Questions regarding the illuminati...

[PLCDreamcatcher14]

Hey guys. i just have a few quick questions. It's about the Illuminati (which I believe is supposed to be like a cult?). I know some people say that things like music labels, movie studios, and other big companies are actually involved in this stuff and leading others to it as well and that they use evil subliminal messaging in their works. Now I'm just wondering if you guys believe that. Do you think that stuff's true? Do you think it's just some people overacting to things because, for example, popstars sometimes do bad things so people freak out and think that they're involved in a cult? Do you think it's just rumors by people who dislike something or don't understand it so they try to scare people away by claiming it satanic (like how some people have tried to use that for anime)? Or do you think it's a little of all? Also, as a Christian, would it be wrong for someone to work at a big company without knowing weather or not the company actually is involved in that stuff or not? Or would God be ok with that as long as they weren't getting directly involved in it themselves? Just curious as I don't know if I want to work for a big company or not because of this. I get pretty paranoid over this kind of stuff and I don't want it to turn out to be a sin against God to work for a company and they turn out to be in that. Thanks.

[ClosetOtaku]

The Illuminati, the Gnomes of Zurich, the Templars, Masons (in their various incarnations), Yale's Skull and Bones, the Rothschild family... and many, many others... have frequently been accused of running the machinery of the world. Look at the back of a dollar bill. The pyramid and all-seeing Eye of the Great Seal are supposedly symbols of secret societies. A cursory reading of a Dan Brown novel will fill your head with enough conspiracy theory that you could spend the rest of your life pursuing it. And some have. (Note: a far better treatment of the subject can be found in Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum.)

There may be some large organization responsible for many things happening today. Then again, there could simply be rich and influential people who happen to belong to several different organizations -- largely coincidence, maybe something going on there. You know what I think is going on?

Two things.

One is marketing.

The other is people, some of them Christians, who have nothing better to do with their lives (this said in a very negative way).

Having solved all the world's other obvious problems, people are constantly looking to find some vague clue (like the Procter and Gamble Moon and Stars logo that caused controversy in the 90s, even though it had been their symbol for over a century) that "ties in" businesses, groups, rock bands, candy, etc. with some larger (and often marginally 'Satanic') operation. These people then go on to call for action, perhaps with an awareness campaign or boycott, that will somehow turn these entities from their unholy ways. Or, better yet, get you thinking like them.

I tend to think of it like what the Beatles did in the mid-60s. You can look this up online. Someone (likely John) started planting clues that Paul had died in a car accident, and the new Paul was a replacement. Remember, this was in the days before the Internet. The rumor caught on and attracted a lot of attention. Naturally, if you wanted to see the images (i.e. the cover of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) or hear the backwards masking (Revolution 9 on The White Album), you pretty much had to go and buy it. Ka-ching!! There was even a poem --

Ringo, Paul, George and John
Played a trick and put us on,
Dropped hints Paul was dead as nails
And rocketed their record sales!

In the end, I trust neither the organization that likes to "drop hints" nor the "useless activists" that give such hints life. There are certainly conspiracies that go deep, deeper than you ever thought possible, leading all the way back to a piece of fruit and a tree in a garden. And maybe we should be on guard for these. But a lot of this is noise, and I think you would be better off looking for the overt connections -- does this business support genocide in Africa, does this foundation use most of its money to make its Board of Directors rich, did this politician allow bribes and gifts to influence their vote -- rather than a lot of this esoteric cabal stuff.

[Davidizer13]

Imagine two different situations.
---
You are in charge of a very powerful, secret society that is seeking to control the world. You have had the powers of the world, the entertainment industry, and hundreds of large corporations in your back pockets for years, using them to advance your agenda. Except for a few ordinary people of questionable mental soundness, nobody believes you exist. It's probably only a matter of time before you achieve your goal of world domination.

Based on that, what would be the purpose of sticking secret symbols that would lead to your discovery in places that lots of people would see them? Or telling pop stars to wave those symbols around when they're on stage? (Note: "Because it's EEEEEEEEEVIL" is not a good enough purpose.)

---

You are a major celebrity. You end up doing something with your hands or say something that gets a certain subset of the Internet in a tizzy, using it as proof that you're an Illuminati stooge. Any denial of that will only lead to this group becoming more convinced that you are, indeed, an agent of the Illuminati. Your stardom is based on getting people to talk about you, and the maxim that no publicity is bad publicity.

Based on that, are you more likely to play along the next time it comes up, or not?

[PLCDreamcatcher14]

These are all pretty good points. Thanks guys. I believe that there might be certain Illuminati things in certain stuff but I think a lot might be overzealous people looking for the evil in everything. It probably doesn't help that my dad, one of our next door neighbors, and our neighbor's son believe in a lot of conspiracy theories! My mom takes an interest in them and she believes that some of them are true but that most are just blown up out of proportion by people like my dad, neighbors, etc. lol. Maybe I should stop being so paranoid and focus on avoiding more obvious evil. Thank you.

[Thunderscream872]

I feel that there is evidence supporting SOME of the claims by these conspiracy people, but you have to dig through allot of BS to find it. Reading into the entertainment industry too much is kind of a waste of time, imo. Of course these people are going to do controversial stuff, its how they stay relevant. I don't think most of them mean anything by flashing all these symbols. I think it has more to do with trends. There are allot more important things to be concerned about than a triangle being flashed in the middle of a music video.

Definitely don’t just disregard conspiracy theories as just a bunch of nonsense that only middle-age, over-zealous dudes who hate anything fun believe are true. I would say pay more attention to the information out there regarding politicians (past and present), bankers, governments, and the extremely rich and influential rather than the entertainment industry, even though connections could be made.

