On Free Masonry


To be honest, I would much rather see high minded intellectuals who believe in God, believe in the eradication of ignorance, and the ennoblement of mankind, in charge and steering the ship of state than verbose bullies whose only claim to fame are long robes of velvet and goldthread.

Free masons and I, as far as I can tell, have similar aims: to wrench society from its backwardness, mired as it is in the swamp of ignorance, superstition, and fear, and bring it in to the light of a promising new dawn.

I have more in common with men who are in awe of and view the universe as a wondrous architectural construct worthy of lifelong contemplation, than with men who proffer superstition, pseudo-sexual chastisement, and fear, and issue (not so) veiled threats of eternal damnation willy-nilly.

Those with an imperfect knowledge of the subject, who spew ignorance, prejudice, and politico-religious dogma on the air, are hardly men worthy or learned enough to debate the merits or dangers of free masonry, regardless of how many degrees they hold or hang on their walls.

Malik Maktabi’s program, which tackled the subject on LBC a few nights ago, failed in bringing any real damning evidence to bear against Free Masonry, instead the program descended into utter chaos as everyone attempted to speak all at once; such a feat maybe possible in Opera, where music allows different voice levels to sing at once and be in perfect harmony, but this does not work very well in talk shows.

I made the mistake once of believing the very convincing propaganda against Free Masons and even went as far as to write about them disparagingly. I unfairly lumped them with the enemies of my country (Zionists) without proof, that sacrosanct of all things to journalists.

Action without calm considered thought can lead to regrettable outcomes. Something once said or written is very difficult to take back. But here I am trying to do so and I’d like to think I’m a big enough man to admit when I’m wrong.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Orosdi-Back: A lost Beyrouth department store from an elegant age

Image
My mother told me it was located on ‘ Banks Street ’ in Down Town Beirut , the road that leads up to Riad el Solh Square . On most maps the street is also named after Riad el Solh. The store was located opposite Bank Intra, or so I was told. Presumably the location of the store was indicative of the high end goodies on sale inside. The closest comparison to Orosdi Back is the old Allied’s department store in Dubai , for those who remember Dubai in the 1980s. But Orosdi Back was a store from a different age, an age of elegance as opposed to the vulgar modern excesses of the nouveau-riche, something Beirut ’s Down Town is synonymous with! A wonderful blog dubbed ‘language hat’ published some information about the founders of this chain of department stores. According to the blog the chain of stores came about as a result of a partnership between Adolf Orosdi, a Hungarian army officer and his sons who opened a clothing store in Galata in 1855, and the Back family, who were Aust...
Read more

A Reluctant Resistance: Will They, Won't They Strike, Who Knows

Image
It’s hard for anyone to admit that they have wasted their life believing in an idea that was unrealistic and naïve even at its inception. The idea that Palestine could be liberated is one such idea that just won’t die, it keeps recirculating and reinfecting us with hope. Every 20 or 30 years some regional power decides to use this idea of liberation to achieve some kind of political success over the populations of countries in its region that it wishes to dominate.   Palestine is the perfect idea and cause, pure and good and just, just like the tale of the crucified Jesus. A story of gross injustice and cruelty heaped on a man preaching a new age religion. Same with the plight of the Palestinian people, gross injustice and cruelty. Jesus actually preached and healed and drove out demons in the very environs over which fanatical Western Jews are fighting and burning out farmers and villagers of the West Bank who have more Semitic and Canaanite DNA than many European Jews that ru...
Read more

Palestine's 100 Years War: How Our Militant Past Predicts Our Future

Image
Palestine’s 100 Years War The Past Rarely Predicts the Future, Except in the Middle East   “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” — Ernest Hemingway, 1946   For as long as I can remember my region has been at war. Everyone alive today can attest to the veracity of such a statement. We cheer the men at arms as they go off to fight, we condemn the failure to find a peaceful solution, we admire the fighter, we condemn the terrorist. We are the same people, the great mass of seated spectators, they whom we cheer and condemn, are also the same, the same breed of angry and desperate men and who can blame them, their lives have been hell.   Searching the vast archives of the internet for one of my own, a distant cousin who was one of those angry desperate men, I found an article dated March 22, 1973, in the El Paso Herald-Post titled “Middle East prediction: the worst is yet to come”. It was earie and ...
Read more