In his article about the UK's Internet Lodge 9659, William Shaw writes that in the 1970's, thanks to a high-profile bribery scandal involving a Mason, "The once-respected fraternity became perceived as furtive, conniving and ridiculous."
From what I've seen of the uninformed general public perception of the Freemasons (read: people with no personal knowledge or experience with Freemasonry other than what they read in an Alan Moore comic book or saw in a movie), that's a depressingly succinct description... the Masons are either a shadowy force bent on global domination, or a bunch of silly, self-important old guys with funny handshakes, aprons and hats.
Of course, if you want both angles at once, this week's episode of Psych, revolving around skullduggery by members of a secret society, probably won't disappoint. From what I've glimpsed in the teaser commercials, at least it looks like a fictional fraternity. And I'll admit, I'm a fan of the show, so I'm actually sort of looking forward to it... a light comedy take on the subject should be a lot easier to watch than all of the tabloid "documentaries" that I'm always ranting about.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment