thinx blog
Knowledge is beautiful
thinx blog
  • Follow me on Twitter
  • pinterest
  • facebook
  • Flipboard
  • RSS

American Stonehenge: Monumental Instructions for the Post-Apocalypse is a fascinating 2009 story by Wired about the creation of the mysterious Georgia Guidestones.

Here’s an excerpt:

Called the Georgia Guidestones, the monument is a mystery—nobody knows exactly who commissioned it or why. The only clues to its origin are on a nearby plaque on the ground—which gives the dimensions and explains a series of intricate notches and holes that correspond to the movements of the sun and stars—and the “guides” themselves, directives carved into the rocks. These instructions appear in eight languages ranging from English to Swahili and reflect a peculiar New Age ideology. Some are vaguely eugenic (GUIDE REPRODUCTION WISELY—IMPROVING FITNESS AND DIVERSITY); others prescribe standard-issue hippie mysticism (PRIZE TRUTH—BEAUTY—LOVE—SEEKING HARMONY WITH THE INFINITE).

What’s most widely agreed upon—based on the evidence available—is that the Guidestones are meant to instruct the dazed survivors of some impending apocalypse as they attempt to reconstitute civilization. Not everyone is comfortable with this notion. A few days before I visited, the stones had been splattered with polyurethane and spray-painted with graffiti, including slogans like “Death to the new world order.” This defacement was the first serious act of vandalism in the Guidestones’ history, but it was hardly the first objection to their existence. In fact, for more than three decades this uncanny structure in the heart of the Bible Belt has been generating responses that range from enchantment to horror. Supporters (notable among them Yoko Ono) have praised the messages as a stirring call to rational thinking, akin to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason. Opponents have attacked them as the Ten Commandments of the Antichrist.

Continue reading about the monument and the anonymous stranger that requested them here or check out a new interactive web series about it here.

Posted:  | Notes: 100  | Source: Wired | Share:   

100 notes

  1. hrafna3104 reblogged this from staceythinx
  2. penguinist reblogged this from staceythinx
  3. cleverspinster reblogged this from neverwhere-shesays-sheis
  4. neuroconnoisseur reblogged this from staceythinx
  5. olympus-mons reblogged this from staceythinx
  6. rainbow-swallow reblogged this from staceythinx
  7. this-is-somestuff reblogged this from staceythinx
  8. obliterated1 reblogged this from staceythinx
  9. onejoule reblogged this from leesawbrown
  10. justinleepanda1992 reblogged this from neverwhere-shesays-sheis
  11. batlock reblogged this from syn3sth3sia
  12. lili-ish reblogged this from staceythinx
  13. the-seventh-devil reblogged this from neverwhere-shesays-sheis
  14. akilb reblogged this from neverwhere-shesays-sheis
  15. xenotriple6 reblogged this from staceythinx
  16. syn3sth3sia reblogged this from hunebe
  17. combstranger reblogged this from hunebe
  18. hunebe reblogged this from staceythinx
  19. kishinillusion reblogged this from staceythinx
  20. ascendsion reblogged this from staceythinx
  21. drweidinger reblogged this from staceythinx
  22. justanotherfalseicon reblogged this from merlinscrapbook
  23. the-infinite-et-cetera reblogged this from veteadormir
  24. sidmacabre reblogged this from veteadormir
  25. veteadormir reblogged this from staceythinx
  26. fatalflightpatterns reblogged this from neverwhere-shesays-sheis