WEBVTT - Part Two: A Complete History of the Illuminati 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:07.920 Oh we're back. It's behind the bastards, Sophie. I'm going 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.399 to do that many more times. Um. You know, I 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.120 I think the audience likes that. Just like they like 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.239 my flawless Boston accent. They also like updates from my life, 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.200 so I want to let them know. I finished decorating 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.080 my living room. You know, ever since I got my house, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:25.200 I've been wondering what to do now that I have 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.920 a TV with this this huge screen in the middle 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:30.200 of my life. Because it didn't feel right for it 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:32.600 to only exist for TV. I wanted it to be 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.720 kind of a perpetual art project. So I found an 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:42.000 on the internet archive a complete repository of every episode 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:44.640 of Walker Texas Ranger, and I have it set up 0:00:44.680 --> 0:00:47.480 so that they're just always playing on my television, even 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:49.920 when it's off. So anytime I turn on my TV, 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:54.080 there's just automatically Walker Texas Ranger happening, just a low 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.960 res It looks like TV's from the nineties used to look, 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.520 and it's it's really done. Wonders for my mental health, 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:01.400 just that it's a little health hack for all of 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.280 you people. I don't know if wonders is the right word. 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:06.560 It has had an impact on your mental health. It 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:08.800 sure has had an impact. I've learned how to do 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:13.000 roundhouse kicks, which I've I've I've come to support as 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.520 like the primary method by which society should be organized. 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:19.320 I think that's my illuminati. It's all going to be 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:25.280 roundhouse kick based. I mean, honestly, be an imbrovement. Yeah, 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.760 it's it's pretty good. Um, some of the most racist 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.720 things I've ever seen. Um, there's there's an episode that's 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.560 like set in the past when they're all cowboys and 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.840 like Walker's partner in the TV show is like in 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.000 the normal show is like a black Texas ranger And 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.600 in the episode in the past, he's a former slave 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:45.720 who was taught how to be a doctor by his master. 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.400 And when he tells the Mormon missionaries they're hanging out 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:50.400 with it he used to be a slave, They're like, oh, 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:52.560 that's so terrible, and he's like, no, it was fine. 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:58.160 It is wild. The things you used to get away 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:05.240 with on nineties Steefee, Yeah, good stuff, good stuff. Margaret 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:11.760 kill Joyce, have you ever created a secret society? God 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:13.720 damn it, you were just telling us about this, so 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.760 I know, yeah, I know. Okay, so I like ten 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:22.240 years ago backed you up, Magpie, you have obligation to 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.000 tell this story. No, no, it's it's fine. The worst 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.120 the consequences of starting secret society have already happened, which 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:34.880 is that we started a secret society. We've We've put 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:36.880 out a pamphlet we claimed to have been around for 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:43.639 several thousand years. We distributed it at a few places. Yeah, yeah, exactly, 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:45.480 and that's why I was like laughing so hard. It's 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:47.680 like I was like, what an asshole? Why would you 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.040 do that? And in the back it had this, you know, 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:53.080 if you would like more information, please write to the 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.280 following physical address, because we decided that that was like 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.799 spookier than an email address, you know. Um. And then 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.000 within six months, the house that was that the address 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:07.480 burned down. Oh do you know why? I don't know. 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.359 I have no idea why the house burned down. Okay, curious, 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:17.399 huh law interesting? Yeah, should should have bought a po 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.280 box huh yeah. Yeah, it was a it was an 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:23.840 amateur mistake. Yeah. That's why people cannot currently send us anything. 