New Book About ‘Wild’ Bill Cooper

Next week there’s a book coming out about William Cooper: Pale Horse Rider: William Cooper, the Rise of Conspiracy, and the Fall of Trust in America, by Mark Jacobson. Vice.com has an interview with the author, here. In the title of the article, Vice calls Cooper “the Godfather of Conspiracy Theories,” which is pretty spot on.

I’m somewhat surprised that a biography of Bill Cooper has been written and published by a subsidiary of Penguin, but upon further reflection it perfectly suits the times. Donald Trump is the conspiracist in chief, after all – however lame and amateurish those theories are upon closer inspection.

When Cooper was at his prime, in the mid-1990s, I was there with him, every step of the way. I would listen to his Hour of the Time radio show on a cheap shortwave radio purchased from Radio Shack. Every night, 3 or 4 AM, muddied, through the static, an apocalyptic voice would roar incessantly about the myriad crimes of the government against the ostensibly free citizens of the republic. I lapped it up with glee, never missing an episode.

After the Oklahoma City Bombing, Cooper went into overdrive, threatening the FBI, their children, any and all collaborators and traitors. My copy of Behold a Pale Horse was already well-worn by that time. I remember distinctly as the news broke on CNN, that everything Cooper had been preaching about had come true. The modern understanding of a “false flag” was born in that tragedy and, in my mind, was undeniable.

The same day of the bombing, mid-afternoon, I went to the neighborhood convenience store. At the counter, above the clerk, blared the news about the bombing, over and over again – a portend of things to come.

Of the 4 or 5 customers in line, only one saw fit to interject. I was 23 at the time. This dude was at least in his mid-30s or older. He uttered the following words, as God is my witness: “You know what they call that? Job creation!” You see, by that time the TV was showing rescuers lifting bodies, dead and alive, out of the rubble. “Job creation,” in this sociopath’s mind was akin to the adage: Never let a tragedy go to waste.

As he muttered this profound sentiment, I caught glimpse of his hand. He had a masonic square/compass ring on one of his fingers.

Right then and there, Wild Bill Cooper was, in fact, “the Godfather of Conspiracy Theories,” and will always be in my mind.