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What's it all about? I know they have a special handshake and roll up a trouser leg etc, but what's it all about? What do they do? Is it good/bad/worthy/corrupt? Does it get you promoted? A better job? Do they raise money? Does being a member get you out of speeding tickets and petty crimes etc? I've heard lots of these things said in the past by other people but I have no idea whether it's all hype or based on fact.
Not a troll. I genuinely don't know.
you need to read a few Dan Brown books 😉
Social network, drinking club, charitable fund raising.
Freemasons = Scouts for old men
Stoner - MemberSocial network, drinking club, charitable fund raising.
you been, Stoner?
Hubby of a friend was invited a few years ago.
Went three times.
Didn't go the fourth time.
Wife: "You not going tonight love?"
Hubby: "Nah."
Wife: "Why not?"
Hubby: "Errrr, just not going, is all...."
Wife: "I know you better than that. What's wrong with it?"
Hubby: "Errr, nothing. Well, I can't really tell you."
Wife: "Tell me what?"
Hubby: "Well, anything really."
...and that is all she knows to this day about her man's try-out in the Masons. 😕
An old boys network providing favours for your "mates"-
well, I was invited early this year, only went once! I found the racist, sexist, and other unpleasant forms of humur a bit much - but that's just me.
A back scratching gang for the social climbers and those who they suck off.
Uncle is a member and doesn't let on about what happens, all very secretive.
A bunch of bent coppers perverting the course of justice for favours.
Julianwilson - are you saying he'd developed a squint and winced for a few weeks every time he sat down?
An old boys network providing favours for your "mates"
I've heard things along those lines but is it [b]really[/b] true or just hearsay?
Most entertainingly there was a "wives of masons" tinfoil hat conspiracy theory going round our NHS trust 10 or so years ago. I felt the ironing strongly in that one 😆
Tinners: no squinting or wincing, just genuine "I just can't tell you" mystery-ness.
Pananama hat in the back window of the car is a dead giveaway. Lets the old bill know not to pull them for drinking and driving.
A bunch of bent coppers perverting the course of justice for favours.
But is that really true? Such goings on would have been rumbled by now, if it was happening, surely?
I got "the invite" from a long time friend last year, sounded to me like there is alot of secrecy about not much very exiting for your average brother, I imagine it's more profitable higher up the chain. I politely declined... cubs was more than enough of that sort of thing.
"wives of masons"
Would they be the Maisonettes?
igmc
Tinners, keep up that level of faith in our Police Force and you too could look like this in a few years: 😀
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I believe the commonly used STW tag "circle jerk" is the term best applied. Indeed a bunch of bankers...in fact a few of them probably are.
tadeuszkrieger - Member"wives of masons"
Would they be the Maisonettes?
igmc
If the stern matron-types alleged to be involved were indeed 'maisonettes', then 'Condominiums' would have been a bit more descriptive. 😀
Pananama hat in the back window of the car is a dead giveaway. Lets the old bill know not to pull them for drinking and driving
If I put a panama hat in the back window of my car, I'm not going to get pulled over? That can't be right, surely, unless all police officers are freemasons? I keep hearing things like this all the time, but does it really go on or is it just rumour? Has anyone actually been convicted of perverting the course of justice through their involvement with freemasons?
(Again, I'm asking because I don't know and it strikes me as odd that they've "got away with it" for such a long time if such things really are going on)
Despite all the whitewash by those that one can reasoanably assume are freemasons themselves [url= http://www.charlton.demon.co.uk/masonic/report.html ]for example[/url]. My own experience when involved with cases 20 years ago leads me to believe that there are groups of high ranking people that pervert the course of justice and being freemasons is the most plausible link between them.
Again, I'm asking because I don't know and it strikes me as odd that they've "got away with it" for such a long time if such things really are going on
I had a mate whose dad was a Gendarme. (One of the ones that rides a motorbike really slowly down the Champs-Elyseés in front of the Président 8) ). I remember a row between him and his wife because he was fed up of pulling strings and cancelling her brother's speeding tickets, and this last one was the last straw.
So I imagine that if you are a mason and you [i]really[/i] take the piss with regards to the law etc they boot you out and you are on your own again.
It's all about man love.
it might be something of a boys club now, but in living memory, in the town where I grew up, a bus driver allegedly abducted a young girl. no-one knows what happened to her, but she was never seen again. its a matter of record that he had form in this kind of thing.
he has since died, and there's been something of a reexamination of the case. although he was on record as the last person to see her alive, and had previous, he was never formally questioned. his masonic connections saw to that.
closer to home, my father in law was involved in setting up a new lodge in a town. he was a regular member for a long time, but ended up leaving when a scrote he pulled over one night (FiL was a traffic cop) tried the handshake on him.FiL recognised him as a fellow member.