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:26.080 As a fan post on the subreddit that their package 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:27.960 got sent back, it's because we need to get a 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:31.400 po box set up, but that would this is leaving 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:34.320 my house. This is Secret Society advice one oh one, 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:40.560 get a box, or use the address of an enemy, 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.280 maybe someone who you think is like at risk of 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.120 losing their mind, and just have them suddenly receive hundreds 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:48.440 of letters from strangers around the world. You think they're 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.320 the center of a conspiracy. That's actually where the story 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.800 will end in like three or four episodes. That so 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.600 tracks very clearly. We're talking about the the Aluminati, which 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:02.760 has just been formed by Adam Weishop, and he has 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.600 decided the way to save the world is to lie 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:07.600 to a bunch of rich people and make them think 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.040 they're wizards so he can buy nice books. That is 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.720 the center of the actual Illuminati conspiracy theory. So there 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:19.160 is a conspiracy theory. It's just a lot funnier than 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.640 I think most people tend to believe. So one of 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.400 the things that's interesting to me is that kind of 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.640 like as the organization changed over time, the main thing 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:34.040 about it, because Adam goes through some ideological shifts himself. 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.880 The main thing that's consistent about the Illuminati is that 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.400 he's lying to nearly everyone in it, right, That's like 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.279 the most, like the part of it that carries through 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:48.280 the most. So he recruits a couple of dozen people successfully, 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.520 but then kind of like stalls out and can't get 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:53.719 more people. And he gets some advice that like, well, 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.880 maybe if you join the Masons, you could like recruit 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.520 people from within the Masons and that would allow us 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.320 to like get some more blood in the organization. So 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.440 he owns joins a Masonry organization, like a Masonic lodge 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.240 in munich Um, and his plan there is he wants 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.440 to like rise up high enough that he can get 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.760 his own official lodge and started an ingolstat and then 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:18.440 kind of move the Illuminati into this Masonic lodge that 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.159 he creates and just have this Masonic lodge actually be 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.599 the Illuminati. So he's basically trying to like incept a 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:28.000 secret society within the Freemasons because it will help him recruit. 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.120 I mean, so it's entry ism. It's like the yeah, 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.760 the communist tendency of entryism. Like this sort of thing 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.159 happens a lot with these like esoteric groups and these 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.800 secret societies and orders like this. This this style of 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.280 growing your own little weird cult is very consistent. Like 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.240 this is this is a technique that gets used like 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.200 even even even till today, but across a lot of 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.720 the different kind of orgs that popped up that were 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.880 like inspired by the Illuminati and by the Freemasons. This 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.480 this thing happened a lot. This yes, this style nesting 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.680 doll of conspiracy society exactly exactly like joining joining one 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:06.680 group to like feed off their members and start your 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:11.479 own branch off organization. And it's like it's very very consistent. Yeah, nothing, 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.279 this says, this is a popular idea, Like there's only 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:16.080 a tiny number of people are willing to do this. 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.080 So we have to snipe each other. So we have 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.599 to steal from another. We have to we have to 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:22.760 like is it is it actually a magpie? That's that 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.159 bird that like lives in the nest of another bird? 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:27.960 We have to do that. Oh no, that's Isn't that 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:30.440 the cuckoo? Is that the cuckoo? I'm not good at birds? 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.120 Magpie steal ship. Welcome to Behind the Book to podcast 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:38.159 where we get into where Robert where Robert lists the 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:44.920 two facts about birds that he knows. Um so one 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:46.880 of the it brings in this works really well and 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:49.359 the fact that like he is now recruiting through a 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.440 Masonic lodge for the Illuminati, and everyone knows who the 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.760 Masons are. This brings in hundreds of new members, and 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:57.920 one of these new members is a twenty eight year 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:03.080 old diplomat from Hanover named a do Knig Knig. It's 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.680 really weird, k n Igge. I'm just gonna pronounce it 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.400 the way that that feels best to me. I don't care. 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.640 So secret societies and fraternities had been the coolest organizations 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.120 in Knnig's world when he was a little kid. Um, 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.040 he is a secret society nerd, and so as a 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.840 teen he's reading everything he can about these new fraternal 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.320 organizations spreading around Europe. He describes himself as a child 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.960 as stricken with our era's greatest disease, a yearning for 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.880 secret connections and orders. As a little boy, he'd actually 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.880 created his own secret society and invited his friends to join. 