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Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Who are the Illuminati?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Faith in a secret society known as the Illuminati is one of the longest-running and most widespread conspiracy theories of our time. It has become a "byword for a corrupt elite" influencing the world, said indy100, and supposedly boasts Beyoncé, Madonna, Jay-Z and Donald Trump among its members. The name is "so powerful that it has begun to rule TikTok", becoming last year's "most talked-about counter-mainstream idea". It can be "pretty compelling" to believe the story that the "establishment is ruled by a corrupt elite and that we are but innocent pawns in their sinister game". But "that's all it is, a story". And it is one that the "stars themselves have shrugged off or even mischievously fuelled". While most of the rumours surrounding the Illuminati and its members are fiction, the group was at one time real – though its influence was not nearly as vast and enduring as modern conspiracists claim. The idea of an "illuminati", meaning "enlightened" or "illuminated", has been around since the 15th century, said author and academic Chris Fleming. Early groups included the Spanish Alumbrados (the "illuminated"), who believed people could "attain direct communion with God" and so could gain spiritual enlightenment without the need for traditional worship or the sacrament. Alleged sympathisers were said to include St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, who was questioned by the Inquisition in 1527 over possible links. It was more than two centuries later that the illuminati as people understand it today began. In 1776, Adam Weishaupt, a professor of natural and canon law at the University of Ingolstadt, Bavaria, and a former Jesuit, founded a secret society that came to be called the Orden der Illuminati – the "Order of the Illuminati". To the outside world, Weishaupt appeared a "respectable professor", said National Geographic, but he had always had a "restless" mind. He was educated at Jesuit school and was an "avid" reader at home, "consuming" the latest books by French Enlightenment philosophers. Like many at the time, Weishaupt came to believe "the monarchy and the church were repressing freedom of thought", and that religious ideas were "no longer an adequate belief system to govern modern societies". He wanted to find "another form of 'illumination', a set of ideas and practices that could be applied to radically change the way European states were run". At first, he thought about joining the Freemasons, which was expanding across Europe, but became disillusioned. Instead, he decided to found his own society, "handpicking" five of his "most talented" students to become members, said the BBC. The original name was Bund der Perfektibilisten, or the "Covenant of Perfectibility", before he changed it to the Order of the Illuminati (literally the "Illuminated Ones"), to reflect the enlightened ideals of its educated members. The group's first meeting was in a forest in Ingolstodt, where they established the rules of the order. Rituals included the use of aliases for anonymity and the adoption of symbols, including their insignia: the Owl of Minerva, symbolising wisdom, sitting on top of a book. They also had three levels for members: novices, minervals and illuminated minervals, in reference to the Roman goddess of wisdom Minerva, "reflecting the order's aim to spread true knowledge, or illumination, about how society, and the state, might be reshaped", said National Geographic. From just a handful of members in 1776, the order quickly grew, numbering between 2,000 and 3,000 members by 1784, with lodges in Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Switzerland. Members included doctors, lawyers and intellectuals, with notable names said to include the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, although this is disputed. But the society didn't last long. In 1785, Karl Theodor, Duke of Bavaria, outlawed secret groups, including the Illuminati. Two years later, the Duke declared an edict with harsher punishments for members, including the death penalty. From 1785 onwards, the "historical record contains no further activities of Weishaupt's Illuminati", said Britannica. Yet, the order has continued to figure "prominently in conspiracy theories for centuries". Conspiracy theories about the Illuminati began almost from the moment they were forced to disband, with its enemies claiming the group wanted to overthrow monarchs and priests and transform society. In what was "perhaps the world's first conspiracy theory", said the BBC, in 1797 Jesuit priest Abbé Augustin Barruel wrote a four-part history of the French Revolution, which he attributed to the secret work of the Illuminati and Freemasons. Because of this Barruel is "generally regarded as one of history's most famous conspiracy theorists", according to The Conversation. Across the Atlantic, the order was the "bogeyman" of the fledgling US republic, said The Associated Press. George Washington