How to Overthrow the Illuminati

[Searcher08]

Oh dear.
I think Mr Sunshine is... obscured by clouds.
Brainbleach is required after reading that nonsense.

[American Dream]

Love the notion of an "open movement of the 99%" being "infiltrated by conspiracy theorists."

Because, after all, you just know they didn't show up for General Assembly because they wanted to join up, no sir -- this is a methodical and perniciously subtle campaign of infiltration.

Those fucking conspiracy theorists, man...thank Shiva the CIA gave us an epithet to badjacket those crazies and get their data points out of our discourse.

Yeah but what's giving "conspiracy theory" such a bad name?

It ain't just the CIA- it's all the bullshit perpetuated in the name of our cause, too...

[Wombaticus Rex]

No, start over.

I'm saying "conspiracy theory" is a bad name.

Agree?

[Searcher08]

No, start over.

I'm saying "conspiracy theory" is a bad name.

Agree?

I AGREE.

Apart from the very small number of people who wear it as a kind of Discordian badge, categorizing a person as such or a way of finding out about the world has surely ALREADY created so much conceptual baggage as to make any 1 to 1 on the level communication a busted flush.

Sunshine's article is just a cheap exercise in shallow conflation, in saying X=Y=Z when they are actually very different. As such it is the ANTITHESIS of creative thinking, because the worst sin against creative thinking is not to say 'X is bullshit', it is to say "Oh that is JUST THE SAME AS..." because it closes down all exploration.

[American Dream]

No, start over.

I'm saying "conspiracy theory" is a bad name.

Agree?

If it's not inherently a bad name, it certainly has become one now- purely an epithet, synonymous with the nuttiest, most fanatical and annoying characters- arguments not rigorous but sketchy, based not in intuition but in blind faith and group identity...

[Wombaticus Rex]

Let me put it from this angle:

I can only see "conspiracy theorist" as an epithet, especially in this context. Occupy is founded on the theory that global finance is a conspiracy against the majority of working families in America and around the world; that a small, tightly-knit cabal of powerful and mostly white men actively commit crimes and get away with it.

And ... that paradigm ... is the subject of an essay claiming their meetings are being "infiltrated by conspiracy theorists."

It's such a category error I can't take the article seriously. The premise is like an Onion setup.

[American Dream]

Let me put it from this angle:

I can only see "conspiracy theorist" as an epithet, especially in this context. Occupy is founded on the theory that global finance is a conspiracy against the majority of working families in America and around the world; that a small, tightly-knit cabal of powerful and mostly white men actively commit crimes and get away with it.

And ... that paradigm ... is the subject of an essay claiming their meetings are being "infiltrated by conspiracy theorists."

It's such a category error I can't take the article seriously. The premise is like an Onion setup.

OK, now I'm understanding better- let me try to present what I think the author's perspective might be:

Spencer Sunshine has an anti-Capitalist, anti-Authoritarian perspective. He would certainly oppose the aggressive machinations of Wall Street that led up to the Occupy Movement but as an opponent much more of The System itself, as opposed to personifying it as bankers or any other single group of "bad people". Get rid of the current characters and new ones will take their place- they owe it to their shareholders and the Market calls the tune.

Sunshine specifically cites as problematic: Buchanan, Duke, Icke, Larouche, Oath Keepers, Paul, Southgate, the Tea Party, White Nationalists & the Zeitgeist movement saying:

...there is a populist vision, which can transcend Left and Right. Populists have a narrative in which the “elites” are opposed to the “people.”

On one hand, this can be seem as a vague kind of socialism which counterposes the everyday worker against the truly rich. But it also lacks any kind of specific analysis of class or other social differences—the 99% are treated as one homogenous body. Usually the “people” are seen as the “nation,” and these 1% elites are perceived to be acting against the nation’s interests. From a radical, anti-capitalist viewpoint, this narrative may be wrong and “incomplete,” but by itself is not dangerous. In fact, many progressive and even socialist political movements have been based on it.

But the populist narrative is also an integral part of the political views of conspiracy theorists, far Right activists, and antisemites. For antisemites, the elites are the Jews; for David Icke, the elites are the reptilians; for nationalists, they are members of minority ethnic, racial, or religious groups; for others, they are the “globalists,” the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, the Federal Reserve, etc. All of these various conspiracy theories also tend to blend in and borrow from each other. Additionally, the focus on “Wall Street” also has specific appeal to those who see the elite as represented by finance capital, a particular obsession of the antisemites, Larouchites, followers of David Icke, etc. “The Rothschilds” are the favorite stand-in codeword of choice to refer to the supposed Jewish control of the banking system.

