I am late to this particular game but can we discuss how creepy The Family is?

wikipedia link

I only really noticed this because of the most recent set of Doonesbury strips; I've kind of tuned out of most of the news networks and I didn't notice this up on CNN.com. I thought Trudeau made them up until seeing Jeff Sharlet on The Daily Show last night.

I find the entire idea behind this incredibly unsettling and kind of want to devote my life to unmasking every politician touched by this (which, creepily, seems like every male member of Congress...?).

ugh

You mean because the members are (allegedly) Christians? Because if not, how is it different from like Skull and Bones, or the fact that so many gov't officials went to an Ivy?

Because allegedly the members believe that the teachings of God are not actually meant for the masses, but instead a controlling elite who intend to govern on his behalf; that is not really what I want as the foundation of my government.

Also the wiki thing that says members deny that the organization exists is nonsense, because I know someone who belongs to this and he's very open about it. Although maybe that means he's not really in it...like the Rosicrucians or whatever.

I don't actually know all that much about this other than vaguely unsettling things said by Sharlet on TDS last night, which is one reason why I started this thread; I'm sure someone else on the board knows more and I want them to tell me about it.

Also Hillary Clinton is a member, as my friend frequently reminded me last year.

Rachel Maddow has been talking about these guys for over a month...they are fucking terrifying.

Also based on what you're saying, they have Straussian views, which are based on a reading of Plato's Republic in which the philosopher-kings rule using a "noble lie" to keep the masses in order. Lots of neocons in the Bush admin were Straussians too, esp. Wolfowitz. I know quite a bit more about this but I'd rather not get into it, since I'd have to break my anonymity to do so. But yeah, it's scary stuff.

Here's an epic Harper's article about them.

By Sharlet

Thought this was an ILM thread -- obligatory .jpg.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_GQtuh1Q_luQ/R5lUGfIkIPI/AAAAAAAABv0/WoB9d9PmZfs/s320/The+Family+-+The+Family+-.jpg

oh man i havent even managed to join the masons yet, and now i have to bring the game to a whole new level

wtf dude have we had this conversation before or are we still on some creepy wavelength because last year I was making serious plans to join the Masons up until I started digging more into the whole belief bit of it

I know nothing about the masons, what belief bits didn't you like, Dan?

hahaha hivemind strikes again! i dont think we have talked about it, but i hit the exact same snag.

I'm thinking HI DERE is talking about the fact that you have to attest that you believe in some higher power - no specifications of what, and you are actually never supposed to ask another mason what theres is.

I was trying to decide if I could honestly define it as my belief in math as a higher level organizer of the world (dont ask, this is what spending too much time studying formal logic will do to you).

I think the Masons is harder to get into....FOR WOMEN!!!!

this family thing is like a billion times creepier than masons tho. masons are cool and actually do good things for the world, which seems to be where the family is missing the mark (not that they would agree of course).

xpost: yeah, what is the mason thing again for young girls? Daughters of Job?

i know a dude who joined a freemason lodge, sort of for laffs but mostly for bipolar delusional reasons

not for the young girls?

hahaha yeah the way i worded that was uh unfortunate

btw I will read that Family article later tonight when I have time to really pay attention to it but one thing I know was mentioned on TDS last night was that they have a deal with some Christian women's organization where these young women come in and cook and clean for them because that is their role as defined by God, which is you know kind of a big fucking pile of shit

You mean I can stop my handmaidenly duties? This apron is officially rent in twain!

If God (R., Kans.) says anything I'm gonna quote you abt the shit thing Dan!

Feel free, I am prepared to take on a powerful secret society with my bare hands.

Because allegedly the members believe that the teachings of God are not actually meant for the masses, but instead a controlling elite who intend to govern on his behalf; that is not really what I want as the foundation of my government.

Isn't this the opposite of Straussian? I was under the impression Strauss treated religion like something for the masses, but the supposed elites could use it as a reference to keep people sympathetic to their plan, although the leaders could all be atheists and just be doing lip service to religion. Strauss was an atheist, I believe.

