Oddbean

Well, its nuanced. Any masonic historian can tell you all about the circumstantial evidence that the masons of a particular lodge did the Boston teaparty. Nothing is provable, but it really does look like they did it, and masonic historians don't bother with trying to keep it secret. And I would say French masons were involved with the French revolution. Again, only circumstantial evidence. And the Illuminati was started by some masons, although iirc, the founder quit masonry or was forced out - something along those lines. I only know any of this because of masonic YouTube channels. There's actually quite a few, and a few of them go pretty deep into the esoteric. That's where you can really see the Jewish influence. All of the symbolism is at least adjacent to kabbalistic. (Obligatory note : I dislike Zionism, not Jews) BUT... There's a simpler and IMO more believable explanation than a unifying conspiracy. The organization is just super easy to infiltrate. Practically anyone can get in. They're starving for new members. Anyone with some bad business to do has the option of doing it under the cover of freemasonry. I would bet that various agencies (like mossad) tell their minions to join freemasonry so that the conspiracy theory points there instead of the real culprits. As an organization, its swiss cheese of security. Or it appears to be. I'm not in. There are a lot of more esoteric organizations that are connected with freemasonry, but not part of it. Most seem to have been founded by masons. Some require you to be a master mason before joining. And most are total bullshit scams, and masons will tell you that. The deal about secrecy seems like its really just a matter of principle. They assert their right to keep secrets. Seems reasonable to me. We assert our right to privacy. People who would deny us privacy don't give a shit about the difference between privacy and secrecy. And like I said before, they are the swiss cheese of security, so I don't think they actually have any secrets. Maybe cooking recipes. Sorry for all the words. Nuance and brevity are rarely found together.