INWO Concordance
Basic Set Plots M-Z
The INWO Concordance
was originally created by Colin Roald, expanded by Alan de Smet,
and is currently
maintained and edited by Steve Brinich.
Illuminati, Illuminati: New World Order,
INWO, and Assassins are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games for its trading card game of conspiracy
theory. SubGenius is a registered
trademark of the SubGenius Foundation, Inc. This Concordance quotes a very
limited amount of material from INWO (card titles, mostly) in order to stay
within the limits of fair use.
March on Washington
Drawing a large group to Washington, DC is a standard method of making
a political point. in the United States. Perhaps the best-known example is
the August 1963 Civil
Rights March on Washington, at which Martin Luther King gave his "I Have A Dream..." speech.
[SMB]
Market Manipulation
Attempts to influence the price of stocks, bonds, or other securities
(via news releases, leaks, large purchases or sales, etc.), generally when
the influencing agent has something to gain by the price fluctuation. Some
forms of market manipulation are illegal. [AY,SMB]
Martial Law
The replacement of the usual government and police functions by the
military, usually as a temporary emergency
measure but sometimes the precursor to a coup d'etat. [SMB]
Martyrs
The card art appears to be a reference to the 1989 Tiananmen Square
massacre in China. [SMB]
Mass Murder
The cover art includes the art from Nobel Peace
Prize and Scandal, and the numbers 5, 23 and 42. [AC]
Media Blitz
A strong media presentation designed to saturate the public with a
particular idea. [SMB]
Media Connections
Access to big media channels
of communication with the public. [SMB]
Messiah
Post-Exilic Judaism developed the concept of a returning king of the
House of David who would restore their homeland to its former glory. Over
time, the concept grew and developed into a belief in the ultimate coming
of the Messiah.
Many people were hailed by some as the Messiah, particularly in troubled
times. The best-known example is Jesus of Nazareth, whose following survived
and grew into the Christian religion. Simon bar-Kochba, the leader of a Jewish
revolt against Rome in 130, was hailed as the Messiah by some of his followers
(but seems to have made no such claim for himself). [SMB]
Meteor Strike
Many scientists believe that large meteors and comets impact the Earth
on a regular basis, that one such projectile was responsible for the extinction
of the dinosaurs, and that if another such planetoid was to be headed for
Earth there would be little we could do about it. The Tunguska Event, an explosion
resembling a nuclear bomb in Siberia in 1908, is generally believed to have
been such a comet impact. [BB]
Miracle Diet Plan
Tabloids will occasionally
print some plan to shed weight rapidly without the inconvenience of making
major changes to your diet or exercise habits. None of them really work,
and some of them can actually make you fatter. [Th]
Mistaken Identity
Mistaking one person for another can have all sorts of unfortunate
consequences, such as a botched
contact. [SAC]
Mob Influence
The "mob" is commonly used as a short term for the locally dominant
organized crime syndicate (which is often the Mafia). [SMB]
Monopoly
A single company which dominates its entire industry. Supposedly illegal
in the USA, but tell that to Microsoft
and TicketMaster... [Th]
Mothers' March
Likely a reference to the Illuminatus! trilogy, in which a
character is repeatedly accosted by women requesting donations to the "Mothers'
March Against Psoriasis," "Mothers' March Against Catarrh," etc., in parody
of the real-life Mothers' March Against Birth Defects, a.k.a. the March of Dimes.
Possibly also a reference to the Argentinian group "Mothers of the
Disappeared," who pressed the government for information about their
imprisoned (or worse) sons. Unfortunately, they were not very successful,
though they've apparently become something along the lines of the conscience
of the country. [MV,AB,SDO]
Murphy's Law
"Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Murphy's Law
can be invoked as a complaint about bad fortune, or can be considered as
a reminder to plan for unfavorable contingencies. [SMB]
Mutual Betrayal
Fnord.
Nationalization
Takeover of private assets by the government.
Nationalization of corporate assets often followed Third World revolutions, motivated by a combination of socialist
ideology and nationalist resentment of "foreign exploitation". Naturally,
the previous owners of the nationalized property took a dim view of this,
and were inclined to support counter-revolutions
in the hope of reversing their losses. This has led both orthodox historians
and conspiracy theorists to suspect that American opposition to leftist revolutionary
movements has been at least partly driven by business interests lobbying
the U.S. government to protect their overseas assets. [SMB]
Never Surrender
Fnord.
