I get what you're driving at now. Secret societies can do good. I can think of many examples: the underground railroad, the Polish and French resistance to Nazi occupation. There are lots of examples of secret societies that counter oppression and totalitarianism. Lots of religious groups (Christians) have met in secret because they are …
I get what you're driving at now. Secret societies can do good. I can think of many examples: the underground railroad, the Polish and French resistance to Nazi occupation. There are lots of examples of secret societies that counter oppression and totalitarianism. Lots of religious groups (Christians) have met in secret because they are oppressed: Rosicrucians, Philidelphians, Muggletonians, Ranters, Shakers, Bakers, Quakers, Lakers, and Fakers. So the technology can be used for good. OK. I will take your point.
I could argue that secret societies are also a symptom of a dysfunctional society like a social equivalent to a black market in a centrally planned or over-regulated market.
Heroin and prostitution are black markets, but so are untaxed cigarettes and raw milk. Also, social change can follow the development of black markets, or the black markets can become integrated in the economy. Bootlegging and the violence surrounding it during prohibition was one of the drivers for ending prohibition, for the first part, and the Argentinian "Dollar Blue" for the other.
Dollar blue is the black market price for US Dollar in Argentina, which pegged its Peso to the USD, and then proceeded to print it into inflation. The official rate is below the street rate, and the street rate is known as the Dollar Blue.
In true Argentinian fashion, the exchange rate for the Dollar Blue in Buenos Aires, Montevideo Uruguay and a few other places used to be listed on Page One of the major Buenos Aires financial paper.
I get what you're driving at now. Secret societies can do good. I can think of many examples: the underground railroad, the Polish and French resistance to Nazi occupation. There are lots of examples of secret societies that counter oppression and totalitarianism. Lots of religious groups (Christians) have met in secret because they are oppressed: Rosicrucians, Philidelphians, Muggletonians, Ranters, Shakers, Bakers, Quakers, Lakers, and Fakers. So the technology can be used for good. OK. I will take your point.
I could argue that secret societies are also a symptom of a dysfunctional society like a social equivalent to a black market in a centrally planned or over-regulated market.
Heroin and prostitution are black markets, but so are untaxed cigarettes and raw milk. Also, social change can follow the development of black markets, or the black markets can become integrated in the economy. Bootlegging and the violence surrounding it during prohibition was one of the drivers for ending prohibition, for the first part, and the Argentinian "Dollar Blue" for the other.
Dollar blue is the black market price for US Dollar in Argentina, which pegged its Peso to the USD, and then proceeded to print it into inflation. The official rate is below the street rate, and the street rate is known as the Dollar Blue.
In true Argentinian fashion, the exchange rate for the Dollar Blue in Buenos Aires, Montevideo Uruguay and a few other places used to be listed on Page One of the major Buenos Aires financial paper.