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A pretty loaded question. Mate of mine works in financial services and has been knocked back for yet another promotion even though he batters his targets into touch and has all the relevant qualifications.
He got some positive feedback from the interviewer and then the next day got a call from a female colleague in another branch telling him it was about time he joined the local lodge as that was the way male staff got the bigger jobs. She was very blunt about this....

So the question is are the Masons as influential in modern life??

I would say the Masons are very influential in modern life. Most senior people in the Police, Judiciary, Civil Service, and so on, are members. They help each other out.

Some people are VERY secretive about their membership. John Entwistle of The Who worked with his bandmates very closely for over 40 years until his death, from sharing hotel rooms, touring, writing, recording, and so on. He and Pete Townshend lived in each other's pockets for four decades. However, I saw this on Wikipedia:

'One aspect of John Entwistle's life emerged after his death that came as a surprise even to those closest to him, including the members of The Who. "It wasn't until the day of his funeral that I discovered that he'd spent most of his life as a Freemason", said Pete Townshend'.

It makes you wonder how many people are members of the Freemasons. It could be any of your work colleagues, family, neighbours, or friends.

Arginald Valleywater wrote:

> A pretty loaded question. Mate of mine works in financial
> services and has been knocked back for yet another promotion
> even though he batters his targets into touch and has all the
> relevant qualifications.
> He got some positive feedback from the interviewer and then the
> next day got a call from a female colleague in another branch
> telling him it was about time he joined the local lodge as that
> was the way male staff got the bigger jobs. She was very blunt
> about this....
>
> So the question is are the Masons as influential in modern
> life??

More to the point surely this is discrimination.

Had your mate received an email that also included some company information eg logo and disclaimer instead of a phone call and passed it to a solicitor would they have been able to create a case against the employer?

It depends how into conspiracy theories you are. I know a few Freemasons and ex-Freemasons, and they're quite open about it. It seems that to the vast majority they're just like an older and more weird version of the Rotary Club.

In the past some Freemasons have scratched each others backs in corrupt or criminal ways, but you could say the same about golf clubs, graduates of the same university, or the old school tie.

A bit of myth-busting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17272611

Stripey wrote:

> I know a few
> Freemasons and ex-Freemasons, and they're quite open about it.
> It seems that to the vast majority they're just like an older
> and more weird version of the Rotary Club.


Yes this is true, especially in this country. Not so much elsewhere.

The footsoldiers of freemasonry actually know very little of the core knowledge of the movement. In fact a mason of the third degree readily confessed to me that he had 'no idea what it was all about'.

This is essentially because masonry is a 'mystery school' in which enlightenment has to be earnt (by progession through the degrees).

Anyway, as Stripey rightly points out, people often gives jobs to their friends or do them favours based on the school they went to etc etc. I remember seeing a newspaper headline a few years ago which said "Old Etonian judge frees Old Etonian bank robber".

Hi,
This and organisations similar to it will always help their members to get work and get on. The Rotary Club is a fine body but a member will always try and help another.
The difference between organisations like The Rotary, the Buffalos and some of the other societies are the type of members that attract, at one level the Masons will be mainly tradespeople at another senior bankers or politicians and their ilk.
Of the organisations like this we also have Opus Dei, The Catanian?s and the Masons all of which cover the social divides, and promote their members.
So you will have an individual who attended, Westminster School, Eton or Harrow or The Oratory, who when they progress to University will attend the likes of premier Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow or Edinburgh. After they join the workforce, they also in due course probably join one of these organisations, with the whole thing in place they are positioned, if not for a successful career in the upper reach of their professions then a career that avoids the pitfalls of unemployment, job insecurity and the removal of the other barriers to a contented existence.
Overall are these organisations good for the community? Perhaps, but I would say the aid a member receives places to many others at a social disadvantage.

Being a member of any association, I can see why people are suspicious of associations and also fearful of them but lets not stop at Masons and Illuminatis etc...

Within every orgnaisation is the need to find those who perpetuate the goals that elevates everyone else in it which is why its important to belong to a trade association or union be it plumbers, teamsters or porn especially if you can try and change things for the better by being part of that association a lot quicker than you could do by yourself. So yes. I would encourage that man to join the country club and see what it was all about rather than make blind judgements on what he doesnt know about.

Ultimately, if he has leadership qualities and any good at it he'll end up running it because the pther members will truly believe in him.

Whats the point of being on the outside trying to change things when you can do it from the inside for the better?

From the comments above I would hazard that they haven't been written by anyone on the square.
As for 3rd Deg masons, yes, they know next to fuckall. As they progress they learn the ritual and what it means.