New Federal Budget
The card art plays on the expression "like pouring money down a hole,"
which is a metaphor for massive spending that produces no useful result. [SMB]
Nice Idea. It's Mine Now.
Fnord.
Nobel Peace Prize
Awarded every year in Oslo, Norway, as part of Alfred Nobel's atonement
for the invention of dynamite.
The award is often subject to political considerations; for example,
the Norwegians gave it to Theodore Roosevelt for his part in the Russo-Japanese
War, basically to cull support from America against Sweden.
Note the Goldfish Fancier
in the card art. [AdS,CR,BB,GmG]
NWO: A Thousand Points of Light
"A thousand points of light" is a phrase from a George Bush speech at the 1988
Republican nominating convention, describing the volunteers working to make
America better. (See also Kinder
and Gentler.)
The characters from this card also appear on NWO: Fear and Loathing. [MD,DV,RLM]
NWO: Bigger Business
Note that the "shore" looks more like a coastline, suggesting just
how big this business really is.... [ACu]
NWO: Chicken in Every Pot
A campaign slogan of Herbert Hoover, who was president when the stock
market crashed. Many people commented (post-crash) about how horribly wrong
he was.... [RV]
NWO: Don't Forget
to Smash the State
The illustration is reminiscent of the 1993 TV footage of the cranes
ripping down Dzherzinsky's statue from in front of the KGB building. [AdS,CR]
NWO: Energy Crisis
In the 1970s, an OPEC oil embargo
caused a pinch in the gasoline supply, creating long lines at the gas station
as people suddenly forgot how to ride a bicycle. [SMB,Th]
NWO: Fear and Loathing
"Fear and loathing" is a catchphrase used by gonzo journalist Hunter
S. Thompson. (e.g. one of his books was titled Fear and Loathing on the
Campaign Trail).
Garry Trudeau reputedly based Doonesbury's Duke on Thompson.
The Duke/Thompson link is strengthened by one Doonesbury strip featuring
an article by Duke titled "Fear And Loathing In The Macy's Men's Department".
The characters from this card also appear on NWO: A Thousand Points of Light. [JY,MD,RLM,Th]
NWO: Gun Control
Gun control is a perennial American political hot potato. Advocates of gun control generally
regard it as a public safety measure; opponents
of gun control generally regard it as an issue of personal liberty (including
the right to forcibly resist a tyrannical government if push comes to shove).
(See also Gun Lobby.)
Note that the gun is being pried from the holder's cold, dead hand
(referring to the bumper-sticker slogan "They'll take my gun when they pry
it from my cold, dead hand"), and that one effect of the NWO is to help Criminal
groups (reflecting the anti-gun-control argument "When guns are outlawed,
only outlaws will have guns").
Conspiracy theorists tend to interpret gun control as part of the
New World Order plot to
enslave the world; advocates of gun control sometimes seek to discredit
their opponents by lumping them in with the most extreme cranks. [AdS,CR,SMB]
NWO: Law and Order
"Law and order" was one of the major themes of Richard Nixon's successful
1968 Presidential campaign. This promise appealed to many moderate and conservative
voters disgusted with the widespread protests and riots of the time.
The card art suggests police actions such as the protest suppressions
at the 1968
Democratic convention in Chicago (an event described as "a police riot").
[RLM]
NWO: Military-Industrial Complex
In his "farewell address" on leaving office, President Eisenhower
included the sentence "We must beware of undue influence by the military-industrial
complex". This soon became a buzzword among leftist groups. [WL]
NWO: Peace In Our Time
The infamous promise by British Prime Minister Chamberlain after the
1938 Munich talks (at which it was agreed not to do anything about Hitler's
invasion of democratic Czechoslovakia). In any event, he lost his position
to Winston Churchill in the next Cabinet reshuffle.
Note that the spider is a black widow, with two eyes-in-the-triangles
making up its red hourglass marking. [AR,DV,GG,OS,SH]
NWO: Political Correctness
"Political correctness" is a term referring to hard-core doctrinaire
leftism (sometimes extended to hard-core doctrinairism in politics generally).
