Issue #21 of James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds’ conspiracy theory comic, The Department of Truth, takes us deeper into the major concept underlying the entire series, that reality is created by our beliefs. We learn, though, that there’s a room deep within Fort Knox that’s insulated from these effects, where documentation of our world’s real history is kept.
Fittingly enough, in addition to American and Soviet flags, there’s heavy use of the “Eye of Providence” over a few pages. The spooky symbol that originally represented God watching over humanity has become one of the most recognizable images of conspiracy theory culture. Why is it on the one-dollar bill, and what does it mean?
Image Comics
A lot of conspiracy theorists back the notion of predictive programming (and the bizarre, fictional laws that go along with it) that says the elites secretly running the world still have to tell you what they’re doing, for some reason. Like a vampire needing permission to enter a victim’s house, “they” have to reveal their evil plans before executing them.
For people wanting to see them, these so-called revelations are everywhere, and there are plenty of conspiracy theory websites that dedicate a good portion of their content to decoding these symbols. From Starbucks to Johnson & Johnson and everything in between, symbols that reveal the true masters of reality abound.
If you spend enough time looking at the dollar bill, you’ll see a great deal of esoteric symbolism. The Eye of Providence floats above a pyramid with 13 steps which represent the original colonies. Above the Eye are the words “Annuit coeptis,” a Latin phrase that, coupled with the image, scholars largely agree means, “Providence favors our undertakings.” Beneath the Eye is “Novus ordo seclorum,” which means “new order of the ages.”
Many in the conspiracy theory community take that last part as a reference to the “New World Order,” and the heralding of the Antichrist and the End Times. The Eye of Providence is often associated with the nefarious and amorphous Illuminati, which was a real group, but was nothing like what conspiracy theory believers want you to thinks it was.
Then of course there are the hidden messages that are claimed to be on various denominations of U.S. currency. For example, if you fold the $20 bill a certain way — like the old Mad magazine fold-ins — you’ll find irrefutable proof that the government was behind 9/11! Really gives new meaning to the phrase “follow the money.”
A lot of conspiracy theorists believe that money has no real value, so they want to return to the gold standard. (Ironically, many of those same people are also cool with cryptocurrency.) The Federal Reserve, the central banking system of America, is one of the big baddies in the conspiracy theory extended universe. The Fed is one of Alex Jones’ favorite villains, one which he’s used to sell gold to his listeners.
Conspiracy theories about the Fed and U.S. currency also tend to bleed over into the Sovereign Citizen (or SovCit) movement. (SovCits are also referred to as Paper Terrorists and Tax Protestors.) These are the people who firmly believe — thanks in part to propaganda from David Icke, Jones, and many others — that there are secret magical words you can say to avoid paying taxes, and that they’re not really required to have a driver’s license or a Social Security number.
Image Comics
It’s quite strange to think that some traditional symbols could become so iconic and lead to a multiplicitous path of so many bizarre ideas. But now that conspiracy theory culture has become frightfully mainstream, despite the increasing strangeness of its content, the “all-seeing eye” of the Illuminati seems almost passé in comparison.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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