So I'll personally go with those opposing the System itself and promoting grassroots based struggle rejecting those figures cited above, as well as the Workers' World Party (Party for Socialism & Liberation), the Uhuru Movement, the New Black Panthers and others of that ilk...

[Searcher08]

Seriously, what is your take away from this? Are you empowered by it? How has it changed what you do in the world? I'm gobsmacked by your treating it as if it is logical and coherent. It isnt. His lumping all of the above together has no value and is about as nuanced as saying 'everyone on RI is some kinda hippy lovin Pinko that needs to be avoided'. He may as well list dinosaurs, lolcats, petunia growers and Studebakers together.
I'm amazed that you see it as a coherent analysis and are buying into nominalisations like 'The System' - WHAT system??!!

[American Dream]

Seriously, what is your take away from this? Are you empowered by it? How has it changed what you do in the world? I'm gobsmacked by your treating it as if it is logical and coherent. It isnt. His lumping all of the above together has no value and is about as nuanced as saying 'everyone on RI is some kinda hippy lovin Pinko that needs to be avoided'. He may as well list dinosaurs, lolcats, petunia growers and Studebakers together.
I'm amazed that you see it as a coherent analysis and are buying into nominalisations like 'The System' - WHAT system??!!

My biggest take away is that we in the conspiracy realm can do much better- and should. I think there are valid reasons to critique those mentioned before- Buchanan, Duke, Icke, Larouche, Oath Keepers, Paul, Southgate, the Tea Party, White Nationalists & the Zeitgeist movement- and it saddens me that we are not more discriminating, treat these issues as trivial, etc.

The more that we can present rigorous, strong and thoughtful material to the world at large, the more effective we will be able to be in changing things deeply and for the better, which is my overriding goal.

[Wombaticus Rex]

My biggest take away is that we in the conspiracy realm can do much better- and should.

Quite so.

On that note, we have a great data dump thread on How to Outperform the Illuminati.

[American Dream]

My biggest take away is that we in the conspiracy realm can do much better- and should.

Quite so.

On that note, we have a great data dump thread on How to Outperform the Illuminati.

Great stuff. A good political compass is also essential and in line with Sunshine's piece, I strongly question the wisdom of jumping in bed with characters like Buchanan, Duke, Icke, LaRouche, Shamir, etc., etc...

[seemslikeadream]

My biggest take away is that we in the conspiracy realm can do much better- and should.

Quite so.

On that note, we have a great data dump thread on How to Outperform the Illuminati.

or he can keep us entertained by continuing to bump up his mega thread

[American Dream]

This section offers an example of a clearer and more liberation oriented politics than what is offered by those smarmy conspiracy people who really do deserve critique:

Conspiracy Theories During Black Power, and After It


NEWARK RIOTS, JULY 1967

At the height of the rebellions of the 1960s, millions of black people were rebelling against U.S. capitalism. The revolts were huge: in the summers between 1965 and 1968, every major city in the country experienced a rebellion. People looted goods and distributed them for free. They raided National Guard armories and battled the police in the streets. As the struggle developed, millions of people began to question why black people experienced oppression and exploitation, and who the enemies were.

Black communists like the Panthers identified the enemy as white supremacist capitalism, and aimed to unite workers of all races against this system. Others like Ron Karenga (the inventor of Kwanzaa) fell back on wrong explanations similar to Illuminati theory. They saw black people as a united group, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, and they thought all black people were in a war against all white people. The Nation of Islam invented a myth of black superiority. It taught its followers that whites were created thousands of years ago by a black scientist named Yakub, in a lab accident. Now, with the help of the NOI, blacks were out to regain their rightful place as the superior race on earth. This story had no basis in science or history, but it provided one explanation for black oppression, and who the enemy was.

Another part of the black power movement turned to anti-Semitism. Many black people saw small business owners exploiting black customers, and banks refusing to loan to blacks, and some of these people were Jews. In “Black Art,” the most famous poem of the Black Arts movement, Amiri Baraka wrote that blacks needed “dagger poems in the slimy bellies / of the owner-jews.” Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam also embraced anti-Semitic rhetoric at this time.

