Wired on Georgia Guidestones

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Wired on Georgia Guidestones

Postby American Dream » Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:15 am

Wired on Georgia Guidestones


The strangest monument in America looms over a barren knoll in northeastern Georgia. Five massive slabs of polished granite rise out of the earth in a star pattern. The rocks are each 16 feet tall, with four of them weighing more than 20 tons apiece. Together they support a 25,000-pound capstone. Approaching the edifice, it’s hard not to think immediately of England’s Stonehenge or possibly the ominous monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Built in 1980, these pale gray rocks are quietly awaiting the end of the world as we know it.

Called the Georgia Guidestones, the monument is a mystery—nobody knows exactly who commissioned it or why. The only clues to its origin are on a nearby plaque on the ground—which gives the dimensions and explains a series of intricate notches and holes that correspond to the movements of the sun and stars—and the “guides” themselves, directives carved into the rocks. These instructions appear in eight languages ranging from English to Swahili and reflect a peculiar New Age ideology. Some are vaguely eugenic (guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity); others prescribe standard-issue hippie mysticism (prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite).

What’s most widely agreed upon—based on the evidence available—is that the Guidestones are meant to instruct the dazed survivors of some impending apocalypse as they attempt to reconstitute civilization. Not everyone is comfortable with this notion. A few days before I visited, the stones had been splattered with polyurethane and spray-painted with graffiti, including slogans like “Death to the new world order.” This defacement was the first serious act of vandalism in the Guidestones’ history, but it was hardly the first objection to their existence. In fact, for more than three decades this uncanny structure in the heart of the Bible Belt has been generating responses that range from enchantment to horror. Supporters (notable among them Yoko Ono) have praised the messages as a stirring call to rational thinking, akin to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason. Opponents have attacked them as the Ten Commandments of the Antichrist.

Whoever the anonymous architects of the Guidestones were, they knew what they were doing: The monument is a highly engineered structure that flawlessly tracks the sun. It also manages to engender endless fascination, thanks to a carefully orchestrated aura of mystery. And the stones have attracted plenty of devotees to defend against folks who would like them destroyed. Clearly, whoever had the monument placed here understood one thing very well: People prize what they don’t understand at least as much as what they do.

The story of the Georgia Guidestones began on a Friday afternoon in June 1979, when an elegant gray-haired gentleman showed up in Elbert County, made his way to the offices of Elberton Granite Finishing, and introduced himself as Robert C. Christian. He claimed to represent “a small group of loyal Americans” who had been planning the installation of an unusually large and complex stone monument. Christian had come to Elberton—the county seat and the granite capital of the world—because he believed its quarries produced the finest stone on the planet.

Joe Fendley, Elberton Granite’s president, nodded absently, distracted by the rush to complete his weekly payroll. But when Christian began to describe the monument he had in mind, Fendley stopped what he was doing. Not only was the man asking for stones larger than any that had been quarried in the county, he also wanted them cut, finished, and assembled into some kind of enormous astronomical instrument.

What in the world would it be for? Fendley asked. Christian explained that the structure he had in mind would serve as a compass, calendar, and clock. It would also need to be engraved with a set of guides written in eight of the world’s major languages. And it had to be capable of withstanding the most catastrophic events, so that the shattered remnants of humanity would be able to use those guides to reestablish a better civilization than the one that was about to destroy itself.
..


More at: http://www.wired.com/science/discoverie ... ntPage=all
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Postby RocketMan » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:41 am

Interesting stuff. The story seems to confirm the existence of an esoteric secret society/elite layer of society engaged in the worshipping of the Sun and other heavenly bodies.
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Postby American Dream » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:00 am

10 Commandments of the Anti-Christ: Mysterious "Guidestones" Madden Conspiracy Theorists and Christian Fundamentalists
By Joseph Laycock, Religion Dispatches
Posted on July 6, 2009


http://www.alternet.org/story/141107/

Back in April, Wired magazine published a story on the history of a strange monument in rural Elberton, Georgia ("granite capital of the world") known as the Georgia Guidestones. The monument consists of four 16-foot-high slabs of granite arranged around a central column and topped with a capstone weighing 25,000 pounds. Carved onto the face of each slab is a list of ten precepts for creating a better society, written in eight modern languages. On the four sides of the capstone are written the words, "Let These Be Guidestones to An Age of Reason" in Sanskrit, Babylonian cuneiform, Classical Greek, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The central column and capstone are also equipped with holes, astronomically aligned so that the Guidestones can serve as a compass and clock.

The popular consensus is that these stones were meant to survive a global apocalypse and aid survivors in creating a new, enlightened society. Unveiled in 1980, and built by an unknown party, the monument has stood for nearly thirty years outside of town, attracting the curious to Elberton. However, in the last ten years the Guidestones have garnered the attention of conspiracy theorists, who see their message as anti-Christian and a call for a global government. This new reading of the Guidestones ultimately led vandals to deface the monument sometime in December 2008.

