Did Bill Cooper Plant the Seeds for the QAnon Conspiracy?

[Gene Steinberg]

Strange that a wacko from the UFO field might have influenced a political conspiracy that has been embraced by the White House and even candidates for Congress:

How William Cooper and his book ‘Behold a Pale Horse’ planted seeds of QAnon conspiracy theory

William Cooper's book "Behold a Pale Horse" was published in 1991. Since then the ideas he covered have found their way into QAnon and other conspiracies.

www.azcentral.com

 

[Randall]

Strange that a wacko from the UFO field might have influenced a political conspiracy that has been embraced by the White House and even candidates for Congress:

How William Cooper and his book ‘Behold a Pale Horse’ planted seeds of QAnon conspiracy theory

William Cooper's book "Behold a Pale Horse" was published in 1991. Since then the ideas he covered have found their way into QAnon and other conspiracies.

www.azcentral.com

If the police hadn't royally bungled his arrest with their utterly stupid plan to detain him, nobody would have been injured or killed. Now the guy's been made into a martyr. Crazy stuff. But that doesn't mean there aren't just enough grains of truth sprinkled around his conspiracies to win over the borderline wackos. What worries me is that he'll be used as a way to discredit legitimate concerns. Got any worries about pandemic management? Regardless of your view, now you're a Coopernian Conspiracy Theorist.

 

[Damian]

I binged on Bill's shows one year when I was on a 3rd shift. The article mentioned the mystery of why his book was popular among prisoners. It is no mystery: Bill believed the system was holding Black-Americans down in a divide-and-conquer measure. As long as blacks and whites hated each other they could never unify to unravel the gov conspiracies and civil rights erosion.

Unlike today's QAnon 4chan posters, Bill was not a bigot and warned against violent uprising.

i am surprised Gary Allen's "None Dare Call it a Conspiracy" and The John Birch Society does not get more credit for setting up right wing talking points even to this day.

 

[Randall]

I binged on Bill's shows one year when I was on a 3rd shift ...

I'd never even heard of Cooper ( except perhaps peripherally ) until @Decker mentioned him on a thread, which led me to an old article he ( Don ) had written. I think Don would be happier if nobody ever mention Copper's name again ( Don is very passionate about his beliefs and principles ).

As for QAnon. It looks like political meddling either by Republicans, some foreign power, or a half grown adult living in his Mom's basement. But I can't tell for sure which. My intuition says it's a foreign power. It's rare for something to get that much traction without a network helpers behind the scenes. If it was domestic and connected to the Republican Party, or even just some loner doing it for entertainment, it would have been exposed by now.

 

[marduk]

Not sure about Cooper himself, but the exact same conspiracy nonsense like that gets kicked around this topic are the same as what led to Q in my mind.

I mean, joint military-alien bases under Dulce, with bodies in vats so the aliens can eat them. Breakaway civilization nonsense. Aliens landing at a military base to meet with American leaders, and supposedly OK abductions in exchange for technology. Garbage, garbage, and more garbage.

Speculating can be fun. But I view it as a dangerous form of entertainment now. Not because it might be true, but because it will be weaponized by someone eventually.

 

[Randall]

Not sure about Cooper himself, but the exact same conspiracy nonsense like that gets kicked around this topic are the same as what led to Q in my mind.

I mean, joint military-alien bases under Dulce, with bodies in vats so the aliens can eat them. Breakaway civilization nonsense. Aliens landing at a military base to meet with American leaders, and supposedly OK abductions in exchange for technology. Garbage, garbage, and more garbage.

Speculating can be fun. But I view it as a dangerous form of entertainment now. Not because it might be true, but because it will be weaponized by someone eventually.

I was just listening to an old episode you were on: December 3, 2017 — Morrison, Brandstetter, Jones and Jason 2017-12-0

It was a classic. Lots of speculation and debate about various possibilities. The point is that if someone is going to weaponize any of these ideas, it's going to happen whether we talk about it or not, so in my mind, having guys like yourself and the others on that show talking about it, is better than leaving it up to those who would totally exploit it for whatever wacky purpose ( real or imagined ) they may have.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

QAnon has reportedly had a crisis of confidence after Biden was sworn in. Or they elevated him to one of the saviors against the nonexistent conspiracy.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

So:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/20/qanon-trump-era-ends/

 

[Damian]

I'd never even heard of Cooper ( except perhaps peripherally ) until @Decker mentioned him on a thread, which led me to an old article he ( Don ) had written. I think Don would be happier if nobody ever mention Copper's name again ( Don is very passionate about his beliefs and principles ).

As for QAnon. It looks like political meddling either by Republicans, some foreign power, or a half grown adult living in his Mom's basement. But I can't tell for sure which. My intuition says it's a foreign power. It's rare for something to get that much traction without a network helpers behind the scenes. If it was domestic and connected to the Republican Party, or even just some loner doing it for entertainment, it would have been exposed by now.

Hi Randall,

I know a lot of talking points currently used were said on RT years ago.

There was a documentary on Russia and Putin about how they sell half truths and Big Lies, so citizens never know what the facts are and are conspiracy-orientated to the point of nihilism. I think the Russians are masters of mind games like that, even more so than China, which is more obvious (to me, at least).

But yes, both countries have motivations to cause a Civil War in America.

 

[Damian]

So:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/20/qanon-trump-era-ends/

It was pretty scary to read the comments from Telegraph about how they were counting flags and thinking it was a code.

Like, Randall I have to wonder how many of the comments (or at least the ring leaders) don't come from the U.S.