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AIBU?

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Original poster

To not understand Masonic lodges

314 replies

Bearbehind · 04/02/2018 20:50

Just been talking to a friends who's husband is a head honcho mason.

He's called the Grand Master or something equally ridiculous.

Apparently throughout a masons 'career' they get to fill in certain blanks in the book and only at the top level do you get to fill in all the blanks.

AIBU to think WTAF?

What is the point in this seemingly childish behaviour in grown men?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Slapdasherie · 05/02/2018 23:02

Do they still do the Happy happy happy to see you chant with the flappy hand movements?

ParkheadParadise · 05/02/2018 23:23

Do they still do the Happy happy happy to see you chant with the flappy hand movements?

😂😂😂😂

Tapandgo · 05/02/2018 23:39

All of the Masons I know are self-applauding misogynistic mansplaining arses

Crikey - we must know the same people.

Secret societies with dodgy handshakes, weird rituals and even odder progression routes! The senior lodges must laugh at the ‘ordinary masons’ who think it’s all about meeting the lads and charity! It is a corrupt organisation that has stopped justice in many a trial ( some documented and available to read on the internet).

Tapandgo · 05/02/2018 23:42

It is actually forbidden to try and gain pecuniary advantage through membership
Yeh right........

NeedsAsockamnesty · 05/02/2018 23:44

www.ugle.org.uk/document-archive/book-of-constitutions/6-information-for-the-guidance-of-members-of-the-craft/file

Hardly secretive.

And there own rules prohibit a lot of the nonsense always spouted on these threads

Tapandgo · 05/02/2018 23:49

However, it's not just in Parliament that the influence of the Masons is allegedly still being felt. Former Police Federation chairman Steve White recently claimed that the group's influence acted as an obstacle to both reform and the progression of women and people from ethnic minorities within the police force. "What people do in their private lives is a matter for them. When it becomes an issue is when it affects their work," he said in December, before stepping down as chair. "There have been occasions when colleagues of mine have suspected that Freemasons have been an obstacle to reform Quoted in The Guardian

Carouselfish · 05/02/2018 23:49

Ah, my grandmother's grandfather build the first 'lodge' in Australia. When her father died unexpectedly when she was a child, the masonic institute paid for her private schooling at a pretty amazing boarding school.
So, I've got positive associations. But actually, I don't really understand what it's about...

butterfly56 · 05/02/2018 23:50

Nobody understands Masonic lodges. They’re a mystery on par with finding out what happens to socks in a washing machine

^^ LOL so funny!! Grin

Rachie1973 · 05/02/2018 23:50

wisterialanes
My paternal side were all FM's as 30-40 years ago you couldn't get into certain jobs unless you were one, eg police/fire service, judge

LOL My Father joined the Police force in 1971. He climbed through the ranks fairly easily, he has never been a Mason.

Tapandgo · 05/02/2018 23:57

Project Riverside, a 2008 report on the rogue private investigations industry by the Serious Organised Crime Agency, also claimed criminals attempt to corrupt police officers through Freemason members in a bid to further their interests.Concerns over the influence of freemasons on the criminal justice system in 1998 led former Home Secretary Jack Straw to order that all police officers and judges should declare membership of the organisation.However, ten of Britain’s 43 police forces refused to take part and the policy was dropped under threat of legal action. In England and Wales, the Grand Master of the Freemasons is Prince Edward, Duke of Kent. The United Grand Lodge of England declined to comment last night.The Independent revealed last week that Operation Tiberius found that organised crime syndicates such as the Adams family and the gang led by David Hunt were able to infiltrate the Met “at will”

IndigoMoonFlower · 06/02/2018 00:28

Im not surprised to read this either. It's old news, but probably still a problem.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/revealed-how-gangs-used-the-freemasons-to-corrupt-police-9054670.html

Pinga · 06/02/2018 01:26

My (then) husband lost the job he had studied/worked for, for 6 years because of masons. They engineered a situation so he was falsely blamed for something. He lost his job, we had to move and ultimately it wrecked our marriage.
Both my grandads were masons. At my grandad M's funeral about 12 of them marched in, in seriously smart black suits. It was seriously creepy.

Masons are not people I would knowingly chose to have anything to do with.

Slapdasherie · 06/02/2018 01:35

ParkHeadParadise

It's truly a sight to behold an entire room of elderly men doing a jingle/dance that wouldn't be out of place at a pre-school. Or maybe The Generation Game with Brucie back in the day.