The official story of the Guidestones’ origin is that Joe Fendley Sr., president of the Elberton Finishing Company, was contacted in 1979 by one "Robert C. Christian" to commission a monument. Christian was a pseudonym used by someone representing "a small group of loyal Americans who believe in God." Fendley has since died, but Randall Sullivan of Wired interviewed Wyatt Martin, the president of Granite City Bank and the only living man who allegedly met Christian. As the project’s banker, Martin allegedly learned Christian’s true name but will not reveal it. Martin claims he received letters and phone calls from Christian until "around the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks" and assumes Christian is dead; though some believe Christian never existed. While construction was still underway, Martin and Fendley were accused of perpetuating a hoax, either out of amusement or to promote Fendley’s business. Both men took lie detector tests, which they passed. Sullivan suggests that the hoax rumor may have come from rival granite workers.

According to Jim Miles (author of Weird Georgia), shortly after the Guidestones were unveiled, a local minister stated his suspicion that "Mr. Christian is not a Christian" and that the monument was designed for the worship of the sun as well as the devil. Contemporary Pagans, UFO buffs, and New Agers were naturally attracted by the mystery of the site. New myths were created that the monument was built upon a "power-nexus" or a place sacred to Native Americans. One legend holds that visitors who point both arms at the monument (one palm up, one palm down) will receive a psychic message from the stones. Another Guidestone admirer, Yoko Ono, composed a three-movement score entitled "Georgia Stone."

In 2000, Dr. Reagan R. Davis, a Christian minister, visited the stones and concluded that the Guidestones may well describe the ten commandments of the Antichrist. Particularly upsetting were the precepts to "Maintain humanity under 500 million in perpetual balance with nature," "Guide reproduction wisely encouraging fitness and diversity," and "Let all nations rule internally, resolving external disputes in a world court." Davis interpreted these messages as a call for a world government, a policy of state-sponsored eugenics, and the culling of billions of people. This new interpretation elevated the Guidestones from mere local curiosity to the subject of national notoriety among conspiracy theorists and Christian dispensationalists.

Conspiracy buffs were quick to point out the similarities between the pseudonym "R.C. Christian" and Christian Rosenkreuz, the legendary founder of the esoteric Rosicrucian Order. (Documents attributed to Rosenkreuz were signed "Frater C.R.C."). Christians added that The Age of Reason is also the title of a book by Thomas Paine, which challenges the inerrancy of the Bible. Through numerous Web sites and talk radio programs, a narrative eventually emerged in which the Guidestones (along with ancient esoteric societies like the Masons, eugenics, perceived anti-Christian hostility, and globalization) were all part of a single monolithic entity known as the "New World Order."

The goal of the New World Order is the creation of a single world government and the destruction of national sovereignty and religion. A significant number of Christian dispensationalists subscribe to this view and believe that the New World Order was foretold in the Book of Revelation. In 2005, Mark Dice (using the pseudonym "John Connor" in reference to the Terminator film franchise) organized a Christian group opposed to the New World Order called "The Resistance" and began a campaign to have the monument destroyed. In 2007, radio personality and filmmaker Alex Jones released a documentary entitled Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement, outlining a plan by the Bilderberg group and other global elites to exterminate eighty percent of humanity. The Georgia Guidestones are cited as primary evidence of this plot.

The call of The Resistance was eventually answered with an attack on the stones by vandals who used a can of red spray-paint to write messages such as, "The elite want 80% of us dead," "9-11 inside job," "Obama iz a Muslim," and "Council on Foreign Relations is ran by the Devil." The stones were also splashed with polyurethane, which is especially difficult to remove. The vandalism has been celebrated on numerous Web sites discussing the New World Order’s agenda; with only a few dissenting voices pointing out that any assault on free speech, even the free speech of an anonymous cabal, threatens the rights of all. The vandalism of the Guidestones seems to be a classic case of an eccentric and lofty idea under assault by the hoi polloi. In fact, a letter from the monument’s benefactors printed by the Elberton Granite Finishing Company predicted just such a scenario. They ask that the people of Elberton County restore the stones should they be "scattered by people of little understanding."

The short history of the Guidestones has parallels with the history of other mysterious messages and prophesies. It seems plausible that whoever invented the name "R. C. Christian" -- be this an actual cabal or Fendley and Martin -- had some knowledge of Rosicrucianism. (Fendley was active in the local Shrine Club where he could have been exposed to Rosicrucian lore.) There are interesting similarities between the Guidestones and the origin of the Rosicrucian legend.

