Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Conspiracy Theories

JudyR · 08-10-2007, 06:34 PM

I agree that some conspiracy theories are ridiculous, but I believe that some conspiracies have existed and others still do exist. A conspiracy is nothing more than a secret plot.

One of the earliest conspiracies is portrayed in an ancient book, The Bible. Although I believe The Bible is mythological, this story nevertheless illustrates the universality of secret plots. The incident of which I am thinking is Jacob's conspiring with his mother, Rebecca, to receive the blessing that his blind, old father, Isaac, had intended for Jacob's older twin brother, Esau.

It is difficult to know which conspiracies exist and which don't. If the conspirators are competent, no one else finds out about their conspiracy.

There seems to have been a conspiracy of silence that, for decades, protected from apprehension and conviction the White murderers of Black people during America's civil rights struggle in the 1960s.

I could quote many other examples from different periods of history and, recently, from both sides of the political spectrum (that is, left wing and right wing).

One conspiracy that is a historical fact is the series of maneuvers that Cecil Rhodes carried out to amass a personal fortune and to gain control of the Orange Free State Republic’s diamond fields and the Transvaal Republic’s gold fields for the British Empire.

In the case of the Orange Free State Republic, the diamond fields were close enough to the border with Briton’s Cape Colony that Rhodes was able to cheat, change the border, and incorporate the diamond fields into British territory.

The Transvaal Republic’s gold fields, however, were slap bang in the middle of the country. Fiddling with the border wouldn't help. Wresting control of the Transvaal gold fields from the Boers involved engineering the Boer War (1899 – 1902).

The scorched earth policy and the concentration camps that the British implemented during the Boer War left Afrikaans-speaking Whites defeated, impoverished, and humiliated. Like the Northern carpetbaggers after the American Civil War, Britons and people of British descent gained control of South African industry and government after the Boer War.

Cecil Rhodes’s conspiracy spawned a counter-conspiracy on the part of Afrikaans-speaking White South Africans. This conspiracy resulted in the formation of a secret organization known as the Broederbond (Afrikaans for “Brotherhood”). It operated successfully for several decades. It masterminded the policy of apartheid and was the invisible power behind the National Party that implemented apartheid. Every South African Prime Minister from 1948 until the collapse of apartheid in 1994 was a member of the Broederbond. To understand this phenomenon you need to go back to the beginning of the twentieth century.

After the Boer War, a handful of Afrikaans-speaking men gathered in secret and vowed to turn the tables on the dominant English-speakers. As their organization grew, it split into cells. Membership was by invitation only. University professors and school principals who were Broederbond members passed on the names of their brightest students. When the time was right, the Broederbond would invite these high achievers to join the organization. Only men were ever invited. If a man joined, he was bound to a solemn oath of confidentiality. Membership was so secret that members were not even allowed to tell their wives about it.

As Broederbond members gradually infiltrated government and industry organizations, they worked at getting other Broederbond members into positions of influence and power. If a high level committee in a government or business organization was making a decision about promoting or hiring one of several candidates, the couple of members of that committee who were Broederbond members would do everything in their power to influence the outcome so that the successful candidate was a Broederbond member.

The Broederbond got a break during the Second World War. Although South Africa was on the Allied side and sent soldiers to North Africa and Italy, there was no conscription. Military service was voluntary. English-speaking Whites had a traditional loyalty to the British Empire, and many of them volunteered to fight. Because of Britain’s shameful treatment of Boer women and children during the Boer war, Afrikaans-speaking whites still felt bitter towards the British Empire. Afrikaans-speaking Whites, for the most part, stayed home during WW II. Consequently WW II gave many Afrikaners an opportunity to step into influential positions that had been vacated by English-speakers who had volunteered for the war.

By the time the English-speaking soldiers returned from WW II, South Africa essentially had been taken over by the Afrikaans. The National Party came into power in the elections that followed the war, in 1948. From then onwards, Afrikaners increasingly dominated the cabinet, the army, the education system, the banking industry, etc. They even made significant inroads into the gold mining industry, which previously had been dominated by English-speakers.

I’m from Swaziland, a small country next door to South Africa. My husband is from South Africa. We migrated from South Africa to Canada in 1977, when we were in our mid twenties.

As an English-speaker in South Africa, I remember hearing rumours about something called the Broederbond in the early to mid 1970s. When anyone mentioned the Broederbond, everyone else would laugh. At that point mentioning the Broederbond was the equivalent of coming out today and declaring that Elvis is alive. The only way to mention the Broederbond and preserve a shred of credibility was to tell a joke about it.

After my husband and I had moved to Canada, another ex South African whom we met here gave us a copy of Brotherhood of Power: An Expose of the Secret Afrikaner Broederbond by J. H. P. Serfontein. This book provided extraordinarily detailed information about the Broederbond and named names. It read like a Who’s Who of South African government and industry.

I have since found out that Serfontein’s informants were Broederbond members who, ironically, belonged to a far-right faction of the Broederbond and who didn’t think the Broederbond was right-wing enough! Other investigative journalists and authors have written detailed accounts of the Broederbond.

There can be no doubt that the Broederbond existed, and there can be no doubt that the formation and operation of the Broederbond were the direct results of a conspiracy.