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.760 They'd worn silver cross pendance and drawn up a list 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.600 of by laws. I think I'm certain they excluded girls. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.720 Um it is. There's there's a very like Calvin and 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:48.120 Hobbes aspect to this guy's childhood. Um, I hope they 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:53.880 used a po box. Yeah, this child's house burned down 0:07:53.920 --> 0:08:00.880 after distributing its neighborhood in a lineage of secret mystics 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.240 dating back to Anostic period. So Connig had maybe Connig 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.480 was a Canostic. So Connig had joined his local Masonic 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.640 lodge and risen as soon as he could, right, because 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:12.680 he's big marn for this stuff, and he had meat 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.640 pretty very quickly, as quickly as possible, rises to the 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.280 highest rank within his lodge. And then he's like, oh, really, 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:21.440 is that all there isn yeah, I think it's a 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.480 conneit he is? He is cone, Yeah, And Connig is like, 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.000 was that all there is? Because this is just like 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:32.480 pronounce it but I really don't. Oh yeah, I mean 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:34.679 that was part of part of my thinking on the 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:39.440 matter too, But I think we should go with that bit. No, 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:48.959 Conig is gonna be less problematic. So his first name 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:55.000 huh yeah, we'll call Adolph. Yeah, that's a problem. There's 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:59.440 no bad history with adults, so it's still such a 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:06.160 common it. Really, it really is. This is all Stay good, Sophie. 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.440 There's not a lot that's funny about Hitler, but it 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.120 is kind of funny that he just torpedoed the German 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:22.120 equivalent to like Bill just nuked it. Good stuff. Good stuff. 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:26.520 Every now and then when you're reading about, like particularly 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.840 like German Jewish communities pre Holocaust, you'll run into like 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.240 a German Jewish Adolph and be like, oh man, what 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:36.200 an unfortunate name for you to have? In like nineteen 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:42.800 thirty one. Yeah, so yeah, as a little boy, Kennig 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.280 is all into these secret societies and he joins his 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.240 local Masonic lodge. He gets as high as he can, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.560 and then he's like, is this really just like a 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:55.079 discount club for rich people? This is basically Costco with costumes. Yeah. 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.480 So Adam gets very disappointed and he's hanging out in 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.239 the lodge one day kind of bumming. Adam gets disappointed 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:05.360 or so not Adam, m Adolph. It's disappointment Adolph, a 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.559 little Adolf, and he's hanging around this lodge one day 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.160 kind of bumming about the fact that the Masons are silly. 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.480 And then one of these dudes, because by this point 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:19.480 Adam Bishopped has sent agents of the Illuminati out as 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.839 recruiters to other lodges, and one of these people walks 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.199 up to Connig and is like, you seem like you're 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.840 kind of bored with the Masons, and Cannig is like, yeah, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.439 it's it's a little silly. And this guy's like, you know, 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.600 there's a real secret society that's hidden in the Masons 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:36.560 that only a small number of people get to join, 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:42.280 and so yeah, he makes his pitch, um and uh yeah, 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.640 Connig is like, that's exactly my shit. And he goes 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:46.960 to a bunch of his friends who are in the 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:49.000 Masons and he tells them this guy really he says 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.360 there's a secret society inside the Masons called the Illuminati, 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:53.160 and I should join and his friends are like, I 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.040 don't know, dude, it's probably bullshit, and boldly does not 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.280 listen to his friends. Um why Shop sends him a 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.440 letter later that year where he thanks Kennig for his interest, 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:07.440 and he's like, you must be a super smart guy 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:10.200 to have figured out that the Masons there's nothing there, right, 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.199 You're so smart. We think you're ready for our little organization. 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:25.079 So this is like the secret truth. What's really funny, suckers, Yeah, exactly, 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:27.640 we go to the group of suckers to get suckers. 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.840 What's gonna be really funny is when you learn why 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:34.280 we know all this so Cannig ends up promising or 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.920 Adam ends up getting Canig to join the Illuminati, in 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.000 part because he promises to fund Kenig's experiments in alchemy, 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:43.720 because he wants the guy to act as a recruiter. 