At some point in our lives, we have all read or heard about the mysterious organization known as the Illuminati. Whether it was through documentaries uncovering the group and exploiting its tactics to create a New World Order or through a popular political blog denouncing the idea or belief that such an organization even exists, we've all come in contact with the notion that an exclusive powerful group of elites, known as the Illuminati, exists and seeks to control world affairs while simultaneously exalting a powerful influence over public life.

 

Is the Illuminati another Conspiracy Theory used to disguise well-known phenonmenon of immense social, political and economic impact or could it simply be well-calculated propaganda that is being disseminated to the masses with the intent of influencing and thus subsequently changing the attitudes, behaviors, opinions and beliefs of the general audience? Better yet, is it possible that the Illuminati is both a Conspiracy Theory as well as Propaganda?

 

Stanley J.Baran and Dennis K. Davis, the authors of Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future, define propaganda as the "no-holds-barred use of communication to propagate specific beliefs and expectations" (Baran & Davis p.74), while Merriam Webster defines conspiracy theory as "a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conspiracy%20theory).The Soap Box, a blog that explores conspiracy theories, describes a harmonizing relationship that exists between conspiracy theories and propanda through the revelation that the two "tend to go hand in hand, mainly because many conspiracy theories tend to be against something (government, industry, etc) while at the same time trying to promote something (political beliefs...etc)"

(http://thesoapboxrantings.blogspot.com/2012/12/is-it-conspiracy-theory-or-is-it.html) 

 

As a result of this harmonizing relationship, the author goes on to describe how they are routinely considered one in the same, due to the inability to distinguish the two in many instances (http://thesoapboxrantings.blogspot.com/2012/12/is-it-conspiracy-theory-or-is-it.html). When acknowledging and attempting to understand the Illuminati, one does not need to focus on nor emphasize whether or not it originated as a conspiracy theory and grew into progaganda or vice versa; one should instead "be skeptical of certain people or groups and ask ourselves this: are they promoting this because they seriously believe this, or do they have some type of agenda" (http://thesoapboxrantings.blogspot.com/2012/12/is-it-conspiracy-theory-or-is-it.html)  With regards to the Illuminati one must take extra caution, for we will see how the organization does both.