From HomoExcelsior

Held by some to be real, and dismissed by others as a figment of paranoid imagination, the Illuminati is an elite secret society bent on complete control of global politics and economy. Linked to such various organizations as the World Trade Organization, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Masons, and the Knights Templar, conspiracy theorists point to the Illuminati as the ultimate Orwellian bogeyman. In some depictions, the Illuminati are masters of capitalist and memetic manipulation, and in others they are accused of employing mystical ritual to achieve their ends. The Illuminati are a ubiquitous fixture in conspiracy theorist literature such as "Fourth Reich of the Rich," and since the publication of Robert Shea's and Robert Anton Wilson's "Illuminatus!" trilogy, have been more recently the object of satire and parody, especially in the products of parlor game publisher Steve Jackson Games. The Illuminati may also have been the inspiration for the secret societies depicted in Chris Carter's television series, The X-Files and Millennium.

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