September 30, 2026 • 49 mins
Have you ever wondered whether the Illuminati is real? Ben, Matt, and Noel sure do. In the first chapter of this two-part series, they explore how a coalition of elites put together a hang-out at the Bilderberg Hotel in 1954 to -- apparently -- prevent a third World War. Yet as time went on, the group continues meeting up each year... prompting claims that there is a conspiracy afoot.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn the stuff they don't want you to know.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
My name is Noel.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer, Dylan, the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you
are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. We are the opposite
of an elite secret club because anybody is welcome to join.
(00:51):
This is funny, guys, because we all had a moment
Not too long ago, where you all and I looked
around at each other and we realized, sheesh, we've explored
so many secret groups.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
What, Alec?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
The Atlas Network, the Trilateral Commission, the Illuminati.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
The one with the owl.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, Bohemian Grove. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
If you're interested in some of that stuff, head on
over to youtube.com slash conspiracy stuff or youtube.com slash how
stuff works and watch some of the videos. You can
find an August 24th, 2013 episode on the Trilateral Commission,
which is awesome. It's a doozy. It is.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It is a dozer and a doozy. This is the moment, though, folks,
where we all looked around. Noel, Matt, Tennessee, yours truly.
And we said, wait, there is one crew we have
yet to investigate. If you are a conspiracy realist, you
have heard the name. This group is as rich as
(01:54):
Mount Samusa. They have immense power in government, finance and business.
very few people know much about them and very few
people know what they do. Step aside, Davos. This is
the Bilderberg Group.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, this is a group that we've been hearing rumors
about for so long. It's one of those that the
old school conspiracy theory folks that would go on the
radio late at night that would be, you know, mentioning
something in a book that comes out, but it doesn't
get a lot of people talking about it. But there's
a select few people A select few folks who were
(02:30):
speaking on the underground back in, let's say, the 80s,
the 90s, people were talking about the Bilderberg Group and
these secretive meetings that they would have. But I swear
it was like the Alex Jones kind of stuff, right?
I mean, when we would hear about it, it would
be so on the fringe. as though it's this crazy conspiracy.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Well, I mean, I just remember when I first even
started dipping my toe into these conspiracy waters when I
was making the Guidestones documentary many, many years ago, when
you talk about shadowy cabals, you've got kind of your hits,
you know, your main guys, which is like, you know,
the Illuminati, which is sort of this amorphous concept of
a collective of, shadowy groups and doing, you know, weird
(03:11):
things behind the scenes. Then you've got, of course, the Freemasons, uh,
the Rosicrucians. Um, then you have, like you said, the
Trilateral Commission, uh, Bohemian Grove. And then there's always the
Bilderberg group that comes up. But I, I swear guys,
for the longest time, I just, in my mind, it
sounds like a, sort of like a Lego club or
something like that. I don't know what it is. I've
(03:31):
never really fully thought to ask more questions about it.
So I'm super glad that we haven't done it and
that we're exploring it today.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, the conspiracies are real. Please don't ever forget this
goes deeper than the government's debt. We'll be right back.
Here are the facts. A little bit of an origin story.
We enjoy this stuff. We're saying the Bilderberg Group, guys,
(03:59):
but we also have to acknowledge it's been called the
Bilderberg Club, the Bilderberg Conference. It's commonly known as the
Bilderberg Meeting. It's an annual, off-the-record forum, and on paper,
all it is supposed to do is to facilitate dialogue
between decision makers in Europe and North America to facilitate dialogue.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
We're just having a dialogue here, guys. We're not like
making policy. We're just talking. We're just having snacks.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Let's talk about that because for a long time when
we were researching this group or attempted to research this group,
they didn't have a full-fledged website that was fleshed out
where you could actually go on and get information like this.
And as you're saying, Ben, They put on their own
website exactly what they are and what they do.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We'll get into it. What they purport to do, right?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, and it's crazy, and I love that you're pointing
that out because the Bilderberg Group, or meeting if we prefer,
has been continually evolving since it was founded in 1954.
Just like our earlier explorations on the history of lobbying,
(05:15):
This is named after a hotel that was a small
family-run hotel back in the 50s in Osterbeek, Netherlands.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Ah, yes, the Netherlands, home of the Hague.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
The Bilderberg Hotel. It's May 31st. It's 1954. And people
are still sort of hungover from the Second World War,
especially in Europe. So the founders who get together... or
essentially they're like the one percenters who made it through
World War II. And a particular interest for us today
(05:55):
is a guy named Josef Rettinger. He becomes the group's
permanent secretary for a while. And these upper crust, upper
echelon dudes, they get together and they say, we're very concerned.
about the possibility of world war three right now that
nukes are losing the world.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And they also say on the European side, because this
started as a European venture, they say there's a lot
of anti American sentiment going through out Western Europe.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
And we already have NATO that was founded six years earlier.
Bilderberg is thinking of like the Justice League or the
Avengers if every member of the Justice League or the
Avengers was super duper rich. And they say, look, if
we put all these very well-to-do influential individuals together, then
(06:55):
we can unite against the threat of communism and an
expansionist Soviet bloc.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
So sort of like a coalition of government, like an
intergovernmental kind of coalition, sort of like the League of Nations,
which I believe already existed at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, but screw all the red tape. This is low-key
and chill.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Got it.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
The things we have to go hang out at, you know,
it's like a salon of old where you, where you
convene and share your interesting thoughts.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And then maybe like golf is just a friendly game
between gentlemen. Just so yes, that's a great comparison because
now also when you're hanging out with us behind closed doors,
you'll get a couple of hot takes that politicians might
not risk saying in public or that like, the head
of a banking dynasty would never say to a reporter.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah, I think the big connective tissue between these folks
at the time that is kind of unstated, that maybe
they don't want you to think about, is that these
are often the folks who have controlling shares in or
executive power over major institutions that move money. And also
(08:10):
institutions that will get the public to believe certain things
about a move of a large amount of money. Like
media organizations, right? So the people are going to message
out the stuff that the capitalists are doing. Because ultimately
we're talking about the heavy capitalists, right? They're anti-communism for
a reason. It's about making money. shaking hands and making
(08:34):
crap loads of money and being able to exploit resources
and not have to share those resources with folks, you know,
in the same ways that you'd have to do under
a communist rule.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And that's a, that's an important point there too, Matt,
because when we say media, typically it's going to be
the C-suite, right? The business owners of media outfits, not
actual journalists. So they'll go back and they'll give the journal,
there have been journalists there, but they'll give the journalist
marching orders later. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So the folks who can come down from, you know,
the high offices on level 50 of whatever high rise
that you're in and tell the folks at Bloomberg, Hey,
we're going to do this. Theoretically, Not saying, like, the
head of Bloomberg would do that, who is on, you know,
who has a seat on the steering committee this time around. Or,
you know, the person who owns Politico. Don't worry about that.
(09:27):
It's fine, but he's also on the steering committee. That
kind of thing can happen. But ultimately, it's the banks.
It's the investment. It's the people that are going to
reach across the Atlantic and make deals between European countries
and Canada or the United States, you know, and Just really,
that's the current, the undercurrent that's making everything move here.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And folks, here we're going to pause for a moment
for what we've been calling Schrodinger's sponsorship. We don't know
if there's an ad here yet.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Is there?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
A cat involved?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
There may well be.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Okay, we'll be right back. And we're back.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Going back to our origin story, we know this was
baked into the DNA, the points you've just made. The
first meeting said, we're going to have a guest list.
We're going to get two attendees or participants from each country,
and we're going to yin-yang.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Them, okay?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So one of them will represent what we see as
conservative views. The other one will represent what we see
as liberal views. So all in all, they had like
50 guests from European countries at the first meeting, and
They had 11 Americans. We're cribbing this from the memoirs
of Rockefeller. And it was so successful. Everybody had such
(10:47):
a great time. They said, guys, we should do this
every year. And that's when they created the steering committee
that Matt was talking about.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Well, doesn't it just go to show, too, that like
liberal and conservative just doesn't really mean a whole hell
of a lot at the end of the day when
money is concerned. Because the money is going to get
made no matter what. No matter who's in power, no
matter who's in charge, no matter what ideological platform is
sort of trotted out for the people to see. It's
(11:16):
all kind of just a distracting, shiny object. Like shaking keys,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, I'm at the top of the system, therefore the
system must be just, wholesome, and amazing, and what can
we do to preserve it for me? That's how the
calculus works, which I can't wait to get into later.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, because those cultural divides that end up coming in,
it segments the population. And once you've segmented them and
you've got thought leaders and influencers, you can get those
segments to move in ways that you hope they will
move or you want them to move, right? Not always,
it doesn't always work out the way they want, but
(11:55):
it's sure easier when you don't have 320 million people
that you have to convince something of. Now you've got
68 million people that you have to convince of something, right?
And then, just saying, it makes their mission a lot
more simple and potentially effective.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, and the steering committee is cognizant of this. From
day one, from evening one, they have two tasks. They also,
they have a chairman, right? But they don't like the
term leader. They prefer to call themselves members of the
steering committee or organizers. And their tasks are not just
(12:36):
creating and facilitating the actual annual conference, but in addition,
perhaps more importantly, they are building a list of attendees,
their names, their contact info. They want to create this powerful, informal,
off-the-books communication network. which is a huge draw for future
(12:56):
participants because if you are in with Bilderberg, that means
you suddenly have access that other people would kill for.
Some of the most powerful people on the planet are
within your reach. And you can say, hey, I went
to Bilderberg earlier. I saw your speech. It's networking times
(13:17):
a million.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
So as time marched on, the conference began to kind
of bounce around. and spread its influence through various countries.
