What’s in a Name? The Illuminati, Just Another Secret Handshake Club?

The all-seeing I – Original artwork by Lorem Ipsum

A professor of law at Ingolstadt University called Adam Weishaupt is usually credited as being the man who first founded the Illuminati, on the 1st May 1776.

The original secret society that he created is also referred to as the Bavarian Conspiracy or the Order of Perfectabilists. And by all accounts it proved to be a very short-lived organisation, flourishing for less than a decade. It’s aim evidently was to infiltrate Freemasonry and thereby promote “freethinking” in line with current Enlightenment philosophy.

However, some social commentators at the time believed that this initial incarnation of the Illuminati was also responsible for orchestrating the events leading up to, and including, the French Revolution (1789-1799).

As an interesting aside, it is said that on reaching the highest level of this “oh-so” secret organisation members were finally informed that, “the only secret is that there is no secret”.

Anyway, what is strange, then, about all of this, is how the term Illuminati has come to now dominate our own popular culture of today. From conspiracy theories linking the Illuminati to every significant world event to have transpired in the past 350 years (the rise of Nazism, the JFK assassination, 9/11), to accusations of their controlling both Hollywood and every major recording artist currently releasing music (Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, One Direction etc) almost universally the so-called Illuminati are portrayed as being the evil masterminds behind a heinous plot to enslave mankind and take over the world.

On the one hand, Illuminati whistleblowers say it is the old money of Big Business families like the Rothschilds and the Rockerfellers which is behind such a plot. Whereas on the other, more paranoid self-appointed watchdogs, such as David Icke, argue that the Illuminati (along with its agenda of establishing one world government) is simply part of a millennia-old global conspiracy, being perpetrated by humanity’s reptilian shape-shifting extraterrestrial overlords so as to dupe us into submission.

Whatever the case, a great deal of fear has become stirred up in the minds of large sections of the community, especially amongst fundamentalist Christian groups it would seem.

Ironically, for many such Christians, the term Illuminati has become synonymous with the word Satanist. Why this is ironic is because Adam Weishaupt first founded his secret society as a way of propagating secular ideas and beliefs that were central to the Enlightenment thinking of his day. Meaning that he believed in the Devil no more than he did in God. In fact, he probably didn’t believe in either concept as being anything other than a superstitious leftover from a less enlightened age.

Misguided? Yes, perhaps, you could argue he was, depending on your own faith. But a Satanist? No. Adam Weishaupt worshipped reason and order over chaos and evil. So what is this legacy of his we have been left to contend with, this shadowy outfit he named the Illuminati? Well, I believe, the word Illuminati is a hollow name used solely as a marketing ploy by unscrupulous sellers of snake oil. Advertising executives and would-be, false prophets have latched onto it, in lieu of the term “Bogey Man”. Because, you know what, there’s only one thing that sells better than sex, and that’s FEAR!

And therefore as regards worrying about the actual existence of the Illuminati goes, my best advice to you comes by way of a very famous (non-reptitilian) terrestrial who once said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

Lady GaGa (Photo credit: ama_lia). Lady Gaga plays “peek-a-boo” with her fans in the hope of increasing record sales.

The Self-Published Author as Agent Provocateur

Tags:stockings garter lingerie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have a shameful secret to confess…Yes, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I am a self-published author (gasp!).

There, I said it. But, even so, I absolutely flatly refuse to accept that I am now therefore also guilty of that which we writer’s consider the most cardinal of sins: (dare I speak it’s heinous name?) Vanity Publishing.

No, you see, I prefer the term Guerilla Publishing™, to describe this desperate course of action I have chosen to take. The crumbling tyranny that is the book publishing establishment needs overthrowing, and my novel might just be the one to finally tip the balance.

So, if you like, you might like to think of my novel as being a kind of “dirty bomb” in the revolution to free the written word from corporate interests. I know I do.

Which brings me to the point of today’s blog, namely: the self-published author in the role of agent provocateur.

What exactly is an agent provocateur, I hear you ask? Well, here, I’ll let Wikipedia enlighten you:

“Traditionally, an agent provocateur (plural: agents provocateurs, French for “inciting agent(s)”) is an agent employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act.”

And so, what exactly is the “so-called” illegal act that I’m proposing the self-published author should be enticing or provoking others to commit?

Answer: Why, the buying of one’s savagely brilliant subversive novels, Stupid! Thereby cutting out the Fat Cat middle men of the traditional publishing world.

(Sorry, I didn’t mean to get personal just then, by calling you stupid. Forgive me, it’s just that I’m all hyped up with this revolutionary zeal!)

Anyway, I hear you next questioning my use of the term subversive. By which I simply mean that your novel now exists outside of the system, solely by way of its being self-published, that is.

So how is this done? How does the self-published author achieve sales?

Well, first off, it must be said that it only stands to reason that by the very act of choosing to self-publish the onus thereby also falls entirely on any such author to self-promote their work as well. Yes?

Ok. Well, as an agent provocateur one must learn how to “provoke” the reading public.

So be provocative. And you know what? I personally can’t think of anything more provocative than women’s lingerie. Trust me, sex sells! (see below, but only after stopping by Barnes and Noble, of course, where you can buy a very reasonably priced eBook copy of my novel, Missing Zero)

Agent Provocateur in Broadwick Street, Soho, London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)