MODERN conspiracies don’t get much bigger than the idea of a shadowy secret society like the Illuminati.
Many of these stories mix fact with fiction as we try to separate the two and see what lies behind the wild claims.
What is the Illuminati?
In 1776, Adam Weishaupt founded a secret group in Bavaria called The Order of the Illuminati.
He believed that “the monarchy and the church suppressed freedom of thought.”
The reason behind forming the group, he said, was that “he decided to find another form of ‘enlightenment’, a set of ideas and practices that could be applied to radically change the way European states were governed.”
Weishaupt based it on the Freemasons, complete with hierarchy and mysterious rituals, and decided to choose the name to reflect the enlightened ideals of its educated members.
The group soon grew from a handful of men to a few thousand, when the Duke of Bavaria banned secret groups on pain of death in the late 1980s, the real group was disbanded.
What conspiracy theories are there?
According to theorists, the Illuminati have conspired to establish a ‘New World Order’ that would set up a single government to control the planet.
The clandestine group is said to have agents who control movies, music, banks, governments and other powerful institutions.
They believe that their influence, combined with strategic decisions, will result in a totalitarian world government or some other sinister outcome.
Theorists have pointed to other secret societies, such as Skull and Bones and the Bilderberg Groupto claim that they are front organizations for the Illuminati.
Today, the Illuminati has become a name linked by conspiracy theorists to everything from the “faked” moon landings, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the assassination of JFK.
Just an internet search for such conspiracies will send you down a rabbit hole of websites trying to connect the secret organization to so much in history and modern times.
Does the Illuminati really exist?
Despite what you may have been told, there is no evidence to suggest that the original order exists.
In 1797 and 1798, a series of books were released suggesting that the Illuminati survived the purge and were involved in the French Revolution.
These books raised concerns about the secret society’s survival and activities.
Today many groups link to the Illuminati, but these are unproven and are probably trying to attract subscribers.
Everything that can be questioned in society is somehow connected to clandestine organizations that control the world and the governments under them, but whether it is the Rothschilds, the assassination of JFK or the ‘New World Oder’, there is no evidence for the existence of the secret group that once existed in Bavaria.
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