I've been asked to join but have declined.
It is principally about networking and charitable aims, with a bit of "escape from the Mrs" thrown in, I'm sure.
They ensured that my Great Aunt was OK financially and practically after my great uncle who was a member had died
ha ha all the old wives tales always come out
[url= http://www.independent.co.uk/news/mps-order-masons-to-give-names-1145741.html ]Old wives'tales?[/url]
Getting made redundant while being better experienced and qualified than the bloke who kept his job. Boss was a freemason, other bloke was a freemason. Coincidence?
Bit like the old school tie brigade eh Stoner? 😉
Old wives'tales?
But that article is 13yrs old. What actually became of that? Was there a scandal after all? I keep hearing things like this but it never seems to end up being substantiated - but I'd like to say that I keep an open mind about it all the same.
Tinners is a freemason.
Getting made redundant while being better experienced and qualified than the bloke who kept his job. Boss was a freemason, other bloke was a freemason
I agree that's wrong if that's all there is to it, but you could say the same if they were both mates at the same golf club, or if they were both STW regulars* - not that it makes it right. It doesn't necessarily mean that the organisation itself is corrupt, does it? (Just playing devil's advocate to try to think it through - I appreciate the valid point you've made).
*then again.....maybe not
never been a member myself, my local pub provides all the social networking, drinking and perversion of justice that I need. My grandad was I think. My dad turned down offers to join.
An acquaintance was master of the local lodge recently. And Ive been in to the lodge for a non masonic event. As far as Im led to believe its just a drinking club to get out from the evening's dullness of 20+ year marriages and the treacherous lurking malfeasance is well over-played.
EDIT: was going to make a similar point to tinners. All organisations and loose affiliations are "networks" that people join for selfish reasons ultimately. Some might be more effective than others at the back scratching. If someone you rode with helped you get a job say, would that be bad or good compared to a fellow lodge member?
Are you a police officer, Tinners? I know you're a freemason but are you a copper as well? Kato, Munque Chick and a few others I can't remember the names of are open about it on here but experience on other forums tells me forum land is full of coppers and I suspect you could be one.
Edit: better Junkyard?
who knows they shroud their membership and actions in secrecy so we can never know.I've heard things along those lines but is it really true or just hearsay?
This just makes me more suspicious tbh
EDIT: Yes 😀
the treacherous lurking malfeasance is well over-played.
I'm fairly sure it is, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I suspect that if it does exist it was a lot more prevalent in the past anyway.
Why the secrecy though?
Working with a few...it seems they are little men, with a need to fit in. Good luck to 'em, but all the ones I have ever met are complete tossers.
Tinners is a freemason
I wondered how long it would be until someone said that. I'm not a freemason and don't know anyone who is, just interested to know whether there's any substance to the things I've heard and what the point of it all is, really. I will say that it doesn't appeal to me at all. Just the dressing up in robes bit (or whatever it is, if they do!) is enough to count me out.
Again, I don't know whether it's something sinister or something worthy. I'm inclined to err on the side of the former but haven't seen any evidence of it other than hearsay. It is worrying that it always seems to be police and members of the judiciary system who seem to be involved.
Edit: No, not a copper or a freemason otherwise I wouldn't be asking.
There's no point denying being a freemason, however, are you a police officer, Tinners?
In all clubs or organisations I’d even go as far as saying all walks of life you will always have a minority who abuse a position or friendship for personal gain that is just human nature. As for the secrecy you can find out everything you need to know about freemasonry on the web so not really a great secret society 😯
I was employed by Opus Dei when I worked in Spain, they are Spain's Catholic equivalent. This was just after Franco had died and before Spain joined the EEC and the Opus pulled a couple of strings for me when I needed help. Spaniards call it un enchufe - a connection.
forum land is full of coppers
There's also thegreatape, delude, and easygirl, so that's about half a dozen then, not really a lot for a forum this size imo. I doubt very much there are others who haven't said that they are coppers.
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No, not a copper or a freemason otherwise I wouldn't be asking.
Nor would you have asked if torture was ever justifed on another thread. So what do you do for a living? Why start a thread about freemasons when typing any combination of "freemasons + Birmingham six, judiciary, police, justice" into Google will get you pages of stuff on freemasons that you can evaluate for yourself.
If someone you rode with helped you get a job say, would that be bad or good compared to a fellow lodge member?
When people do this for strangers who ride bikes then we might have an issue.
In reality it depends what they do. PM helps a mate get a job with genuine power = problem. Mate helps a mate get job stacking shelves then this is not a problem.
We need to look at the effect as well as the action.