[SMB]
NWO: Solidarity
Reference to the Polish labour movement turned polical party, which
won its fight against Communism. [AdS,CR]
NWO: Tax Reform
Tax reform is perennial promise of politicians to voters disgusted
with high taxes, complicated tax codes, and abusive tax collection tactics.
The actual outcome tends to be, as described on the card, a tax increase.
[SMB]
NWO: World Hunger
Fnord.
NWO: World War Three
The fear of World War Three breaking out and escalating to a full-scale
nuclear exchange between NATO and the
Soviet bloc has been a major factor in late 20th century global politics.
[SMB]
Nuclear Accident
A failure at a nuclear power plant, possibly resulting in the release
of dangerous radioactive material. So far, the only one serious enough to
have gotten anybody killed is the one at Chernobyl
in 1986, although the fault for that seems to lie more with Soviet-style public
works engineering than with nuclear power per se. Naturally, antinuclear activists and nuclear power companies disagree
about the risk level. [SMB,Th]
An Offer You Can't Refuse
From the film The Godfather; a very unappealing offer that
the target must accept lest he find himself abruptly deceased. [MD]
Opportunity Knocks
Fnord.
The Oregon Crud
Fnord.
Payoff
Fnord.
Plague of Demons
Fnord.
Pledge Drive
American television tradition of variety shows held to provide an
opportunity to make pleas for donations to support any of a variety of causes.
Images of busy operators taking calls and display boards with running totals
of pledge amounts are de rigeur. [AdS,CR]
Poison
Fnord.
Power Corrupts
All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely -- Lord Acton. [DV]
Power Grab
Fnord.
Privatization
Transfer of government assets to private ownership. Large-scale privatizations
took place, with varying degrees of success, in the nations of the former
Soviet Empire as they replaced large sections of their old communist economic
systems with market systems.
The "Burger Czar" sign in the artwork is a pun on the fast food chain "Burger King". "Czar"
was the title of the pre-Revolutionary Russian monarchs (ultimately derived
from "Caesar", via a dynastic connection to the last Byzantine emperors);
suggesting the privatization process in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet
Union. [SMB]
Privileged Attack
Fnord.
Pulitzer Prize
Prestigious American awards for journalism. [AdS,CR]
Purge
A purge is the systematic elimination of political enemies. Purges
tend to turn into witch hunts, condemning
people upon the most tenuous suspicion of disloyalty.
The defenestration in the artwork suggests a common method used in
the Czech purges after the post-WWII Soviet takeover, most notably in the
case of state secretary Jan Masaryk. [SMB]
Rain of Frogs
There have supposedly been several incidences of rains of frogs or
other unlikely small animals in the last century, but none recorded on video
or film to my knowledge. More reputable are reports of sudden, localized population
explosions of frogs. Information from the Fortean Times, a publication
specialising in the news of the weird and named after Charles Fort, one of
the original collectors of the bizarre.
A rain of frogs is described in Biblical book of Exodus as one of
the ten plagues visited upon Egypt.
An article
in the 12 April 1997 issue of New Scientist describes the magnetic levitation
of a frog. [GB,JY,MV,SMB]
Reach Out . . .
"Reach Out and Touch Someone" was the slogan of a long-running ad
campaign for AT&T, the phone
company. [MD]
Read My Lips
"Read my lips -- no new taxes" was a famous campaign promise made
by George Bush in 1988. He later
reneged. [AdS,CR]
Red Scare
Widespread anti-communist hysteria, such as the ones inspired by Attorney
General Palmer in the early 1920s and Senator Joseph McCarthy in the early
1950s. [MD]
Reload!
Fnord.
Reorganization
Fnord.
Resistance Is Useless!
In the case of overwhelming force, even the strongest committment is not capable of standing.
"Resistance Is Useless!" is sometimes used as a catchphrase, particularly
by melodramatic or comical villains (the Vogons from The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy being an example of the latter). [AdS,AR,CR]
Revolution!