We've got France, Denmark, and Germany, which is a little
bit of an odd one considering the origin story that
we just mentioned. Turkey and on. The very first conference
that took place in the United States happened on St.
(13:40):
Simon's Island, guys.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yep, 1957.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
That's in our backyard, or at least in our coastal backyard.
And it still, I believe to this day, kind of
remains one of the, you got your Hilton head, which
is a little bit more for the people. And then
you got your St. Simon's Island, which has always kind
of been, you know, they've got one Harris Teeter grocery store. Like,
it's a little bit for the upper crust. If anyone
knows what Harris Teeter is, it's the only one that's
(14:05):
still around that I know of.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Bilderberg sponsored. Yeah, they proudly fund, like so many corporations.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
This is back in 1957, if I didn't say.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Seriously, have you guys been to St.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Simons?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
That's what I'm saying. I've been there several times with
just the family because it was a tourist destination. Just like, hey,
we should go hang out in St.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Simons for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
But it's nice.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's expensive.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
I mean, it's definitely like a gated community kind of vibe.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Oh, that's weird. We found a– it's so weird to
imagine it that way. We found a super cheap– this
is around– God, this is a long time ago. But
it was when it was becoming popular to have– Those apps,
you know, where you– I can't think of any of
them right now off the top of my head. The
ones where you could rent a little cottage or something.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Like an Airbnb?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Like an Airbnb, but it's the other ones that were
becoming popular. But anyway, you could just get something for
pretty cheap out there, and it seemed like it wasn't
a big deal. You're saying it's upper crust?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
So I think there's a sharp economic divide.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
For sure. Similar to Sea Island.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, and I think the reason that I knew it
that way was because growing up, Um, we, my parents
had some very wealthy friends, uh, cause they were parts
of the arts community. My parents were like singers and,
you know, uh, participated in the opera and all that stuff.
So they had a lot of benefactory types that they
became close with. And we went to St. Simon's, um,
to stay at one of these wealthy families, uh, estates, estates. Exactly.
(15:28):
So that was my view of it.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's also, it's kind of a predecessor of, of the
K shaped economy, or you could also say St. Simon's
is an argument for, or in, uh, neo-feudalism. Now, Dylan,
I saw you pop on real quick. Have you been
to St. Simon's?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Uh, no, a family friend was a high school football
coach there. Is it one of those like wild horses
kind of islands?
Speaker 4 (15:56):
It's nearby.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
It's nearby. That's a great reference for anybody unfamiliar. Uh,
there are some islands with, uh, Wild horses, not the
Rolling Stones song, which is a great song.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Couldn't drag me away. Spirit of the Kimeron. Cimarron?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
But it is right there by, as you're saying, Sea Island,
which if you look at that now, you can see
how exclusive that place is. And then Jekyll Island, of course,
where the secret meetings occurred to get the. central bank
situation going on in the Federal Reserve here in the.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
U.S.? Very Bilderberg. They were probably thinking about that. And
the Bilderberg group, as we're going through their history, even now,
they avoid announcing the location of the next meeting until
shortly before it occurs, which adds to the intrigue, which,
as we'll see, is the engine feeding the conspiracies here.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Hey guys, what do you say we take a quick
pause in this Bilderberg chat for a word from our sponsors,
and then we'll come right back. Okay, we're back.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Now we know earlier in this year, in April, April
9th to the 12th, the 72nd Bilderberg meeting occurred at
something called the Salamander Washington DC Hotel. And I want
to shout out One of our fellow conspiracy realists who
contacted us a while back talking about their experience getting
(17:26):
kicked out of a hotel when a very important meeting occurred.
So they have to buy out the entire hotel for
this meeting.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh, that was when the first lady rolled through under
President Biden. Yeah, it was during the Biden administration.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So people have run into that too with, uh, this
has happened in the past where some, because of the
time window that Bilderberg exercises, there have been people who
made reservations for a hotel and they got kicked out
because they, they weren't on the Bilderberg list. It's like, it's,
(18:06):
it's weird. Cause it's actually a small amount of participants,
120 to 150 participants, uh, They're what you would call
big dogs, big fish, politicos, tycoons, security experts, media moguls.
And like we were saying earlier, some journalists have been
allowed in in the past, but only with the understanding
(18:27):
that they won't report on what actually occurs there. That's
so weird. That's like being a journalist and going to
Bohemian Grove and saying, I'm going to write a fluff
piece about the foliage.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Well, it's weird because they operate, at least according to
their own website, under Chatham House rules, which are very strange.
And I'll just read these to you because this is
from their website. It says, Yes. but you can't talk
(19:10):
about who you got that information from. You can't talk
about who that person was with. Oh, were they the
former chair of Goldman Sachs or something? Or were they
Stacey Abrams, CEO of Sage Works Production, who was one
of the steering committee members this year, which is really
weird that Stacey Abrams is on the Bilderberg Group steering committee.
(19:31):
There's just all kinds of That is so weird.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And there are a lot of really weird rules. Like
if you're a journalist, this is bedeviling to have to
go in and see all these things and not be
able to do your job, not to be able to
report stuff. We don't even have a full list of participants.
for every year. We did, I believe, Matt and Noel,
(19:54):
have a list from Bilderbergmeetings.org for the 2026 Shindig. And
they've got some pretty big names on there. It's just
not comprehensive.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah, sure is a lot of people. And it sure
is annoying that they Put it last name first, which
is fine. No, it's good. That's probably the right way
to do it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Who are we talking?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
You got some interesting picks.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Well, I went down the list of the steering committee,
and I've got– I wish we had show notes so
I could share this. I've got links for all of
the people that are on the steering committee and some
of the folks that just showed up to talk, right,
to give one of these little fireside chats. And again,
Stacey Abrams, really weird to see here on there. Lord
Mark Sedgwell of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh, how is Mark?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I have no idea. Jose Manuel Barroso, who is chair
of Goldman Sachs International LLC. That's a non-executive position. Don't
worry about it. Everything's fine. You got Ana Botin of
the Banco Contendar. Oh, wait, who's this? Wait, that doesn't
make sense. They wouldn't, they wouldn't be there. It's Peter Thiel, guys.
(21:07):
Peter Thiel's there.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
He gets around. He's an equal opportunity secret society frequenter,
I would argue.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Well, you know, the reason we're doing this is because
in Strange News, we talked about his little thing, the
Dialogue Society, or whatever the hell he calls it. There
was a leak that came out about the list of
participants who were going to be there. And that's why
we're doing this. We were like, oh, God, we didn't
do Bilderberg. But he's got his own secret society. But
also here, we got Alex Karp. Do you remember that guy? Anyone?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah. Of course. Yes.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Of course.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, just hanging out, doing
their thing. Fareed Zakaria, just, I guess, because you can.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
And they're all together talking trash about the snacks at Davos,
which a lot of them also attended. Definitely.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
There are a lot of people who would never know.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, there are a lot of people who prefer to
be out of the public spotlight, which is actually a
huge draw for Bilderberg. About two-thirds, historically, of these attendees
are going to be from Europe. The other third or
so are from North America. They are overwhelmingly dudes. About 30%
(22:23):
of them are going to be coming from politics and
roles in government. But the rest... are a narrow slice
of a narrow slice of the human demographic. We're talking bankers,
business tycoons, board members from big corporations who are actually
often going to be board members of various corporations, as
(22:46):
well as proxy groups, astroturf initiatives, nonprofits, very Peter Thiel stuff.
Of course, Pete's going to be there. And then additionally,
you know, one thing that creeps me out, guys, and
I think it should creep all of us out, is
that Some folks, very important people, will swing by just
for one day during this multi-day conference or just one panel,
(23:09):
one discussion. And then there are ghosts in the wind.
There are demons whisper. Their names are not publicly announced.
And that's the only reason they feel comfortable going. Makes
you think.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Ultimately a ton of capitalists, a ton of tech experts,
a ton of media folks. And then you've got the
ones that weird me out the most, I think, are
people like Nadia Shadlow, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute,
or that Lord Mark Sedgwell of the International Institute for
Strategic Studies. Some of these people that are a part
(23:42):
of think tanks that are not officially associated with government entities,
but they're filled with former people like Nadia, like former
folks who were deep within either the White House here
in the U.S. or in some kind of House of
Lords or equivalent in another country. And it's people who
(24:03):
seem to be watching trends and then making recommendations, right?
Because what does a think tank do, as we've talked
about on the show? They make recommendations for what government
should do or the way tech needs to move or
where resources might be located and strategic diplomatic moves It's
just creepy that there are people that really do seem
to be steering the world's events and the way money
(24:26):
flows by having these informal conversations, right? Informal, unspoken, unknown,
anonymous conversations.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Extra governmental, right? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
But then everybody's got to go get lunch at some point.
You do have to eat. Right? You might meet up
at a bar afterwards. You might go back to somebody's
hotel room afterwards.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Well, Matt, I mean, you know, I always thought it
was interesting how in business, you know, it's often completely
normal to expense account things like drinks nights or like,
you know, fancy dinners. Because business-wise, that is money well
spent because those are often the places that big ideas
come to fruition and important conversations are had that ultimately
(25:13):
make the company lots of money down the line. So,
I mean, that is, in general, where some of the
most important conversations involving business or policy or politics take place.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, I agree with you there, Noel, because this whole,
everything you guys are talking about leads us to the
next question. What do these folks, these dudes, actually talk about?
We've got so many conspiracy theories surrounding the Bilderberg meeting.
And with all those conspiracies in play, what we're going
to get into is, Some of us in the audience
tonight might be surprised to learn that Bilderberg does often publish,
(25:50):
especially recently, a rough list of topics up for discussion. Now,
they're never going to tell you who said what about what.