A European preoccupation with the mysterious Rosicrucian order began in Germany with the appearance of two anonymous documents in the early 17th century: Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis. Clearly someone wrote these documents although, much like the Guidestones, there is little evidence to determine whether these messages were a legitimate manifesto from a secret brotherhood or an elaborate hoax. But regardless of their origin, the excitement generated in the wake of anonymous messages is very real. Numerous modern esoteric groups claim a connection to the Rosicrucians just as conspiracy theorists regard the Guidestones as vital evidence of a demonic globalist agenda.

Another interesting parallel can be drawn between the Guidestones and the Book of Revelation. Both are texts of little-known origin warning of future peril. These conditions allow for historical-critical as well as dispensationalist readings of both messages. Scholars believe the Book of Revelation was written sometime in the first century and is a warning to early Christians not to conform to the evils of Greco-Roman society. Although the Guidestones were constructed relatively recently, they too have a historical context. The letter from the Guidestones’ benefactors describes the problem of global overpopulation and warns that, "Armageddon can be prevented."

Whoever planned the monument in 1979 most likely imagined that Armageddon would take the form of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. "R.C. Christian" could not possibly have predicted the events referenced by the vandals, such as the attacks of September 11 or the election of Barack Obama. But Dice, and others like him, read the Guidestones much as they read the Book of Revelation: not as historical artifacts but as important clues to understanding current events. Stripping the messages of their historical contexts allows them to converge, so that they mutually confirm a dualistic cosmology in which Christians must battle the New World Order. Thus, evidence of the New World Order’s unfolding plot can be found both in the Book of Revelation and in the Georgia Guidestones. Likewise, Dice’s use of the pseudonym "John Connor" is very telling. Like the character in Terminator, he likely sees himself as one who knows the future and is fighting to prevent it from happening.

The history of the Guidestones is ultimately an interesting study in the heterogeneous nature of symbols. To build something so extraordinary with so little explanation created a vacuum of meaning. Much like the Guidestones’ inspiration, Stonehenge, this caused new meanings to be invented. The Guidestones are essentially a spiritual and political Rorschach test onto which any number of ideas can be imposed. Pagans and New Agers created new myths and rituals, imbuing the stones with sacred reverence. For others, the monument is not the marker of a sacred space but the evidence of a demonic plot. Should the Guidestones survive for centuries as their creators intended, many more meanings could arise, equally unrelated to the designer’s original intention.
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Postby nathan28 » Mon Jul 06, 2009 8:17 am

American Dream wrote:The history of the Guidestones is ultimately an interesting study in the heterogeneous nature of symbols. To build something so extraordinary with so little explanation created a vacuum of meaning. Much like the Guidestones’ inspiration, Stonehenge, this caused new meanings to be invented. The Guidestones are essentially a spiritual and political Rorschach test onto which any number of ideas can be imposed. Pagans and New Agers created new myths and rituals, imbuing the stones with sacred reverence. For others, the monument is not the marker of a sacred space but the evidence of a demonic plot. Should the Guidestones survive for centuries as their creators intended, many more meanings could arise, equally unrelated to the designer’s original intention.


WTF is that, a paragraph he pulled out of his undergrad writings? "heterogenous nature of symbols... vacuum of meaning... spiritual and political Rorschach"? He got paid to write that? What is this crap? I may have to actually email the author.

It's worse that he actually quotes these two:

"Maintain humanity under 500 million in perpetual balance with nature," "Guide reproduction wisely encouraging fitness and diversity,"


And then pretends like only kooky conspiracy theorists think there's something wrong with that. If somebody posted flyers around town that said that, wouldn't it be kind of creepy? Just a little bit? I think that's called "prima facie", but, you know, I'm just a pessimistic, kooky conspiracy theorist.

The popular consensus is that these stones were meant to survive a global apocalypse and aid survivors in creating a new, enlightened society.


Why can he cite authors for the kooky Xians and tin foil brigades but can't get a quote on this? Does "popular consensus" actually mean "the conclusion I came to after re-watching Terminator on some Turner channel?"

I may see if I can get some freelance gig under a pseudonym writing anti-conspiracist stuff for Leftie publications now.
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Postby treeboy » Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:39 am

I wish the Guidestones designers had though to include a precept like something to the effect of "Allow everyone the right to speak freely".
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Postby Stephen Morgan » Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:35 pm

nathan28 wrote:And then pretends like only kooky conspiracy theorists think there's something wrong with that. If somebody posted flyers around town that said that, wouldn't it be kind of creepy? Just a little bit? I think that's called "prima facie", but, you know, I'm just a pessimistic, kooky conspiracy theorist.


But this isn't posted on flyers, it's carver on a twenty foot tall granite monument.

The popular consensus is that these stones were meant to survive a global apocalypse and aid survivors in creating a new, enlightened society.


