Describing Anti Masons

I have to admit I have never really given much thought to the term we use to describe our attackers. But it has come to my attention from a Brother on a Yahoo Masonic Group that the words we choose have a direct effect on whether the attacker is viewed as justified or unjustified. Just by choosing what we call that attacker can gain us the upper hand in the minds determination of who is right and who is wrong.

This is not my idea But I will pass it on to you. Give it some thought the next time some whacko goes on a tear about Freemasonry!


Bro. Robert Cooper, Curator of the Library & Museum of the Grand Lodge of Scotland has written about phobias. He alludes to the fact that many people fear and hate without a good reason. For instance one common one, which I have witnessed, is Agoraphobia, the fear of open spaces that keeps people inside their dwellings never venturing forth into the everyday world. But Aracnophobia is also quite well known, the fear of spiders. Some of these can get quite silly like Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, fear of the number 666.

Other phobias lean heavily toward hatred. Hatred of the Jews is Judeophobia, hatred of France is Francophobia, hatred of the church is Ecclesiophobia and hatred of witches and witchcraft is Wiccaphobia..

Some groups in the US that have had a hard time gaining acceptance have fought back by labeling their detractors as Homophobic, in other words an irrational hatred.

How about Masons? We get a lot of irrational hatred thrown our way. What do we call those who hate us? Anti Masons. They are anti Masonic we say. Is this strong enough? And does it place the burden of the fearing hatred on the party that is spreading the venom about the Craft.

This is where Bro. Cooper advises us that we need to step up and place the blame squarely on the hater by calling these people Masonophobes and their behavior as Masonphobia. It won’t deter our attackers but it may make others who might have a tendency to sympathize with the attacker think twice about who is in the right.