But this year, if you look again on their website
that I keep going back to, Nice Wind Buildies, you'll
see that they are discussing, weirdly enough, A lot of
things that we explore here on Stuff They Don't Want
(26:13):
You to Know with you. They're talking about AI, Arctic security.
That's very familiar with our Greenland series, China, future warfare, Ukraine,
global trade, energy, and so on. But what do they
say about those topics behind closed doors? That's a bit
trickier because of their very rigorous, very strict rules.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Which is sort of, I guess, associated with an organization
called the Chatham House that.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
If you look at their Web site. All of their
about me or about our organization little hot links are
super vague.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I mean, surely by design. And when I think of Chatham,
I think of Chatham County in Savannah here in Georgia.
But I don't think this has anything to do with that.
I think this might be based in the UK when
you look at at least the image of the actual
location called the Chatham House. That sounds very Downton Abbey.
But yeah, if you if you literally go to their
about section, I just think this is so funny. You
(27:20):
go to about careers or sorry, Chatham House rule. The
Chatham House rule is used around the world to encourage
inclusive and open dialogue in meetings. Cool, cool. Our advisory
boards consist of distinguished individuals, including business leaders, former government officials,
and philanthropists from across the globe. Our history, this is
(27:41):
the best part and most vague, nothing historical even mentioned here.
Chatham House has been a source of independent analysis, trusted dialogue,
and influential ideas for 100 years. And then there's the
image on the website is a drawing of Mahatma Gandhi.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Don't really understand how that applies. But yeah, tell us
more about the Chatham House, Ben.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Oh, well, we were talking about this a little earlier
because I think this really sticks out to all of us.
The idea is limited secrecy, limited anonymity. So if you
are under this policy or this rule, we could all
go to a secret meeting and and Dylan could give
(28:25):
us all his hot takes on rutabagas, and then we
could go... Of which he has many. Of which he
has many, and they're all correct, in my opinion. Which
means that we could leave that conversation with the Tennessee pal,
and we could say, we've learned a lot about rutabagas.
Here's the future of rutabagas. Here's what should happen with rutabagas.
(28:48):
And if they say, wow, who told you that? We say,
can't say. Can't tell you because like we're discussing off air,
Chatham House rule means you can talk about the content
of a conversation, but cannot identify the originator of that conversation.
So you can say we have a new rule about
(29:10):
hen houses, but you can't tell people was a fox
who pitched that rule.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
In my mind, this is all kind of a BS deflection.
And it's a way to say, hey, guys, we're not
doing anything here. And here's why.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
It's artificial transparency. The appearance of transparency, right?
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yes. Part of the rules say that the participants take
part as individuals rather than in any official capacity, hence
they are not bound by the conventions. of their office
or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time
to listen, reflect, and gather insights, but there is no
(29:51):
detailed agenda, there are no resolutions proposed, there are no
votes taken, and there are no policy statements proposed. Cool.
Which is just saying, hey, guys, we're just having ideas
exchanged here. Nobody here can do anything official. You can't
put pen to paper and say, oh, yeah, actually, we
(30:13):
do have a lot of oil in Venezuela. We should
give you some of it, USA. That kind of thing
doesn't happen, theoretically, according to their rules, I guess, according
to the— I'm going.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
To say it does. I'm going to go so far
as to say it definitely, definitely does.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
And I think we're right to be skeptical here because
you could argue it's kind of a necessary evil. The
internet has taught everybody tuning in here that people are
way more likely to speak their minds when they feel
they have some level of anonymity. But I agree it
is performative. And I do think the rules are categorically
(30:52):
bad window dressing. They're a flimsy fig leap for what
actually happens.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
How could Bilderberg prevent those things from happening? How can
they say that? They can say that out loud as though, hey,
this is our hope.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
It's a disclaimer.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
It's exactly what it is. It's to cover your ass.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
To make you feel okay that there's a group of
people secretively meeting who control the world.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
And it's also doing the opposite of what they intended
that policy statement to do. It's a lot like during
the days of alcohol prohibition, when manufacturers would have grape
juice concentrate and on the little cartons, they would have
step-by-step instructions of what not to do to make it wine.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Well, but here's the thing, though. There really is no
realistic way to challenge any of what they're saying. People
are allowed to get together. We got to get together.
I mean, there's really, what are you going to say?
You're not allowed to assemble more than one.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
A hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I mean, it also makes for crazy headlines though. Just
think you're reading, we're reading about what sure seems to
be a secret world decision maker consensus on Ukraine. But
from there, you have to look at the attendee list,
non-comprehensive if you can get it. And then you have
to kind of Charlie day and guess who said what
(32:17):
that's why it's Like the secrecy surrounding Bilderberg, the VIP
status of the attendees, it makes the perfect formula for conspiracy.
And as you could already tell, various people, including us folks,
have accused this organization of all sorts of things. We
have to ask, is there any sand to those allegations?
(32:38):
Could any of the theories be true? Spoiler, I think, guys,
we can agree that a lot of them are.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I just want to put out there, I'm not accusing
the group of doing anything. I am accusing the individuals
who end up meeting up with these groups of colluding
and making backroom deals. But it's not Bilderberg, right?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
It's not the gun.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
It's not the gun what murders. It's the hand what
wields it.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Well, they throw a party where that thing can happen.
That's what I mean, I guess.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
One hell of a party.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
And I have accused Bilderberg. of things, for the record.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
As is your right.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
As is your prerogative.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, you can. It makes sense.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Yeah, no question.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
We'll be right back. Here's where it gets crazy. Folks,
a conspiracy extravaganza. Bilderberg has been accused of pretty much
every imaginable genre of conspiracy, right? You won't read too
(33:41):
far until you see Accusations of economic warfare, like purposely
engineering credit crunches, spiking prices of things like gas, dangerous
financial policies. Or do you guys remember when Bilderberg was
routinely accused of doing kind of like a Guidestones thing
(34:03):
to your earlier statement, the old like trying to depopulate buildings?
the planet by removing 80% of the population?
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Well, those are the kind of rumors that always swirl
around any, you know, shadowy backroom meetings of the ultra elite,
you know, like how can we make the world in
our image and to benefit us, even if it means
like doing a light genocide. Or, you know, some eugenic
type goings on.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
A dash of eugenics and genocide. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Eugenicide!
Speaker 3 (34:32):
It makes me think of that show Utopia, where they're...
It's a fictional show.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
It's good, Matt!
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I didn't think.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
I didn't know that you were on with that one yet.
That's a good one. We talked about Silo, and I
thought you'd like Utopia as well. Cool.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Well, it's 2013, man! 2013! Before a show came out
about a massive vaccine that was going to be forced
on everyone.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Rather.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
that the public would clamor for because of the danger
that existed out in the world. So we need that vaccine.
Give me that vaccine, please. I'm praying that you provide
me with a vaccine. It was a scary show to
come out in 2013, but then, but it, that thought,
the knowledge, the awareness that the planet, all of humanity,
(35:11):
everything stuck on this rock faces intense existential threats and changes.
And in order to fix those things, the economics of
this world would have to completely change. We'd have to
stop burning the natural gas and the oil and the
coal and all of those things. We'd have to change
(35:31):
the way this whole system makes money to fix those problems.
And rather than do that, what if we just, because
we might be running out of food with climate change,
we might be running out of water in a lot
of different ways. Rather than actually changing the way we
do things, what if we just wipe out a certain
number of people. And that's not what I'm saying Bilderberg
is doing. I just, that thought thinking about those things,
(35:56):
ruminating on them, thinking of potential fixes.
Speaker 4 (35:59):
It's a cost benefit in hobbyists, dude.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
I mean, when you used to, when you got, when
you exist in those rooms at that level, human lives
become just another, like, you know, ledger item.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I mean, we're, We can clearly see that a lot
of these allegations fall under that larger umbrella that we're describing.
New World Order conspiracies. Like you said, the old light
touch of genocide. Strong dash of race-based conspiracies as well,
like Jewish cabals or the genocide of certain targeted ethnicities.
(36:34):
We can break that down later, but that's the lay
of the land. And the weird thing is, if you read...
enough about most conspiracy theories, at some point in those diatribes,
you will see a mention of Bilderberg. And I got
to tell you guys, I love the way Professor Martin
(36:54):
sums it up, writing for an outfit called The Conversation.
Doc Martin says the following, like Bohemian Grove, the Trilateral Commission,
and Area 51, Bilderberg attracts the paranoia of conspiracy theorists
who claim that a varied collection of people spend time
(37:15):
talking about how to enslave us. And I have to admit,
for all of us, I have to admit, it makes
sense that people believe all sorts of things about this group.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
It's secret.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
It's hugely influential. If there was anybody who was going
to upend a banking system, these would be the people
qualified to do that thing, right? We're not saying they
definitely did, but we're saying if they wanted to pull
some kind of heist, these are the people who could
pull it off.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Ben, I hear what you're saying. I think for a
long time, this was in the realm of paranoid conspiracy theorists,
that kind of talk and concept. But I think we
know too much now. I think humanity... is aware of
how this thing actually works.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
We've had too many glimpses behind the curtain. Like, I mean,
especially with the Epstein of it all, and I mean,
we just know that these kinds of things happen in
these rooms, and these types of individuals don't really hold
themselves to the same standard of the law, you know,
as us mortals. Like, it's just, we know, you're right, Matt,
we know too much, and I think, if anything, the
(38:23):
conspiracy of it all might have even been undersell. a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I also, I honestly have a difficult time trusting the
journalist or the analyst who dismissed these concerns. There's a
guy who gets quoted pretty often, David Aronovich. He's the
author of a book called Voodoo Histories. And he says
Bilderberg is, quote, an occasional supper club for the rich
(38:51):
and powerful. So he's pulling a Wizard of Oz. I
almost said Dr. Oz. Wizard of Oz Nothing to see here.
