Illuminatism

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The internet is awash with theories about the Illuminati, a mysterious group that conspiracy theorists believe is seeking a 'New World Order' that would impose a totalitarian world government. Among the alleged members of the secret society are not just politicians and religious leaders, but actors and pop stars.

Echoing the anti-communist witch-hunts and black-listings of 1950s Hollywood, one of the core beliefs of Illuminati watchers is that the entire entertainment industry has been infiltrated and that Illuminati members are using the media to brainwash the masses.

Are the Illuminati real?

Yeah. They were, at least.

The Illuminati came into being on May 1, 1776 as the Order of the Illuminati, or the Bavarian Illuminati, as it's known today. While not much is known about the group (most of what's written about them is in German), they began as a secret society, initially with five members—that would go on to include dukes and literary men in Bavaria—who opposed the Roman Catholic Church's power over science and philosophy, and who sought to free themselves from the church and restrictions of the government. This is the Age of Enlightenment we're talking about here, so they also wanted to "enlighten" people about their superstitions and prejudices.

But, like most secret societies, they didn't stay very "secret" for long, and people gossiped about the mission of the group. Some believed they were behind the French Revolution and had their eyes on other governments to take down.

What is the New World Order?

Despite its relative popularity success, the idea of a powerful modern Illuminati conspiring to rule the world remained a niche belief upheld by a handful of cranks until the 1990s. The spread of the internet changed all that, giving conspiracy theorists a global platform to expound their beliefs and present their evidence to a massive audience.

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/PROOFS_OF_A_CONSPIRACY_John_Robison.pdf

"BEING AT a friend's house in the country during some part of the summer 1795, I there saw a volume of a German periodical work, called Religions Begebenheiten, i.e. Religious Occurrences; in which there was an account of the various schisms in the Fraternity of Free Masons, with frequent allusions to the origin and history of that celebrated association."

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