Fraternities and "The Lodge" - A Lost Legacy of Our Grandfathers

[レバニラ]

Below is a weird half post half article. It is intended to spark a discussion, but what the fuck do I know about writing?
Enjoy an odd ramble inspired by clown world.
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Growing up, we were inundated with vain and glorious recollections of times past. The boomer ideals were fed into our soft skulls in an endless stream of propaganda.

But the same was done with them, and as a result, our parents would have us 'enjoy' what they grew up with, and thus we in turn were consuming a rose-colored look at the halcyon days of The Greatest Generation.

Shows like The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, and even The Flintstones depicted a time of unspoiled grandeur. Idyllic better-than-life utopia, with attainable lifestyles, wacky hijinks, likable characters, and all the trappings of the time.

One of these ubiquitous presences was that of "The Lodge". Whether it's the Leopard Lodge from Happy Days, the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo from Flintstones, the Raccoon Lodge from The Honeymooners, or any number of other references or parodies, "The Lodge" was a constant presence in that generation's zeitgeist.

These of course were reflections of real life organizations. Some surviving to today include The Lions, The Eagles, The Shriners, The Freemasons, The Knights of Columbus, and many others I'm too lazy to look up or list here.

Many people vaguely know of their grandfather belonging to one or more of these venerable institutions. Mine was a Lion, and gave both money and time to help those with poor eyesight and poorer finances. One of his sons, my uncle, later in life joined The Eagles, where they drink cheap beer and bitch about their wives.

But the question is, why did these die off?

I have no clue.

Some are faith-based, with the Freemasons and Knights of Columbus coming to mind. Perhaps the decline in faith among millennials is to blame.

Perhaps the stink of uncool has something to do with it. Most lodges these days are full of old mothball-smelling grandpas getting together, talking about their grandkids, and being home by 10:00 for bed. Maybe this drives off a young ego-driven generation.

Maybe it's the idea of some of the most unreliable soy suckers on the planet rejecting the idea of having to be at the same place at the same time every other week. Perhaps the idea of making plans and sticking to them is just untenable to them.

It could be that the ideas of fraternity and giving back to the community have lost their appeal. Most guys are girls, Deep Soy has crushed the platonic form of a man into a saggy-titted weirdo who cries at mass-produced goods, and the communities themselves are unsafe shitholes filled with rapists and welfare cases, so who would want to engage with one?

Or maybe paying dues is just too much for the generation that has it harder than any ever. Soy and IPA budgets are reaching all-time-highs this year, and paying $100 a year to a centuries-old institution is just not feasible.

Whatever the reason, enrollment and attendance is way down, the lowest in history. With the exception of a few exceptional young men, the lodges remain mostly untouched. It's the same old men who've been attending for 50 years and a few whippersnappers with a taste for the traditional or the mysterious.

But is The Lodge a refuge, a shelter from Clown World?

Most lodges are founded on moral or religious grounds. Many people see the erosion of these two concepts as the catalyst for our descent into the HONK of darkness.

Most lodges are fraternal, meaning men only. Having a place you can speak freely, outside of your niche internet forums, provides a real physical avenue for discussion, debate, and the exercise of honest rhetoric.

Most lodges are based on charitable works. For a generation of selfish grab asses, giving back, charity, and hard work are all huge character builders that these soy-llennials NEED in order to grow into any sort of a man. The idea of actually spearheading an effort to feed or clothe those near you, as opposed to just starting a birthday fundraiser on SoyBook, is the sort of skin in the game that grows a man: things our forefathers did and boomers despise.

Most lodges are scheduled for regular meetings. Having a routine, sticking to it, meeting responsibilities: these are all virtues, and yet every man-child under 40 has some excuse for not being able to commit. Think of the number of times a friend has made plans and cancelled on you days later because they had an artisANAL mushroom tasting or a local flea market to attend. A lodge asks of and expects you to attend when you say you will. People are relying on you. You are a pillar of the organization, and that level of responsibility and consistency builds character.

Most of all, most lodges are composed of like-minded people. If you join the Knights of Columbus, you'll know every one in the room believes in God, Jesus, and something about the Vatican. If you join the Eagles, you'll know that every one in the room is a patriot. If you join the Freemasons, you'll know that every one there believes in a God and wants to improve themselves.

So the question is this:
Should you join a lodge? Is there still a benefit in being a member of a fraternity? Do these mostly homogenous groups of adult men offer us a place to be ourselves again? Do the walls of a symbolic lodge protect us from the world of sex offender story times for children, the Sri Lankan attacker emotional support groups, and the state-enforced homosexuality we face on a daily basis?

Obviously, my answer is a tentative yes. That shit is obvious.
I also realize my own rose-colored spectacles regarding the issue. I've been a member of one for a decade, and as the world gets crazier, the Order seems more welcoming than ever.

I'm just curious how this looks or sounds to others. Much the same way me and the 'old sports' at the lodge are basically on the same wavelength, I'd assume consumers of the fine literary works of Dagger are going to be more similar than dissimilar as well.

That being said, and general tone of this post aside, please just shit post the fuck out of it below and call me a massive faggot larper to your hearts' content.

[don]

I think the decline of the fraternal organization has to do with the profusion of media and activity -- even in the mid twentieth century there wasn't that much competing for your time, compared to now. Wages were up (America had just come out on top of the worst war in the history of the world) and a weekly commitment was easy to maintain and fun. These days people have less time, they work more for less money, and there are so many fucking distractions vying for their every waking moment that most of them just end up vegetating in front of one of the 10,000 forms of easily accessible television in the few hours their programmed life of slavery allows them. I think social relationships in general are eroding for this reason as well

What's your lodge? Would you mind talking more about it?

