The history of anti-masonry is almost as old as that of Freemasonry itself. Anti-masonic thought can be grouped into two broad catagories: accusations of anti-Christian or satanic objectives, and accusations of political and social manipulation. Anti-masonic thought today generally turns to the many conspiracy theories currently popular in the media. Historically, Freemasonry has ignored such attacks. The following articles contain the facts. . "Public information campaigns that confront myths with facts, or warn people that a given claim is false, necessarily reiterate the information they want to discredit. This strategy is successful as long as people remember what is true and what is false. Unfortunately, memory for these details fades quickly. When the false claims are encountered again on a later occasion, all that is left may be the vague feeling that 'I heard something like this before.' This sense of familiarity, in turn, will foster the acceptance of statements as true. Once a statement is accepted as true, people are likely to attribute it to a credible source  which, ironically, may often be the source that attempted to discredit it  lending the statement additional credibility when conveyed to others." - University of Michigan, Norbert Schwarz et al. "Metacognitive Experiences and the Intricacies of Setting People Straight" (Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Volume 39, 2007, pp 127-161)