IndexSection I: The Current Existence ControversyPart I: Historians: Ended in HistoryPart II: Theorists: Surviving and ThrivingSection II: The Rebirth of the ConspiracyConclusionIn recent years, some people have blamed a ancient Bavarian society, the Illuminati, for many controversial cases around the world: the assignment of Kennedy (Galer), Thomas Jefferson as an agent of the Illuminati (Shea and Wilson 49) and many others. So who were the real Illuminati? By definition, it was a short-lived movement of republican freethought founded on May 1, 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at Ingolstadt and former Jesuit (Appendix F) (The editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Yet mysteries surround the question of whether or not such a society, deeply involved in the new world order, still exists. What intrigues people the most is how such a secret organization became such a viral sensation among conspiracy theorists when before the 1960s the term "Illuminati" was nothing more than a historical term relating to this society which expanded from the Freemasons and ended for a few years. decades after its creation. In this article, exploring the current existence of the Illuminati and how they became popular will provide a deeper understanding of conspiracy theories.Section I: The Current Existence ControversyPart I: Historians: Ended in HistoryThe Current Existence of the Illuminati Illuminati has been the subject of controversy among historians and everyone has their own opinion on the subject. Currently the most common argument that can be found is that the Bavarian Illuminati ended in 1776 and the entire movement died out. (Roberts 128–129) There have been many steps in the decline and fall of the Illuminati. According to Isabel Hernández, one of the founding members left the society, then the secret society was exposed by an insider who had been a member of the Illuminati, and took the organization public, the critical blow was finally struck when the Archduke of Bavaria exiled the founder and called for the end of the order. (Hernández)In the book “Perfectibilists: The Bavarian Order of the 18th Century Illuminati”, Terry Melanson described the entire process of the decline of the order and finally the end of the Illuminati. First came the departure of the Freiherr Knigge. As described in Terry's book, on April 20, Baron von Knigge resigned from the Illuminati after his squabbles with Weishaupt over the direction and management of the Order reached a boiling point. He believed that some jealousy was evident on both sides, although Weishaupt was certainly a Machiavellian by all accounts. Knigge, complaining to Zwack, decried Weishaupt's "Jesuitism" more than anything else: "the intrigues, despotism - even dictatorship - of the latter (especially towards his subordinates), in the spirit of those much-maligned Sons of Loyola." “Spartacus (another name for Weishaupt),” writes Knigge, “is even a latent Jesuit, and I am the dejected one! God, what a man! Where does his unbridled passion lead? Had I ever believed this man capable of such low and ungrateful behavior? And it was under his banner that I had to work for humanity! That is, under the yoke of such a stubborn man! Never again!?' (Melanson 40) During Knigge's time within the order, the Illuminati grew from a dozen students to more than 2,000 followers, and when Knigge left the order, many of the men he had recruited felt rural resentment toward Weishaupt. One of these men was Joseph Utzschneider who wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess of Bavaria, exposing them allthe details and secrets of the Illuminati order. (Hernández) In this article, Joseph wrote a list of accusations that tarnished the reputation of the order, within which he stated that “having such vicious morals and behavior as religious sentiments as that life should be controlled by passion rather than by reason, that suicide is justifiable, that one can poison one's enemies and that religion should be considered nonsense and patriotism childish. Finally, and much more seriously from the Duchess's particular point of view, the Bavarian Illuminati were accused of being in the service of the Austrian government, whose efforts at the time to extend its hegemony over Bavaria had created considerable tensions in the latter . country." (Melanson 39) Although the statements did not contain all the facts about the Illuminati, their purpose was to incriminate the Illuminati order and create panic among the ruling class, leading to decisive action and the end of the secret society Shortly thereafter, a German Freemasonry (Appendix E), the Aux Trois Globes, openly went to war against the order, claiming that it was against the Christian religion, and bringing Freemasonry into politics as the Illuminati consolidated over the Freemasons in Bavaria , the direct attack of the National Lodge of the Great Mother proved to be a fatal blow to the order (Melanson 39) The final blow that brought the order down came from three edicts personally decreed by the Grand Duke of Bavaria decree prohibited the existence of any secret society in the kingdom of Bavaria (appendix A), the second and third decrees called directly to the order of the Illuminati (appendix B and appendix C), and immediately after the decree, the files archived at interior of the order were confiscated by the Bavarian government and were hidden or burned. Two weeks before the decree, the order's founder, Weishaupt, fled Bavaria and was soon officially exiled. (Stauffer 156)This marked the end of the Bavarian Illuminati and the order we all know, after Weishaupt fled Bavaria. He went to teach at another college and wrote three books on the history of the Illuminati, but never did. he subsequently took part in any type of political society and as most historians believe. The Illuminati order was dead. (Whistler and Logan 13:44-14:54)Part II: Theorists: Survived and ThrivedHowever, for many people, the Illuminati is not dead. Although the original Bavarian society may be over, many people believe the legacy has been inherited. And many other secret societies in the name of the Illuminati have survived over the centuries. Some even believed that the order had not even died out. Among these people, the most famous were Barruel and Robison. According to Augustin Barruel, the Illuminati continued to influence the French Enlightenment, and since many of their members belonged to the high elites of their time, he was convinced that the Illuminati and many other other orders influenced the Jacobins and, in a further effort, began the French Revolution. and then fell on the throne of France. He therefore believed that the Jacobins were actually the legacy of the deceased Illuminati. The reason for his statement was that both Illuminati and Jacobin members were against the church. And although the Illuminati did not try to fight against the church, the Jacobins, on the contrary, did, and therefore were the successful legacy of the Illuminati. He then compared the writings of Voltaire and Rousseau to those of the original Illuminati documents. He concluded that the Enlightenment could not be a populist revolt and the spontaneous thinking of wise men. He believed that it was coordinated planning carried out by secret