Illuminati - Another Take
This is going to go off like a fart in church in this forum, so apologies in advance.
Basically, I don't have a vested interest in, nor do I care about probably 99% of conspiracy theories, and the Illuminati is no exception. However, I stumbled across the following link and wanted to share. Part of inquiry into any theory should be asking both "What evidence leads us to this belief?" and also "Why might it not be true?"
http://www.cracked.com/article_19800_5-ridiculous-origins-famous-urban-legends_p2.html
Two things: one, it obviously doesn't touch on the entirety of Illumnati theories and/or evidence. It deals with only the origins of the idea in popular culture. Please treat it as such. Two, while Cracked is first and foremost a humor site, and isn't known for its hard-hitting journalism, they also don't post outright fabrications like the Onion or various other fake news sources, and tend to fact-check their sources as much as any respected news site.
I think that, aside from the "is it true?" debate, which I have no real opinion on, we should be able to agree that much of the Illumnati zeitgeist is just a byproduct of peoples' interest in the subject, and subsequent exploitations of that interest in the media for profit. The elaborate theories and their potential underpinnings are one thing, but their popularization in books, movies, TV, etc. is nothing but savvy capitalism.