himself wrote a letter saying that "no one" was more "truly satisfied" than him that the threat of the Illuminati had been avoided. Third president Thomas Jefferson was also accused of being a member. While the conspiracy theory has partly survived due to its links to the mythology of the founding fathers in America, it was the Russian Revolution that led to the Illuminati being the 'monster' theory it became, illuminati expert Michael Taylor told the BBC. The Russian empire and monarchy were replaced by their "polar opposite" and like the French Revolution, it was an "equally traumatic, dramatic event". Since then, the idea of a "world-dominating" secret society has "never really left people's minds", said History Extra. However, today's idea of the Illuminati is far removed from its Bavarian origins, author and broadcaster David Bramwell told BBC Future. The "totally unsubstantiated" modern image of the group mostly comes from the "era of counter-culture mania, LSD and interest in Eastern philosophy" that dominated the mid-1960s. "It all began somewhere amid the Summer of Love and the hippie phenomenon, when a small, printed text emerged: 'Principia Discordia'." "Principia Discordia" preached a form of anarchism and promoted civil disobedience ranging from practical jokes to hoaxes. It was, said the BBC, a "parody text for a parody faith" called "Discordianism". Some of the main proponents of this new ideology were writers Robert Anton Wilson and Kerry Thornley, who wanted to bring chaos back into society by spreading "misinformation through all portals – through counter-culture, through the mainstream media", Bramwell said. Wilson and Thornley then turned their theories into a book, "The Illuminatus! Trilogy", which became a "surprise cult success". It was even transformed into a play, "launching the careers of British actors Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent". But it was the arrival of the internet that truly turned the idea of a global elite conspiring to rule the world from a niche belief to a global conspiracy theory – making it "the least secret secret society in the universe", wrote philosopher Julian Baggini in The Guardian. If there is "one thing social media likes even more than conspiracy theories, it's Easter egg hunts: searching for hidden clues", said indy100. "The Illuminati has those in abundance, most notably the so-called 'Eye of Providence' – an eye set within a triangle, which happens to feature on the reverse of the American one-dollar bill". Other associated symbols include pentagrams, goats and the number 666. Conspiracy theorists often analyse public events for "evidence" of Illuminati influence. This has given birth to an entire cottage industry. The number of books available on the Illuminati is "staggering" said V13, running to the thousands. Some of them "assert the Illuminati are the progeny of lizard-like aliens; others maintain the Illuminati are part and parcel of a vast Jewish conspiracy; a few say the Illuminati no longer exist; and still others present their group as the true Illuminati and provide written manifestos and instructions on how to join." It is "basic human nature" to believe in secret groups such as the Illuminati, said Baggini in The Guardian. "We are constantly on the lookout for both patterns and agency", as both are essential for our survival. Politicians are not immune, either. In 2018, Canada's former defence chief Paul Hellyer told the Lazarus Effect podcast there was a "secret cabal that's actually running the world". Four years later, then US president Joe Biden unwittingly fanned the conspiracy theory flames when he referred to a coming "new world order" during a speech. "He was referring to the shifting sands of geopolitical relations in response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine", said The Independent. However, for conspiracy theorists, such comments are seen as further evidence that there is a "puppet-master overlord, hell-bent on global domination and busy manipulating international events to achieve his villainous ends". Illuminati believers also tout theories about the "New World Order", "a shadowy elite force" which, they claim, wants to bring about a "totalitarian world government", said the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) think tank. This "grand ongoing conspiracy" to exert control over the media, civil society and democracy is often blamed for global events and disasters. Supporters of the New World Order theory believe "even the powerful US government is now just a puppet government", overshadowed and overpowered by the Order, said Modern Diplomacy. The New World Order is "not so much a single plot as a way of reading history", said New York Magazine. "Suspicions surrounding a shadow Establishment" can be traced all the way back to the rise of Freemasonry in the 1700s, but it was "the past century's global wars, political realignments, and media innovations that gave new purchase to this age-old paranoia". The New World Order theory has resonated with right-wing extremist and militia groups – some claim that increased gun