Conspiracy Theories, Skepticism, and Critical Thinking

 Before we even delve into chapter IV, we have to get something straight. When people like Webster (and anyone in the conspiracy world today) talk about “Socialism” they do not mean the philosophical stance about resource allocation. They are not referring to a classless society, or any of the positions of 19th century industrial revolution philosophers. They mean something much different: a strawman of the position usually written by people who have no interest in reading what actual Socialism means. Do not get me wrong, I’m not a Socialist evangelical, I’m not saying that if they read it, they would agree; my position is that if they read it, or even just skimmed a proper definition, they might still disagree, but they wouldn’t be wrong about it. What Webster and her kind mean by Socialism is this: “To achieve the SOCIALIST dictatorship of the proletariat, three things would have to be accomplished: (1) The elimination of all right to private property; (2) The dissolution of the ...

 Just to remind the reader, this chapter is supposed to be about Babeuf and we’ve long left him. Maybe we will come back to the guy but I’m not going to hold my breath on that. We’re now sailing across the sea to the infant United States to see how exactly they have treated the incoming new world order. Webster provides two long quotes from Rev. Jedediah Morse and Timothy Dwight respectively; both discussing the threat the Illuminati posed to the young nation. In both cases we see the fear that the orthodox is being challenged and that these men are afraid that society is going to be changed into something not completely subservient to their religious belief system. At this point in our reading it’s become very obvious that the fear is not domination by these Illuminati members rather the fear is that the world will change beyond their grip. As the Dwight quote ends, “ shall our sons become the disciples of Voltaire and the dragoons of Marat, or our daughters the concubines of the ...

 It’s 1794, the French Revolution is close to an end. We are being told that the Illuminati is now going to set its sight on a larger target, Great Britain. Where would one start if they were going to invade England, once you have France the answer is really obvious. In fact, it is so obvious the French and English governments built an underwater train tunnel between Folkestone and Coquelles. This would later be the spot where Allied forces told Patton to pretend to invade France from to divert the Nazis. People can swim this, in calmer waters. Yet, no, “ Then, as now, Ireland was recognized as the most vulnerable point of attack, and for three years an Irish Society had been at work in that country.” In Webster’s mind, the best way to attack Britian is to attack their most troublesome property. In a way it makes sense because it is so close, and if one could get a foothold in Ireland you’d have a nice base. The question I will ask though is if there is a location closer to England...

 Last post we covered a very long section where Webster mostly stuck to her historical guns with a spattering of conspiracy thrown into it. This week’s post will be full on Illuminati conspiracy. The layout of this chapter is strange; I would think that the organization of it would be the reverse but then I began wondering how clever Webster really is. If I want to give her a bunch of credit, and I don’t, but I have to float the possibility that she’s laying this out to confound the skeptics. You start reading the story of Babeuf and it just reads like her personal gripe with a proto-Socialist and nothing more. Someone like me would set it down at this point, but if you keep reading it becomes the Illuminati conspiracy that we all know and love. The trouble for my theory is that this would also be how her intended audience would read the book too. Sure, Babeuf is described as someone that worked for the Illuminati or was in charge of them…Webster muddles that up; but the real consp...