That and $3 might get you a coffee at Starbucks....
Grand Orient of the United States - Founded (internet registration logged) 20 November 2007.
Grand Master Aaron Peavey - +/- December, 2007 to +/- April 2008 - Term: 5 Months
Grand Master John Slifko - +/- April, 2008 to +/- December 2008 - Term: 7 Months
Grand Master Jeff Peace - (He was ALWAYS the REAL Grand Master but let the other two think they were!) +/- December 2008 to forever.... (See below for more information.)
Here's Grand Master the First (or Second, depending....)
Previously, we had a long section here which included an email we'd received during the very short term of the first 'Grand Master' of this group. Since that time, the organization's founder, Jeff Peace, has caused him to leave the organization with some bitterness. It appears that the organization is now attempting to paint Aaron as the devil incarnate who was using GOOFUS for manipulative purposes. More objectively, however, it's far more likely that he had bought into the message from Mr. Peace and was doing his level best to perpetuate the fantasy.
In the early 1950s, Eric Hoffer produced a book titled "The True Believer" which I was introduced to during my time as a political science major in college nearly three decades later. Hoffer wrote about mass movements and the promises they make as they attempt to gain traction. He also delves into the psychology of it all and with this knowledge, it's easy to see how folks can get wrapped up in 'the big lie'.
Hoffer's argument is that mass movements need adherents willing to sacrifice themselves and others for the future goals. 'A better Freemasonry', for example, certainly falls within this sphere. Using Hoffer's theory, the GOOFUS founder/creator needed to devalue both past and present Freemasonry, something he has tried to do quite actively. (Devaluing the past through his - apparently sole - public presentation on his version of Masonic history and devaluing the present by calling his former Grand Master and others obscene names, denigrating the 300+ year old system of Freemasonry, claiming to quit and selling his library, creating the falsity of 'traditional cosmopolitan Freemasonry while creating yet another group where he could rapidly become the leader after apparently using others to do the 'heavy lifting'. His revisionist history of his Masonic exploits has more twists and turns than the Gordian knot.) Hoffer posits that mass movements (although surely, less than a dozen people is HARDLY a 'mass movement') appeal to frustrated people who are dissatisfied with their current state, but are capable of a strong belief in the future. His book also explores the behavior of such movements once they become established suggesting that as they leave the "active {development} phase", the communal framework collapses and members can no longer defeat the feelings of insecurity and uncertainty by belonging to a compact whole. Like Hoffer, I don't take an exclusively negative view of "true believers" and believe that Aaron Peavy was - as the saying goes - 'ridden hard and put away wet'.
In that e-mail message from Aaron referred to above was this statement: "Although Jeff is a personal friend of mine, he does not tell me how to run the GOUSA" Therein, the fatal flaw! To have believed that Mr. Peace would not ultimately have his way on each and every matter was, it appears to me, grossly naive and, again, reflects the Hoffer theory of such things.
We wish Aaron the best as he attempts to recoup monies spent and lent as well as credibility wasted. His time, energies, and abilities were sadly, spent for naught!
Let's try for somebody larger than life....
Less than two months after Mr. Peavey had
written to me - and less than THREE WEEKS after this page appeared (not
entirely unexpected for someone who would, so brazenly, claim independence from
the control of GOOFUS' founder) - Mr. Peavey was no longer Grand Grand
Master. The job
was given to John Slifko of California which was
really
pretty comical to 99% of the Masonic world - although the
unrecognized Grand Orient of France never got the joke it seems. Mr. Slifko
had, from all we can tell, never even been been
to one of their
Stabucks lodges and there
are none where he lives although one seems to have been conveniently
formed post facto at his apartment. Grand Master by e-mail
and phone call? WOW! A new system indeed. And here he was as their Grand Master. Whoever said these
guys did things logically, eh?
John is quite the individual. He's indicated that he's a doctoral candidate, and has been for a decade or more it appears. He claims to have been a Mason for 30 years but in the mid 1990s, he was on the CompuServe bulletin board pontificating about how Masonry should be co-ed and that Masons were so old fashioned by not allowing women. After several months of his verbose rants (John is certainly never at a loss for verbosity nor is 'reticent' a word that anyone meeting him online would ever consider for a description), I personally challenged him suggesting that perhaps he might be better off leaving Masonry and joining a co-ed group. Apparently he did just that - although there remain to this day questions as to whether he ignored his obligation to Grand Lodge rules and held both memberships simultaneously. On CompuServe and in other venues, he strutted his membership in apparently one and then a second (can't quite remember the details as he was SO irrelevant to reality) irregular/unrecognized Grand Lodge.
Time moved on and, strangely enough, John appeared back as a member of the regular/recognized Grand Lodge of California. So his ethics apparently allowed him to ignore the vows made before God and man (or to not renounce them but lie and violate them in fact), perhaps make other vows, possibly renounce them (unless that was a lie initially and perhaps doing that yet again), and then come back for a 'do-over'. And so John USED the Grand Lodge of California membership for his own ends - whatever they were/are - until it once again wasn't convenient. He then bolted to be hailed as the Grand Master of a group with whom he doesn't engage publicly. You can read a very interesting blog post about this matter by Masonic author Chris Hodapp right here who has been far more direct on the topic. You'll also note that the 'usual suspects' of 'Fake Masonry' including a couple of sock puppets have posted comments in their typical immature and puerile behavior mode.
It's so comical - and we didn't have to wait long to see what came next in the nascent (a favorite word of his) development of John Slifko: Pawn!
The Ultimate Goal - and Grand Master forever....
That nascent period didn't take long and in December, 2008 we received an anonymous (SO typical) message stating that Mr. Peace had become the Grand Master of their canoe club. It does seem odd that just as Mr. Slifko was becoming somewhat vocal online (in yet another cycle of blathering versus silence), he disappeared. Having secured the worthless 'recognition' from another unrecognized quasi-Masonic organization (the Grand Orient of France), he appeared to feel empowered, an apparently fatal flaw when in an organization run by Mr. Peace.
We've read quite a bit about the various machinations that took place leading up to the ascension to his 'rightful place' as Grand Master by Mr. Peace. Messages from him with very unbecoming two-word epithets, much of the 'if you're not with me then you're against me' bravado, the always present threats of law suits, and so much more. It really is amazing how these things 'just turn up' in our e-mail sometimes. And, unlike others, we value and respect the concept of confidentiality as a part of our life. Suffice it to say, the story - even if we've only gotten 5% of it, which really isn't the case - is quite pitiful.
Accusations now fly back and forth amongst the parties who haven't abandoned this farce entirely with the Grand Orient of France officers being praised in public and condemned as conniving liars in private. (Folks, you should SEE some of the e-mails I've seen. Talk about POLITICS. Amazing!) Desperate, though, not to 'lose face', each side continues to glad-hand each other. Underneath, though, all is not well and one wonders how long the French will continue to accept this foolishness. What they don't seem to realize is that their calls for the current Grand Master to step down will fall on deaf ears. He built it, after all: they are such dolts for not simply acknowledging the greatness of the man and moving on!
Updated July 13, 2008 with a few sentence
structure corrections 24 August 2008.
Updated January 22, June 20, and July 9, 2009
|
Related Topics: |
|
In addition, |
Just
click on "Prince, the Search Dog" to find things on our site. He's here on every
page and he'll take you directly to our search form where you can see if we've
written about whatever it is you're interested in. Prince has a great memory; he
always remembers where things are! We also encourage you to use
our