Why can he cite authors for the kooky Xians and tin foil brigades but can't get a quote on this? Does "popular consensus" actually mean "the conclusion I came to after re-watching Terminator on some Turner channel?"


It's certainly the consensus of the two articles I've read on the subject. How the hieroglyphics are meant to come in handy after an apocalypse is anyone's guess.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. -- Lawrence of Arabia
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Postby beeline » Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:57 pm

Stephen Morgan wrote:How the hieroglyphics are meant to come in handy after an apocalypse is anyone's guess.


I believe the assumption is as follows: since language won't exist post-apocalypse (at least as we know it) then the next best thing is decode-able pictograms.

Similar hieroglyphics at Yucca Mountain:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0711_020711_yuccaspikes.html

snip:

the U.S. Department of Energy has consulted futurists, archaeologists, materials scientists, astronomers, and others for the past decade to develop a long-term warning plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico


/snip
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Postby Penguin » Tue Jul 07, 2009 3:11 pm

How nice of them, to try and warn the future generations of the mutagenic superpowers of nuclear waste...

http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/03/09 ... s-mystery/

That link is also about the weird story of the dead russian hikers in the 50s, that was discussed here sometime in the winter. (The Dyatlov pass incident)

Funny how search engines work. I was not looking for that, but a story from the 90s how two russian men found one RTG alone in the wild, huddled close to it for warmth, and died later of radiation poisoning.

With all of the background on RTGs taken care of, we return to the case of the nine dead Russian hikers. It is Greg’s theory that they stumbled across an RTG (which is not at all impossible given how widely they were used). The RTG was broken open, either by the hikers themselves, some outside actor, or a simple manufacturing defect. It was giving off heat and the hikers took it back to their tent to keep warm with, possibly mistaking it for some kind of heater. When they realized the true nature of it, probably after experiencing the onset of radiation sickness, they departed their tent in a hurry, stopping not even to put on their clothing.

But it was too late. They had already received a fatal dose of radiation, which they would have died from were it not from dying of weather exposure first. This theory explains many of the facts about the case: why the men fled a perfectly good tent, why they were found with high levels of radiation exposure, even why the military helicopter pilots refused to transport the bodies. The presence of the RTG isn’t mentioned in any of the surviving reports because it was covered up (this was Soviet Russia), and they authorities figured they would rather have the deaths remain an anomaly than have their prized nuclear technology be considered dangerous.

This theory explains pretty much all of the facts of the case except one: how did four of the deceased end up with severe internal injuries yet no internal wounds? The coroners noted the injuries were possibly caused by collision with a vehicle, except that there was no vehicle anywhere in sight. So maybe the source of radioactivity was part of some secret testing or training, and the hikers were first discovered alive by the military and then eliminated, leaving only corpses and a cleaned up scene for the hikers’ friends to stumble upon much later during the recovery search? Can you come up with a better theory?


http://www.cydeweys.com/blog/2008/02/27 ... -accident/

http://www.bellona.org/english_import_a ... ents/31772
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Postby OP ED » Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:04 am

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Postby geogeo » Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:40 am

the commandments are banal, and I suspect are actually a code. Why repeat the last admonishment? I know, I've watched too many movies. Could they be an exercise in social engineering, as in watch and document the reaction among the sheep?

Isn't there some sort of unbreakable code at CIA headquarters?
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Postby mentalgongfu2 » Wed Jul 08, 2009 1:58 am

Why repeat the last admonishment? I know, I've watched too many movies. Could they be an exercise in social engineering, as in watch and document the reaction among the sheep?

Isn't there some sort of unbreakable code at CIA headquarters?


Yes to a code at CIA. I think one intended function of the Georgia Guidestone monument was to piss off and/or confuse fundamentalists. R. C. Christian - hmmm.

aside from the population figure, the statements call for a mix of reasonable ideas next to popular memes that scare fundamentalists:

guiding reproduction for fitness and diversity

a new living language

tempered reason

a world court

a lack of petty laws and useless officials

a balance of rights and social duties

harmony with the infinite- truth beauty love

no cancer
room for nature
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Postby OP ED » Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:02 am

Why repeat the last admonishment?


because its fucking important.
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Postby Penguin » Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:53 am

OP ED wrote:
Why repeat the last admonishment?


because its fucking important.


And also the thing we have most screwed at the present.
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Postby geogeo » Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:48 am

Penguin wrote:
OP ED wrote:
Why repeat the last admonishment?


because its fucking important.


And also the thing we have most screwed at the present.


Yeah, I got that. What I'm saying is that it breaks the pattern. It's not a poem, after all, it's a list of commandments. The repetition is an anomaly.
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Postby OP ED » Wed Jul 08, 2009 9:24 pm

It's not a poem, after all, it's a list of commandments



[says who?]
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