Don't look behind the curtain. But then at the other
side of the spectrum, we have folks like Alex Jones
from earlier who famously protested Bilderberg in person shouting through
a microphone or a megaphone. Excuse me. Now, we all
(39:11):
love our Alex Jones impressions. Noel, could you do the honors?
Because I think you're going to nail it.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Well, I don't know, man. I think I'm just going
to do it as if Alex Jones were an erudite
British chap. How about that? We know you are ruthless.
We know you are evil. We respect you. your dark power.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
That last sentence is so weird to me. It's a
weird thing to say. What?
Speaker 4 (39:39):
What?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
That's like adding if not.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
No worries to an email.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
And we appreciate your attention to this matter and your
dark power.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
It's such an interesting thing to imagine standing outside of
the Salamander Hotel in D.C. or something and yelling at
the people. In the last episode of Mr. Robot, they're
all meeting in there and they're not supposed to really know.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
What is Alex Jones going for here? Is he anti-Bill DeBurke?
Speaker 3 (40:06):
I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yeah, performatively so.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
He's yelling at them. No, I get that, but this
is a very interesting way of expressing that. He's almost
giving them props. A little tip of the hat to
you for doing evil so well.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Well, this is, forgive me, Ben, when was that? Do
we know when he was saying that? When he was
quoted saying that?
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Oh, gosh.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Was it 90s, 2000s?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
It was after his Bohemian Grove expose.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
So this is like early 2000s. I mean, at this time, right,
you've got the Iraq war going on. You've got all
kinds of things. I'm assuming this is before the financial crisis.
There's still this, this thing going around. We're not too
far from the satanic panic. Like remember the full through
line of all of that stuff and the fever that
was happening in the nineties, I guess the eighties, nineties.
(40:54):
Is that right guys around that time?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
And, Well, just this concept of a dark power, an evil, ruthless,
dark power that exists in the chambers there within the
secret hotel lobby.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Right, and it's understandable. I mean, like, let's think of
it as a spectrum. Not like, that's not a simile.
Let's think of it as a spectrum. We've got some folks,
legit journalists, dismissing the worries. We've got other folks on
the far side saying this is a one-world thing. order,
they're going to ruin everything that human civilization likes about humanity. Honestly, folks,
(41:35):
the real answer we posit could be found somewhere between
these two extremes. Like, a lot of us have moved
in powerful circles. We've been to exclusive private schools or
flies on the wall at a country club. Even at
that level, even casual conversations can result in real-world action
(41:55):
or consequences. So, like, Think about it like this. We
are hanging out. Let's say we're on the road. We
did a live show and we had a great time
and we're just kicking it with some coffee or some snacks.
And we say, guys, we should plan a road trip
for summer. And we could absolutely do that. We have
in the past. But in this case, their plan, like
(42:18):
their road trip plan could be changing economic policies for
an entire state banking apparatus. And they could, Definitely pull
it off because now your buddies at the snack counter,
they're not just your buddies. They're CEOs. They're aristocrats. They're
prime ministers. They're presidents. They have a powerful network of
their own.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
Guys, have you ever been on a steering committee or
like an informal board for something?
Speaker 4 (42:45):
I was once on a party planning committee. Did that count?
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Like in the office?
Speaker 4 (42:50):
I always wanted to do that. I was never invited.
I've been on some.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Committees, yes.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Can you give us an example or an experience that
you've had? What did you do in that committee, Ben?
Speaker 4 (43:01):
I've been on a jury. What was it for? That's
a vague committee.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
That's a steering committee of somebody's life. Right, right. It's
an interesting question, guys. Now, I have always played Chatham
Rules as just a personal practice.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
As a gentleman.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
As a gentleman. But what I'm saying is, to answer
your question there directly, is that It is casual. It
is networking as networking always exists. So as we'll see
in Chapter 2 of this two-part episode, a lot of
those conversations are somebody just happening to hang out at
the after meeting for the official meeting and saying, oh,
(43:39):
my son also goes to Exeter. I'd love to put it,
you've got to meet the former headmaster. He's a great guy.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
But officially, though, Ben, like in a committee situation, it is,
it does... somewhat follow parliamentary procedure or there are votes
taken and minutes, you know, and all of that kind of.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Stuff, right? People pitching different things. Like if you're in a,
and we encourage everybody to, uh, act local, think global, right?
So some of the most powerful committees in your neighborhood
that you can be on are going to be your
local organizational communities, right? You're going to argue about potholes
(44:17):
and so on.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Well, okay, I'll give a concrete example. I was a
member or a part of a committee for the Podcast Academy.
And the whole reason for gathering the group of people
they gathered, which included the head of Wondery and a
bunch of other people, was to figure out who was
going to host the awards ceremony. Where are we going
(44:41):
to hold the awards ceremony? What's it going to look like?
All the stuff, right? But the primary thing was who
was going to host. So we would get together, have
these meetings, bring all our ideas together, and then we
would talk in turn and then essentially decide, oh, yes,
we want Roy Wood Jr. to be the host. And
that was it. But it was this kind of thing
(45:01):
that you had to be invited to, and then you
had to get in there and have some pretty good ideas,
or you could just stay on mute and not say anything.
And I just imagine how much of the steering committee
for something like this the Bilderberg group, like what do
they actually do?
Speaker 4 (45:19):
And when, so to that point, Matt, and maybe this
is a point of clarification. So it's not like you're
taking a vote. Like you have to voice your opinion
in order to be part of the conversation. Like by
virtue of showing up, there isn't like a vote. It's
not exactly, I'm not saying it's not democratic, but it
doesn't require some sort of unanimous vote to pass the, the,
the measure or whatever the resolution. It's more casual than
(45:42):
that is what I'm asking.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
It was for me. In my experience, it was a
group of really interesting people who were in the podcast
world deciding some things, right? But none of it was
like control or who does what besides who's going to
get paid to host the Ambie Awards.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
And also who is paying for or funding the big
soiree and the events, right?
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Well, that's the thing. It was a membership group, so
you paid in, right? So everybody who was there paid in.
And according to the Bilderberg's website, the steering committee and the,
I guess the members that we don't, the official members
that we don't get to see that list of, and
we don't know who they are. Those people pay some
kind of dues or some kind of membership fees. And
then those fees go into planning the party slash get together.
(46:27):
At least that's according to the website.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
That's definitely part of it. There are paid subscriptions. That's
what the organizers and steering committee call it. They also, folks,
they prefer the term organizers. or chairman to leaders, right?
They don't want to have a leader. And they claim
that no policies are made at the conference. We've got
to talk about the funding in our second episode. It also,
(46:52):
I mean, it sounds good to say that there's no
real policy coming out of it, but I think it's
malarkey because Bilderberg meetings were crucial in the creation of
the European Union. In 2009, this is often quoted, there
was a dinner meeting specifically to figure out who the
next president of the European Council would be. These laws
(47:16):
or these policies are again, as I said, flimsy fig leaves.
They're window dressing for a story that goes much deeper.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Dude, you got the president of Warner Brothers Discovery International
hanging out there. You've got the current CEO of Microsoft
hanging out there.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
I mean, it's just.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
How are they not making some deals? Why do we
think this AI thing is taking off so hard with
all of this investment from people? Because you're talking about...
Requires some cooperation. Yeah, technology moguls there.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah, I mean, it's actually, I feel you guys there.
It's actually more difficult to believe that lobbying would not
occur in this arena because everybody you meet in this
wide world, they have their own series of goals and agendas.
The attendees of Bilderberg are no different in that regard. Folks,
(48:13):
we're going to call it here. We can't wait for
you to join us for the second chapter of our
exploration of the Bilderberg meeting, the Bilderberg Council, the Bilderberg Group.
It's going to be a wild ride. It's already a
wild ride so far, guys. I'm excited. to get to
part two, and I can't wait for our fellow listeners
(48:36):
to add their thoughts. Are there good ways to find us? Oh, gosh, several.
It's kind of a softball question.
Speaker 4 (48:42):
Yeah, no, no, it was a good throw, Ben. I
appreciate it. You can indeed find us on the internet,
if you wish, by searching up the handles Conspiracy Stuff
or Conspiracy Stuff Show on, you know, whichever social media.
Try them both. Follow us on all of them.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yes, and call us from any location. Do try to
make it a nice, sound environment when you call in.
Call 1-833-STD-WYTK. That is our number. You've got to turn
those letters into numbers, and you dial those, and then
it's a voicemail. If you want to send us an email,
we are.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
The entities that read each piece of correspondence we receive.
Give yourself a cool nickname. Send us a random fact.
take us to the edge of the rabbit hole we'll
do the rest see out here in the dark conspiracy
at iheartradio.com.
Speaker 3 (49:44):
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is
riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
learn the stuff they don't want you to know.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
A production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
Hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
My name is Noel.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
They call me Ben. We're joined as always with our
super producer, Dylan, the Tennessee pal Fagan. Most importantly, you
are you. You are here. That makes this the stuff
they don't want you to know. We are the opposite
of an elite secret club because anybody is welcome to join.