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.840 Cannig is very charismatic, he's very connected. He's a diplomat, 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.160 so he's good at talking to people who's really respected. 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.480 And this proves to be probably the best administrative decision 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:54.679 that Adam's going to make, because in a very short 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.320 order Cannig is brought in more than five hundred new members. Wow. 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.800 Oh yeah, he's very good at this. At the same time, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.079 Wishop succeeded in pushing changes to the Masonic by laws 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.560 that allowed him to establish additional Illuminatus lodges in the 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.720 larger organization. In time, the Illuminati grew to around twenty 0:12:12.720 --> 0:12:15.880 five hundred men, although there's debate about whether there were 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.160 ever more than like six or seven hundred active at 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:22.080 a time, which seems reasonable. Well that it makes sense. Yeah, 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.000 pretty good size for a secret society in this period 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:29.079 of time. So the problem is that Connig rises through 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:31.600 the ranks as he had with the Masons, basically immediately 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.240 and he is not a dumb guy. He isn't at 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:37.000 least intelligent enough to realize something's up. And I'm going 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.160 to quote from the book The Illuminati by the Charles 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:44.720 River Press. The recruits began to raise their eyebrows, badgering 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.160 Connig with questions about exactly who it was that they 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.719 were serving. Up until this point, no one seemed to 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.440 have an inkling as to who the other members of 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.920 the Supreme Superiors were, apart from Bishop, and when Connig 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.360 failed to produce these names, many began to grow wary. 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.080 Connig approached why Shop on a number of occasions, and 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:03.440 he grew even more discouraged when Wishop dodged his questions 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:05.840 in an effort to distract him. Cannig was tasked with 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.680 composing pamphlets about recruiting guidelines and constant updates featuring the 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.600 most minor of changes. By the next year, Cannig's patients 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.240 had worn thin. It was only when Cannig threatened to 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:18.640 walk that Wishop finally came clean. To Kennig's horror, Wi 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.760 Shop admitted that the Supreme Superiors, the ancient texts behind 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.440 the topmost level of the Illuminati pyramid were entirely made up. So, yeah, 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:31.240 Cannig learns there's absolutely nothing here now. At this point, 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.840 Cannig's balls deep in the Enlightenment. He is very obsessed 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.360 with these ideas of truth and openness that are kind 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:40.560 of revolutionary in a Europe that was still largely run 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.160 by Catholicism. He's offended by the fact that Wei Shops 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.280 had lied and basically recreated this kind of system of 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:53.679 secrecy and lies, just in a different form. Adam realizes 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:55.880 that Cannig is going to be a problem because he's 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:57.839 got these kind of principles, and so he begs him 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.200 not to tell anybody. He instead tells Canig that I've 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.920 been waiting all this time. All this time, I've been 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:07.160 building the Illuminati for a worthy collaborator on the great 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.880 work of creating this organization, and quote, I have found 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.520 none other than you who penetrates into the spirit of 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:16.839 this system as deeply as I do. She said, yes, 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.480 meaning he's the only one that can smell the bullshit. Yeah, 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.520 he's You're the only one who's realized I'm lying to everybody. 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.760 So to keep Connig from leaving, he offers to let 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:29.920 him write the curriculum for the Inner mysteries of the Illuminati. 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.360 I mean that is the right call at this point. Yeah, 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:35.760 that's that's smart move. It's kind of like if l 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.040 Ron Hubbard had taken an apprentice to help him write 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:41.520 about like Zenu or whatever. Connig takes the deal, but 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.240 he's not thrilled with it. He is devastated when he 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.040 realizes the Illuminati is younger than him. But he's recruited 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:49.640 all these guys. So a big part of why he 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:51.600 doesn't leave is like he doesn't want to tell all 0:14:51.640 --> 0:14:54.200 of his friends that he got conned and that they 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.320 all got conned too. Yeah, so he he is like 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.720 he's like into deep. It's the sunk cost fallacy he 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:01.760 now has. It's like he has like he has like 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.240 make it real now, Yeah, and he does. He writes 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.240 a whole curriculum filled with the kind of elaborate magical 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.280 rituals and ceremonies that were all the rage in Central Europe. 