[レバニラ]

I think the decline of the fraternal organization has to do with the profusion of media and activity -- even in the mid twentieth century there wasn't that much competing for your time, compared to now. Wages were up (America had just come out on top of the worst war in the history of the world) and a weekly commitment was easy to maintain and fun. These days people have less time, they work more for less money, and there are so many fucking distractions vying for their every waking moment that most of them just end up vegetating in front of one of the 10,000 forms of easily accessible television in the few hours their programmed life of slavery allows them. I think social relationships in general are eroding for this reason as well

What's your lodge? Would you mind talking more about it?

So in response to the first paragraph:
I agree with most of it. I think people have the spare time, more than enough, more than ever, but it gets wrapped up in circuses. And by circuses I mean porno, video games, and Disney Co. visual narcotics.
Overall it probably does boil down to 'programmed slavery of life', but more so the cage we build for ourselves. Social media has convinced us we don't need social interaction, and has usurped it with [insert all the woes of social media that have already been stated and addressed far better than I ever could here].


As for my own affiliation, there's a mix of pride, shame, and unending faggotry I feel in stating that I'm a Freemason.
I'd love to talk about it in depth (Wrote 5000 words about it today in something that I might turn into an article or lecture or something), just not sure where to start.
Of the two lodges I've attended, one is full of old Jewish men who kvetch a lot, and are in general some of the finest men I know. The other is full of young hipsters who have faith in God, read Allister Crowley, and love drinking. They're some of the raddest men I know.
What do you want to know?

[don]

That's awesome. I got to go to the Masonic Lodge on 22nd st. here in the city once and their head librarian was a young guy too, super knowledgeable about masonic history and just all around a great guy.

How'd you get into it? Is it a family connection?

Also I agree about the social media thing... it mimics porn in that it tricks you out of loneliness temporarily but ultimately leaves you feeling hollow. Message boards excepted, maybe? I like the anonymous (or at least eponymous) internet a lot more than twitter / facebook etc. In fact I'd say there's some similarities between a good message board and a fraternal order in terms of secrecy, common ritual etc ... but I'd be curious about your perspective on it

[containercore]

I think I remember Chris Ott saying something about the internet age killing "scenes" ie distinct localized culture clusters as well. Real life community seems increasingly difficult to the internetted mind.

[レバニラ]

That's awesome. I got to go to the Masonic Lodge on 22nd st. here in the city once and their head librarian was a young guy too, super knowledgeable about masonic history and just all around a great guy.

How'd you get into it? Is it a family connection?

Also I agree about the social media thing... it mimics porn in that it tricks you out of loneliness temporarily but ultimately leaves you feeling hollow. Message boards excepted, maybe? I like the anonymous (or at least eponymous) internet a lot more than twitter / facebook etc. In fact I'd say there's some similarities between a good message board and a fraternal order in terms of secrecy, common ritual etc ... but I'd be curious about your perspective on it

Oh I totally agree about the forum thing.
20 years later I still feel a connection to some scumbags from an old late 90's early 00's hentai forum I trolled in my youth. (I call it trolling but I was actually just autistic and unlikable which is almost the same thing). Same with the early days of 4Chan, the chats in Bar-Giko, and probably here.
Even though I was never a part, I feel like SA was a PRIME example of that. Plus there's the secret forums, like the secret file sharing boards on GameFaqs, LUE-links.
I think IRC also had this down pat. The sense of secrecy, community, a barrier to entry.
Like having to post enough to get liked in order to get access to a secret board, or having to understand how to use IRC well enough to get in and share anime subs with other waps. (Also fuck porn, fuck social media, and fuck tap)

As for my in: I basically drove by the building every day for the first 20 years of my life. I'd ask my family but they're kind of retarded hicks so they had no idea. I'd heard a lot of rumors about running the world and the illuminati shit which was pretty cool, but most of all at that time I was getting really into esoteric forms of Christianity and mysticism. So I (in the least cool and traditional way possible) went online, found a few members to contact through their website, and met with them. We sat down, talked about the organization, talked about my faith, talked about what would in general happen, and I petitioned. I was accepted, did some rites, and became a full member within a year.

[レバニラ]

I think I remember Chris Ott saying something about the internet age killing "scenes" ie distinct localized culture clusters as well. Real life community seems increasingly difficult to the internetted mind.

Yeah, that and just in general things like NetFlix. This mass produced media meant for thoughtless consumption. Video games, serial TV shows, etc.
I'm becoming extremely reactionary against them on principle. For example if the weather is nice and my friends want to watch a movie, I call them soyboys until I convince them that we're going for a gorge hike and smoking non filters.

[nfl69]

the concept of the lodge seems vital now more than ever

leave it to the boomers to "rebel" against fraternity in favor of whatever the fuck it was they deemed more important

i play backgammon nearly every week with a group of olds, low stakes gambling nourishes the soul

[SpaceLions]

What Don said is pretty much the answer, we have to work twice as long for twice as less. We are too exhausted to have communities anymore. "Why would I go to a faggy meeting of irrelevant old men when I finally have five hours to myself to maintain the cleanliness of my apartment and cook a meal?"
Ironically the market has reduced our hierarchy of needs.
Any remaining organizations are on deaths door. I was a Boy Scout, and proud of it. Now the BSA encourages pedophilia and postmodern gender """""theory"""""".
Nothing beside remains, round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the low and level Internet stretch far away.

[JacobGooch]

Yeah dude. I was quite involved in Boy Scouts but its a joke now. RIP