they imagined change might evolve. It isn't a very accurately chosen word but if you dig in to what he would have meant the boxes got ticked. The stats I've seen suggest European women are mostly godless, probably don't respect men all that much and on average are not having enough children to sustain the population. These days we'd probably call all that a win, but he wasn't wrong that people were working to bring such a world around.
- ringeryless 1y agoi am curious about your methodology in determining that half a continents inhabitants fail to adhere to your bizarre undefined ideology. i am also wondering if your ideology passes the filters it's alleged founder established, but then i suspect you actually dont go for the love thy neighbor part and prefer the stoning to death part. nowhere does Jesus suggest that half the human race need be subject to the ones with penises. Godless is either all of us or none, as subjective belief means nothing to any real God. Your savvy determination of The European continents female members being godless based upon your shoddy interpretation of birthrate data gives no credit to economic circumstances, which usually affects birth rates, much as food supplies affect birthrates, but don't let reality interfere with your ideological project...
- yencabulator 1y ago> These days we'd probably call all that a win, but he wasn't wrong that people were working to bring such a world around. Ah yes, the freedom of choice, such an anti-American value.