From memory, they cupped their hands without actually touching them right over left for the first line and then left over right for the second line, which I remember as Happy Happy Happy to see you go and alternated with some other flappy bits at various points.

Ivebeenaroundtheblock · 06/02/2018 01:48

the freemasons/masons/shriners seem to garnish the same type of responses on MN as the other pro and against topics (breastfeeding, circumcision, porn)
the men in my family who have been involved are kind charity focused individuals who enjoyed the camaraderie.
as for group loyalty with voting or collusion no more so that any other group or non group of male/females (yes i'm talking about you G)!
they are a massive international organization.
now my question is why on earth did the op not bother to check out wiki or youtube?? honestly frustrating

Rumpledfaceskin · 06/02/2018 07:18

The thing is no one whose father/husband is a mason is going to admit there’s anything wrong with it. All the PPs defending it seem to have family connections to it so that kind of proves the point. But they don’t go to meetings, they don’t actually know what the purpose of the lodge is, they rely on what their told by their family members. I’ve no doubt some lodges will be better than others and I’m sure they’re not blatant about corruption. In fact I’m sure many don’t even view it as corruption.

Tapandgo my main issue with it is that within the criminal justice system being a Freemason seems to override any other position. Criminals will influence police decisions, who then influence CPS decisions, who then influence judges. Surely if you work in the criminal justice system, you should have to declare Masonic connections? We don’t really have a ‘justice’ system in this county. I’m sure it’s come on leaps and bounds but I doubt Masonic influence (corruption) has been eradicated in 20 years, especially when some of those people will still be working within it.

ParkheadParadise · 06/02/2018 11:18

@Slapdasherie
😂😂😂
Well they need to keep fit, I heard they do a lot of walking in July 😉

liz70 · 06/02/2018 11:24

I don't know anything about them, but 8 year old DD3 loves sitting on the "grand chair" on the stage at our local lodge while she's waiting to start her karate class. Grin

Tapandgo · 06/02/2018 12:09

The Masons isn’t like a working mans club beyond they have men in. Working men’s club don’t require you to take secret oaths - nor do they help out brother masons to pervert the course of justice!
Of course there are members in the lower ranks who have not influence beyond the mundane ‘mateship’ - but I think it’s the higher orders we need to be wary of. No excuse claiming ignorance of it - it’s pretty well documented in some famous trials that went belly up do to Masonic interference and that includes innocent people being convicted, evidence being ‘lost’ and the guilty walking free.

computationalAspects · 06/02/2018 13:50

"Surely if you work in the criminal justice system, you should have to declare Masonic connections?"

Why? What possible outcome could there be from your 'declaration'?

Conflicts of interest are declared but being members of the same organisation falls well outside this.

Blackteadrinker77 · 06/02/2018 14:28

I laugh when people go on about the "Handshake".

It shows that they know nothing, there are a lot more than one.

Primarkismyonlyoption · 06/02/2018 18:29

So how many are there?

Rumpledfaceskin · 06/02/2018 19:38

Nope, being a mason and working in the criminal justice system, whether that’s as a police officer, part of CPS, or a judge is by the the very nature a conflict of interest if it’s kept secret, Someone on this thread has admitted on a public forum someone they know had a reduced sentence due to Masonic connections. If they had to declare their membership it would at least give more transparency and they wouldn’t be able to get away with nefarious behaviour quite so easily. If, as they claim, membership should hold no sway over professional decisions (I know otherwise to be the case for some and that is cold hard fact and we have a file of documents that proves it) why does it need to be secret anyway?

UnicornRainbowColours · 06/02/2018 19:41

They raise a lot of money for charity. My dad was a mason. Why be so hateful about something that you don’t need to join or care about move on

Rumpledfaceskin · 06/02/2018 19:53

Raising money for charity doesn’t erase all sins I’m afraid. It’s great they do that, never said it wasn’t. But why wouldn’t I be hateful about corruption in our criminal justice system? Is there anyone in the country who’d be pleased about that? It undermines the very foundations of our society. I don’t for one minute think ALL masons are corrupt people. But I think it has no place dominating police force/CPS. It’s clearly still an issue judging by Steve Whites comment. I’m dealing with facts that I know to be true, whilst you’re emotionally involved so I’m not sure you can see the wood from the trees.