The so-called "American Stonehenge" was built in 1979, when a mysterious person going by the name of "R. C. Christian" (which was possibly a reference to Rosicrucianism) hired a local stone work company to make and install them for him.
Known more formally as the Georgia Guidestones, this monument stands in Elbert County, Georgia. It is comprised of four gigantic granite slabs arranged around a fifth central slab, a capstone, and an explanatory footnote in stone set nearby. The Guidestones have ten commandments written in eight different languages, one per face of the four main stones.
The ten commandments of the Georgia Guidestones came up recently when I was watching an episode of "Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura." Someone on the show mentioned that the Bilderberg conspiracy wanted to keep Earth's population low, perhaps in accordance with the Georgia Guidestones. A totally random reference, as far as I can tell, but it is the first commandment: "Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature."
In fact, all ten of the Guidestones' commandments read like the ten biblical commandments, as translated by the label on a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap. (Although as funny as it would be, commandment #10 is NOT "DILUTE DILUTE DILUTE OK!!!")
Some of the commandments are downright menacing. #2 says, "Guide reproduction wisely - maintain fitness and diversity" sounds like a pretty solid commandment in favor of eugenics. Given the Guidestones' location - rural Georgia - and that part of the country's connection to the KKK, well. Kinda scary.
Other of the commandments are frankly anarchist (in the traditional sense), like #7, "Avoid petty laws and useless officials" and #8, "Balance personal rights with social duties."
And we finish out with a rambling beatnik hippie love song, as wacky as the DOUBLE RAINBOW guy. Commandment #10 is "Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature."
These tablets weren't created on a whim, as a prank. And they weren't cheap, either. Whoever bought the land from a local farmer, then deeded the land to Elbert County, obviously meant these things passionately. They had a burning desire to communicate, and wanted to ensure that their communication would be heard throughout the ages.
And who might this person be? Well, there is a lot of "highly persuasive yet circumstantial evidence" indicating that R. C. Christian may be none other than cable television demigod and media empire mogul Ted Turner.
Ted Turner's father ran a billboard business, which Ted took over in 1964. In the intervening years, Turner parlayed it into a multi-billion dollar business. Today Ted Turner's worth is estimated at 1.9 billion, and he is America's largest private landowner. Part of the reason he has become our largest private landowner is due to his self-assigned mission to repopulate the American plains with the buffalo, which Turner ranches on 15 massive estates.
Turner's politics are defiantly left-wing, and he is a supporter both of environmental causes and social causes like Obama's health care plan. Could the father of CNN be the father of the Georgia Guidestones as well? If so, he isn't telling!
Known more formally as the Georgia Guidestones, this monument stands in Elbert County, Georgia. It is comprised of four gigantic granite slabs arranged around a fifth central slab, a capstone, and an explanatory footnote in stone set nearby. The Guidestones have ten commandments written in eight different languages, one per face of the four main stones.
The ten commandments of the Georgia Guidestones came up recently when I was watching an episode of "Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura." Someone on the show mentioned that the Bilderberg conspiracy wanted to keep Earth's population low, perhaps in accordance with the Georgia Guidestones. A totally random reference, as far as I can tell, but it is the first commandment: "Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature."
In fact, all ten of the Guidestones' commandments read like the ten biblical commandments, as translated by the label on a bottle of Dr. Bronner's Liquid Soap. (Although as funny as it would be, commandment #10 is NOT "DILUTE DILUTE DILUTE OK!!!")
Some of the commandments are downright menacing. #2 says, "Guide reproduction wisely - maintain fitness and diversity" sounds like a pretty solid commandment in favor of eugenics. Given the Guidestones' location - rural Georgia - and that part of the country's connection to the KKK, well. Kinda scary.
Other of the commandments are frankly anarchist (in the traditional sense), like #7, "Avoid petty laws and useless officials" and #8, "Balance personal rights with social duties."
And we finish out with a rambling beatnik hippie love song, as wacky as the DOUBLE RAINBOW guy. Commandment #10 is "Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature."
These tablets weren't created on a whim, as a prank. And they weren't cheap, either. Whoever bought the land from a local farmer, then deeded the land to Elbert County, obviously meant these things passionately. They had a burning desire to communicate, and wanted to ensure that their communication would be heard throughout the ages.
And who might this person be? Well, there is a lot of "highly persuasive yet circumstantial evidence" indicating that R. C. Christian may be none other than cable television demigod and media empire mogul Ted Turner.
Ted Turner's father ran a billboard business, which Ted took over in 1964. In the intervening years, Turner parlayed it into a multi-billion dollar business. Today Ted Turner's worth is estimated at 1.9 billion, and he is America's largest private landowner. Part of the reason he has become our largest private landowner is due to his self-assigned mission to repopulate the American plains with the buffalo, which Turner ranches on 15 massive estates.
Turner's politics are defiantly left-wing, and he is a supporter both of environmental causes and social causes like Obama's health care plan. Could the father of CNN be the father of the Georgia Guidestones as well? If so, he isn't telling!
Photo credit: Flickr/The Rocketeer