Anti-Mason email attacks ATS

I just saw this on another site, someone appears to be posting a chain email

"This email is brought to you by the Anti Corruption Party (a support group for victims of Freemasonry)"

"We must advise you to avoid the conspiracy site "Above Top Secret". Totally run by Masons who ban or discredit anything anti-Masonic or any logical, reasonable point of view."

forums.mirror.co.uk... rt=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

forums.mirror.co.uk...

I found that a bit odd, I've never noticed threads being overly shut down, or anything like that, and when you look at the statements Skeptic made on it, for example

"AboveTopSecret.com is a venue for speculating on and discussing conspiracy theories and is not now nor ever will be expected to be a destination dedicated to the defense of Masonry. "

"It's unfortunate that there are Mason members who are unwilling to fathom the idea that the core ideals upon which ATS was founded will tend to attract topics that are often highly critical of Masons and Masonry. We welcome your participation in the debate and need your balance in the search for where the truth might lay. However... your participation must be within the confines of our Terms & Conditions and with the understanding that ATS is an inherently unsympathetic environment to certain groups. "

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Is criticism of masonry being suppressed by ATS, and is the site "Totally run by Masons"?

I don't think so based on the statements by Skeptic, but what do you think?

[edit on 16/7/2008 by bobafett]

reply to post by bobafett


Considering that persons from both sides of the debate have been banned over the course of this sites existence I would have to say it does not. I am sure, however, that you can find people to support this view as it is one that is occasionally used as an attack from people opposed to Masons and Masonry, particularly on a conspiracy site.

Well all I can say is that members from both sides of the fence have gone under the hammer and it's always the same reason, they have repeatably violated the T&C of the board.
The warning I find funny, that letter is blaming ATS rather than the fact that the majority of the few Masons who are members here can debate well and hold there own ground.

Thats my personal belief and in no way am I speaking for "The Above Network"

[edit on 16/7/2008 by Sauron]

The originator of that email is a known guy with mental health issues, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way. He has for years suffered from paranoid schizophrenia with delusions of grandeur. As with most people in that condition, he has created a extraordinarily large and powerful enemy which he does truly think is constantly after him. If you look at the people in his "Anti-Corruption Party" and their writing style and points, it becomes pretty clear almost all of them are different personalities of the same guy. Every now and then he seems to get someone to believe him, usually a very radical anti-mason but in the end accuses them of being a mason and refuses to talk to them.

The way it works is that anyone who disagrees with him - about anything - is a mason. He got banned here for going off the rocker and saying some pretty bad things, and as such ATS is now masonic. He has 5 or 6 "templates" he has saved which he goes around posting to numerous message boards, changing only a little bit of it not to make it seem like a complete diatribe. Anyone who opposes immediately is pronounced as being a mason and part of the conspiracy.

He claims he has "proof" of his persecution but has always failed to provide anything close to it. One time I saw he mentioned that a telemarketer offered him something on the phone and then it came on the TV a few minutes later, and this was "proof" the masons were listening in on his calls.

It only takes reading a few of his sentences to figure out hes suffering from mental problems. I would of course wish he'd find some other "enemy," but as this is a mental health issue you really can't do anything but hope that he seeks help. I would not take his claims about ATS, or anything, seriously.

Yes, I go around watching the worst of the anti-masons on the internet. He always uses the same name and if not, the same template, so its easy to google him. Its kind of a hobby to watch the anti-masons for me .

[edit on 16-7-2008 by ALightinDarkness]

reply to post by bobafett


Sounds like our favourite 'second family' man with issues. Basically, he's arguing again and again and again (sans substantiation I might add) that Masons are taking over England one copper and judge at a time and turning the entire justice system into a mutual 'get-out-of-parking-tickets-free' system. But describing them as ridiculous doesn't go near far enough. Use the search function if you need a head-shaker

reply to post by ALightinDarkness


Wow, that's a pretty robust set of observations. Could it be that you are developing psychological profiles on ATS members? It's kind of creepy.

As for the email, the world is full of garbage mail and the internet is the epitome of a 'breeding ground' for emotionally charged vitriol.

Personally, my only concern is the reference to the ATS web site by name. I would expect that ignoring this would probably be more effective to silence the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind, certainly more so than shining a 'legal spotlight' on the author - which would probably taken as more 'proof' of a conspiracy against him or her.

Originally posted by Fitzgibbon
reply to post by bobafett

 

Basically, he's arguing again and again and again (sans substantiation I might add) that Masons are taking over England one copper and judge at a time and turning the entire justice system into a mutual 'get-out-of-parking-tickets-free' system.

I thought we'd taken over England centuries ago....BUGGER!.....twice is gonna be a pain.

Originally posted by Maxmars
reply to post by ALightinDarkness

 

Wow, that's a pretty robust set of observations. Could it be that you are developing psychological profiles on ATS members? It's kind of creepy.

Its kind of sad when you cant put two and two together, so I'll spell it out for you as I find I often have to do with you: I am a member of various forums. Joe Stirling has tried or attempted to post on almost all of them. When someone posts all under the same 2-3 handles and all of them have the **EXACT** same template with just a few words changed, its pretty obvious.

And when you read his examples of "persecution," its pretty obvious he has severe mental issues. He even thinks his family are all a bunch of masons out to get him because they tried to take him to a psychiatrist.

Well... Given that I not only was given the chance to debate a Mason here about Freemasonry having issues, I was ENCOURAGED to do so! LOL! So whatever this guy has to say is...not exactly correct!

Geez.

(Link to my debate: www.abovetopsecret.com... )

[edit on 7/16/2008 by Amaterasu]

Originally posted by bobafett
Is criticism of masonry being suppressed by ATS, and is the site "Totally run by Masons"?

I don't think so based on the statements by Skeptic, but what do you think?

I think I know. One of the cool things about ATS and the staff as well, is the complete diversity of it. Multi national, various religious denominations, atheists, different orientations, multi-cultural, Masons, non-Masons; the staff is a microcosm of the membership. The idea that any particular specific viewpoint could be pushed by the staff (other than adherence to the T&C) is ludicrous to anyone who's been around and observed awhile.

Guerrilla ontology, to me, involves shaking up that certainty. I use what in modern physics is called the "multi-model" approach, which is the idea that there is more than one model to cover a given set of facts. As I've said, novel writing involves learning to think like other people. My novels are written so as to force the reader to see things through different reality grids rather than through a single grid. It's important to abolish the unconscious dogmatism that makes people think their way of looking at reality is the only sane way of viewing the world.
-Robert Anton Wilson

Sorta wished he'd lived up to that, but still an excellent quote.

[edit on 16/7/2008 by ForkandSpoon]