Doctor Anus

Alex Jones came back to Joe Rogan’s podcast this week and it was the funnest podcasts ever, rivaling the previous one. I would never say I am a fan of Alex Jones, but have always been curiously interested, in a rubber-necking sort of way. Joe deserves due credit here, for being able to bring out the Alex Jones that draws you in in a way that’s fascinating and hilarious. I suppose that’s Joe’s whole appeal, he has a boyish curiosity about his guests that you tap into while listening. It was particularly interesting seeing him interact with Jones as his recent de-platforming made him all the more notorious. As stated before, I’m no fan of Alex Jones, but something didn’t sit well with me upon hearing how all of these companies agreed to ban him for promoting “hatespeech”. This ludicrously hilarious podcast, listening to Joe, Eddie Bravo and Jones talk about HUMAN ANIMAL HYBRIDS, among maaany other things, reaffirmed for me that there was something fundamentally wrong with these tech companies’ decision to exile him.

I also came across this type of jellyfish that forms its own anus when it needs to poop and makes it disappear after. Made me think of a funny idea for a superhero that can do the same. Perhaps he form two anuses, one in each palm, and flings poo at his enemies. His name is Doctor Anus.

Bird Box and Vice

Bird Box wasn’t bad. Although I thought there was some very poorly written dialogue, the suspense and action was engaging. Yeah, it had other flaws too, but I think the pros outweighed the cons in this case and is certainly worth checking out. It felt creative and not part of a franchise which was nice, but not a film I’d likely watch again.

Vice was disappointing. I loved the style in The Big Short, and they went for a similar tone here, but it didn’t quite work as it seemed like they were trying to accomplish two separate things. On one hand, they wanted to unabashedly condemn Cheney for his influence throughout the Bush administration. On the other, they wanted to present a biopic of his life, humanize him, and provide insight into his life outside of the media (which they fully admit on screen was incredibly difficult to do). I’m not saying these attempts didn’t work, they simply didn’t work enough. I struggled to really understand who Cheney was, and what is motivations were. I also struggled to understand the gravity of his influence during the Bush era. Neither attempts were driven home, and it left me feeling like I didn’t really learn much, nor experience how history was shaped by him. I understand it logically, but the film didn’t make me feel it.

 

Blog Post #5: Final Decision

My thoughts on the Illuminati conspiracy unfortunately haven’t changed a whole lot throughout the semester. I would say I started off with an agnostic approach to the idea of a secret society controlling everything and I suppose I still remain on the fence about what the theory symbolizes.

In previous posts, I explain that those with money and power have influence. I think this statement is the fundamental truth behind the idea of the Illuminati. After my research and inquiry into the history of the Illuminati, I would say I don’t believe there is one secret society called the Illuminati that control everything. I would say that there are powerful people throughout the globe that influence the society they’re a member of into serving their own interests, secretive or not. Now, the influence they exert may actually be for the good of civilization in some cases, but not necessarily in others. This conspiracy theory is the branch of an idea, which is at its core, worth exploring and understanding.

In researching the Illuminati, I found my cognitive bias being challenged. Part of me wanted the theory to be real because it’s vastly simpler than what I think is actually going on. The “idea” behind what fuels the Illuminati conspiracy is remarkably more complex and difficult to investigate. The narrative behind the theory is fairly straightforward and easy to draw real-life connections to. By uncovering evidence of its existence, I found myself less inclined to dispute it because I wanted to believe.

In order to be certain about it’s existence or not, I would have to have access to all forms of communication over time between powerful people. If the Illuminati exist, they would have to communicate with each other. I would need to find letters, phone calls, emails, or transcribed conversations that prove their intentions with how to control society. This is unfortunately impossible. Even after all my research, have I realistically discovered anything substantial in the form of hard evidence? I don’t feel like I have, but I do feel as though I’ve sharpened my critical thinking tool kit. Even though the majority of us won’t discover anything revolutionary, a sharpened and educated mind is a good enough result to our work.

Blog Post #4: Occam’s Razor

Applying Occam’s Razor to the Illuminati conspiracy is tricky because I think that there’s an assortment of half-truths and ambiguous claims within the theory.

Secret societies, along with the Illuminati, exist today as well as in the past. Documented evidence supports this claim. Is the Illuminati currently running the entire world? The simple explanation would be no, no it isn’t. There is simply no evidence to support they exist today or that they have control over the world. Most evidence that supports these claims arises from subjective interpretation of the behavior of rich people, rich groups, and passages from the book of Revelations.

Are we moving towards a New World Order? A good argument can be made to support the claim that we are. The Internet and technology have facilitated a revolution in communication. Human beings across the globe are more connected than ever before, so perhaps the next advancement in human civilization will be a one-world government. Again, these are all ideas without concrete evidence to support it’s being orchestrated by one society or group of people. Different countries appear to have different interests politically, economically, and socially so where is the evidence that they’re all under control by one entity? The simplest explanation is that they’re not and the reason we’re more connected than ever before is a result of technology serving humanity’s natural, social inclination. Connectivity also increases productivity in education, careers, and economics so it’s bound to happen for the sake of comfort and convenience.

What about all the illuminate/satanic imagery in the media? Saying the Illuminati is deliberately hiding symbols throughout pop culture would only raise many more questions. The simpler explanation is again, subjective interpretation. Art, for the most part, is subjective. If Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber makes a music video with ambiguous artistic decisions, it’s bound to be interpreted multiple different ways. One of those being Illuminati imagery. That explanation is significantly more simple than the former.