08-10-2007, 06:34 PM	#20 (permalink)
JudyR Junior Member Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 8	I agree that some conspiracy theories are ridiculous, but I believe that some conspiracies have existed and others still do exist. A conspiracy is nothing more than a secret plot. One of the earliest conspiracies is portrayed in an ancient book, The Bible. Although I believe The Bible is mythological, this story nevertheless illustrates the universality of secret plots. The incident of which I am thinking is Jacob's conspiring with his mother, Rebecca, to receive the blessing that his blind, old father, Isaac, had intended for Jacob's older twin brother, Esau. It is difficult to know which conspiracies exist and which don't. If the conspirators are competent, no one else finds out about their conspiracy. There seems to have been a conspiracy of silence that, for decades, protected from apprehension and conviction the White murderers of Black people during America's civil rights struggle in the 1960s. I could quote many other examples from different periods of history and, recently, from both sides of the political spectrum (that is, left wing and right wing). One conspiracy that is a historical *fact* is the series of maneuvers that Cecil Rhodes carried out to amass a personal fortune and to gain control of the Orange Free State Republic’s diamond fields and the Transvaal Republic’s gold fields for the British Empire. In the case of the Orange Free State Republic, the diamond fields were close enough to the border with Briton’s Cape Colony that Rhodes was able to cheat, change the border, and incorporate the diamond fields into British territory. The Transvaal Republic’s gold fields, however, were slap bang in the middle of the country. Fiddling with the border wouldn't help. Wresting control of the Transvaal gold fields from the Boers involved engineering the Boer War (1899 – 1902). The scorched earth policy and the concentration camps that the British implemented during the Boer War left Afrikaans-speaking Whites defeated, impoverished, and humiliated. Like the Northern carpetbaggers after the American Civil War, Britons and people of British descent gained control of South African industry and government after the Boer War. Cecil Rhodes’s conspiracy spawned a counter-conspiracy on the part of Afrikaans-speaking White South Africans. This conspiracy resulted in the formation of a secret organization known as the Broederbond (Afrikaans for “Brotherhood”). It operated successfully for several decades. It masterminded the policy of apartheid and was the invisible power behind the National Party that implemented apartheid. Every South African Prime Minister from 1948 until the collapse of apartheid in 1994 was a member of the Broederbond. To understand this phenomenon you need to go back to the beginning of the twentieth century. After the Boer War, a handful of Afrikaans-speaking men gathered in secret and vowed to turn the tables on the dominant English-speakers. As their organization grew, it split into cells. Membership was by invitation only. University professors and school principals who were Broederbond members passed on the names of their brightest students. When the time was right, the Broederbond would invite these high achievers to join the organization. Only men were ever invited. If a man joined, he was bound to a solemn oath of confidentiality. Membership was so secret that members were not even allowed to tell their wives about it. As Broederbond members gradually infiltrated government and industry organizations, they worked at getting other Broederbond members into positions of influence and power. If a high level committee in a government or business organization was making a decision about promoting or hiring one of several candidates, the couple of members of that committee who were Broederbond members would do everything in their power to influence the outcome so that the successful candidate was a Broederbond member. The Broederbond got a break during the Second World War. Although South Africa was on the Allied side and sent soldiers to North Africa and Italy, there was no conscription. Military service was voluntary. English-speaking Whites had a traditional loyalty to the British Empire, and many of them volunteered to fight. Because of Britain’s shameful treatment of Boer women and children during the Boer war, Afrikaans-speaking whites still felt bitter towards the British Empire. Afrikaans-speaking Whites, for the most part, stayed home during WW II. Consequently WW II gave many Afrikaners an opportunity to step into influential positions that had been vacated by English-speakers who had volunteered for the war. By the time the English-speaking soldiers returned from WW II, South Africa essentially had been taken over by the Afrikaans. The National Party came into power in the elections that followed the war, in 1948. From then onwards, Afrikaners increasingly dominated the cabinet, the army, the education system, the banking industry, etc. They even made significant inroads into the gold mining industry, which previously had been dominated by English-speakers. I’m from Swaziland, a small country next door to South Africa. My husband is from South Africa. We migrated from South Africa to Canada in 1977, when we were in our mid twenties. As an English-speaker in South Africa, I remember hearing rumours about something called the Broederbond in the early to mid 1970s. When anyone mentioned the Broederbond, everyone else would laugh. At that point mentioning the Broederbond was the equivalent of coming out today and declaring that Elvis is alive. The only way to mention the Broederbond and preserve a shred of credibility was to tell a joke about it. After my husband and I had moved to Canada, another ex South African whom we met here gave us a copy of Brotherhood of Power: An Expose of the Secret Afrikaner Broederbond by J. H. P. Serfontein. This book provided extraordinarily detailed information about the Broederbond and named names. It read like a Who’s Who of South African government and industry. I have since found out that Serfontein’s informants were Broederbond members who, ironically, belonged to a far-right faction of the Broederbond and who didn’t think the Broederbond was right-wing enough! Other investigative journalists and authors have written detailed accounts of the Broederbond. There can be no doubt that the Broederbond existed, and there can be no doubt that the formation and operation of the Broederbond were the direct results of a conspiracy.