The card art shows the same scene as Dictatorship, including the giant
picture of the Maximum Leader from Steve
Jackson Games' 1992 game Coup, now somewhat the worse for wear
after the fighting. [SMB,Th]
Rewriting History
The door reads, "Ministry of Truth", the agency responsible for rewriting
history from Orwell's 1984.
[AdS,CR]
Sabotage
Covert damage to the enemy's equipment. The term is derived from the
use of workers' wooden shoes (sabots) to jam machinery during 19th century
labor disputes. [Th]
Save The Whales
An environmentalist rallying cry against whale hunting and other threats
to endangered whale species.
Savings and Loan Scandal
See Savings and Loans.
[AdS,CR]
Scandal
Fnord.
The Second Bullet
JFK assassination buffs often claim there was a second bullet from
someone other than Oswald, one removed from the body before it could be found
by doctors, which was the real killing shot. [DV]
Secrets Man Was Not Meant to Know
Catchphrase from the Cthulhu
Mythos, referring to sanity-blasting knowledge of eldrich horrors. Stories
in which a researcher comes to grief as a result of his discoveries (e.g.
Frankenstein, many pulp-era science fiction and horror stories)
seem to convey this concept as a moral lesson. [AdS,CR,SMB]
Self-Esteem
Conservatives sometimes accuse liberals of being soft on poorly performing
students, juvenile delinquents, etc, in the name of promoting "self-esteem"
without regard for personal merit. Some conspiracy theorists extrapolate on
this notion to the point of suggesting that the New World Order is deliberately
substituting "self-esteem" mush for academic rigor in order to raise a generation
of uneducated drones who will not challenge the rule of the elite. [SMB]
Seize the Time!
A variation on the popular slogan "Seize the Day," or "Carpe Diem."
[OS]
Senate Investigating Committee
Legal proceedings carried out by the US Senate (similar proceedings
are sometimes carried out in the US House of Representatives, or by joint
committees with members from both houses of Congress), particularly into
the affairs of groups otherwise protected from public scrutiny.
Such investigations have often been denounced by the target's allies
as being "politically motivated" (the Republicans attacked the Iran-Contra investigation on this
basis, and the Democrats similarly
attacked the Whitewater investigation
-- is it any wonder the U.S. government keeps shutting down?).
The most notorious Senate investigating committees in American history
were the ones called as part of Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist witch-hunts in the 1950s. (See also
Red Scare). [MD,OS]
Slush Fund
An account or cache of money which is not accounted for 'on the books'.
This allows the manager of the fund to use the money for whatever he wants.
Buying political influence is usually the most common use of a slush fund;
but buying personal perks (parties, luxuries, etc) is also common.
The most famous example in modern American history is the slush fund
created and used by Nixon's Comittee to Re-elect the President (CRP, or CReeP,
depending on your opinion of Nixon) in their various dirty-tricks campaigns,
including the bugging of the Watergate hotel. Exposing this slush fund (and
determining if the President knew about it) was a major part of the subseqent
investigations which eventually led to his resignation. (See also 18 1/2 Minute Gap.) [ACu,MS,Th]
Sniper
A marksman who guns down a target at long range from cover, making
it easier to avoid capture or counterattack. JFK was clearly assassinated
by a sniper, though conspiracy theorists dissent from the orthodox conclusion
that it was a single sniper by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald. [SMB]
Spasm of Violence
Fnord.
The Stars are Right
R'lyeh, where dread Cthulhu lies dreaming, only rises from the deeps
when the stars are in certain configurations. More generally, the stars being
"right" is a common plot device in horror tales. [DV,MD,SDO]
Stealing the Plans
Fnord.
Stock Split
A process in which each share of a stock is replaced by two or more
new shares. This is generally done when the stock's price has been rising,
so that the price of individual shares and trading blocks doesn't become inconveniently
high. [AY]
Straighten Up
Fnord.
Sucked Dry and Cast Aside!
Fnord.
Sweeping Reforms
Fnord.