(00:51):
This is funny, guys, because we all had a moment
Not too long ago, where you all and I looked
around at each other and we realized, sheesh, we've explored
so many secret groups.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
What, Alec?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
The Atlas Network, the Trilateral Commission, the Illuminati.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
The one with the owl.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yeah, Bohemian Grove. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
If you're interested in some of that stuff, head on
over to youtube.com slash conspiracy stuff or youtube.com slash how
stuff works and watch some of the videos. You can
find an August 24th, 2013 episode on the Trilateral Commission,
which is awesome. It's a doozy. It is.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
It is a dozer and a doozy. This is the moment, though, folks,
where we all looked around. Noel, Matt, Tennessee, yours truly.
And we said, wait, there is one crew we have
yet to investigate. If you are a conspiracy realist, you
have heard the name. This group is as rich as
(01:54):
Mount Samusa. They have immense power in government, finance and business.
very few people know much about them and very few
people know what they do. Step aside, Davos. This is
the Bilderberg Group.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah, this is a group that we've been hearing rumors
about for so long. It's one of those that the
old school conspiracy theory folks that would go on the
radio late at night that would be, you know, mentioning
something in a book that comes out, but it doesn't
get a lot of people talking about it. But there's
a select few people A select few folks who were
(02:30):
speaking on the underground back in, let's say, the 80s,
the 90s, people were talking about the Bilderberg Group and
these secretive meetings that they would have. But I swear
it was like the Alex Jones kind of stuff, right?
I mean, when we would hear about it, it would
be so on the fringe. as though it's this crazy conspiracy.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Well, I mean, I just remember when I first even
started dipping my toe into these conspiracy waters when I
was making the Guidestones documentary many, many years ago, when
you talk about shadowy cabals, you've got kind of your hits,
you know, your main guys, which is like, you know,
the Illuminati, which is sort of this amorphous concept of
a collective of, shadowy groups and doing, you know, weird
(03:11):
things behind the scenes. Then you've got, of course, the Freemasons, uh,
the Rosicrucians. Um, then you have, like you said, the
Trilateral Commission, uh, Bohemian Grove. And then there's always the
Bilderberg group that comes up. But I, I swear guys,
for the longest time, I just, in my mind, it
sounds like a, sort of like a Lego club or
something like that. I don't know what it is. I've
(03:31):
never really fully thought to ask more questions about it.
So I'm super glad that we haven't done it and
that we're exploring it today.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, the conspiracies are real. Please don't ever forget this
goes deeper than the government's debt. We'll be right back.
Here are the facts. A little bit of an origin story.
We enjoy this stuff. We're saying the Bilderberg Group, guys,
(03:59):
but we also have to acknowledge it's been called the
Bilderberg Club, the Bilderberg Conference. It's commonly known as the
Bilderberg Meeting. It's an annual, off-the-record forum, and on paper,
all it is supposed to do is to facilitate dialogue
between decision makers in Europe and North America to facilitate dialogue.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
We're just having a dialogue here, guys. We're not like
making policy. We're just talking. We're just having snacks.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Let's talk about that because for a long time when
we were researching this group or attempted to research this group,
they didn't have a full-fledged website that was fleshed out
where you could actually go on and get information like this.
And as you're saying, Ben, They put on their own
website exactly what they are and what they do.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We'll get into it. What they purport to do, right?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, and it's crazy, and I love that you're pointing
that out because the Bilderberg Group, or meeting if we prefer,
has been continually evolving since it was founded in 1954.
Just like our earlier explorations on the history of lobbying,
(05:15):
This is named after a hotel that was a small
family-run hotel back in the 50s in Osterbeek, Netherlands.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Ah, yes, the Netherlands, home of the Hague.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
The Bilderberg Hotel. It's May 31st. It's 1954. And people
are still sort of hungover from the Second World War,
especially in Europe. So the founders who get together... or
essentially they're like the one percenters who made it through
World War II. And a particular interest for us today
(05:55):
is a guy named Josef Rettinger. He becomes the group's
permanent secretary for a while. And these upper crust, upper
echelon dudes, they get together and they say, we're very concerned.
about the possibility of world war three right now that
nukes are losing the world.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And they also say on the European side, because this
started as a European venture, they say there's a lot
of anti American sentiment going through out Western Europe.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
And we already have NATO that was founded six years earlier.
Bilderberg is thinking of like the Justice League or the
Avengers if every member of the Justice League or the
Avengers was super duper rich. And they say, look, if
we put all these very well-to-do influential individuals together, then
(06:55):
we can unite against the threat of communism and an
expansionist Soviet bloc.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
So sort of like a coalition of government, like an
intergovernmental kind of coalition, sort of like the League of Nations,
which I believe already existed at this point.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, but screw all the red tape. This is low-key
and chill.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Got it.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
The things we have to go hang out at, you know,
it's like a salon of old where you, where you
convene and share your interesting thoughts.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
And then maybe like golf is just a friendly game
between gentlemen. Just so yes, that's a great comparison because
now also when you're hanging out with us behind closed doors,
you'll get a couple of hot takes that politicians might
not risk saying in public or that like, the head
of a banking dynasty would never say to a reporter.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah, I think the big connective tissue between these folks
at the time that is kind of unstated, that maybe
they don't want you to think about, is that these
are often the folks who have controlling shares in or
executive power over major institutions that move money. And also
(08:10):
institutions that will get the public to believe certain things
about a move of a large amount of money. Like
media organizations, right? So the people are going to message
out the stuff that the capitalists are doing. Because ultimately
we're talking about the heavy capitalists, right? They're anti-communism for
a reason. It's about making money. shaking hands and making
(08:34):
crap loads of money and being able to exploit resources
and not have to share those resources with folks, you know,
in the same ways that you'd have to do under
a communist rule.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And that's a, that's an important point there too, Matt,
because when we say media, typically it's going to be
the C-suite, right? The business owners of media outfits, not
actual journalists. So they'll go back and they'll give the journal,
there have been journalists there, but they'll give the journalist
marching orders later. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So the folks who can come down from, you know,
the high offices on level 50 of whatever high rise
that you're in and tell the folks at Bloomberg, Hey,
we're going to do this. Theoretically, Not saying, like, the
head of Bloomberg would do that, who is on, you know,
who has a seat on the steering committee this time around. Or,
you know, the person who owns Politico. Don't worry about that.
(09:27):
It's fine, but he's also on the steering committee. That
kind of thing can happen. But ultimately, it's the banks.
It's the investment. It's the people that are going to
reach across the Atlantic and make deals between European countries
and Canada or the United States, you know, and Just really,
that's the current, the undercurrent that's making everything move here.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
And folks, here we're going to pause for a moment
for what we've been calling Schrodinger's sponsorship. We don't know
if there's an ad here yet.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Is there?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
A cat involved?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
There may well be.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
Okay, we'll be right back. And we're back.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Going back to our origin story, we know this was
baked into the DNA, the points you've just made. The
first meeting said, we're going to have a guest list.
We're going to get two attendees or participants from each country,
and we're going to yin-yang.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Them, okay?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
So one of them will represent what we see as
conservative views. The other one will represent what we see
as liberal views. So all in all, they had like
50 guests from European countries at the first meeting, and
They had 11 Americans. We're cribbing this from the memoirs
of Rockefeller. And it was so successful. Everybody had such
(10:47):
a great time. They said, guys, we should do this
every year. And that's when they created the steering committee
that Matt was talking about.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Well, doesn't it just go to show, too, that like
liberal and conservative just doesn't really mean a whole hell
of a lot at the end of the day when
money is concerned. Because the money is going to get
made no matter what. No matter who's in power, no
matter who's in charge, no matter what ideological platform is
sort of trotted out for the people to see. It's
(11:16):
all kind of just a distracting, shiny object. Like shaking keys,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, I'm at the top of the system, therefore the
system must be just, wholesome, and amazing, and what can
we do to preserve it for me? That's how the
calculus works, which I can't wait to get into later.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Well, because those cultural divides that end up coming in,
it segments the population. And once you've segmented them and
you've got thought leaders and influencers, you can get those
segments to move in ways that you hope they will
move or you want them to move, right? Not always,
it doesn't always work out the way they want, but
(11:55):
it's sure easier when you don't have 320 million people
that you have to convince something of. Now you've got
68 million people that you have to convince of something, right?
And then, just saying, it makes their mission a lot
more simple and potentially effective.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Yeah, and the steering committee is cognizant of this. From
day one, from evening one, they have two tasks. They also,
they have a chairman, right? But they don't like the
term leader. They prefer to call themselves members of the
steering committee or organizers. And their tasks are not just
(12:36):
creating and facilitating the actual annual conference, but in addition,
perhaps more importantly, they are building a list of attendees,
their names, their contact info. They want to create this powerful, informal,
off-the-books communication network. which is a huge draw for future
(12:56):
participants because if you are in with Bilderberg, that means
you suddenly have access that other people would kill for.
Some of the most powerful people on the planet are
within your reach. And you can say, hey, I went
to Bilderberg earlier. I saw your speech. It's networking times
(13:17):
a million.
Speaker 4 (13:18):
So as time marched on, the conference began to kind
of bounce around. and spread its influence through various countries.
We've got France, Denmark, and Germany, which is a little
bit of an odd one considering the origin story that
we just mentioned. Turkey and on. The very first conference
that took place in the United States happened on St.
(13:40):
Simon's Island, guys.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yep, 1957.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
That's in our backyard, or at least in our coastal backyard.
And it still, I believe to this day, kind of
remains one of the, you got your Hilton head, which
is a little bit more for the people. And then
you got your St. Simon's Island, which has always kind
of been, you know, they've got one Harris Teeter grocery store. Like,
it's a little bit for the upper crust. If anyone
knows what Harris Teeter is, it's the only one that's
(14:05):
still around that I know of.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Bilderberg sponsored. Yeah, they proudly fund, like so many corporations.