control in the US is proof that the Order is forcing the government to restrict individual freedoms, said the ISD. With its "language around elites", the theory is often mixed with antisemitic tropes, reinforcing the "narrative of Jewish people controlling global agendas". Not long after Barruel's history of the French revolution was published, he was "sent a letter by a man called Jean Baptiste Simonini, who alleged that Jews were also part of the conspiracy. "This letter – the original of which has never been found – continues to shape antisemitic conspiracy thinking to this day," said history professor Claus Oberhauser on The Conversation. The belief that the Illuminati had "infiltrated the ranks of European Jewish bankers in the nineteenth century" fed into the creation of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", the "transcript" of an invented meeting of Jewish leaders plotting world domination published in Russian in 1903, said the UCL historian Michael Berkowitz. This hoax document in turn led to the idea that "bankers/Jews/Illuminati were behind the Bolshevik Revolution – as well as the creation of the Federal Reserve system in the US". These conspiracy theories became particularly prevalent in the interwar years, said the American Jewish Committee, when "fascist propaganda claimed the Illuminati were a subversive element which served Jewish elites who were behind global capitalism and Soviet communism and were plotting to create a New World Order". Numerous pop-culture icons have been accused of having links to the Illuminati over the years, including Madonna, Kim Kardashian and LeBron James. Beyoncé was accused of being a member after making a diamond shape – a so-called Illuminati sign – with her hands during her performance at the 2013 Super Bowl. Her husband Jay-Z is also said to be part of the order and allegedly hides its symbols in his videos. Even Taylor Swift's love for the number 13 is seen as proof that she is a member. Some musicians seem to enjoy deliberately playing with symbols connected to secret societies. For instance, Rihanna has incorporated Illuminati images into her music videos and even jokes about the theories in the video for "S&M". It featured a montage of fake newspaper headlines, with one declaring her "Princess of the Illuminati". David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Jacob Rothschild and Queen Elizabeth II were all rumoured to be members. Katy Perry once told Rolling Stone the theory was the preserve of "weird people on the internet", but said she was flattered to be named among supposed members: "I guess you've kind of made it when they think you're in the Illuminati!"
Qatar Tribune
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Culture minister lays foundation stone for Voltaire Library and Museum
QNA Doha Minister of Culture HE Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Thani and Chairman of the Board of the Qatari-French school Voltaire HE Dr Ali bin Fetais Al Marri laid the foundation stone for the Voltaire Library and Museum in Doha on Sunday. The inauguration ceremony was held at the Voltaire School's Al Waab branch, in the presence of several cultural and diplomatic figures. In a statement to Qatar News Agency, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education HE Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi affirmed the ministry's commitment to educational diversity, noting the presence of several French and other international schools in the country. He emphasised that the creation of the Voltaire Library and Museum will transform the site into a global hub for French culture in Qatar, benefiting students, researchers, and the broader public. He added that this project represents a modern and innovative model that connects culture with education across all academic levels, contributing to the intellectual development of students and preparing them to be knowledgeable future citizens. Dr Al Nuaimi also noted the ministry's support for all schools in Qatar, including Voltaire School, and the state's broader interest in launching significant cultural initiatives like this one - expressing hope that similar projects will be replicated in other schools. Spanning an area of 8,000 square metres within the school campus, the Voltaire Library and Museum is considered a pioneering cultural initiative aimed at preserving the legacy of the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire and promoting intellectual dialogue and cross-cultural exchange. The project will feature a specialised library, reading and research spaces, and a theatre equipped with state-of-the-art sound technology. The museum will also house personal belongings and letters of Voltaire, offering visitors a unique opportunity to explore various facets of his life and intellectual contributions.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Voltaire's take on the ‘Utah Way'
