The following comes from Mark Koltko-Rivera’s blog, Freemasonry: Reality, Myth, and Legend, and is cross posted here to communicate as far as possible.
In his piece, Mark skillfully reminds Mercedes-Benz of the atrocities during the holocaust that befell European Freemasons under the Nazi regime using Satanist Masonic propaganda like their commercial (see below) to put to death many members of the fraternity.
While I doubt Mercedes-Benz is purposefully linking Freemasonry and Satanism, by including the Masonic square and compass in such a manner could not be taken in any other way and is a thumb in the eye to the history of the fraternity. For context, all one need to do is examine the connection between Anti-Masonic Nazi propaganda and it’s horrific effects on the fraternity in Europe.
Mark and I both strongly urge you to let Mercedes-Benz know how offensive the commercial is which you can do on their online comment form or on their Facebook Page, or sign the petition on Change.org.
From Mark Koltko-Rivera:
Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl Commercial Links Freemasonry to Satan
Tomorrow, during the television broadcast of the Super Bowl, Mercedes-Benz will officially unveil its commercial for the all-new CLA-class automobile. It’s a terrific commercial. Unfortunately, it also is a monumental libel upon Freemasonry.
You can see the commercial for yourself here. The commercial features the talented Willem Dafoe (shown above) in a great turn as Satan.
(the video has since been taken off-line)
No, Dafoe’s character is never actually named Satan, but the soundtrack features the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” (available here with lyrics in the notes). More to the point, Dafoe’s character presents the protagonist with a contract to sign, a contract which has already been executed under the seal of “the Master of Devils and Demons” (translating the Latin, seen below). No reasonable person could see the commercial and think that Dafoe’s character is anyone other than Satan or one of his minions.
Here’s the thing: Satan is depicted as wearing a Masonic ring—on his left ring finger, yet!—easily visible at several points in the commercial, some of which feature close-up shots of Satan’s hands (two shown below).
(The pointy fingernails, à la the Devil in the film Rosemary’s Baby, are an especially nice touch, don’t you think?)
The implication is clear: Mercedes-Benz links Freemasonry to Satan. (Yes, I know, this particular ring shows that the Devil hasn’t gotten very far in Masonry, but that’s not the point.)
There are, of course, those who would say we should just ignore this in the spirit of good fun. Except that it’s not good fun to have to answer to people who think that Freemasons are devil-worshipping Satanists.
Last Wednesday night, I attended the Special Communication of the American Lodge of Research, at Masonic Hall, in New York City. (Facebook page here.) Those in attendance heard a paper on the topic, “Freemasonry and the Holocaust,” by Brother C. Moran (which will appear later this year in the published Proceedings). During the presentation, I was struck by the parallels between the situation of the German Masons in the 1930’s, and our Masonic situation today.
To a surprisingly large extent, these Masons faced the same outrageous accusations that Masons today are faced with: that Masonry is an international conspiracy, and so forth. The Taxil hoax occurred only about forty years or so before the Nazis came to power, and many people throughout Europe believed that Masons worshiped Lucifer. Sound familiar? All of this helped to create a climate where thousands of thousands of German and other European Masons would be imprisoned in concentration camps—and many murdered—by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
The Mercedes-Benz people, knowingly or not, are perpetuating a dangerous myth by linking Freemasonry with Satan. I think we should complain about this—in great numbers. The following is the text of the e-mail that I am sending to Mercedes-Benz through their online comment form. Feel free to adapt it for your own comment, if you wish:
During the 2013 Super Bowl, Mercedes-Benz /plans to show/showed/ a television commercial, titled “Soul,” about the new CLA. It features a character portraying Satan, who clearly wears a Masonic ring in plain sight on his left ring finger.
This linking of Freemasonry to Satan is no joke. It was rumors like this that set the stage for the imprisonment and murders of thousands of Freemasons in Europe by Nazis during the Holocaust. The false rumor that Freemasons worship Satan is alive and well among millions of Americans today. Mercedes-Benz is adding fuel to the fire of that defamation with this television commercial.
Surely, to sell cars, Mercedes-Benz would not jokingly link Jews to Satanism (another popular rumor during the Nazi era). It would be good to not jokingly link Freemasons to Satanism either.
There are over a million Masons in the United States. None of them are pleased about this.
Sincerely,
Mark Koltko-Rivera
Master Mason
Winter Park Lodge #239 Free and Accepted Masons (Florida)
The American Lodge of Research (New York)
Masons need to stand up to people who make outrageous slanders and libels against our community. Let’s do that here.
Masons need to stand up to people who make outrageous slanders and libels against our community. Let’s do that here.