Speaker 4 (14:11):
This is back in 1957, if I didn't say.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Seriously, have you guys been to St.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Simons?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
That's what I'm saying. I've been there several times with
just the family because it was a tourist destination. Just like, hey,
we should go hang out in St.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Simons for a little bit.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
But it's nice.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's expensive.
Speaker 4 (14:25):
I mean, it's definitely like a gated community kind of vibe.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Oh, that's weird. We found a– it's so weird to
imagine it that way. We found a super cheap– this
is around– God, this is a long time ago. But
it was when it was becoming popular to have– Those apps,
you know, where you– I can't think of any of
them right now off the top of my head. The
ones where you could rent a little cottage or something.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Like an Airbnb?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Like an Airbnb, but it's the other ones that were
becoming popular. But anyway, you could just get something for
pretty cheap out there, and it seemed like it wasn't
a big deal. You're saying it's upper crust?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
So I think there's a sharp economic divide.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
For sure. Similar to Sea Island.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
Yeah, and I think the reason that I knew it
that way was because growing up, Um, we, my parents
had some very wealthy friends, uh, cause they were parts
of the arts community. My parents were like singers and,
you know, uh, participated in the opera and all that stuff.
So they had a lot of benefactory types that they
became close with. And we went to St. Simon's, um,
to stay at one of these wealthy families, uh, estates, estates. Exactly.
(15:28):
So that was my view of it.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
It's also, it's kind of a predecessor of, of the
K shaped economy, or you could also say St. Simon's
is an argument for, or in, uh, neo-feudalism. Now, Dylan,
I saw you pop on real quick. Have you been
to St. Simon's?
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Uh, no, a family friend was a high school football
coach there. Is it one of those like wild horses
kind of islands?
Speaker 4 (15:56):
It's nearby.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
It's nearby. That's a great reference for anybody unfamiliar. Uh,
there are some islands with, uh, Wild horses, not the
Rolling Stones song, which is a great song.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Couldn't drag me away. Spirit of the Kimeron. Cimarron?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
But it is right there by, as you're saying, Sea Island,
which if you look at that now, you can see
how exclusive that place is. And then Jekyll Island, of course,
where the secret meetings occurred to get the. central bank
situation going on in the Federal Reserve here in the.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
U.S.? Very Bilderberg. They were probably thinking about that. And
the Bilderberg group, as we're going through their history, even now,
they avoid announcing the location of the next meeting until
shortly before it occurs, which adds to the intrigue, which,
as we'll see, is the engine feeding the conspiracies here.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Hey guys, what do you say we take a quick
pause in this Bilderberg chat for a word from our sponsors,
and then we'll come right back. Okay, we're back.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Now we know earlier in this year, in April, April
9th to the 12th, the 72nd Bilderberg meeting occurred at
something called the Salamander Washington DC Hotel. And I want
to shout out One of our fellow conspiracy realists who
contacted us a while back talking about their experience getting
(17:26):
kicked out of a hotel when a very important meeting occurred.
So they have to buy out the entire hotel for
this meeting.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh, that was when the first lady rolled through under
President Biden. Yeah, it was during the Biden administration.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
So people have run into that too with, uh, this
has happened in the past where some, because of the
time window that Bilderberg exercises, there have been people who
made reservations for a hotel and they got kicked out
because they, they weren't on the Bilderberg list. It's like, it's,
(18:06):
it's weird. Cause it's actually a small amount of participants,
120 to 150 participants, uh, They're what you would call
big dogs, big fish, politicos, tycoons, security experts, media moguls.
And like we were saying earlier, some journalists have been
allowed in in the past, but only with the understanding
(18:27):
that they won't report on what actually occurs there. That's
so weird. That's like being a journalist and going to
Bohemian Grove and saying, I'm going to write a fluff
piece about the foliage.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Well, it's weird because they operate, at least according to
their own website, under Chatham House rules, which are very strange.
And I'll just read these to you because this is
from their website. It says, Yes. but you can't talk
(19:10):
about who you got that information from. You can't talk
about who that person was with. Oh, were they the
former chair of Goldman Sachs or something? Or were they
Stacey Abrams, CEO of Sage Works Production, who was one
of the steering committee members this year, which is really
weird that Stacey Abrams is on the Bilderberg Group steering committee.
(19:31):
There's just all kinds of That is so weird.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
And there are a lot of really weird rules. Like
if you're a journalist, this is bedeviling to have to
go in and see all these things and not be
able to do your job, not to be able to
report stuff. We don't even have a full list of participants.
for every year. We did, I believe, Matt and Noel,
(19:54):
have a list from Bilderbergmeetings.org for the 2026 Shindig. And
they've got some pretty big names on there. It's just
not comprehensive.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yeah, sure is a lot of people. And it sure
is annoying that they Put it last name first, which
is fine. No, it's good. That's probably the right way
to do it.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Who are we talking?
Speaker 4 (20:14):
You got some interesting picks.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Well, I went down the list of the steering committee,
and I've got– I wish we had show notes so
I could share this. I've got links for all of
the people that are on the steering committee and some
of the folks that just showed up to talk, right,
to give one of these little fireside chats. And again,
Stacey Abrams, really weird to see here on there. Lord
Mark Sedgwell of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Oh, how is Mark?
Speaker 3 (20:44):
I have no idea. Jose Manuel Barroso, who is chair
of Goldman Sachs International LLC. That's a non-executive position. Don't
worry about it. Everything's fine. You got Ana Botin of
the Banco Contendar. Oh, wait, who's this? Wait, that doesn't
make sense. They wouldn't, they wouldn't be there. It's Peter Thiel, guys.
(21:07):
Peter Thiel's there.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
He gets around. He's an equal opportunity secret society frequenter,
I would argue.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Well, you know, the reason we're doing this is because
in Strange News, we talked about his little thing, the
Dialogue Society, or whatever the hell he calls it. There
was a leak that came out about the list of
participants who were going to be there. And that's why
we're doing this. We were like, oh, God, we didn't
do Bilderberg. But he's got his own secret society. But
also here, we got Alex Karp. Do you remember that guy? Anyone?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah. Of course. Yes.
Speaker 4 (21:39):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Of course.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, just hanging out, doing
their thing. Fareed Zakaria, just, I guess, because you can.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
And they're all together talking trash about the snacks at Davos,
which a lot of them also attended. Definitely.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
There are a lot of people who would never know.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah, there are a lot of people who prefer to
be out of the public spotlight, which is actually a
huge draw for Bilderberg. About two-thirds, historically, of these attendees
are going to be from Europe. The other third or
so are from North America. They are overwhelmingly dudes. About 30%
(22:23):
of them are going to be coming from politics and
roles in government. But the rest... are a narrow slice
of a narrow slice of the human demographic. We're talking bankers,
business tycoons, board members from big corporations who are actually
often going to be board members of various corporations, as
(22:46):
well as proxy groups, astroturf initiatives, nonprofits, very Peter Thiel stuff.
Of course, Pete's going to be there. And then additionally,
you know, one thing that creeps me out, guys, and
I think it should creep all of us out, is
that Some folks, very important people, will swing by just
for one day during this multi-day conference or just one panel,
(23:09):
one discussion. And then there are ghosts in the wind.
There are demons whisper. Their names are not publicly announced.
And that's the only reason they feel comfortable going. Makes
you think.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Ultimately a ton of capitalists, a ton of tech experts,
a ton of media folks. And then you've got the
ones that weird me out the most, I think, are
people like Nadia Shadlow, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute,
or that Lord Mark Sedgwell of the International Institute for
Strategic Studies. Some of these people that are a part
(23:42):
of think tanks that are not officially associated with government entities,
but they're filled with former people like Nadia, like former
folks who were deep within either the White House here
in the U.S. or in some kind of House of
Lords or equivalent in another country. And it's people who
(24:03):
seem to be watching trends and then making recommendations, right?
Because what does a think tank do, as we've talked
about on the show? They make recommendations for what government
should do or the way tech needs to move or
where resources might be located and strategic diplomatic moves It's
just creepy that there are people that really do seem
to be steering the world's events and the way money
(24:26):
flows by having these informal conversations, right? Informal, unspoken, unknown,
anonymous conversations.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
Extra governmental, right? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
But then everybody's got to go get lunch at some point.
You do have to eat. Right? You might meet up
at a bar afterwards. You might go back to somebody's
hotel room afterwards.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
Well, Matt, I mean, you know, I always thought it
was interesting how in business, you know, it's often completely
normal to expense account things like drinks nights or like,
you know, fancy dinners. Because business-wise, that is money well
spent because those are often the places that big ideas
come to fruition and important conversations are had that ultimately
(25:13):
make the company lots of money down the line. So,
I mean, that is, in general, where some of the
most important conversations involving business or policy or politics take place.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, I agree with you there, Noel, because this whole,
everything you guys are talking about leads us to the
next question. What do these folks, these dudes, actually talk about?
We've got so many conspiracy theories surrounding the Bilderberg meeting.
And with all those conspiracies in play, what we're going
to get into is, Some of us in the audience
tonight might be surprised to learn that Bilderberg does often publish,
(25:50):
especially recently, a rough list of topics up for discussion. Now,
they're never going to tell you who said what about what.
But this year, if you look again on their website
that I keep going back to, Nice Wind Buildies, you'll
see that they are discussing, weirdly enough, A lot of
things that we explore here on Stuff They Don't Want
(26:13):
You to Know with you. They're talking about AI, Arctic security.
