A Red Herring
© Memory Map
23.5 Degrees: Interlude: Clupean Capers
By: Stella MarisDate: Saturday, July 05, 2008
Now is probably a good time to pause for a recap, so that everyone knows where we're headed. As you may have gathered, the Herrings tend to generate a bit of controversy from time to time, which is precisely why we operate mostly underground.
If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that "the Herrings" is an affectionate reference to the Ordre du Hareng Rouge, a group of undercover researchers who investigate secret societies and chivalric orders. We adopted this name due to an ironic coincidence, which I'll explain someday.
There are roughly ten of us in the group, consisting of published authors, genealogists, a couple of Freemasons, translators, IT consultants, and various other specialists who share information under strict confidentiality. We are all writing under pseudonyms and never name names, unless someone gives us specific permission. Some of the events we recount are set in a fictional context.
The reason for the secrecy and confidentiality isn't because our work is particularly dangerous, but because we got tired of the vendettas and harassment campaigns. Basically, we don't give a toss what anyone thinks or whether anyone believes our version of the story, we do our research because we are curious and want to find out the answers for ourselves, and we have developed the ability to achieve this. Most of us have been doing this work for between ten and twenty years, so we have a vast amount of experience between us.
We don't have any particular agenda and we’re not in this for the money, we just aim to uncover The Truth - whatever it may be.
It's strict Herring policy to independently verify all information and to get personally involved wherever possible, which means visiting locations, meeting individuals, sometimes even joining chivalric orders, and occasionally getting scammed.
After a while, in this line of research, you become less judgmental and tend to go with the flow, adopting a detached objectivity even when you’re consciously aware that something is being fabricated. You begin to accept that it doesn't really matter if anything is actually real or not - that people create their own Reality. And that's when you begin to play the Game.
The information here in 23.5 Degrees is based on the Herrings' behind the scenes investigations into the material incorporated into books and movies in this genre, which has been growing ever since the success of The Da Vinci Code. It crosses over into other areas, like the National Treasure backstory and Masonic and Rosicrucian history, whose investigators also share information with the Herrings when our work overlaps. Plus, we're in touch with the UFO glitterati on a regular basis.
Through our contacts, we usually have a good idea of what's going to be published or released long before it hits the public domain, and we often know most of the people involved. So, a lot of the material we're releasing won't make sense until months, or maybe even years, into the future. In some cases we’re actually triggering the information that the public will eventually absorb.
So, that’s where we’re up to. And now I think it might be time to open another bottle of Corbieres rouge…
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All this stuff about underground, undercover (underwater?) red herrings and secret societies with fish connections is starting to give me a haddock! Sorry!
I guess I wish Stella Maris weren't such a damned fine writer and I wished that the crossword-type vocabulary and mysterious promises and arcane references didn't get inside my head. There's nothing else in Mania like this. Tom Wolfe meets Cavafi meets Al-Hazred. Stella, keep doing what you're doing, but give us something to get our hooks into! To paraphrase Juvenal, we need more than "piscem et circenses"!