January 2009 Archives

BARACK Obama's sensational run to the Oval Office has left the world stunned.
The rapid pace of this seismic shift in US history, the destruction of centuries old racial divisions with seeming ease and the establishment of a totally new political philosophy in the world's most powerful nation created a whiplash reaction across the globe.
How did a man of such humble origins rise through sheer willpower, determination and ability to the role of commander in chief?
How did a black man, with a Kenyan father, schooled overseas, and brought up in Hawaii, trump the combined might of the Clinton dynasty and the Republican party?
How did an inexperienced one-term senator triumph in an electoral system that revolves around money, influence, lobbying and dirty tricks?
For most people who watched this amazing journey the answer was simple. Obama is a man of destiny, a symbol of renewed hope and restored purpose, the man chosen by a huge majority to lead America out of the desperation of the Bush years towards prosperity and global respect.
However, with an event that promises such dramatic change, an election so touched by history, conspiracy theorists are having their say about what really happened.
With the mud slinging of the campaign over, theorists are left to levy charges of links to domestic "terrorist" Bill Ayers, raise questions over Obama's birth certificate and add to a growing clamour over the fumbled oath of office.
Could Obama be a shadowy figure, handed power as part of a dastardly conspiracy?
Or is he simply an honest, decent politician, keen to remodel his beleaguered nation and restore it to its former glory?

The Illuminati conspiracy is the focus for global secret society theorists everywhere.
When President George Bush Senior delivered his now infamous New World Order speech on 11 September 1990 the conspiracy community went into overdrive.
Bush's turn of phrase opened the floodgates for a deluge of conspiracy theories about who really runs the world around us, and what role secret societies play in our lives.
The prospect of an Illuminati or "enlightened" group ruling the armies, banks and governments of the world is a terrifying one.
Reports of their powers are staggering, with a handful of Illuminati elders able to send nations to war, bring down economies and rule countries through their secret links with one another. With sinister motives and satanic beliefs, the Illuminati are the conspiracy community's equivalent of the bogeyman.
According to theorists they possess a quasi-religious presence, able to dictate events and overseeing almost every aspect of the world around us.
Signs of their presence are supposedly dotted around modern culture, with everything from the all-seeing eye on a $1 bill to snatched photos of secret ceremonies offering proof of their existence.
The Illuminati are depicted as the controlling force that holds together the shadowy collection of secret societies that make up the power elite behind the New World Order conspiracy.
The Skull and Bones Society, the Council on Foreign Relations and even the Masons are said to be part of this band of privileged leaders who control our destiny.
To many the Illuminati are the multipurpose, one-size-fits-all conspiracy.
Planes have been flown into the Twin Towers? Must be the Illuminati. The global banking system has imploded? Clearly the work of the Illuminati. Reptilian Humanoids are taking over the world? Surely they are part of the Illuminati.
Many of these arguments have damaged the reputation of the original theory, which is that the men who really control our fate are part of a secret gang bent on world domination and the preservation of their own power.
But how much of this can we really believe, and how much is paranoia and hearsay?