That's very familiar with our Greenland series, China, future warfare, Ukraine,
global trade, energy, and so on. But what do they
say about those topics behind closed doors? That's a bit
trickier because of their very rigorous, very strict rules.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Which is sort of, I guess, associated with an organization
called the Chatham House that.
Speaker 4 (26:42):
If you look at their Web site. All of their
about me or about our organization little hot links are
super vague.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
I mean, surely by design. And when I think of Chatham,
I think of Chatham County in Savannah here in Georgia.
But I don't think this has anything to do with that.
I think this might be based in the UK when
you look at at least the image of the actual
location called the Chatham House. That sounds very Downton Abbey.
But yeah, if you if you literally go to their
about section, I just think this is so funny. You
(27:20):
go to about careers or sorry, Chatham House rule. The
Chatham House rule is used around the world to encourage
inclusive and open dialogue in meetings. Cool, cool. Our advisory
boards consist of distinguished individuals, including business leaders, former government officials,
and philanthropists from across the globe. Our history, this is
(27:41):
the best part and most vague, nothing historical even mentioned here.
Chatham House has been a source of independent analysis, trusted dialogue,
and influential ideas for 100 years. And then there's the
image on the website is a drawing of Mahatma Gandhi.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Don't really understand how that applies. But yeah, tell us
more about the Chatham House, Ben.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Oh, well, we were talking about this a little earlier
because I think this really sticks out to all of us.
The idea is limited secrecy, limited anonymity. So if you
are under this policy or this rule, we could all
go to a secret meeting and and Dylan could give
(28:25):
us all his hot takes on rutabagas, and then we
could go... Of which he has many. Of which he
has many, and they're all correct, in my opinion. Which
means that we could leave that conversation with the Tennessee pal,
and we could say, we've learned a lot about rutabagas.
Here's the future of rutabagas. Here's what should happen with rutabagas.
(28:48):
And if they say, wow, who told you that? We say,
can't say. Can't tell you because like we're discussing off air,
Chatham House rule means you can talk about the content
of a conversation, but cannot identify the originator of that conversation.
So you can say we have a new rule about
(29:10):
hen houses, but you can't tell people was a fox
who pitched that rule.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
In my mind, this is all kind of a BS deflection.
And it's a way to say, hey, guys, we're not
doing anything here. And here's why.
Speaker 4 (29:24):
It's artificial transparency. The appearance of transparency, right?
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yes. Part of the rules say that the participants take
part as individuals rather than in any official capacity, hence
they are not bound by the conventions. of their office
or by pre-agreed positions. As such, they can take time
to listen, reflect, and gather insights, but there is no
(29:51):
detailed agenda, there are no resolutions proposed, there are no
votes taken, and there are no policy statements proposed. Cool.
Which is just saying, hey, guys, we're just having ideas
exchanged here. Nobody here can do anything official. You can't
put pen to paper and say, oh, yeah, actually, we
(30:13):
do have a lot of oil in Venezuela. We should
give you some of it, USA. That kind of thing
doesn't happen, theoretically, according to their rules, I guess, according
to the— I'm going.
Speaker 4 (30:26):
To say it does. I'm going to go so far
as to say it definitely, definitely does.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
And I think we're right to be skeptical here because
you could argue it's kind of a necessary evil. The
internet has taught everybody tuning in here that people are
way more likely to speak their minds when they feel
they have some level of anonymity. But I agree it
is performative. And I do think the rules are categorically
(30:52):
bad window dressing. They're a flimsy fig leap for what
actually happens.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
How could Bilderberg prevent those things from happening? How can
they say that? They can say that out loud as though, hey,
this is our hope.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
It's a disclaimer.
Speaker 4 (31:10):
It's exactly what it is. It's to cover your ass.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
To make you feel okay that there's a group of
people secretively meeting who control the world.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
And it's also doing the opposite of what they intended
that policy statement to do. It's a lot like during
the days of alcohol prohibition, when manufacturers would have grape
juice concentrate and on the little cartons, they would have
step-by-step instructions of what not to do to make it wine.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Well, but here's the thing, though. There really is no
realistic way to challenge any of what they're saying. People
are allowed to get together. We got to get together.
I mean, there's really, what are you going to say?
You're not allowed to assemble more than one.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:55):
A hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I mean, it also makes for crazy headlines though. Just
think you're reading, we're reading about what sure seems to
be a secret world decision maker consensus on Ukraine. But
from there, you have to look at the attendee list,
non-comprehensive if you can get it. And then you have
to kind of Charlie day and guess who said what
(32:17):
that's why it's Like the secrecy surrounding Bilderberg, the VIP
status of the attendees, it makes the perfect formula for conspiracy.
And as you could already tell, various people, including us folks,
have accused this organization of all sorts of things. We
have to ask, is there any sand to those allegations?
(32:38):
Could any of the theories be true? Spoiler, I think, guys,
we can agree that a lot of them are.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I just want to put out there, I'm not accusing
the group of doing anything. I am accusing the individuals
who end up meeting up with these groups of colluding
and making backroom deals. But it's not Bilderberg, right?
Speaker 2 (32:59):
It's not the gun.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
It's not the gun what murders. It's the hand what
wields it.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
Well, they throw a party where that thing can happen.
That's what I mean, I guess.
Speaker 4 (33:10):
One hell of a party.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
And I have accused Bilderberg. of things, for the record.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
As is your right.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
As is your prerogative.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, you can. It makes sense.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
Yeah, no question.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
We'll be right back. Here's where it gets crazy. Folks,
a conspiracy extravaganza. Bilderberg has been accused of pretty much
every imaginable genre of conspiracy, right? You won't read too
(33:41):
far until you see Accusations of economic warfare, like purposely
engineering credit crunches, spiking prices of things like gas, dangerous
financial policies. Or do you guys remember when Bilderberg was
routinely accused of doing kind of like a Guidestones thing
(34:03):
to your earlier statement, the old like trying to depopulate buildings?
the planet by removing 80% of the population?
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Well, those are the kind of rumors that always swirl
around any, you know, shadowy backroom meetings of the ultra elite,
you know, like how can we make the world in
our image and to benefit us, even if it means
like doing a light genocide. Or, you know, some eugenic
type goings on.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
A dash of eugenics and genocide. Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 4 (34:31):
Eugenicide!
Speaker 3 (34:32):
It makes me think of that show Utopia, where they're...
It's a fictional show.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
It's good, Matt!
Speaker 2 (34:37):
I didn't think.
Speaker 4 (34:38):
I didn't know that you were on with that one yet.
That's a good one. We talked about Silo, and I
thought you'd like Utopia as well. Cool.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
Well, it's 2013, man! 2013! Before a show came out
about a massive vaccine that was going to be forced
on everyone.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
Rather.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
that the public would clamor for because of the danger
that existed out in the world. So we need that vaccine.
Give me that vaccine, please. I'm praying that you provide
me with a vaccine. It was a scary show to
come out in 2013, but then, but it, that thought,
the knowledge, the awareness that the planet, all of humanity,
(35:11):
everything stuck on this rock faces intense existential threats and changes.
And in order to fix those things, the economics of
this world would have to completely change. We'd have to
stop burning the natural gas and the oil and the
coal and all of those things. We'd have to change
(35:31):
the way this whole system makes money to fix those problems.
And rather than do that, what if we just, because
we might be running out of food with climate change,
we might be running out of water in a lot
of different ways. Rather than actually changing the way we
do things, what if we just wipe out a certain
number of people. And that's not what I'm saying Bilderberg
is doing. I just, that thought thinking about those things,
(35:56):
ruminating on them, thinking of potential fixes.
Speaker 4 (35:59):
It's a cost benefit in hobbyists, dude.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
I mean, when you used to, when you got, when
you exist in those rooms at that level, human lives
become just another, like, you know, ledger item.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:12):
I mean, we're, We can clearly see that a lot
of these allegations fall under that larger umbrella that we're describing.
New World Order conspiracies. Like you said, the old light
touch of genocide. Strong dash of race-based conspiracies as well,
like Jewish cabals or the genocide of certain targeted ethnicities.
(36:34):
We can break that down later, but that's the lay
of the land. And the weird thing is, if you read...
enough about most conspiracy theories, at some point in those diatribes,
you will see a mention of Bilderberg. And I got
to tell you guys, I love the way Professor Martin
(36:54):
sums it up, writing for an outfit called The Conversation.
Doc Martin says the following, like Bohemian Grove, the Trilateral Commission,
and Area 51, Bilderberg attracts the paranoia of conspiracy theorists
who claim that a varied collection of people spend time
(37:15):
talking about how to enslave us. And I have to admit,
for all of us, I have to admit, it makes
sense that people believe all sorts of things about this group.
Speaker 4 (37:26):
It's secret.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
It's hugely influential. If there was anybody who was going
to upend a banking system, these would be the people
qualified to do that thing, right? We're not saying they
definitely did, but we're saying if they wanted to pull
some kind of heist, these are the people who could
pull it off.
Speaker 3 (37:47):
Ben, I hear what you're saying. I think for a
long time, this was in the realm of paranoid conspiracy theorists,
that kind of talk and concept. But I think we
know too much now. I think humanity... is aware of
how this thing actually works.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
We've had too many glimpses behind the curtain. Like, I mean,
especially with the Epstein of it all, and I mean,
we just know that these kinds of things happen in
these rooms, and these types of individuals don't really hold
themselves to the same standard of the law, you know,
as us mortals. Like, it's just, we know, you're right, Matt,
we know too much, and I think, if anything, the
(38:23):
conspiracy of it all might have even been undersell. a
little bit.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
I also, I honestly have a difficult time trusting the
journalist or the analyst who dismissed these concerns. There's a
guy who gets quoted pretty often, David Aronovich. He's the
author of a book called Voodoo Histories. And he says
Bilderberg is, quote, an occasional supper club for the rich
(38:51):
and powerful. So he's pulling a Wizard of Oz. I
almost said Dr. Oz. Wizard of Oz Nothing to see here.
