The Secret is Out: The Straight Dope on Secret Societies

Secret Societies: Inside the Freemasons, the Yakuza, Skull and Bones, and the World's Most Notorious Secret Organizations: Inside the Freemasons, the Yakuza, Skull and Bones, and the World's Most Notorious Secret Organizations by John Lawrence Reynolds
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If this was a book about secret socities then we would not know they exist. Everyone knows about the Mason, Illuminati, Knights Templar and Skull and Bones . They are not secret if everyone knows about you, rather they are societies with secrets.

What is the point of secrecy? Many a times groups of people will go underground due to persecution and discrimination . Hiding so to speak. Sure it keeps you safe but in the end it can backfire. People will speculate behind what is going on behind close doors.

One prime example is a religion that is very prominent today. They went underground due to persecution. THey were accused of having orgies in the woods, eating babies and drinking blood. What group was this. Christians said this about witches but it was the Romans who said this about Christians. This is a result of secrets and the tidbits that do get out and then things get twisted by limited knowledge and half truths.

This is what did the Templars in . Starting off as a holy mission to protect CHristians in the Holyland. THe knights had a strict code to live by. They did not always adhere to this perfectly. After all they were humans with flaws. They had a banking system and acquire great wealth. Becoming a knight Templar could be prerofitable. In the end they had secrets and Sony enough a French king was in debt and with a corrupt pope in Cahoots they destroyed the Templars with claims of Blasphemy and idol worship. The society was destroyed . Some say that the Templars or survivors morphed into the Masons. THey have their own history. Read the book and find out.
The book covers a whole gamut of these societies. There is the usual Illuminati, Masons and your Templars etc. Among them are the Triads, Tongs and Yakuza and let us not forget the Mafia. Many of these criminal organizations started out with good intentions, like protecting people from oppressive outside forces only later they turn themselves into vehicle of suppression and crime.

These days peopple are overly paranoid about secret societies and they control over their lives. In reality they do not have that much influence over our lives. People network all the time. We call that friendship or alliances happens in all/ organizations. How secret are these secret so0cieties. May of us know their rituals and secret handshakes . The secret is out.

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