Subj : Re: ANy secret societies or are they just that secret? To : DustCouncil From : k9zw Date : Wed Aug 03 2022 06:23:08 On 02 Aug 2022, DustCouncil said the following... Du> Secrecy is nearly impossible in the age of samizdat; the amount of, for Du> example, Masonic research and publications is considerable if you're Du> really interested. Du> Thank you for the write up. True secret societies are uncommon, tend to be local and often are more about concealment of purpose than total obscurity. Groups like P2 may be viewed a having "layers" where one layer might be social & political networking benefiting members, another layer say involvement of the mischief of the Vatican Bank, another layer perhaps as a tool of the state counter-this or that (an unoffical or deniable) efforts, another layer seems to be involvement in criminal groups... Opponents of P2 claimed that if your name was written in any P2 document, that you were presumed to be involved in the worst of the activities of any "layer" of P2. Somehow the Italian Government responded bipolarly to P2, alternating with acting against it and using it for its own purposes. Similar accusations have been levied against many other groups in many places. Whether Skull & Bones, or any of the largely Romantic Tradition neo-Knight/Ritter "clubs," or some of the legacy non-Masonic Lodges, then sensational take ends up painting the whole group as "evil" over the actions of members - actions which may not have even been taken under the "authority" of the group as a whole. If a movement or political stance is primary, the layering cane range from supportive donors to violent action agents. And again we get titilated by the media into thinking because of the violent actors that anyone who thinks or supports, or heaven help them are "card carrying" members must also be violent. --- Steve K9ZW via SPOT BBS --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/02/11 (Linux/64) * Origin: SPOT BBS / k9zw (700:100/69) .