The deep, twisted roots of QAnon: From 1940s sci-fi to 19th-century anti-Masonic agitprop

[marmar]

The deep, twisted roots of QAnon: From 1940s sci-fi to 19th-century anti-Masonic agitprop
The QAnon delusions aren't even original: Fantasies about demon-cannibal conspiracies go back at least 150 years

ROBERT GUFFEY
AUGUST 23, 2020 10:00AM (UTC)


(Salon) Those among you who are familiar with the strange realm of UFOlogy may know about William Cooper, one of the most outrageous figures to appear on the UFO lecture circuit in the 1980s and author of the 1991 underground bestseller "Behold a Pale Horse." Nobody else at the time could beat the wildness of Cooper's claims, which included the idea that the U.S. military, nefarious extraterrestrial forces and ancient secret societies like the Illuminati had banded together for the express purpose of destroying the United States and God-fearing people everywhere.

As crazy as Cooper could often appear, in almost every lecture I've ever seen he would often pause to say something along these lines: "Don't believe me. Do your own research. Look at my sources and tell me I'm wrong!" He once dedicated an entire hour-long episode of his shortwave radio show, "Hour of the Time," to reviewing the lengthy list of books he had read in order to produce his epic, 43-part series entitled "Mystery Babylon," an in-depth analysis of how hermetic philosophies had impacted world history. You could disagree with Cooper's eccentric conclusions, but you really had to respect someone with the temerity to broadcast an hour-long bibliography over the radio. Even more surprisingly, his listeners hung on every word.

If Cooper's listeners decided to follow his advice to fact check his numerous claims, they would have to read such lengthy and difficult tomes as "The Secret Teachings of All Ages" by Manly P. Hall and "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry" by Albert Pike — and that's just scratching the surface.

Furthermore, Cooper never shirked from sharing details of his personal background, the sometimes sensationalistic episodes of his military career in the Navy, his years spent fighting in Vietnam, or the ruins of his many marriages. He was a real person. He wasn't "anonymous." It was possible to verify the facts about Cooper's military background, which were crucial to his claims of having had access to insider knowledge.

.....(snip).....

QAnon's obsession with penny-dreadful tales of Hollywood and Washington "elites" raping underage children becomes suspicious when seen in such numbers, in post after post after post, in video after video after video. QAnon followers just can't stop themselves, it seems, from dwelling on this disturbing notion. Some of the Christians who make these videos will even illustrate their outrage with digitally blurred photographs that barely obscure the illegal images. One wonders if "outrage" accurately describes the emotion they're experiencing while viewing — and reviewing and re-reviewing — these salacious images. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/08/23/the-deep-twisted-roots-of-qanon-from-1940s-sci-fi-to-19th-century-anti-masonic-agitprop/

[The Magistrate]

1. The Only Real Pedophile Pornography I Have Ever Seen, Sir

Was a pamphlet being passed out to passers-by during the 'Satanic Panic' swill. It claimed to be exposing and agitating against the kidnapping of children for ritual abuse, and claimed to be a transcription of someone calling parents to say exactly what they were doing to their child. Vile, and quite graphic.

Some people get their pornography in the form of the expose, which must of course have details of the horrors being laid bare. One does suspect a lot of this goes on in the 'Qanon business. It certainly has in the agitation against homosexuality in fundamentalist churches, complete with film and nowadays video....