Geeks vs. Freemasonry

Dear Unknown Friend,

In Laudable Pursuit the Knights of the North posit that the Degrees of the Masonry, more especially, the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, were in the not to distant past presented with professionalism and skill, and with state of the art special effects, lighting, staging and immersive audio and with acting that rivaled most professional acting troupe.

Even if the Knights of the North overstated the past, or presented an ideal to which we should aspire, their assessment of the acting of most Masons as sub-par is regrettably accurate, and further the conclusion that the Degree experience of most initiates fails to genuinely educate them, and are executed so maladroitly as to be un-entertaining and confusing.

This assessment by itself means nothing. For one can reasonably argue that Masons are amateurs and are not trained as actors, and have something of a unique position in the greater world of modern acting. However, the assessment of the Knights of the North does not exist in a vacuum. And therefore it means something with the context of our modern world. The internet has become the chosen distribution arm for scores of amateur actors presenting their work to the world. The majority of their work, lacking not only the history and rich depth of information of our Degrees, is nonetheless presented more professionally and with more skill than even our greatest assembled Degree teams can muster - even if those teams have mastered the written word of our Work. To say it simply, we are the worst of the amateurs.

I offer for your consideration the following short films. How is it that we fail, where these amateur actors succeed so admirably? How is that they, armed with only desire and a bootleg copy of Adobe-After-Effects can choreograph and assemble this fine tribute to the object of their admiration? The answer is dedication to the conveyance of information over a rigid, dogmatic and weak-minded pursuit of the hegemony of the written word which marks our endeavors.

• People’s Evidence A
• People’s Evidence B