I’d like to say, that I’m not totally convinced of allot this illuminati stuff, but I do think there is some legitimacy to certain aspects of these theories. You should research it out yourself and come to your own conclusion. Just remember this: “That’s just ridiculous!” is not a legitimate argument. Don’t just denounce something because the majority of people think it sounds absurd.

I guess I should say, I don’t necessarily believe in the illuminati, or that there’s some kinda Satanic organization ruling the world, but I do think there is allot of messed up stuff (that governments, politicians, the extremely wealthy are involved with) that goes on behind the scenes that the media is never going to touch on.

If I think of any good videos on the topic, I’ll send them to you.

Lol, that’s funny that your dad and brother are into it. My brother is actually really into it too, he’s part of reason I have a decent amount of knowledge on the subject.

[Nate]

Definitely just disregard conspiracy theories as just a bunch of nonsense that only middle-age, over-zealous dudes who hate anything fun believe are true.

You had a typo in your post, I fixed it for you.

[MomentOfInertia]

I tend to favor Hanlon's razor on this sort of thing.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

It's called the big banks, the military-industrial complex, and Fortune 500 companies.

[PLCDreamcatcher14]

I feel that there is evidence supporting SOME of the claims by these conspiracy people, but you have to dig through allot of BS to find it. Reading into the entertainment industry too much is kind of a waste of time, imo. Of course these people are going to do controversial stuff, its how they stay relevant. I don't think most of them mean anything by flashing all these symbols. I think it has more to do with trends. There are allot more important things to be concerned about than a triangle being flashed in the middle of a music video.

Definitely don’t just disregard conspiracy theories as just a bunch of nonsense that only middle-age, over-zealous dudes who hate anything fun believe are true. I would say pay more attention to the information out there regarding politicians (past and present), bankers, governments, and the extremely rich and influential rather than the entertainment industry, even though connections could be made.

I’d like to say, that I’m not totally convinced of allot this illuminati stuff, but I do think there is some legitimacy to certain aspects of these theories. You should research it out yourself and come to your own conclusion. Just remember this: “That’s just ridiculous!” is not a legitimate argument. Don’t just denounce something because the majority of people think it sounds absurd.

I guess I should say, I don’t necessarily believe in the illuminati, or that there’s some kinda Satanic organization ruling the world, but I do think there is allot of messed up stuff (that governments, politicians, the extremely wealthy are involved with) that goes on behind the scenes that the media is never going to touch on.

If I think of any good videos on the topic, I’ll send them to you.

Oh don't get me wrong, I definitely think that various governments, politicians, and wealthy people are up to no good. I even think that certain groups like the Church of Scientology are probably cults. I'm just kind of thinking that maybe some people go overboard like when they see a single eye (like what's on the back of a dollar) in a music video or show and they think illumniati.

Lol, that’s funny that your dad and brother are into it. My brother is actually really into it too, he’s part of reason I have a decent amount of knowledge on the subject.

It's not my brother but my neighbor's son.

[Thunderscream872]

It's not my brother but my neighbor's son.

lol, sorry about that. Maybe I should have read your post a little better.

[Nate]

I even think that certain groups like the Church of Scientology are probably cults.

Scientology is definitely a cult, and a big reason you can tell is because it costs money to move up in the ranks. Most religions say giving to others is a good thing, and of course, the big three (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) even have charity as a tenet of the religion, as well as giving to the church, but it's not a matter of "If you don't give us money you can't achieve salvation" thing. Scientology is, however.

[Davidizer13]

Oh don't get me wrong, I definitely think that various governments, politicians, and wealthy people are up to no good. I even think that certain groups like the Church of Scientology are probably cults. I'm just kind of thinking that maybe some people go overboard like when they see a single eye (like what's on the back of a dollar) in a music video or show and they think illumniati.

Not to get too political, but from my American perspective, of late, people are getting more of an idea of the no good that our government's been up to over the years, both here and abroad - wiretapping ordinary citizens, kicking over/setting up regimes in other countries as needed throughout the Cold War, different things like that. Most of this has been brought about by the Internet, which also has served to spread both good information and bad about these topics. After hearing about these things, people who get into conspiracies usually go into one of two intertwining routes:

1. If the US has been doing this, what else might they be doing? This leads to conspiracy theories like 9/11 trutherism, CIA mind control experiments, Area 51, etc.

2. The America I know and love would never do something like this! Therefore, there must be some external agents controlling the government into doing these things - the Illuminati, Jewish bankers, reptilian aliens, the Roman Catholic church, etc. This can go in some really unpleasant directions depending on what you decide this agency might be. These two theories can combine in a lot of different ways, and I'll leave it to the rest of the Internet to describe those.

In support of these, different collusions between government and various organizations, who have their own interests at heart that might counteract the public good, are offered, which is what Mr. Smartypants was alluding to. These happen all the time, are well-documented, and when they're really terrible, they baffle a lot of people. However, what is not offered in proof, is that these different alliances or decisions are definitely leading in a single direction, following some hidden agenda. What's more, there's no proof that these alliances extend beyond the spheres of government and business/industry/lobbying (depending on what it is), and that the same agenda affects what our favorite actors/pop stars do, or the symbols they display. Maybe you can say that the causes they support are affected, but you could say that about the populace at large.

[ClaecElric4God]

*glances at thread*
I...have no idea what's going on here... I...uh, just remembered I have to be somewhere...
*wanders off, whistling nonchalantly*

[FourFourSeven]

And now for something completely different: a polar bear running in the Indy 500!

[goldenspines]

Well, it looks like you got a lot of informative posts for your question, PLCDreamcatcher14.

Therefore, I'm going to go ahead and lock this thread up to avoid it getting caught up in politics anymore; since, after all, that is against forum rules (see: http://www.christiananime.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=64234 ).
Plus the thread was being kept alive without needing to be.



I still think the History Channel had it correct though.