These black artists and activists mistook the immediate appearance of their oppression for the whole thing. Yes, black people were exploited by petit-bourgeois business owners and bankers. Yes, many of these folks, (but not all of them) were Jewish. But they exploited black people because they were business owners, not because of their religion. Behind these individuals lay a bigger global capitalist system, which exploited black people too. But black militants couldn’t put their finger on this, so instead they blamed the bankers and small shop owners who were in front of their faces. Like in the 1800s, anti-Semitism in the 1960s served as a populist myth, which hid class differences within the black community. Poor and working class blacks could have united, and collaborated with other poor people, to oppose the ruling class. They could have fought the black business owners who who later became police chiefs and mayors. Instead, they united with black business owners and politicians, against a made-up “Jew” enemy.


BLACK MAYOR WILSON GOODE OVERSAW THE POLICE BOMBING
OF THE BLACK RADICAL MOVE ORGANIZATION IN 1985

By the mid-1970s, the black liberation movement had been mostly defeated. The rebellions had been put down with armed force, and the revolutionaries were dead or imprisoned. U.S. capitalism adopted reforms to take the steam out of the movement. Black mayors were elected in cities across the U.S. New careers opened up for black professionals. There had always been black business owners and middle class people. But legal segregation and white mob violence kept them living with, and servicing, the black working class. Now many of the legal and social barriers holding down the black bourgeoisie and middle class were removed. They quickly rose socially and economically, and left the black poor behind.

Like all capitalists, black capitalists sought profits over people, black or otherwise. Like all politicians, black politicians looked after their own interests, and their constituencies came second. The black mayors elected in the 1970s soon directed the crackdowns on the black movement itself. In Philadelphia, black mayor Wilson Goode oversaw the bombing of the MOVE organization, a black radical group, in 1985. The actions of the black capitalists and politicians confused the black movement, because they thought they had been fighting alongside the black business owners, capitalists, and politicians.

Black revolutionaries like Fred Hampton, who might have opposed these developments, were imprisoned or killed off. As a result, younger generations weren’t exposed to the idea of class war between black workers and the black and white ruling class. Other black revolutionaries helped black politicians run for office, or became academics, and stopped talking about revolution. Internationally, the national liberation movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America came to an end. The theories of revolution coming from these struggles lost popularity. All this left a political void in poor and working class black communities. Black people had made it into positions of political and economic power, but racist oppression and exploitation continued for poor and working class black people. How could one explain this reality?

Illuminati theory flowed in to fill this gap. It was similar to other conspiracy theories that had been used before. It said the black elite had made it because they were part of a secret group of rulers, or had cut a deal with the devil. It said poor and working class black people were still oppressed, because these rulers were super-powerful. And the trend deepened in the 1990s.

Illuminati Theory in the “New World Order”

Illuminati theory resurged all over the U.S. in the early 1990s. Before Russia collapsed and the Cold War ended, most people felt big events could be explained by the conflict between U.S. capitalism and Russian state socialism. Every national liberation struggle in the Third World had to pick between these two sides. But everything changed with the end of the Cold War and the growth of globalization. In 1990, George Bush Sr. called the fall of Russia and victory of the U.S. a “new world order”. This phrase was adopted by a variety of conspiracy theorists, as an umbrella term to link conspiracy theories together.

Conspiracy theorists began to publish “superconspiracy” theories, which tied every existing conspiracy and urban legend to the Illuminati storyline. Some of these conspiracies involved UFOs, Satanists, or secret government plots to colonize space. The most famous “superconspiracy” book is Behold a Pale Horse, written by William Cooper in 1991. Behold a Pale Horse brings together a huge range of different conspiracy theories in one big web, including the Illuminati, Jewish bankers, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, UFOs, and more.

Many of these theories were used by poor and working class whites. Whites were confused and angry about the impoverishment they experienced with factory closings and globalization, and the growing status of non-whites in U.S. society. They said the government was coming with silent black helicopters to take away their guns. They said the government was planning to unleash murderous black gangs on the population. They said white gun-owning citizens who were loyal to the U.S. Constitution would have to defend themselves. These theories became very popular in groups like the Michigan Militia that appeared in the 1990s.

Some whites were clearly racist, and opposed to the changes of the 1960s. But others were experiencing increased oppression and exploitation as poor and working class people, and were angry about it. Just as black people in the 1960s blamed Jews for their oppression, poor white people in the 1990s blamed people of color–and the Illuminati–for their situation. In both cases, the analysis of these groups was incorrect, and it led them to fight the wrong enemy, instead of building solidarity with other poor and oppressed people. Despite their conservative flavor, these new Illuminati theories became popular in the hood. They spread through self-published books, and with the growth of the internet, through websites and videos.

