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Originally posted by DeltAlum
This one goes beyond GLO's in my estimation.
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I think you're right. Strictly speaking, GLOs are not "secret societies" or organizations, they are societies or organizations with secrets.
The distinction is significant. A secret society keep its membership (and sometimes even its existence) secret, a tactic that may be directly related to goals of influence. Its harder to fight when one really doesn't know who or what the enemy is.
A society with secrets like a GLO, on the other hand, makes no secret of its existence or its membership, or even what it stands for and hopes to accomplish. It merely keeps private some aspects of the organization's life -- initiation, symbolism, and the like -- for the purpose of strengthening the fraternal bonds between members.
Skull and Bones is a secret society, at least insofar as it traditionally has officially kept membership secret. Interest in it is certainly peaked by the influence of some of its members, including the current president, his father, and the current vice president. Skull and Bones is also the stuff that the dreams of conspiracy theorists are made of.
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