societies composed of elites and that all of thesematched the descriptions of the Illuminati orders. He therefore believed that the revolutionaries who led the start of the French Revolution were not drawn by themselves or by famine and hunger, but were trained members of the order, who had been brainwashed by Voltaire himself. (Barruel and Jaki) Another notable mention is John Robison FRSE, whose ideas coincide with Barruel's. Robinson wrote a book titled “Proof of a Conspiracy” in which he proposed similar explanations regarding the origins of the French Revolution, which came from the influence of the Illuminati and the Freemasons. His book was the most influential because it had a direct impact on the development of the United States. Because in 1798, Reverend GW Snyder sent Robison's book to George Washington, to which the founding father replied: “It was not my intention to doubt that the doctrines of the Illuminati and the principles of Jacobinism had not spread to the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied with this fact than I am. The idea I intended to convey was that I did not believe that the Lodges of Freemasons in this country, as a Society, had attempted to propagate the diabolical principles of the former, or the pernicious principles of the latter (if capable of separation). That some of them may have done so, or that the founder, or the instrumentality employed in founding, the Democratic Societies in the United States, may have had these objects; and indeed, having in view a separation of the people from their government, it is too evident to be questioned. (Washington) In Robinson's case, this further demonstrates that the Freemasons, which include the Illuminati, were profoundly influential in the founding of the United States. And it was this letter, which for many proved that George Washington recognized the existence of the Illuminati in that period, despite the fact that activities in Bavaria had long since ended. Section II: The Rebirth of the Conspiracy After the French Revolution, with the disappearance of Robinson and Barruel, the ardor of the Illuminati and Freemasonry subsided for a long period of time. But since the 1960s, the Illuminati order has once again become the center of discussion. This can mostly be attributed to Robert Anton Wilson. According to David Bramwell, Robert felt that “the world was becoming too authoritarian, too narrow, too closed, too controlled”, and they wanted to change society “the way to do it was to spread misinformation. Spread disinformation through all portals – through the counterculture, through the mainstream media, by any means. And they decided that initially they would do it by telling stories about the Illuminati.” (Bramwell)In Wilson's obituary, Michael Carson wrote that during Wilson's time as editor of Playboy, he lived a new, liberated lifestyle and wrote numerous books such as The Illuminati Papers (1980), Masks of The Illuminati (1981) while he was meanwhile being “A prodigious marijuana smoker”. (Carlson)During Wilson's lifetime working for Playboy, he and Thornley began sending fake letters from readers talking about this secret, elite organization called the Illuminati. Then he would send more letters, which contradicted the ideas he had just written in previous letters, so that Miao would let the magazine company arouse interest in the order. And then, to make matters even bigger, they spread stories about the Illuminati in the underground press and placed mysterious classified ads in the Libertarian Journal Innovator and the New Left newspaper Roger SPARK. (Walker) Another major source of inspiration about the Illuminati came from Robert Shea and his book, “The Illuminatus! Trilogy". In his book, he wrote manyIlluminati conspiracies, such as that the Illuminati still existed, enlisted many of Wilson's fake reader letters to Playboy magazine, and one of his most famous conspiracies was that Washington was replaced by Weishaupt. :"No historian knows what happened to Adam Weishaupt after he was exiled from Bavaria in 1785, and entries in Washington's journal after that date often refer to the hemp harvest at Mount Vernon. The possibility that Adam Weishaupt killed George Washington and took his place, serving as our first two-term President, is now confirmed... The two main colors of the American flag are, excluding a small blue spot in one corner, red and white: these are also the official colors of the Hashishim. The Illuminati flag and pyramid both have thirteen horizontal divisions: thirteen is, of course, the traditional code for marijuana... and is still used in this sense by the Hell's Angels, among others." (Shea and Wilson 49) After these books were published, more and more people heard about the Illuminati order. And as it became popular, more and more people wrote more books and stories about the order, like Dan Brown with his "Angels and Demons", his second book in "The Da Vinci Code" trilogy, as this book exploded in popularity. , that secret society is now a hot topic for people and people who want to make financial gains. Musical groups such as the KLF also called themselves The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, named after the band of Discordians who infiltrated the Illuminati in Wilson's trilogy because they were inspired by the religion's anarchist ideology. And to attract more media attention, “even celebrities such as Jay-Z (Fig.1) and Beyoncé have taken on the symbolism of the group itself, raising their hands in the Illuminati triangle during concerts.” (Galer)So, in the eyes of recent historians, the Illuminati order, which is now connected to every conspiracy and is now even a pseudo name for secret societies, is not a real existing society aimed at controlling the world, but just a historical term used by those seeking attention and fame. Conclusion For now, the current existence of the Illuminati order is still a myth. Debates still remain as to whether the order survived the exile of its leader and the extermination of all rights of its members and their documents. While most historians believe that the Illuminati left and never returned, some people still find traces of evidence of their permanence throughout history. However, despite all this, the current popularity of the Illuminati order has nothing to do with the original Bavarian society. The current conspiracies were created as a result of the hipster movement in the late 20th century as a way to try to reduce government control. It was later popularized and then used by others to increase personal gain. At first it was for media coverage and financial gain, and now in current years for their own political motivations. In short, most of the current conspiracies surrounding the modern era Illuminati have been invented for all sorts of purposes. Over the past decade, conspiracy theories have had a much higher influence than ever in US politics, Viren Swami, professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin University says: “Particularly in South Asia, theories of the conspiracy were a mechanism used by the government to control people. In the West, the opposite has generally happened. The big change now is that politicians are starting to use conspiracies to mobilize support. People might disengage?