why do i hate that artist thing that people keep posting on my facebook so much? why am i such a jerk?

As a secret society, Masonry was considered to be a standing conspiracy against republican government. It was held to be particularly liable to treason—for example, Aaron Burr’s famous conspiracy was alleged to have been conducted by Masons. Masonry was accused of constituting a separate system of loyalty, a separate imperium within the framework of federal and state governments, which was inconsistent with loyalty to them. Quite plausibly it was argued that the Masons had set up a jurisdiction of their own, with their own obligations and punishments, liable to enforcement even by the penalty of death. So basic was the conflict felt to be between secrecy and democracy that other, more innocent societies such as Phi Beta Kappa came under attack.

Since Masons were pledged to come to each other’s aid under circumstances of distress, and to extend fraternal indulgence at all times, is was held that the order nullified the enforcement of regular law. Masonic constables, sheriffs, juries, and judges must all be in league with Masonic criminals and fugitives. The press was believed to have been so “muzzled” by Masonic editors and proprietors that news of Masonic malfeasance could be suppressed. At a moment when almost every alleged citadel of privilege in America was under democratic assault, Masonry was attacked as a fraternity of the privileged, closing business opportunities and nearly monopolizing political offices.

Certain elements of truth and reality there may have been in these views of Masonry. What must be emphasized here, however, is the apocalyptic and absolutistic framework in which this hostility was commonly expressed. Anti-Masons were not content simply to say that secret societies were rather a bad idea. The author of the standard exposition of anti-Masonry declared that Freemasonry was “not only the most abominable but also the most dangerous institution that ever was imposed on man.…It may truly be said to be hell’s master piece.”

that sounds p nuts to me!

& id lump audit-the-fed/end-the-fed types in with conspiracy theorists. at least, id argue that the line separating yr standard ron paul types from yr william cooper amero types isnt very thick, and there are a lot of people who straddle it. or maybe more to the point they cross it -- for a lot of people "belief," especially of this kind, is circumstantial. (and to your point re: anti-masons, sometimes belief in, say, 9/11 "truth" or obamas kenyan citizenship is a kind of tribal affiliation or stand-in for a series of political belief.) posting a video to facebook, or watching it, isnt necessarily evidence of an abiding belief in its content.

something something mumble hofstader milquetoast liberal elitist & what did he say about the populists even, can he tell the difference between incendiary rhetoric and actual held beliefs, etc. mumble mumble brushes, grain of history, presentism blah.

I dunno why I'm hung up on the anti-masons. I suppose because there's a prejudice that if you're interested in the role of masons in history (in the periods where they *did* have a real role) you're A) likely to get tarred a conspiracy nut if you're not careful, and B) going to run into lots of history books that are tarred by various conspiracy nut type things, but C) if you don't spend a fair amount of time understanding the masons and other fraternal organizations of the time then you really don't understand society at the time and D) the masons were (and i guess are much much less so now) a pretty weird strange bunch (but then everything 150 + years ago was actually really weird) and finally E) so an approach that looks at anti-masonry as something other than actually about masons really helps to just airbrush out all the weirdness and dissonance of history, makes it much less actually historic, and takes all the fun out of it too.

but on the other hand i totally agree that conspiracy theories and their widespread dissemination aren't really a modern/internet-era phenomenon. if anything, w/o the equiv of snopes.com (or even large-scale 20th c publishing prior), much more nonsense and rumor and suchforth was disseminated as fact. (Which is another element of the anti-masons -- you have to compare the weirdness of their beliefs with the weirdness of everyone else's beliefs at the time, not with what we would typically consider the deep un-weirdness of our own beliefs today).

Will no one help the widow's son?

basically fuck you if you don't dig The Magic Flute

I think 'end the fed' people are probably a hetereogenous group, some of whom are legit conspiracy theorists, some of whom probably just learned what the fed was the other day and think that its a subject on the same level as 'free bradley manning' or something.

It's a lot easier to make "end the fed" sound compelling because monetary policy is somewhat difficult to understand, as is the structure of the fed. E.g. it's easy to twist things to make it sound like THE BANKSTERS CONTROL THE FED

tbqh that's hardly a stretch.

i read that as the goverment erecting a police state in honor of bruce willis. which i gotta admit is awesome and totally cool with me.

― scott seward, Wednesday, January 16, 2013 9:55 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they did this iirc, it was called The Siege

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/428243_590285674318546_281164803_n.png

that one is awesome!

i'm sure here will be some sort of installation concept art piece built on these images in short order.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/406162_10152446044160641_1447184854_n.jpg

date her for at least 3 months out of pity

guilttrip.me

I just love how the wording presumes that such a thing is easy for dudes.

IF A GIRL ADMITS SHE LIKES YOU ON A BEACH, KNOW THAT YOUR ALARM HAS PROBABLY BEEN GOING OFF FOR THE LAST TWENTY MINUTES AND YOU ARE LATE FOR WORK

^^^ hurt myself lolling at this

and so to bed :\

lool hurting

lmao @ Hurting

so much hate for this

http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/379652_444425808962464_1738606215_n.jpg

The cavalcade of wacky fonts is really what puts it over the top

beauty for your eyes to see indeed

comic sans for your soul

the 5 fonts you meet in Heaven

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/316909_10151372931773769_493404403_n.jpg

nelson-laugh.jpg

Our neighbors has chickens. They live their lives caged within in a fenced-in chicken house. The neighborhood coyotes find this situation disgusting.

the coyotes are posting the meme

"fuck you"

— john cage

lol clouds

http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/.a/6a00d834520b4b69e2017c320e4653970b-580wi

eddie vader understands the ginormity of the situation

Edie Vader

of all the photos of him to use I mean cmon

i think that's a good picture, looks like he's rockin for freedom

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/269480_400058893411970_337811099_n.jpg

xpost idk he's kinda got crazy hobo hair

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/ScreenShot2013-01-22at43142PM_zpsa2ccd918.png

ha what

I love how the Federal Reserve one, except for the modern bill, appears to be stock photo and typeface from 1990. No doubt today's weakened currency couldn't pay for a graphic designer.

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/385263_10151184459595493_1638476828_n.jpg

keep calm and tl:dr

people are animals

i think that was made by someone who has never actually seen the original KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON and just thinks it's a generic meme rubric

keep calm and stfu

you actually do have to be an animal to support animal rights

i just love the people that feel the need to spell this shit out for the rest of us

are animal rights activists really the group you need to be convincing to support gay rights

the people you need to convince are animals