Union Men: Proofs of a Conspiracy...pp. 139-142

Last week had a dental appointment, and couldn't get the time in to update. Today, we're right back to it. 

We've been discussing what seems to be after so many pages of teasing, the actual conspiracy that Robison is so afraid is going to topple the governments and religions of Europe. Well...continental Europe at least. There is no evidence from this book that Robison is worried about Scotland, England, or the UK in general. Let us remember that the conspiracy is being conducted by something known as the German Union and their evil nefarious plan is to--create a system of interconnected libraries so that the population of the German-speaking states would be literate. 

As Robison writes, summarizing plan XXII (or document XXII, it's unclear), "The great aim of the German Union, is the good of mankind, which is to be attained only by means of mental Illumination (Auffklarung) and the dethroning of fanaticism and moral despotism."

There's a few things  to discuss in this short quote by Robison. The first is that we have to assume that he's quoting accurately from a document that actually exists. He doesn't give us the information we would demand in a modern writing, and I'm not sure if this is because of contemporary conventions or because Robison cannot procure the providence of his sources. That has been a theme throughout this entire book. The second thing is the term "fanaticism." The German Union wants to dethrone it, but fanaticism then would be like partisanship now, or chuavinism in France. It is an extreme devotion to, in this case, a political system such as a monarchy. The fanatics here would be devoted to their lord without any justification for it. The most modern equivalent would be devotion to a sport's team. 

Yes, yes, boo nerd; the academic doesn't like the sport's ball. 

Let me defend myself, it is not being a fan of a sport's team that is the issue here. It is the undue devotion to it. I lived in Toledo, Ohio for several years. I mention this because the city of Toledo sits at nearly the exact halfway point between Columbus, Ohio; and Ann Arbor, Michigan. These two cities have Ohio State University and Michigan State University located in them respectively. I mention it because one of the longest and biggest rivals in college football is between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan State Wolverines. This rivalry effectively shuts down the city of Toledo on game day. The week before the game the population of the city is divided into two camps: OSU fans and Michigan fans. For that week people on one side will not discuss things with people on the other. It is absolute fanaticism. Most of the people caught up in the fervor have never gone to either school. This is important because it meanst that the person who dressed in the blue and yellow of Michigan State has no reason to be attached to that team. They do not live in the city of Ann Arbor, they are not a current student, or an alumni: they've picked the team seemingly at random and then decided for one week out of the year to eye up those wearing the red colors of OSU are the enemy. The fanaticism that the German Union allegedly wants to run out is the same thing: the prince of Prussia and the Prince of Ingolstadt go to war, camps will be drawn between both parties. The yeoman in Prussia will literally spill the blood of his equal in Ingolstadt simply because of this allegiance when they have no reason to hate each other. 

The final thing to mention is the "moral despotism." By this the German Union means religion. At the time Robison is writing, Immanuel Kant is working on his moral philosophy. I won't get into the details of it, because it is very dry, very technical, and very German. German philosophy has a style that won't be broken until the syphilitic ravings of 2nd stage Nietzsche. What is important is that Kant, who I cannot say is a member of this German Union, tosses out religiously informed ethics because it has no metaphysics underneath it. There is no underlying foundation for these kinds of ethics without first arguing that the religion is the one religion and this is taken as a matter of faith. Faith cannot sustain an objective ethic. 

In 1787, Robison tells us, an unnamed dissertation appeared that was heartily endorsed by the Union titled, "On the Freedom of the Press, and its Limitation." I typically look up the works that Robison (or whoever) cite, but in this case I do not need to. The work is described as, "the most licentious pieces that has been published on the subject, not only enforcing the most unqualified liberty of publishing every thing that a man pleases, but exemplifying it in the most scandalous manner; libelling characters of every sort, and persons of every condition, and this frequently in the most abusive language, and expressions so coarse, as shewed the author to be either habituated in the coarsest company, or determined to try bodlly once for all, what the public eye can bear."

Wait till Robison gets a load of Reddit. 

The most interesting thing to me is that our contemporary anti-Illuminati conspiracy theorists are often the ones that are pretending to be on the side of unlimited free speech. Robison isn't concerned with the actual limits of free speech, he's more concerned with the effect of it: and that is a new brand of ideas that shock the old conservatives. The language they use, it's enough to make a person dash for their fainting couch. The real problem for Robison is the offense that the writing is causing. 

The Union is going to flood the market with these new ideas. They are going to buy up printing shops or get their members to find work at them; then onward with new books, pamphlets, magazines etc. Instead of arguing against the position of widespread availability of cheap books and literacy, Robison engages in the 18th-century version of tone policing. The books should be banned because Robison doesn't like the language in it rather than any substantial argument against the positions which are laid out within. 

Robison then goes back to the funding well, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why this matters at all. He details that there will be a levy on all members at the next general meeting, which will then be dolled out according to the need for local accommodations. I assume by this he means the cost of printing and distribution will fluctuate between the various locations. Each lodge of the Union will maintain a funding box they can use to set up a reading society. In every quarter, there will be a regional person in charge to make collections and carry on the correspondence between the various groups. 

This is protrayed as nefarious somehow and I'm at a loss to explain the reasoning behind it. The whole description is interesting because these are the details which sorely lack in modern conspiracy theorizing. The actual administration of the globalists is the one detail that is omitted because it is the one detail which scuppers the entire conspiracy theory. How do the Globalists actually run the world? It would be a logistical and bureaucratic feat in and of itself to keep that machine going. This is ignoring all of the election fixing, inside jobbing, and false flagging--just operating the machine of a global superconspiracy would mean that these people actually deserve to be in charge of everything. 

Robison needs to make some actual arguments against this German Union that are of substance rather than these silly arguments that boil down to them not speaking the King's English. At least we are finally getting a conspiracy.