They're also creepy for meeting proudly with dictators who are known to be thoroughly corrupt and brutal murderers and all that. I watch so much news at this point that I can't remember all the details from a month ago, but RM has been pretty on their trail with the whole C Street House scandal.

And for believing that any transgressions or lapses of their members are best handled internally, among others who believe themselves to be a similarly privileged elite, than exposed to the same approval/disapproval or rule of law that the rest of us are subject to.

That's a good point. What I meant by Straussian was the view that the masses should believe something that the elites believe false, and that the ruling elites should use this (false) belief to help in governance. Note that members of the Family are known to deny that they're Christians, because they believe that Christianity, as an organized religion for the masses, isn't what they believe; they are followers of Christ but that's not the same thing, they say.

xp

The whole "young girls who cook and clean" thing surprises me NOT AT ALL. It's thoroughly squicky but I mean come on, that's the logical extension of all that conservative and Evangelical bullshit, even if MOST people who talk it have made compromises with it in order to, you know, LIVE NORMALLY.

Laurel, how is that different than how our secular elites treat the rule of law?

until this thread i had basically no idea what the hell the last couple weeks of doonesbury were about, so thanks for that i guess guys ~

I guess because the Family et al believe that they've been appointed by God? True, assholes are assholes, but I'm more wary/frightened of people who think their rise is divinely ordained.

That makes sense. I'm kinda leery of overgeneralizing too much about the Family because it encompasses lots of different politicians at present of quite different views. Like, a group with Heath Shuler, Hillary Clinton, and Jim Inhofe covers a lot of political ground (as far as top US politicians go). I'm not sure that I'd make too much of conspiracy-type theories about them, if you can't pinpoint what the payoff has been after all the time. It's not like we're all that close to a theocracy, despite all our Bush-years handwringing. Corporate power is still where the action's at.

Well, there's videotape of the organization's leader (either the founder or the son of the founder, I forget) giving some kind of sermon to the elite members of the group that's downright "did he just -- he just SAID that! He did!!" Of course I can't quote verbatim.

I got about 2/3rds into that harpers article but had to pause because i'm pretty sure i was going to have a panic attack if i didn't

Hillary got down with The Fam when she entered the Senate, didn't she?

have not read the harper's article yet. my guess is this is kind of nothing organization -- what do they even do? other than make GOP pols and fellow travelers feel like they're in on something serious?

they are available in an attractive pack

The most innocuous view I can manage to form about The Family, based on my reading of that Harper's article, is that it is essentially a self-perpetuating vehicle of power. It provides a reason and a space for the powerful to establish relationships with each other in order to magnify their own temporal influence. "Jesus" here seems less an object of worship, and more of an organizing principle, and perhaps a model of correct behavior. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of this pseudo-religious pretext is the way it absolves members of The Family of their own greed, selfishness, and lust for power. It grants them license to use any and all means to satisfy those vicious hungers.

It's important to note that the sanction of "divine right" here isn't in place to justify authority, since the most prominent members of The Family are powerful and influential of their own achievement. Rather, "divine right" is a salve on what little conscience these members may have left, and a prophylactic against the natural impulses of compassion, generosity, or mercy.

Ultimately, this aspect makes it pretty similar to many organizations, secret and not, who claim divine right to power. But it's still utterly chilling and monstrous in its implications. Absolutely terrifying.

more Sharlet in re What They Do for those who think it's all prayer breakfasts and handjobs

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488

some interesting stuff on Fresh Air about this guys a few weeks ago during the hieght of the Sanford/Ensign stuff.

Essentially worldly wealth and power are signs of God's favor so good works are not really terribly important - you got the gold? You make the rules!

Maybe i got my Weber wrong but it isn't being predestination and divine right what Calvinism is all about? And in some senses all that they're representing is a bit present in Protestantism generally?

They're raising an army to KILL VAMPIRES!

lol

Sharlet (who I think is a stone cold pimp btw) was on Freash Air last night going on about these dudes. Personally, I would like to somehow be involved in their total ruination. Anyone have any ideas??