Darci Stone holds a sign during the Stand Up For Science protest at the Utah State Capitol on the last day of the legislative session, Friday, March 7, 2025. (Photo by Alex Goodlett for Utah News Dispatch) Perhaps the most eloquent summation of America in the age of Donald Trump comes from the famous quote of eighteenth-century French Enlightenment philosopher and acerbic social critic François-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name as Voltaire. He wrote, 'Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.' Trump has been dragging this country into a land littered with 'absurdities' and non-reality since he rode down the escalator in 2015. Now in his second term, teamed up with apex predator and wolf in DOGE clothing, Elon Musk, those absurdities are in full bloom as authoritarian, Nazi-saluting moral atrocities. Public protests have sprung up throughout the country on almost every move Trump and Musk have made. One of the most important protest movements, but least publicized, is 'Stand Up for Science.' I attended the rally in Salt Lake City on March 8 along with hundreds of other Utahns. But next time the attendance should be hundreds of thousands. Two weeks ago, new director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, announced that EPA's mission would be flipped on its head, i.e. it would no longer be to protect human life, public health and our air, water, and environment from contamination, but to 'lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business.' Even from an economic standpoint this is an absurdity. On average the economic benefits to EPA regulations established through the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act have been about 30 times the cost to industry of complying with those regulations. Even the narrowest of interpretations of that equation finds a 3-to-1 benefit ratio. It is primarily thanks to EPA regulations on smoke stack and tail pipe emissions that Utah's particulate pollution (PM2.5) has generally improved in the last 20 years (although that improvement is being eroded by more wildfire pollution). A recent study from Utah scientists estimated that up to 8,000 Utahns die, and economic losses are up to $3.3 billion a year, due to current levels of pollution. Voltaire would have cringed at Zeldin boasting the EPA will do its part to 'power the great American comeback.' Comeback to what? More dead and sick Utahns and more economic losses? Even if you assign no economic value to your own health, quality of life, or life expectancy, fossil fuel generated energy is now more expensive than clean energy. On the EPA's official website, Zeldin boasts, 'We are driving a dagger through the heart of the climate change religion.' A MAGA cultist slandering the most important scientific reality in human history as a 'religion' is right from the authoritarian play book: accuse your opposition of the very atrocities you're committing. Over 99.9% of climate research dating back to 1807, has confirmed an accelerating climate crisis from increasing atmospheric CO2. It's been declared the greatest public health threat of the 21st century by the world's top 200 medical journals. Even the oil industry's scientists identified looming catastrophic global warming with 'shocking skill and accuracy' as early the 1970s. As we all know, the industry betrayed their own science, deciding that saving humanity would not interfere with quarterly profits. That Musk promotes himself as a scientific genius while spearing heading some of the most anti-science delusions infecting the Trump Administration is particularly galling. Trump's entire cabinet, their party's Congressional majorities, and even some Democrats have for years personified the scientific absurdity and moral atrocity warned about by Voltaire. For their part, our legislature keeps telling themselves that Utah is the best managed state in the nation. The 25,000-80,000 Utahns that died in the last decade from our air pollution might think otherwise. Our legislature is also disconnected from the wishes of their undead constituency, with their ongoing determination to wrest control of public lands away from the federal government, and to immunize Utah against mythical 'federal regulatory overreach.' A Colorado College annual poll found that 76% of Utahns want their leaders 'to place more emphasis on protecting water, air, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities over maximizing the amount of land available for drilling and mining.' Fifty-seven percent 'oppose giving state government control over national public lands,' such as forests, monuments, and wildlife refuges. Nearly two thirds support government action 'to reduce carbon pollution that contributes to climate change.' Yet our leaders persist in doing the opposite. For example, Utah has spent your tax dollars fighting the 'Good Neighbor Rule' which would have required reducing pollution from our coal power plants that send death and disease over to Colorado, as if those lives mean nothing. How does anyone square that moral failure with the Parable of the Good Samaritan whose virtue so many of our legislators hear extolled in their church services? If Voltaire targeted his pen on the vaunted 'Utah Way' in the era of Donald Trump, I'm pretty sure he would say, 'Yup, nailed it.'
