Cults/Secret Societies

A subject that I seem to be hearing a lot about lately is on cults and secret societies among us. There was the whole Scientology thing, made most public by the recent South Park episodes. I also happened to read Angels and Demons a couple months ago (written by the same author of Da Vinci Code), which talks a lot about secret societies dating back hundreds of years in history. And just this morning, I was reading an article in the Chicago Tribune talking about how most of the sushi restaurants we eat at, get their sushi from a company that is closely connected to a Korean religious cult.

I guess I always believed that these things existed, but never really thought about them much. They made for good stories in movies (like The Skulls) or TV (the Simpsons' Stonecutters episode), but I just figured that kind of stuff was exaggerated for effect. In my mind, either those cults or secret societies used to exist and aren't really active anymore, or maybe they still exist, but don't really have any influence on "mainstream" society.

Now, I'm not so sure that I should take the subject so lightly. The sushi-Korean cult connection was especially surprising, since I love sushi and I go to sushi restaurants pretty often. Last weekend I went to Mirai in the city for the first time, and loved the food, but now after reading the Trib article, all these nagging thoughts are popping up in my mind.

When I was enjoying all those delightful fatty tuna rolls, was I providing financial support to some wacko who holds mass weddings and believes he is the Messiah? Worse yet, what if one day these crazy cult people decide to mess with my food in some mind-controlling or mass poisoning campaign, how would I know? Is it too late, am I already programmed to assassinate the Malaysian president at a fashion show at a later date?

There was also this Scientology article I read a few weeks ago, where this investigative reporter guy joined the group for a week and then reported on his experience. I don't know the credibility of this guy, but some of the accounts are very disturbing. And I'm not just talking about the wild stories they believe in, or the fact that the "religion" was started by a science-fiction writer, it goes way farther than that.

He describes about how everyone who joins has to reveal all their personal secrets, which go into a file that they can bring out to blackmail or discredit the person if they try to quit. Or how they have trained experts available at helping you max out your credit to pay for Scientology "treatments". How once you get sucked in, they can pretty much make you do slave labor as punishments if you piss off any higher ranking members (or as they call it, levels of Operating Thetans).

Then there's the discussion of secret societies like the Illuminati and Freemasons in Angels and Demons. Based on the inaccuracies and misleading facts I learned about when researching Da Vinci Code, plus the fact that it's a fiction novel, I would probably put the least stock in what's in this book.

Even so, I think some of the general "facts" mentioned are worth considering and thinking about. People formed these secret societies for a reason, and the fact that they have survived and perhaps thrived for so long says a lot. They obviously know what it takes to support themselves financially, and assert their interests in the political system.

How much of our banking system is run by those in these secret societies? What about the chancellors and professors at major universities, are they members too? Is it true that our senators, governors, and even our Presidents are members of these societies? Did they get to power because of their secret ties, and are their actions as government officials, bankers, CEO's, professors, etc., heavily influenced by the interests of these societies they belong to?

I don't know if I'll ever get those questions answered, but all the doubts that come up when I think about these things leave me feeling unsettled. I could be paranoid, but if any of it's true, I wonder if I could even do anything about it anyways.

Am I going to shun the entire educational system because I think I'll get brainwashed by cult ideology? Should I boycott all banks and store all my money in the form of gold bars, so that I'm not supporting some secret society? Most importantly, am I really going to stop eating sushi?

The answer is, of course, no way, I love sushi. Gonna keep eating it until I die, whether it's of natural causes or as a victim of religious cult's purging mission. Yes, I guess it's true, as they say, "ignorance is bliss".