Blog Post #3: Denier Mode

Since a large majority of the evidence for the existence of the Illuminati is based on speculation, evidence against it’s existence can be further speculated as a cover-up created by the Illuminati itself. Here however, are sources I’ve been able to find in attempts to debunk the Illuminati conspiracy:

  1. The Illuminati was initially started by a German philosopher named Adam Weishaupt who wanted to secretly discuss society and religion with his rich buddies. Because it was fairly anti-religion, a Duke decided to outlaw secret societies and said he would kill anyone who was in one, resulting in the disbandment of the Illuminati in 1787. There is no evidence that a secret society called the Illuminati existed after that point.
  2. This is an article about the psychology behind apophenia. Apophenia is the human brain’s ability to detect patterns in random information. This doesn’t specifically debunk the conspiracy theory of the Illuminati, but is relevant to the fact that all evidence to support the conspiracy is based off of detecting patterns and making assumptions. There was also a study done that suggests less educated people are more likely to believe conspiracy theories.
  3. This post outlines how a capitalist system is geared to serve a particular mindset and attitude towards life. Philosophically speaking, the ideal of capitalism can be used as a foundation to serve the Illuminati or at least, a class of people at the “very top”.

There doesn’t appear to be any evidence to support the conspiracy theory of the Illuminati apart from people seeing patterns that fuel their cognitive bias. Their also appears to be multiple theories concerning who the Illuminati actually are and what their goals are. These theories range from reptilian overlords to aliens to biblical interpretations. They intersect and can contradict one another, making me feel like I haven’t really achieved much in the pursuit of seeking truth. The evidence I’ve found that “debunks” these theories can be interpreted by Illuminati truthers as cover-ups orchestrated by the Illuminati themselves.

I don’t think the Illuminati exists on a literal level. I do think that people with great power and influence exist. I think the Illuminati is merely a symbol that represents these unknown forces of power and influence. The extent to which these individuals exert their power and influence over the masses may not ever be known.

 

Blog Post #2: Illuminati Claims and Evidence

In researching the Illuminati I came across a book called “The Conspirators Hierarchy, the Committee of 300”. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to read the entire book due to the overwhelming data that exists on the internet but it does however, have a good summation of what the Illuminati’s goals which helped to direct my research.

  1. The Illuminati want to control the world in order to establish a new world order. Evidence in the Bible, specifically the book of Revelations indicates an Antichrist will create this “New World Order” in which God is forgotten and Satan is worshiped. Many Christians believe the Illuminati are, or will bring about the Antichrist.
  2. The Illuminati is composed of the wealthy elite. In Fritz Springmeier’s book, “Bloodlines of the Illuminati“, there is a comprehensive list of some of the wealthiest families to exist. Springmeier details these families’ acquisition of wealth, influence, and recorded behavior as evidence to being a part of a cult that has control over society. Here are some photos of a party hosted by the Rothchilds that reveal some hellish imagery.
  3. The Illuminati control the world banks. Here is a list of the banks owned by the Rothschilds. Their wealth and development of world banks is not really in question because their history is fairly well documented.
  4. The Illuminati control the media. By controlling the media, the Illuminati can slowly brainwash the masses into worshiping a pathway to a new world order. Here’s a video of some examples of Illuminati imagery in the media and a list of some prominent media figures who are also members.

The above links provide some detail on the existence of the Illuminati and their goal of creating a New World Order. The evidence indicates that there are ultra elite people who do have the ability to exert a tremendous amount of influence due to their wealth. In today’s day and age it does seem as though we could be moving towards a new world order. Politics in the United States is an absolute joke, there are bombings and shootings more and more often, religion is slowly degrading, and the world seems to be heading towards a greater state of chaos. Society is beginning to seem a lot like what is described in the book of Revelation. Perhaps society will move towards a New World Order out of desperation.

Blog Post #1: Investigating the Illuminati

I have decided to investigate the Illuminati conspiracy theory. The theory states that the Illuminati is a secretive organization with the intent to control the world and its citizens through world banks, religion, and education. This global control would become what they refer to as a “new world order” where all the nations of the world unite as “one”. Their methods of creating a new world order are immoral and harmful in that they have been blamed for creating major terrorist organizations, like ISIS, to manipulate the public into supporting war and the invasion of countries. Major disasters are orchestrated by the Illuminati to exploit resources and populations of interest to them. Major media influencers in entertainment are said to be controlled by the Illuminati in order to coerce citizens into buying certain products or adopting specific values. The “new world order” has roots in Christian scripture in the book of Revelations, and has been accepted as truth from both religious and secular people alike.

I decided to investigate this theory because I am fascinated by the concept that so much of what I understand about the world could be a result of a group of people’s mass manipulation. A secretive society that controls everything would have an enormous bank of answers pertaining to how and why things are the way they are. What is their intent and why? How far does their reach extend? What do they know that the public doesn’t? If they do exist, the answers to these questions could drastically change my entire scope of how I view life and society. I also feel like the Illuminati conspiracy theory interacts and connects with other conspiracy theories in one way or another making it seem that much more grandiose. I personally do not think there is a secret society controlling everything and that they’ve named themselves the Illuminati and have meetings about how they plan to control every human being on earth. However, I do believe there is truth to be found within the theory. I think on some fundamental level, mass manipulation does exist. I do think the elite exert some form of influence on politicians and other leaders of industry. I absolutely think there is shady business going on behind closed doors at our expense to some extent, and I’m fascinated with determining what that business could be.