The Guardian
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Candide review – a joyous, dazzling, bonkers satire
Ever been so ticked off by someone's obviously flawed ideas that you've wanted to pen a snarky takedown? Sure, you'd write it under a pseudonym – but you could live with the satisfaction that it was you who took down That Guy. Voltaire, philosopher of the French Enlightenment, lived this dream. His novella Candide, a satirical takedown of German philosopher Leibniz's optimism doctrine (the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds, since this is the one God created), was a massive hit in 1759 and remains a canonical work – spawning, among other things, an operetta which is now on stage at Sydney Opera House after a Melbourne season last year. Modelled on the popular adventure stories of the time, Voltaire's novella stretches Leibniz's axiom to its most ridiculous conclusions and puts it to the ultimate test. It revolves around Candide, a bastard nephew in a noble family and a student of Pangloss (Voltaire's stand-in for Leibniz). Banished for having the temerity to court the family's favourite daughter, he embarks on a world-spanning tour of calamities: repeatedly attacked, kidnapped, 'ravished', robbed, beaten, conscripted, capsized and swindled. Comedy doesn't always translate to new times, and Voltaire's satire of the worst human impulses and events is a tough hurdle to clear on stage: a potential tonal minefield. The operetta adaptation went through multiple books and adaptations over decades in an attempt to get the balance of comedy and tragedy right (the score, by Leonard Bernstein, has always been sublime). Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Thankfully, though, we have Dean Bryant, one of Australia's greatest directors, at the helm. Bryant works across plays, musicals, opera and cabaret, and has a gift for musical comedy; in his productions, language is given rhythm like music and musical numbers are given the directorial care and emotional heft often reserved for dramatic scene work. His production of Candide is a dazzling show, packed with joyous, clever craft: deeply confident, impeccably cast, stylish – and so glorious-sounding you'll want to follow the story, no matter which dubious places it chooses to take you or how laboured the book can be. This production sets the story in the performer's own accents, creating the initial castle fantasy with a hint of bogan flair – Cunegonde wears Crocs, jibbitz and all. The costumes, all winking confections, and the minimal but witty set pieces by Dann Barber, immediately communicate the tone: this is a satire. It's bonkers. But also, crucially, we're in safe hands. More specifically, we're often in Eddie Perfect's hands, who plays Voltaire (our narrator) and Pangloss. It's some of Perfect's strongest performance work: he fosters a sense of camaraderie that helps us roll with the (sometimes literal) punches and proves a fabulous foil for any attempt the production makes to get more serious than it needs to be. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion The cast is stacked with actors from the worlds of musical theatre, opera, or both. There's Lyndon Watts' Candide, who must be consistently, engagingly, funny, and also manage to make the one turn the operetta makes towards something sincere feel meaningful and earned (he nails it); Annie Aitken's Cunegonde, who gets the jewel of the score, Glitter and be Gay, and makes a deeply satisfying meal of it; and Euan Fistrovic Doidge, as Cunegonde's brother Maximilian, who gets the biggest laughs of the night in a second-act scene far too convoluted to distill here. Dominica Matthews, Eddie Muliaumaseali'i, Cathy-Di Zhang, John Longmuir and Andrew Moran all shine in smaller roles. And that Bernstein score! It's legendary, and rightly so – its overture alone is a beloved part of many an orchestral repertoire. It sounds so wonderfully alive in the hands of the Opera Australia orchestra and chorus under the deft guidance of conductor Brett Weymark. A dizzying tour through European musical styles – dashes of waltz, polka, gavotte and more, mixed with bright Broadway flourishes. Is this for everyone? Maybe not. Satire can feel awful if you're not in on the joke, the two-and-a-half hour running time demands a lot from an audience, and any work that's faithful to a doom-struck source text from the 1700s is going to be packed with images you may prefer to skip. But Bryant coaxes magic out of this beast, little queered spikes of subversion and giddiness. As the show ends with unexpected grace, that magic spills out into the audience: for a moment, it could soothe the calamities you carry. Candide is on at Sydney Opera House until 14 March