From the 1980s through the 2000s, Illuminati theory broke out of its traditional audience. Instead of appealing to elites threatened by mass movements, Illuminati theory now appealed to the black poor and working class, and others in the hood. People in the hood started to talk about the Illuminati, the Bilderbergs, the antichrist, and more.


IN 2010, FEDERAL AGENTS IN MICHIGAN RAIDED THE HUTAREE MILITIA,
AN ARMED GROUP THAT WAS PREPARING FOR A MILITARY BATTLE
AGAINST THE ANTICHRIST.



AFTER THE MURDER OF TRAYVON MARTIN IN 2012,
RAPPER KILLER MIKE CALLED ON BLACKS TO ARM THEMSELVES,
IN CASE OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
OR THE END OF THE MAYAN CALENDAR.

It may seem strange that the same theory would appeal to both white ultra-conservatives and poor black people. But really, this “strange bedfellows” situation has a long history. At multiple points in history, white supremacist and black nationalist movements have linked up. In the 1920s, Marcus Garvey met with members of the Ku Klux Klan, to discuss to how to separate whites and blacks through Garvey’s “back to Africa” scheme. In the 1960s, the Nation of Islam held similar talks with the Klan. In South Africa in the 1980s, during the collapse of apartheid, Zulu nationalists met with the white supremacist AWB group, to discuss how to split the country into separate white and black nations.

The overlap between these movements is based on their shared populist logic. Both white supremacists and black nationalists believe whites are fundamentally different from blacks. Both believe they need to separate from each other, given certain conditions. (White supremacists think, if they can’t dominate blacks, they might as well ship them back to Africa. Black nationalists think, if white people won’t accept them, they might as well form their own separate nation.)

Illuminati theory is just one more example of this strange overlap. In Illuminati theories, poor people in the hood see banks and the political elite as their enemy, and they tend to embrace “black businesses” as a way to uplift the community, just like the black power movement of the 1960s. White conservatives use Illuminati theory to target the same enemies (as well as people of color), and embrace the U.S. constitution as a way to unite with white political and economic elites. You can see this trend in conspiracy shows like Alex Jones’ Infowars.

Illuminati theory presents the same danger as white supremacist and black nationalist theories. It will tend to support populist movements that unite poor white people and poor black people with their respective ruling elites, instead of building a movement for the destruction of white supremacy and the liberation of all poor and working people. Illuminati theory also presents a second danger: it simply fails to provide an accurate explanation of oppression and resistance.

http://overthrowingilluminati.wordpress ... lluminati/

[seemslikeadream]

best lumper in town

[American Dream]

Illuminati Theory Mistakes Bad People For Capital

Illuminati theorists look around, and accurately perceive aspects of the capitalist system. But their explanation is wrong. Instead of seeing capital as the dominating force in society, Illuminati theorists replace this with other forces using their imagination. Sometimes Illuminati theorists project the power of capital onto particular groups of people. As we’ve seen, capital isn’t reducible to any one individual boss, manager, or cop. But Illuminati theory projects this huge power onto individuals, who come to be seen as having all the power of capital itself. Often Illuminati theorists mistake real people, who serve important roles in government or corporations, for the force driving capitalism as a whole. They view rulers as evil individuals who control everything, instead of powerful figures who are still only players in “the game”.

Illuminati theorists imagine that the evil rulers are secretly planning how to run the world. There is no doubt that many of the places important decisions happen–corporate boardrooms, the Fed Reserve, or the Pentagon–are not democratic and transparent institutions. Illuminati theorists are right to want everyone to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives. But they don’t see that, as long as the capitalist system is creating powerful people and corporations, democracy will never really exist. The vast majority of us can’t participate in running society every day, because we have to work for someone else to survive. Instead of running society ourselves, we vote someone else into power to do it for us. This won’t end until capitalism ends.

Illuminati theorists try to fight the enemies they imagine. They set out to battle the Illuminati, the Jews, the United Nations, or aliens. But all these are just individual personifications of capital, or a projection of capital onto made-up groups. People who try to change the world using Illuminati theory are boxing with shadows. The shadow is the shadow of capital, the real alien created by all of us, through the social relationships we participate in every day. Illuminati theorists blame a secret conspiracy that runs the world, when they should blame the system that recreates capital, power, exploitation and oppression.

http://overthrowingilluminati.wordpress ... lluminati/