We all want to be special in some way. Whether it concerns finding something fulfilling to do in this life, or just getting your name mentioned in an article. Whatever the motivation, people are mortal and knowing you're going to die inspires us all to achieve one thing that will ensure that we are never forgotten.
It's no different with people who are born and bred to be better than everyone else. Aristocrats, Politicians who are descendants of greater people of antiquity and celebrities who come from a long line of celebrities. They are the modern equivalent of an ancient Pantheon of (g)ods and those of us who eat, drink and pray on tabloids are their minions.
To put it simply, rich people are usually powerful. But they are usually also really dumb.
Case in point, the recent revelation that some French Aristocrats allowed themselves to be duped into believing Freemasons were thwarting their efforts to save the world! Yes, you heard it right: Freemasons...world saving. Thwarted. French.
The de Vedrines are not, nor have they ever been your typical French family. In 2001 the de Vedrines family went into hiding. Eleven members became recluses and what could have been just a case of removing ones self from the noise of Society, became a downward spiral of abuse and brainwashing.
A con man by the name of Thierry Tilly managed to convince the family that there was a plot against them, by Freemasons nonetheless. The family's only salvation was to discover a set of numbers to a safety deposit box that might or might not have housed a treasure...a key to their salvation.
How the family was even convinced of this lunacy is the first thing a person would think when reading about this case, but something else has to be asked as well: What is it about old money families and their adherence to the occult? Why would well-educated rich people believe such lunacy?
To fully understand where the naivete comes from, we have to consider that a lot of these well-to-do families are programmed for generations to believe they are from ancient royal blood. Most of the time their ancestors are descendants of gods or messiahs. For example, the Merovingian Dynasty believed they were the descendants of a union with a Sea-dwelling entity.
The de Vedrines believed they were (somehow) linked to a French version of the Knights Templar called "L'Equilibre du Monde". A group that only comes into power when the world as we know it is in danger. A man by the name of Jacques Gonzalez was the Grand Master of all that stupidity.
Mind you, we aren't talking about some backwoods hicks falling on their knees and worshiping a charismatic leader who promises salvation in the form of a shooting star. We aren't talking about ancient peoples dancing around a campfire, invoking invisible beings for the blessings of rain and a good harvest.
We are talking about people who should know better. People who, despite their lot in life (because money does not equal happiness), should have been able to see the shit through the shinola. I am not blaming the de Vedrines for being victimized. On the contrary, I am attacking the societal view that being rich somehow makes you extra special and higher on the evolutionary ladder than everyone else.
Too many old money families believe in nonsense. It gives them an advantage over the rest of us. They want to believe they come from liaisons with (g)ods, sea monsters and aliens because it makes them better than human. Better than us.
For the rest of us, the defining oddities in this entire case is the mention of Freemasons. There is a belief in France that the Masons run most of the popular real estate ventures in the country. Why? Is there any truth to this belief?
In the end, a rich Aristocratic family was duped and it all revolved around something straight out of an Indiana Jones movie or, as Vanity Fair aptly put it, " A Dan Brown novel." The de Vedrines made it out alive, but one thing still remains... why did they fall for it?
Are the little people of the world (judging dumb rich people) the ones who can see the forest from the trees, or is it the other way around?
