national treasure

[eselgeist]

For the first time, I just saw a commercial for the Freemasons on tv.

:|

For some reason this makes me sad.

Even if I wanted to believe in the whole "secret masters of the universe conspiracy" thing,
I can't reconcile that with so public a cry for help and new membership. It just seems
so... patheticalso, a fragment on NPR reported PE coaches

Comments

[silverblue]

I admit the Freemasons themselves make me sad with: We accept anyone of open mind who believes in a divine presence! We want to help people!

...unless you're female. Then you can either be an auxiliary member in one of the few chapters that accepts you or you can bug off.

Apparently 80% of their current membership is past 50. I do know of quite a lot of youngish men here who are curious about joining because they want to learn weird secrets, though...

[caleb_badger]

I know more than a few younger generations who are Masons, but they keep their presence well hidden.

But the mystique of freemasonry seems to come mostly from the idea that they could be evil underground masterminds, even if they are not. And they do play upon that....

[eselgeist]

purchasing late night on-air time opposite anti-wrinkle cream infomercials kinda chips away at the notion of an exclusive cabal of puppetmasters to me. i would think their recruitment efforts could be a little less obvious and efficiently directed.

[caleb_badger]

ugh...yeah ffffffff

[mikosquirrel]

I wish we'd had exercise-based video games (or video game-based exercise) in PE class when I was a kid. Those lessons were boring and I hated them. If there'd been some kind of way to make them fun, maybe I wouldn't have developed such a violent aversion to all forms of exercise.

something something something uttered by a pink digitalized version of Hitler

[kuniopt]

Actually the Masons have been relatively public for a good while. My father remembers getting a couple of Mason recruiters when he finished his law degree and he finished his degree around 50 years ago.

also WiiFit won't substitute exercise on a general basis and I'm sick of people complaining about a WiiFit being somewhere meaning that it will become some sort of activity black hole.

Re: something something something uttered by a pink digitalized version of Hitler

[eselgeist]

well, i guess that's two points for you!

[akirashima]

considering how many mason halls have closed near me i can understand. it is sad though. but hey the Order of the Rose used to put ads in Comic books in the way back machine

[zahnarabai]

I really like the concept of the Masons in general and wish that the actual lived up to it even a little. :(

Also that there was any way at all for a woman to get involved without 1) her dad was a Mason or 2) her husband is a Mason.