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.280 Now this was the right thing to do for the Illuminati. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.040 But this really pisses off Adam Wi Shopped because Wi 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:18.600 Shopped hates all that stuff and is only doing it 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.800 to take money from rich people. The two fought constantly 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:26.120 and after four years, Connig resigned. Sources dissent on exactly 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.480 why this happens, but there are claims he mess left 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:30.880 in the middle of a loud fight shouting that Adam 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.280 was a megalomaniac with delusions of grant Here so it 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:41.480 ends the way all radical political organizations end. Connig would 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:43.880 later write his version of events out in a pamphlet 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:49.040 basically a Zane, which remains her best source of It 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:57.600 is funny how all of this has never changed, so 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:05.880 good stuffin Yeah. So as an aside, I should note 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.880 here because we've used Massimo Introviing as a source for 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.640 a couple of these quotes here, one of the problems 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.280 when you go to research the Illuminati is that it 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:19.200 is a bitch to Google. I have used also a 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:22.480 couple of different chat systems or a search systems, including 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.160 an aipowered one. But like one of the problems with 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.520 researching this is that a lot of the people who 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.800 legitimately are experts on the Illuminati are also cranks themselves. 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:36.600 So that brings me back to Massimo Introviing, because I 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.880 have quoted him a few times in the business is interesting. 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:40.880 We got to talk about him just a second, now 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.480 I have cross checked his rite up with other sources. 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.080 His right up on the Illuminati is extensive and accurate. 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:50.400 It's geared towards dispelling conspiracy theories, and it does this well. However, 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.600 Massimo is, as I stated, a sociologist of religion. He's 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.440 also an intellectual property attorney, which is interesting given the 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:01.200 connection between that and secret societies. He is very knowledgeable 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:04.440 about the history of secret societies. He is also the 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.440 founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions, which 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.879 mostly exists to defend cults from governments trying to stop 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.919 them from hurting people. Massimo has spent much of his 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:16.720 career defending the Church of Scientology in court, and he 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.480 has described as a cult apologist by his critics, although 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:25.520 I believe he's a Roman Catholic. WHOA, that's interesting. Yeah, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:27.439 he's an interesting guy. You run into a lot of 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.159 dudes like he's one of the less sketchy people who 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.119 writes about the Illuminati, because at least he's doing it 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.960 from a historic basis. But he's also a professional cult apologist. 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.840 It's very straight. Yeah, it will working for the largest 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:45.040 established cult. Yeah, in the world. It's awesome. It's just 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:47.359 it's fun. You keep running into shit like that as 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:49.960 you like go through books and articles and are like, 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:51.560 who is this guy who seems to know a lot 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:56.600 about these Adam vyshopped? Oh, he's a craik too. It's 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.480 certainly interesting because like stuff like scientology does have a 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:04.400 direct age back to this Bavarian illuminati. It sure does, yes, 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.280 how it especially through like the Golden Dawn and Alistair Crowley, 0:18:08.320 --> 0:18:10.639 which I assue will get to at some point, we 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:14.480 sure will, Garrison. But speaking of Alistair Crowley, you know 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:16.560 what Crowley would do if he were here right now 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.120 by one of these products and services make money by 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:23.960 selling Oh yeah, I mean our our podcast is supported 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:28.359 by gold, and if you move all of your investments 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.679 to gold, it will let you weather a financial crash 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:35.919 so that your investments can live to see the next dawn. 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:52.680 Dawn we go, there, we go, Okay, we're back. Good stuff. 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:57.480 The greatest form of flattery is the sigh of recognition. Yeah. 