I've been reading some books that touch on Medieval history, especially about the organization known as the Knights Templar. I never cared much for history when I was younger, but now I find it fascinating, so much so that I like it better than reading Science Fiction or Fantasy. As I read more history, it becomes clearer how things connect up from the past to the present. I mentioned the Cathars in a previous posting, purely as a fun and obscure historical fact that probably few people know about. Then I found their website, and... wow! History moves into the present, tying in with current events.
The Cathars, a religious sect described in many definitions as having disappeared (or been brutally supressed and exterminated, depending on the political tone of the definer), are still alive and they are coming after the Catholic church in its moment of weakness, perhaps in revenge for their persecution 700 years ago!
"According to C S Lewis, had it not been for the persecution of the Cathars, the culture of the Languedoc would have spawned a Renaissance nearly two centuries before that in Italy"
Here is an article hostile to the Cathars/Albigenses.
Here is an Orthodox Church site with a short article more sympathetic to the Cathars and a nice map. (Of course, the Orthodox church has its own axe to grind with the Catholic church)
Did you know, the infamous phrase "Kill them all, let God sort them out" (which I always thought came from some printer of T-Shirts for sale in Soldier Of Fortune magazine) is reported to have been said during the Albigensian Crusade (the crusade sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the Cathars in Southern France) by the Papal Legate? The quote of that time was supposedly "Slay all; God will know His own." The Catholic Encyclopedia denies this was ever said.
NPR's SoundPrint had a program called I Married the Masons
"We have met the enemy and he is us"
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Booknotes had an interview with Jon Ronson who wrote a book called Them: Adventures With Extremists, a humorous account of his time spent with various extremist enemies of Western Democracy, and his quest to locate the secret rulers of the world (which all the extremists believe to exist.) The interview was very entertaining - Ronson has a light-hearted personality and his grounded views on the people he spoke to were very refreshing. I'm definitely going to buy the book. |  |
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On 27 March 2002, "NPR" had an interview with humorist Harry Shearer about his new film called Teddy Bear's Picnic.
"It's a satire of the goings-on at the Bohemian Grove, an exclusive retreat in the Northern California woods. The richest and most powerful men gather in the Grove. Their activities are kept secret, but a lot of drinking is involved. Shearer visited the Grove in order to write the script."
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Bohemian Grove is one of the places Jon Ronson writes about in his book. He sneaked into a ceremony along with Alex Jones "a far-right-wing conspiracy theorist" where they witnessed the burning of a human figure in effigy. Alex jones "believed that the 'Cremation of Care' proved that the secret rulers of the world practice human sacrifice." - Ronson said he has some bad video clips of the event on his website.
Go to Booknotes and read the transcript, it is very interesting!
Here's a bit more:
"...what happened with me and Alex is that we both witnessed this owl-burning ceremony, and I realized that it was a silly grown-up frat kind of nonsense. And the only thing that shocked me was this is -- you know, how the president of the United States wants to spend his summer vacations witnessing this, you know, torchlight procession, which I thought was kind of odd.
But Alex, of course, had his own spin on it, which was that -- it was human sacrifice! Maybe that's a real person that -- that the -- so I went off with my spin, which was, you know, a kind of moderate spin, that it's not that crazy, it's understandable. And Alex went back to his people with his own incredibly crazy spin.
And you know, just a couple of weeks ago, an Alex Jones fan tried to break into Bohemian Grove heavily armed and kill everybody there because he believed Alex Jones's spin of the -- of the owl ceremony as being evidence of human sacrifice."
1:43:39 AM 
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