Why the Illuminati doesn’t actually exist

Everyone has heard of the Illuminati, an insane conspiracy theory that all of the most powerful people in the world are in a secret club, there to protect themselves when the apocalypse occurs.
In the late 1700s, the Illuminati actually was a real thing, and that is where the lines get blurred. A man named Adam Weishaupt had invested his life into French philosophy and wanted to form a group of people to protect the beliefs that came along with this specific type of philosophy. Weishaupt formed a secret group called The Order of the Illuminati, and their call sign was an eye. The Illuminati became an embodiment of knowledge, the people in the Order on a hunt for knowledge and learning. They probably did this, though, because most of the men involved were poor and the more educated one was, the better chance one had of improving their financial situation.
The Illuminati eventually became an issue because of their anti-religious stances, though, and were wiped from existence by the Catholic Church. However, there was no proof of the actual order disintegrating. Rumors of the order persisted for years afterwards and slowly faded out, leading people to believe that they were still around.
I have always been fascinated by history and the mysterious, so this part of the Illuminati I can get behind. People meeting in secret, desperate to continue their quest to find and learn anything they could about any topic is surely in my ball park. But as we get incredibly modern with this tall tale, the more ridiculous it becomes. Fascists believed the Illuminati were Jewish, after World War II capitalists believed the Illuminati were communists and so on and so forth until now. Today, anyone who believes in the Illuminati believes that representatives of pop culture are in the Illuminati, such as major artists such as Beyonce and political figures like George W. Bush.
The more one looks into what conspiracy theorists believe about the Illuminati, the more mind boggling it gets. At the very base of this belief, there is the concept that everyone in the Illuminati is involved in what is referred to as the “New World Order.” The New World Order, according to the theorists, is a group of people trying to make one huge government that spans across all the earth. This government will not be a democracy. It will not be a monarchy. No, the frame of the governmental system that will be enacted once the Illuminati take over the world will be a totalitarian government. Because what else could possibly fit into this ridiculous scheme?
From here on out though, people’s opinions vary. Conspiracy theorists can’t seem to make up their own minds and come to an agreement upon what is actually happening with this secret order of evil people taking over the world. My favorite one, because it’s so ridiculous, is that some of the greatest major political figures, such as Barack Obama and the Clintons, are actually shape shifting lizards in disguise, running our country and making our decisions to boost them closer to total world domination.
Another theory that cracks me up is that famous people in the Illuminati are actually killing famous people and then cloning them to brainwash society. What gets me the most about this is that people think they’ve found proof of it, citing videos with Beyonce tuning out during a basketball game or Eminem staring around with wide eyes and losing balance during an interview.
However, these things can easily be explained away. First of all, regarding Beyonce’s video, she most likely simply zoned out, a very common human phenomenon. Secondly, Beyonce is a very busy woman, she’s constantly working on choreography and shows and music and other things. If I were her, I would also zone out a bit during a basketball game. For Eminem, the immediate response I have to the video is that he’s very obviously on some type of drug and considering that he’s struggled with substance abuse in the past, I wouldn’t be too shocked by it either.
These opinions and so many more are in the world, and I get it. People love to believe that there’s something greater out there.
Religion barely qualifies anymore, so people come up with these insane conspiracy theories, but we can’t believe everything we hear. If we lose our faith in the human race, if we stop trusting each other and we start turning on each other, then we are no better than any other animal that lives on this earth and everything we’ve built in the short amount of time we’ve been here will have been for nothing.