No one grows up thinking his destiny is to become a superhero. That’s because he isn’t Bill, who regular gives lectures every Saturday night in the community center in Brooklyn, New York. It’s a grueling form of penance he says. “Something I just need to do to get it out of my system.” A way even of mourning the collapse of his most cherished ambitions – “the American dream.” Bill, who drives a yellow cab, is one of those who believe the Freemasons are controlling America and world.
In Bill’s universe, the ubiquitous one dollar bill isn’t just currency as it is a cause celebre for the disgruntled, who believe the same – “we are being controlled by benign forces who have permeated the highest level of government!” That’s their mantra. I want to emphasize Bill isn’t just an ordinary taxi driver. He describes his job almost in religious terms, speculating on such questions as spiritual strength and the importance of finding one’s path through the search for the “great truth.” Bill believes the “great truth” lies in the mystery of how a pyramid features at the back of a one dollar note –“that’s the easy part,” he says, “it’s a Masonic symbol so they (the freemasons) control us and whole world.”
Sitting down for one of Bills lectures and listening to his obscure disquisitions on the nature of “the truth,” ranks as one of the most riveting experiences in my life. Not only does he come across as legitimate, intelligent and well researched, but what Bill actually says makes a cogent case. Its one that leads me to ask, “What the hell went wrong with America?” – “Why is the freest country on this planet, mired by so many conspiracy theories as to who actually runs the government?” – “Why do conspiracy theories continue to suggest, some unseen and benign hand has somehow seized the reins of authority in the most powerful country on this planet?”
At the heart of the question: what does a one dollar American bill have to do with the proposed pay rise of civil servants and public administrators in Singapore? Read the rest of this entry »
THE INTELLIGENT SINGAPOREAN 