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.920 I find the greatest form of flattery to be people 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.080 giving me gold. Um, I would like to say that 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:06.160 once I get the po box set up, send gold 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.920 males gold. I'm gonna I'm gonna argue with you both, 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:12.680 because I think the greatest form of flattery is becoming 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:16.720 a cult apologist Roman Catholic who builds an entire website 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:23.720 to defend the fallen Gong from the Chase government. Oh yeah, Garrison, 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.600 that's where he's right up on. The Illuminati is hosted. No, 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.560 this fullen Gong is such like boring as I know, 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:39.159 I know, I know, disappointing the Bavarian Illuminati. So all right, 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:42.920 So Knig leaves and despite his absence, by this point, 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:45.199 he's helped get the Illuminati to such a side that 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:48.480 size that it's become quite large and influential. Um and 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:51.920 relief because they no longer have to pronounce his name. Yeah, 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:54.760 nobody has to deal with the problem of like trying 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:58.240 to spell it's yeah, oh boy, what's called by his 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:03.960 first name. So by this point, as the Illuminati has 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:08.640 actually grown somewhat influential, including a number of like moderately 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:14.320 prominent thinkers in some political people in Central Europe, Adam's 0:20:14.400 --> 0:20:17.560 own ideology has grown ever more radical. In letters to 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:22.320 his followers, he expressed political attitudes that were adjacent to anarchism. Quote, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.000 when man lives under government, he has fallen, his worth 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:30.119 is gone and his nature tarnished. So he has gotten 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:34.320 pretty radical by this point, and Massimo, our cult apologist 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:36.399 for a notes in his write up. One element that 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.160 distinguished the Bavarian Illuminati from other German Masonic systems continued 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:42.560 to be its politics. Again, up to the degree of 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.879 Scottish Knight, the rituals preached submission to the authorities, but 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:48.520 in the more secretive degree of priest there were allusions 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.600 to the advantages of replacing monarchy with republic, such as 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:53.960 if the king is not the best of the citizens, 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:58.120 let the best be king. So it's a little problematic. 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.399 There's like elements of we should tear down the system, 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.359 and also we should build a system whereby most people 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:04.960 don't know that we want to tear down the system 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:09.240 because we can't trust them with that knowledge. And yeah, 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:13.240 this is moving right along. But as with nig there 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:18.160 are a few people who grow disillusioned with Adam's leadership, 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:21.560 and one of them is a former member who starts 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.640 popping up in bars in public places in Ingolstot, getting 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.359 drunk and telling stories of the Illuminatis Initiation rituals. Now, 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:30.840 these are based off the Masonic ritual. You're sitting in 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:34.920 this like blind room alone for a while, blindfolded, and 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.240 then at some point the blindfold is taken off and 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:39.640 you're kind of like wandering around this space that's been 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.840 set up to be kind of mind altering. His story 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.240 includes like an empty red throne with a bunch of 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.480 ceremonial robes, a skeleton lying on a table with a 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.000 crown and a sword at his feet, and then at 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.200 a certain point the initiative is taken to his feet 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.879 and asked questions and he's hit in the face whenever 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.280 he answers them wrong. So you've got that aspect of 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:04.280 it too, And there's you know, that's probably broadly accurate 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.399 to what the initiation rituals were, but more lurid stories 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:09.959 than that start to spread, both from former members and 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:12.000 from people who were just lying in that way that 0:22:12.040 --> 0:22:14.800 people do, and this starts to provide fuel for a 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:18.439 movement directly opposed to the Illuminati. And now we're going 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.680 to talk about the Rosa Crucians. Now we've mentioned them before, 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:25.520 and I think I kind of derivatively referred to them 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.800 as a fake secret society. Did I did get kind 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.360 of upset in in your Plevatsky episodes when they are 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:36.920 a fake secret society, but not that way. Yes, So, 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:41.159 the Rosa Crucians are an intellectual movement that's bubbled up 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:44.159 in the early sixteen hundreds, and like the Illuminati, it 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:46.720 began with a con a bunch of anonymous pamphlets that 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:48.720 claim to be the writings of a man who definitely 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.199 did not exist, and we're published again zine like claiming 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:54.320 that a secret group called the Rosa Crucians were working 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:57.160 to reform Europe's political order and use science to advance 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.560