Sweepstakes Prize
Junk mail in the US often contains dubious sweepstakes offers (most
famously the Publishers' Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, featuring Ed McMahon
as spokesman) headed with the phrase "You may have already won!" [MD]
Swiss Bank Account
It is no longer possibly to obtain an anonymous bank account in Switzerland (for that, you need
to go to Austria or Turkey -- see Offshore Banks), but depositors
are nonetheless protected by one of the strongest banking-secrecy laws in
the world. These days, Swiss bankers are permitted to inform the authorities
of suspicious deposits, but are not required to -- and in practice most would
rather keep their customers. Switzerland thus remains the haven of choice
for foreigners with money to hide -- the most notorious recent example was
ex-President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. (Two Swiss banks are currently
fighting a Philippine lawsuit over half a billion dollars alleged to have
been looted from the islands during Marcos' dictatorship.) Furthermore, Swiss
law regards as "dirty" only the proceeds of activities that are crimes in
Switzerland, and the Swiss define income tax evasion as a civil matter.
Swiss prosecutors are currently waging a campaign to reform the banking
laws, but the tradition of privacy is deeply entrenched, and many ordinary
Swiss are proud of their country's iconoclastic history--the secrecy laws
were originally passed in the 1930s to help persecuted Jews protect their
savings. -- The Economist, 17 February 1996, p 71
Note that the box numbering pattern indicates that the open one is
number 666, the Number of the Beast. [AdS,CR,RLM]
Talisman of Ahrimanes
In Zoroastrianism, Ahriman is the spirit of Evil, in constant struggle
with Ahura Mazda, the spirit of Good. [MD]
Tax Breaks
The artwork is a play on the term "loophole" (a special provision
benefiting certain people); in this case, the loophole is in the tax code
(the document is Form 1040, the main income
tax form). [SMB]
Terrorist Nuke
The image is likely a reference to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
in New York. [MD]
Tidal Wave
A massive wave created by an earthquake or volcanic eruption (not
the tides, as the name would imply). The waves are shallow and long while
traveling across the depths of the ocean, and pile up into massive walls
of water as they hit the shallow waters near a coast. [SMB]
Time Warp
"Time warps" are a common science fiction plot device, referring to
places where one can travel directly from the present into the future or
the past. [MD,SDO]
Tornado
Note that the tornado is destroying mobile homes in a trailer park,
which are notoriously vulnerable to such occurences (because they are smaller
and less solidly constructed than fixed houses, and possibly because the higher
temperatures found within cities tends to repel and blunt tornadoes). [ACu,SMB]
Unlucky 13
The technical name for the fear of the number 13 is triskadekaphobia.
[SH]
Unmasked!
Fnord.
Upheaval!
Fnord.
Volcano
A volcano is a mountain formed by molten rock (lava) and ash emitted
from the hot depths of the earth. (See also Hawaii.) [SMB]
Volunteer Aid
Fnord.
Voodoo Economics
Phrase used by George Bush
to describe Ronald Reagan's
theory of "supply-side economics" during the 1980 Presidential campaign. Reagan
promised that by cutting the tax rate, he could improve the economy enough
to raise revenues and thus simultaneously spend more on defence and balance
the budget. His professed disbelief did not prevent Bush from later buying
into the theory to become Reagan's running-mate. Ain't American politics
majestic?
A very illuminated reference: both the INWO plot card and the real-world
policy are frequently accused of creating temporary ("false") prosperity at
the expense of later growth. [JY,MD,SDO]
Vultures
Vultures are scavenging birds frequenting desert terrains, circling
above their prey until it dies, then landing to eat. [Th]
The Weak Link
A reference to the saying "A chain is no stronger than its weakest
link". In this context, this refers to the fact that a security system can
be subverted by a failure of one key person with access to a secret. [SMB]
The Weird Turn Pro
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -- Hunter S. Thompson. (See also Fear and Loathing.) [AdS,CR]
Whispering Campaign
Fnord.
Withering Curse
Fnord.
World Cup Victory
Refers to the World Cup of association football (known in America
as "soccer", to distinguish it from American football), the world's second-largest
sporting event (after the Summer Olympics). [AdS,CR]
CREDITS
The bulk of the entries were originally written by Alan
de Smet and/or Colin Roald (Basic Set) or Steve Brinich (Assassins). Others
have provided feedback, additional facts, and occasional entire entries; these
entries are marked with the initials of the contributor(s). The full names
corresponding to these initials are listed on the credits page.
I would like to thank everyone who provided entries and
feedback.
Last Updated October 1997
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