Don't look behind the curtain. But then at the other
side of the spectrum, we have folks like Alex Jones
from earlier who famously protested Bilderberg in person shouting through
a microphone or a megaphone. Excuse me. Now, we all
(39:11):
love our Alex Jones impressions. Noel, could you do the honors?
Because I think you're going to nail it.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Well, I don't know, man. I think I'm just going
to do it as if Alex Jones were an erudite
British chap. How about that? We know you are ruthless.
We know you are evil. We respect you. your dark power.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
That last sentence is so weird to me. It's a
weird thing to say. What?
Speaker 4 (39:39):
What?
Speaker 2 (39:40):
That's like adding if not.
Speaker 4 (39:42):
No worries to an email.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
And we appreciate your attention to this matter and your
dark power.
Speaker 3 (39:49):
It's such an interesting thing to imagine standing outside of
the Salamander Hotel in D.C. or something and yelling at
the people. In the last episode of Mr. Robot, they're
all meeting in there and they're not supposed to really know.
Speaker 4 (40:03):
What is Alex Jones going for here? Is he anti-Bill DeBurke?
Speaker 3 (40:06):
I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yeah, performatively so.
Speaker 4 (40:09):
He's yelling at them. No, I get that, but this
is a very interesting way of expressing that. He's almost
giving them props. A little tip of the hat to
you for doing evil so well.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Well, this is, forgive me, Ben, when was that? Do
we know when he was saying that? When he was
quoted saying that?
Speaker 2 (40:26):
Oh, gosh.
Speaker 3 (40:27):
Was it 90s, 2000s?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
It was after his Bohemian Grove expose.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
So this is like early 2000s. I mean, at this time, right,
you've got the Iraq war going on. You've got all
kinds of things. I'm assuming this is before the financial crisis.
There's still this, this thing going around. We're not too
far from the satanic panic. Like remember the full through
line of all of that stuff and the fever that
was happening in the nineties, I guess the eighties, nineties.
(40:54):
Is that right guys around that time?
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
And, Well, just this concept of a dark power, an evil, ruthless,
dark power that exists in the chambers there within the
secret hotel lobby.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
Right, and it's understandable. I mean, like, let's think of
it as a spectrum. Not like, that's not a simile.
Let's think of it as a spectrum. We've got some folks,
legit journalists, dismissing the worries. We've got other folks on
the far side saying this is a one-world thing. order,
they're going to ruin everything that human civilization likes about humanity. Honestly, folks,
(41:35):
the real answer we posit could be found somewhere between
these two extremes. Like, a lot of us have moved
in powerful circles. We've been to exclusive private schools or
flies on the wall at a country club. Even at
that level, even casual conversations can result in real-world action
(41:55):
or consequences. So, like, Think about it like this. We
are hanging out. Let's say we're on the road. We
did a live show and we had a great time
and we're just kicking it with some coffee or some snacks.
And we say, guys, we should plan a road trip
for summer. And we could absolutely do that. We have
in the past. But in this case, their plan, like
(42:18):
their road trip plan could be changing economic policies for
an entire state banking apparatus. And they could, Definitely pull
it off because now your buddies at the snack counter,
they're not just your buddies. They're CEOs. They're aristocrats. They're
prime ministers. They're presidents. They have a powerful network of
their own.
Speaker 3 (42:38):
Guys, have you ever been on a steering committee or
like an informal board for something?
Speaker 4 (42:45):
I was once on a party planning committee. Did that count?
Speaker 3 (42:48):
Like in the office?
Speaker 4 (42:50):
I always wanted to do that. I was never invited.
I've been on some.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
Committees, yes.
Speaker 3 (42:54):
Can you give us an example or an experience that
you've had? What did you do in that committee, Ben?
Speaker 4 (43:01):
I've been on a jury. What was it for? That's
a vague committee.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
That's a steering committee of somebody's life. Right, right. It's
an interesting question, guys. Now, I have always played Chatham
Rules as just a personal practice.
Speaker 4 (43:15):
As a gentleman.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
As a gentleman. But what I'm saying is, to answer
your question there directly, is that It is casual. It
is networking as networking always exists. So as we'll see
in Chapter 2 of this two-part episode, a lot of
those conversations are somebody just happening to hang out at
the after meeting for the official meeting and saying, oh,
(43:39):
my son also goes to Exeter. I'd love to put it,
you've got to meet the former headmaster. He's a great guy.
Speaker 4 (43:46):
But officially, though, Ben, like in a committee situation, it is,
it does... somewhat follow parliamentary procedure or there are votes
taken and minutes, you know, and all of that kind of.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Stuff, right? People pitching different things. Like if you're in a,
and we encourage everybody to, uh, act local, think global, right?
So some of the most powerful committees in your neighborhood
that you can be on are going to be your
local organizational communities, right? You're going to argue about potholes
(44:17):
and so on.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
Well, okay, I'll give a concrete example. I was a
member or a part of a committee for the Podcast Academy.
And the whole reason for gathering the group of people
they gathered, which included the head of Wondery and a
bunch of other people, was to figure out who was
going to host the awards ceremony. Where are we going
(44:41):
to hold the awards ceremony? What's it going to look like?
All the stuff, right? But the primary thing was who
was going to host. So we would get together, have
these meetings, bring all our ideas together, and then we
would talk in turn and then essentially decide, oh, yes,
we want Roy Wood Jr. to be the host. And
that was it. But it was this kind of thing
(45:01):
that you had to be invited to, and then you
had to get in there and have some pretty good ideas,
or you could just stay on mute and not say anything.
And I just imagine how much of the steering committee
for something like this the Bilderberg group, like what do
they actually do?
Speaker 4 (45:19):
And when, so to that point, Matt, and maybe this
is a point of clarification. So it's not like you're
taking a vote. Like you have to voice your opinion
in order to be part of the conversation. Like by
virtue of showing up, there isn't like a vote. It's
not exactly, I'm not saying it's not democratic, but it
doesn't require some sort of unanimous vote to pass the, the,
the measure or whatever the resolution. It's more casual than
(45:42):
that is what I'm asking.
Speaker 3 (45:44):
It was for me. In my experience, it was a
group of really interesting people who were in the podcast
world deciding some things, right? But none of it was
like control or who does what besides who's going to
get paid to host the Ambie Awards.
Speaker 1 (45:58):
Right.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
And also who is paying for or funding the big
soiree and the events, right?
Speaker 3 (46:05):
Well, that's the thing. It was a membership group, so
you paid in, right? So everybody who was there paid in.
And according to the Bilderberg's website, the steering committee and the,
I guess the members that we don't, the official members
that we don't get to see that list of, and
we don't know who they are. Those people pay some
kind of dues or some kind of membership fees. And
then those fees go into planning the party slash get together.
(46:27):
At least that's according to the website.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
That's definitely part of it. There are paid subscriptions. That's
what the organizers and steering committee call it. They also, folks,
they prefer the term organizers. or chairman to leaders, right?
They don't want to have a leader. And they claim
that no policies are made at the conference. We've got
to talk about the funding in our second episode. It also,
(46:52):
I mean, it sounds good to say that there's no
real policy coming out of it, but I think it's
malarkey because Bilderberg meetings were crucial in the creation of
the European Union. In 2009, this is often quoted, there
was a dinner meeting specifically to figure out who the
next president of the European Council would be. These laws
(47:16):
or these policies are again, as I said, flimsy fig leaves.
They're window dressing for a story that goes much deeper.
Speaker 3 (47:24):
Dude, you got the president of Warner Brothers Discovery International
hanging out there. You've got the current CEO of Microsoft
hanging out there.
Speaker 4 (47:35):
I mean, it's just.
Speaker 3 (47:37):
How are they not making some deals? Why do we
think this AI thing is taking off so hard with
all of this investment from people? Because you're talking about...
Requires some cooperation. Yeah, technology moguls there.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
Yeah, I mean, it's actually, I feel you guys there.
It's actually more difficult to believe that lobbying would not
occur in this arena because everybody you meet in this
wide world, they have their own series of goals and agendas.
The attendees of Bilderberg are no different in that regard. Folks,
(48:13):
we're going to call it here. We can't wait for
you to join us for the second chapter of our
exploration of the Bilderberg meeting, the Bilderberg Council, the Bilderberg Group.
It's going to be a wild ride. It's already a
wild ride so far, guys. I'm excited. to get to
part two, and I can't wait for our fellow listeners
(48:36):
to add their thoughts. Are there good ways to find us? Oh, gosh, several.
It's kind of a softball question.
Speaker 4 (48:42):
Yeah, no, no, it was a good throw, Ben. I
appreciate it. You can indeed find us on the internet,
if you wish, by searching up the handles Conspiracy Stuff
or Conspiracy Stuff Show on, you know, whichever social media.
Try them both. Follow us on all of them.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
Yes, and call us from any location. Do try to
make it a nice, sound environment when you call in.
Call 1-833-STD-WYTK. That is our number. You've got to turn
those letters into numbers, and you dial those, and then
it's a voicemail. If you want to send us an email,
we are.
Speaker 2 (49:14):
The entities that read each piece of correspondence we receive.
Give yourself a cool nickname. Send us a random fact.
take us to the edge of the rabbit hole we'll
do the rest see out here in the dark conspiracy
at iheartradio.com.
Speaker 3 (49:44):
Stuff They Don't Want You To Know is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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Noel Brown
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