-Caveat Lector- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A book review: by Kris Millegan www.ctrl.org ----- Secrets of the Tomb Alexandra Robbins@2002 Brown & Little 230 pages -----
The Order of Skull & Bones is the Wizard of Oz! Presidents are just assassinated! There is no conspiracy! It’s just nec-essary for us barbarians "to be able to make sense of the world!" Whitewash, Smokescreen, Disinformation and Modified Limited Hang-out Recent Yale graduate, Alexandra Robbins’s new book, Secrets of the Tomb – Skull and Bones, The Ivy League, And The Hidden Paths of Power portends to be an exposé, but in reality is a response by Bones to its critics, an apologia and… more skullduggery. Ms. Robbins, claims to be a member of one of Yale’s seven senior secret societies (she never reveals which one) writes: "The rumors and conspiracy theories about Skull and Bones… are widespread and deep-rooted… the most fascinating thing I learned through my interviews with members of Skull and Bones is that the majority of rumors were carefully planted by the Bonesmen themselves." And, "Skull & Bones is at its core, equivalent to the Wizard of Oz, the puny but cunning man hidden behind a curtain of mystique, projecting images that inspire awe and terror in order to expand himself into something great and terrible." And, "If the Wizard of Oz can represent Skull and Bones, then one must point out that, for a while, Oz 'needed' its Wizard to provide balance and a constant current of reassurance." [Emphasis in original] According to Ms. Robbins, The Order of Skull & Bones is all just a façade and the conspiracy theories are created out of a psychological need of us "barbarians." It’s just a "frat" house that taps into the power of the Ivy League old boy network. Just a bonding "thing," Skull and Bones isn’t "cultlike" but its critics are. "The Bonesmen cannot see the outside world without first looking through the Bones-constructed prism; at the same time, the outside world cannot see into Bones headquarters—instead, barbarians can only project their own imagery onto the, blank, brown walls of the tomb. Which they do. Often. At great length. The attention paid to Skull and Bones is cultlike, and it has grown exponentially in recent years because of the Bush dynasty and the expansion of the Internet, which has provided a most convenient medium through which to discuss and expound on conspiratorial ties. Skull and Bones is not a legend just to those who live it. To barbarians also, it is more than merely an institution; it is a concept onto which people project the images necessary for them to be able to make sense of the world. However sinister the notion of an all-powerful secret society might be, the existence of a Skull and Bones also brings us some measure of relief. The secret soci-ety allows us to believe that things don’t just happen: genocide isn’t just caused by one crazy individual, presidents aren’t just assassinated, family political dynasties aren’t just born. Even chaos, the society’s con-spiracy theories tell us, has causality. The secret society—like the power of the elitist, old-school colleges, the small groups of mogul networks, and the political dynasties—survives because people like to believe that seemingly random events are orchestrated by someone or something in control. "We’ve all done a good job of keeping the quintessential mystery alive," one patriarch said to me, "because people don’t believe this is all we do." Perhaps one of the reasons people are so fascinated with con-spiracy theories, particularly the far-reaching networks associated with secret societies and old-school power, is that they need causality in much the same way as they need a God. People’s need for the Skull and Bones conspiracies to elucidate an underlying order is similar to the need for religion to explain death and purpose. Underground control suggests order and order implies reason. Explanations, however implausible, are somehow reassuring." The psychological underpinnings, the rhetoric and the techniques used to "massage" the message in this book I find are very interesting. Also, her use of the term barbarians to refer to non-members and her use of Bones’ terms of deference to older members, I also find interesting. Ms. Robbins takes a swipe at the "sinister" views of Bones with an exaggerated and shunted version of many of the allegations about Bones in an introduction titled The Legends of Skull and Bones. By mixing reality with known myth Ms. Robbins clumsily tosses aside many historical tragedies brought about by the elite deviance of Bones and its cohorts. She then proceeds to tell us "What follows, then is the truth about Skull and Bones." But by simply not addressing many of the allegations against Bones that she brings up in her "legends" she lays down more smoke and mirrors on the whole subject of what is real and what is fiction, even ending her book with more of the same: "Whether the legend of Skull and Bones reflects a sinister veracity or a prismatic distortion depends almost entirely on one’s desired perception. The great conspiracy surrounding the society is one of half-truths and our own willing complicity. And its secret, great and terrible, is that Skull and Bones, unreal, has mastered both" This book is not an expose it is a paean to The Order of Skull & Bones. Secrets of the Tomb is designed to deflect mounting exposure and criticism of The Order’s secrecy and its malignant effect upon our body politic and our republic. Ms. Robbins has insights into the culture of Yale and access to Bones members. She supplies us with some gossip, some new info, a map of the inside of the tomb, and plenty of Bones’ unsourced shallow retorts. I will offer a small disassembly of one piece of Ms. Robbins disinformation, for now… Her dismissal of the history of Skull & Bones members’ financial dealings with the Nazis consisted of one sentence. "Nor was it Skull and Bones that specifically instructed members to aid Adolf Hitler, though Hitler’s financier stowed $3 million in the Union Banking Corporation, a bank that counted among its seven directors Prescott Bush." Ms. Robbins gives us no documentation of her assertion that all that happened was that Fritz Thyssen "stowed" just "$3 million" in a bank that "counted among its seven directors Prescott Bush." Poor Pres, just has been stuck with a bad rap, them mean Nazis did it behind his back. What a crock! If one checks the historical record one finds that the Union Banking Co. was established in 1924 to formalize an agreement between Bonesman Averell Harriman and Fritz Thyssen, German industrialist and author of I Paid Hitler. Union Bank was more than just some place to stow money but was an active participant in the rearming of Germany and the financing of Nazism. The US Alien Property Custodian eventually seized Union Banking Corporation in October on 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act. And there were many more Bonesmen involved than just Prescott Bush. And there was much more Bonesmen involvement in the financial affairs of Germany and the Nazis. In 1933 there were eight directors of Union Bank. Four were members of Skull & Bones, classmates Roland Harriman, Knight Woolley, Ellery Sedgewick James and Prescott Bush. In 1942 the bank had (Ms. Robbins is correct) only seven directors but there were three Bones directors and shareholders, Roland, Prescott and Ray Morris. And their shares were declared as being "held for the benefit of… members of the Thyssen family, [and] is property of nationals… of a designated enemy country…" There is much more historical evidence about The Order’s and the Bush’s involvement in the financing of Germany and of Hitler. There is George Herbert Walker’s and Prescott Bush’s major involvement with the Harriman Fifteen Corporation and the American Ship and Commerce Corporation which both helped in the rearmament of Germany and the rise of Nazism. Ms. Robbins also sidestepped the very real relationship between The Order, eugenics and Hitler. But that is par for the course for this book. Not that I do not recommend it. For as I have learned much can be gathered from disinformation, first there are the "bonifides" that must be supplied and then there is what is not said and where they wish you to go, which always provides… illumination. Kris Millegan www.ctrl.org ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. 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