Economics and similar, for the sleep-deprived
A subtle change has been made to the comments links, so they no longer pop up. Does this in any way help with the problem about comments not appearing on permalinked posts, readers?
Update: seemingly not
Update: Oh yeah!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Secret society of the week: The Order of Desoms
More from the Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Institutions:
This order of deaf men is relatively new compared to most fraternal societies. It was formed in the state of Washington in 1946. The name Desoms is an acronym for deaf sons of master masons. The primary objective of the society is to further the spirit of Friendship among deaf men who are related to Freemasons.
The Masonic Service Association reports in its "Allied Masonic Groups and Rites" that in 1961 the Desoms tried to change their order's name to The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Of Washington, Ancient Delta Guild Free and Accepted Masons of North America. This name change, however, was legally prevented by the Grand Lodge of Washington. The Washington Masons resisted the name change because the Desom society is not a bona fide Masonic group.
The ritual of the Desoms contains one degree, the Initiatory degree, which is given to all eligible members. In order to join the OOD one must be a deaf male of good moral character and be able to show that he is closely related to a Master Mason. Current membership statistics were not available to the writer
What the heck is that all about? Well, as far as I can tell, what's going on here is that one of the "Landmarks" of Freemasonry (the basic principles) is "the rule that candidates for Masonic initiation must be make, free born, of unmutilated body and of mature age". I am suspecting that the Washington lodge didn't allow deaf people to join, and that some of its members had deaf relatives and found this rather unfair. Hence, the Desoms.
The "Masonic Service Association" referred to is also worthy of note - they're basically the "fake Mason cops", who dig up information on people and organisations who try to fraudulently extract fraternal benefits by pretending to be Masons.
this item posted by the management 3/15/2009 04:04:00 AM
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