butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Think coppers have to but judges no longer do.
edit: no they don't. Coppers that is. I expect new hire investigators will have to sign a declaration.
the sir jimmy savile obe thread
- Thread starter Pickman's model
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edit: no they don't. Coppers that is. I expect new hire investigators will have to sign a declaration.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Best I can find;
So all the IPCC need do is ask Norm Bettison if any of his guys were masons....
1%er
Well-Known Member
as far as I know police and judges do not have to declare membership of the craft, I believe that some local authorities have a disclosure policy.
1%er
Well-Known Member
Spymaster existentialist
Don't most lodges have open evenings? I haven't been near a lodge for more years than I care to remember. I know I attended a few lodges as a visitor and my own lodge held event where non-masons and even women were shown around the lodge and the layout of the lodge was explained.
over 30 years ago there was talk of opening up the craft and demystifying it to the public at large, I assume this hasn't happened
Don't most lodges have open evenings? I haven't been near a lodge for more years than I care to remember. I know I attended a few lodges as a visitor and my own lodge held event where non-masons and even women were shown around the lodge and the layout of the lodge was explained.
over 30 years ago there was talk of opening up the craft and demystifying it to the public at large, I assume this hasn't happened
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
They are for sure man only and I'm not justifying that, it is historic afaik that is the reason, as for being occupation specific, I'm not sure how common that is nowadays but as it grew out of the craft guilds it is hardly surprising really. While many masons will join occupation/craft specific lodges I would suspect that is because the person who introduced them to the lodge originally was a work college or a friend with a similar interest.
Masons are not recruited, almost all the ones I know just went to a lodge and asked or were curious to a masonic friend who introduced them. As I'm sure it has been said many times here, the masons are a society with secrets and not a secret society (the signs and tokens of recognition are the only "secrets" and they are not secret anymore)
My experience (as a non-Mason who knows a fair number of red and blue lodge masons) is that lodges do recruit, just "under the rose" rather than publicly. I've been approached several times by Masons who've suggested (very much to my amused incredulity!
) that I'd be an adornment to their lodge, and get nodded through if I sought membership.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
That was reversing a policy that was instituted many years ago (IIRC, championed by Chris Mullins?
Check out the UGLE website - I think they've done a lot to demystify.Spymaster existentialist
Don't most lodges have open evenings? I haven't been near a lodge for more years than I care to remember. I know I attended a few lodges as a visitor and my own lodge held event where non-masons and even women were shown around the lodge and the layout of the lodge was explained.
over 30 years ago there was talk of opening up the craft and demystifying it to the public at large, I assume this hasn't happened
Of course, it'll never be enough for some people.
And yes, many Lodges do hold "white table" evenings and open evenings. And it's not at all unusual, for example at functions that are held on Masonic premises, for informal tours of the lodge room to take place.
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
It's a bit of a dance. We are not supposed to actively recruit, but OTOH it's not exactly the most obvious setup, and we could be waiting a long time if we passively waited for people to say "So, this masons thing, what about it, then?", especially as the popular perception is that you have to be invited to join.My experience (as a non-Mason who knows a fair number of red and blue lodge masons) is that lodges do recruit, just "under the rose" rather than publicly. I've been approached several times by Masons who've suggested (very much to my amused incredulity!
So you fudge around it a bit, as your friends clearly did with you
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
It's a bit of a dance. We are not supposed to actively recruit, but OTOH it's not exactly the most obvious setup, and we could be waiting a long time if we passively waited for people to say "So, this masons thing, what about it, then?", especially as the popular perception is that you have to be invited to join.
So you fudge around it a bit, as your friends clearly did with you
Yes, we don't actively recruit officially, but everyone's made aware that new members would be very welcome, and we're encouraged to introduce people that show an interest.
1%er
Well-Known Member
I guess it comes down to your definition of recruit, I'd be more inclined to use the terms invite or suggest membership, but I think and I'm sure other can correct me on this, most new masons nowadays are people who walk into a lodge and ask about joining. I thought membership had been falling for years, although I think I read recently, it is falling in London but growing in the provinces.My experience (as a non-Mason who knows a fair number of red and blue lodge masons) is that lodges do recruit, just "under the rose" rather than publicly. I've been approached several times by Masons who've suggested (very much to my amused incredulity!
In my mother lodge there were only two people under 60 and they were the only two that hadn't been through the chair, I think I am the only person still alive from that lodge
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
i'm simply saying there are other masons here. make of that what you will.you as well?
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
I think there were 8 or 9 at last count. Maybe a couple less,
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Oh, OK. If that was in a previous thread I'd probably not have read it as I've only been here a year.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
enough for an Urban lodge
What's Mason for minyan?
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
If Existentialist proposes you, I'll second, and we'll have you bumming goats by xmas, Dotski.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
Seems odd to mix radical politics with an exclusive, all male, secretive society in which members pledge to "...be quiet and peaceable citizens, true to the lawful government of the country in which they live, and not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion."
Would urbanites with explicitly revolutionary views be welcome into such a society?
1%er
Well-Known Member
Well I am not a member of any lodge and haven't attended a lodge for many years. My only interest was the ritual and I wasn't in the UK very long.
My membership was more situation, rather than design.
1%er
Well-Known Member
I didn't know the political views of any members of my lodge, I could guess but that is rarely a good indicator, I didn't know what religion they were.
Seems odd to mix radical politics with an exclusive, all male, secretive society in which members pledge to "...be quiet and peaceable citizens, true to the lawful government of the country in which they live, and not to countenance disloyalty or rebellion."
Would urbanites with explicitly revolutionary views be welcome into such a society?
Freemasons are not meant to discuss politics or religion in the lodge and in experience they don't.
Freemasonry is based on myth, rituals and symbolism, most people don't take oaths that seriously
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Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
You might be casually aware of others political views but it's not something that's generally discussed because politics divides people. The idea is that it's a fraternity without political or social barriers. The reality is probably a bit different but it works to some degree.
Happy to discuss it on another thread. Or PM me.
Let this thread go back to paedo coppers.
Happy to discuss it on another thread. Or PM me.
Let this thread go back to paedo coppers.
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brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
I thought that was, partly the point of the whole exercise; members don't need to know each other's 'politics' as the self-selection process produces a fairly homogenous reactionary cohort?
Presumably anyone prepared to join such an organisation must be very comfortable with concepts including exclusivity, elitism, hierarchy, secrecy, anachronistic ritual, and misogyny producing a like-minded membership. No wonder bent coppers seem so drawn.
1%er
Well-Known Member
There are now 2 threads where you can ask a mason, you should ask a few miners, train drivers and the like why they became masons, as I have said I joined because I had and still to this day have an interest in ritual.I thought that was, partly the point of the whole exercise; members don't need to know each other's 'politics' as the self-selection process produces a fairly homogenous reactionary cohort?
Presumably anyone prepared to join such an organisation must be very comfortable with concepts including exclusivity, elitism, hierarchy, secrecy, anachronistic ritual, and misogyny producing a like-minded membership. No wonder bent coppers seem so drawn.
brogdale
Coming to terms with late onset Anarchism
I suppose I could, if I knew any masonic miners or train drivers, but are you suggesting I do so because their occupations mean that they couldn't possibly be comfotable with exclusivity, elitism, hierarchy, secrecy, anachronistic ritual, and misogyny?
Why the Masons and not the Satanists?
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
there will of course be a number of satanist masons
1%er
Well-Known Member
supply and demand, it was the market that done it
existentialist
Tired and unemotional
I'm in.
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