Daily Beast has details from his Facebook postings which appear to make him a flat Earth conspiracy theorist. Frankly this is all too bizarre to go into in detail. But it certainly appears to have odious links and connections to groups with highly unsavoury views and ambitions.
Daily Beast goes into his motives here.
And although police have not announced a motive in the arsons, Kohlman’s Facebook page contains anti-Freemason attacks that he shared from conspiracy pages, particularly pages about flat earth theory.
The incident wouldn’t even be the first time in recent years that a flat earther attempted to burn down a Masonic lodge. An Australian flat earth convention went off the rails in 2018 when an organizer was accused of the same crime.
Flat earthers believe—wrongly—that the planet is shaped like a disk and that malevolent figures are trying to trick people into believing they live on a globe. But the conspiracy movement has not reached a consensus about who, exactly, is behind the nefarious plot. While some flat earthers blame the government or invoke anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, others falsely accuse the Freemasons (a fraternal society) of concealing the earth’s true shape.
I really know nothing about any of these groups. But on the surface, it looks like Jews are trying to trick us all into believing the earth is an oblate spheroid, rather than a flat plate. I guess there must be a Jewish person on every ship shortening the masts from the bottom as they sail away from any port. And perhaps playing some kind of ping pong with the moon. Either way, the arson attacks on the Masons was not Islamic, although a search through Islamic sermons even on Youtube, is awash with hatred and venom directed at the Masons. But in this case, it was a little closer to home. In fact, point of origin looks a little like an ex-BBC employee from the UK. But not sure on that yet.
The Vancouver Sun has bare bones
Benjamin Kohlman charged with one count of arson and one count of assaulting a police officer. The arson charge relates to an incident in Vancouver
Charges have been laid against a man who was arrested in connection with a Lower Mainland arson spree.
Three Masonic halls, two in North Vancouver and one in Vancouver, were set on fire between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
North Vancouver firefighters were initially sent to a fire at the Lynn Valley Lodge, owned by the Masonic Centre, a fraternal organization for Freemasons.
They next responded to a blaze at the North Vancouver Masonic Centre at Lonsdale and 12th Street, a short drive away from the Lynn Valley building. The Masonic Centre was destroyed.
Firefighters in Vancouver responded to the third fire at the Park Lodge Hall at Rupert and 29th Avenue. Police could not say what motivated the attacks.
No one was injured during the fires.
