The New World; the Plot Against Civilization pp. 93-97

 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 Illuminati?”

What exactly is wrong with becoming a disciple of Voltaire? A concubine of the Illuminati is bad, but the concubinage is a fantasy. The real Illuminati, according to Robison, wanted to educate them.

Webster then tells us that so many people would wave off these fears as being nothing, and that is how we know that this is a real problem. The proof is that no one believes you that’s how you know you’re on the right path. Webster also makes a small mistake here she claims that Jefferson (who she accuses of being a member—he was actually a Mason) called Barruel’s book the “ravings of a bedlamite” but he didn’t. He called Robison’s book that, which is an understandable mistake.

“With regard to Barruel’s and Robison’s revelations, which we are asked to believe ‘fell flat’ — but which in reality created do immense a sensation that the entire first edition of the translation of Barruel’s Memoirs was sold out before the fourth volume reached the press,…”

This much is true. The books sold reasonably well, but Webster is comparing two different things. She mentions that the revelations fell flat and then talks about sales. The former is a claim about how the ideas were accepted, the other is the books’ sales numbers. This is not a fair comparison, lots of people bought the Da Vinci Code without believing it.

The next two pages are Webster trying to tell us that all of the denial concerning the Illuminati is really just a smokescreen for them. It’s all standard conspiracy theory defense which always lacks evidence from outside of their own circle. She addresses one interesting point: critics of Barruel argue that he’s only writing in the interests of the Catholic Church, but, that doesn’t mean anything because Robison, a Protestant, came to the same conclusion. Further Rev. Morse the American evangelical wouldn’t be said to be speaking on behalf of the Vatican.

This isn’t as weird as she wants us to believe. Religious people tend to lay down their differences when it comes to defending against a common foe. By Webster’s estimation it would be weird if a Catholic and a Baptist both condemned the violence of Islamic terrorists on 9/11/01. It should be noted that Barruel isn’t writing just about attacks on the Catholic church by the French Revolutionaries, he’s writing about the attacks on Christianity who happen to be French and thus Catholic at this point. Robison was inspired by Barruel, the two knew each other (they would later become enemies as is typical of conspiracy theory infighting).

“Had not Weishaupt declared: ‘this revolution shall be the work of the secret societies, and that is one of our great mysteries?’” —I don’t know Nesta, you tell me if he said it (she has no citation).

I’ve said repeatedly that what Webster really wants is a dictator. The French revolution, historically, is difficult to pin down as to origin. Sure, there is Bastille Day, but the forces that culminated on that day are a matter of historical dispute. There is an end date for the Revolution, December 2nd, 1804—the crowning of Napolean as Emperor. I mention this because she writes, “Thus the fifteen years during which Napolean held the reins of power were the only period in the last 140 years during which Europe had peace from the devastating fire of Illuminism kindled by Weishaupt.”

This is an incredible statement, because Napolean begins a series of wars that we call the “Napoleonic Wars.” There is the Franco-Prussian war that would have recently ended, the Crimean War—there would be so much war and death that for Webster to claim that there was peace from the Illuminati in Europe is shocking.