system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Freemasonry?

Could reddit please explain me what the freemasonry consists of and why are they so "influent"?
gpt
Freemasonry is a world-wide brotherhood that stems from actual stonemasons' fraternities in the medieval times. It is now basically a big fraternity with lots of traditions and rules (in their speech, their outfits, their different "grades") whose members are mostly influential people in various spheres (cultural, political, industrial, etc.) Their goals are pretty much an ideal of unity, morality and brotherhood that supposedly goes beyond political views, nationalities or any kind of separation between men.

The reason it's full of influential people is because someone can only become a freemason if they're being intronized by someone who's already a member (so there's no "application sheet"). And if we assume that higher-ups only minge with other higher-ups, in the end most freemasons belong to that category.

However, freemasons are not particularly influential *as freemasons*: they are influential people who happen to be freemasons. Although it could be argued that these people might meet and take decisions during lodge meetings, it doesn't confer freemasonry in itself any actual power.