So nobody tells me these things anymore. I didn't realize this was going to be aired this week until I got a flurry of "Hey, you were on TV" messages.
The History Channel (aka History®) has updated an older series entitled America's Book of Secrets with new episodes this season. Tuesday night, Season 4/Episode 3: The Freemason Factor aired and featured interviews with myself, Brothers Arturo De Hoyos, Akram Elias, Jeff Ballou, plus The Craft author John Dickie and others. We actually shot my stuff last October, but the show was delayed for several months due to the COVID shutdowns that prevented the production company from getting all the scenes they needed.
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| Close your mouth, stupid, before you swallow a fly. |
The show airs on Tuesday nights, but it can be seen online at: https://play.history.com/shows/americas-book-of-secrets/season-4/episode-3
(Easter egg bonus for Indianapolis Masons: catch fleeting glimpses of the Scottish Rite Cathedral's stained glass of the letter G, and a glass scene of Solomon and Hiram from Calvin Prather Lodge.)
I used to like The History Channel, and I still dislike air quotes, but after this show, I'm calling it The "History" Channel. We're a secret society? My lodge has, by last count, 5 squares and compasses on the outside plus 3 signs identifying it as a Masonic lodge, along with a web page and a Facebook page. We share a parking lot with a bank and library. To borrow a line from The Princess Bride, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." We keep no records of meetings? Do you know a better way to delay a meeting than a dispute about the minutes?
ReplyDeleteThis particular program was different from previous ones I've been involved with. Nearly everyone interviewed on the show, whether they were a Mason or not, was calm, rational, well-informed, and managed to get truthful answers into the program. Only the scripted stuff spoken by the program's host had all of the "there are those who say," "some people believe" silliness, or the open-ended hyperbolic questions like "Could their secret rituals help them take over the world?" blather.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, it was refreshing for a change.
The trouble with being on these is that you have no idea who else they are going to interview and edit you up against. More than once I've been on shows that also used clips with Ralph Epperson or Alex Jones spouting off their hoariest anti-Masonic tripe and wild-eyed accusations. So this episode was quite different in that respect.
Along with that, there's an advantage to getting good, truthful information into the program. Most viewers will believe whatever suits them, but the fact are said and the nonsense doesn't have the only word.
DeleteNo, Freemasonry is not a secret society. Nowadays, many of us like to say, "we are a society with secrets".
ReplyDeleteThe challenge is to find creative ways to attract worthy men to become candidates in order to safely and securely pass on those secrets.
For me, personally, Freemasonry is sort of like "My Dinner with Andre". In other words, you have two men who start out in very similar ways with very similar ideas, but go their separate ways. Upon returning to where they started they find their own personal worldviews are vastly different even though they share much in common.
I think this is what makes the Craft so fascinating. Sometimes the best secrets (understanding) is not given during a lecture or presentation, but during a meal with a friend.