From a Masonic plot to Shapeshifting Space Lizards

Alongside the newly rehashed Illuminati 2.0 The Protocols served as a scaffold for more outlandish conspiracy theories which claimed the Jews depicted in The Protocols were a cover identity for another group. British conspiracist David Icke for example combined New Age thought and Ufology and claimed extra-dimensional entities who took the form of ‘shape-shifting lizards’ who worked in accordance with a secretive Jewish elite.[i]

Probably the most influential conspiracist book of our time was the 1991 book ‘Behold a Pale Horse’ by William Cooper which purported that the U.S government and aliens were collaborating. In it Cooper reprinted The Protocols in entirety and instructed readers

"any reference to 'Jews' should be replaced with the word 'Illuminati”; and the word “goyim” should be replaced with the word “cattle”. [ii]

His publisher pulled this chapter from later publications and by the end of the 1990s Cooper pivoted towards the growing militia movement and became a radio host (and even had a feud with a young Alex Jones).

Cooper claimed to have 'Q' security clearance which is a real security clearance for Top secret information.

It’s assumed Timothy McVeigh was a listener since he had video tapes of a documentary on the Waco siege that Cooper marketed on his radio show. Investigators visited Cooper after the Oklahoma city bombing to which he told them that two men had visited him several months earlier and advised him to “watch out for something in Oklahoma City”.[iii]

In 2001 Cooper died in a gunfight provoked by the police attempting to serve him a warrant for aggravated assault [iv] and his death fuelled the belief by his followers that he was killed because ‘he knew too much’. Cooper’s legacy is diffuse,[v] the cult 2000s TV show ‘The X-Files’ is based heavily on his claims of secretive government dealings with aliens.

Featuring alien conspiracies and 'g-men' caught in a web of conspiracies the X-files drew much of it's inspiration from Cooper's work.

His book became incredibly popular in prisons and was sold on the streets of Harlem from which it influenced a generation of rappers: Tupac, Busta Rhymes, Nas and the Wu Tang Clan all made references to Illuminati and secret societies. [vi] His book suffused the US with a reckless paranoia.

You swallow propaganda like a birth control pill,

Sellin’ your soul to the eye on the back of the dollar bill”- Rapper Immortal technique

In 2001 the World trade centre bombings spurred a flurry of new conspiracy theories which focused on uncovering the ‘true’ story of the destruction of the World Trade Centre. These ‘sceptics’ were led towards the antisemitic conspiracy theory while others tapped into the reactionary Islamophobia, one of the strangest being the ‘Eurabia’ theory.

Bat Ye'or (Hebrew for Daughter of the Nile, the pen name of Egyptian-born British French author) a Jew was the first to promote Eurabia which alleges Muslim immigration is a plot by European elites and Muslim countries, who aim to subjugate Europe as a Muslim state, commentators describe it as an ‘inverted conspiracy’ or ‘The Protocols in reverse’[vii]

Much like The Protocols this conspiracy has led terrorists to conduct mass shootings such as those in Norway and New Zealand by white supremacists in the early 2010s.

[i] We shouldn’t laugh too hard at Icke’s beliefs; Satan was originally in attendance at the Jewish meeting in the cemetery. He was replaced as a blue flame in later editions.

[ii] William Cooper. Behold a pale Horse. (Light Technology Pub. 1991). P. 267

[iii] Richard Ruelas & Rob O'Dell. How William Cooper and his book ‘Behold a Pale Horse’ planted seeds of QAnon conspiracy theory. Arizona Republic. (2020, October 1) Accessed 23/08/24 https://www.azcentral.com/in-depth/news/local/arizona-investigations/2020/10/01/behold-pale-horse-how-william-cooper-planted-seeds-qanon-theory/3488115001/

[iv] Bill Cooper’s paranoid fantasies ultimately killed him. His assault charge came from attacking a pedestrian who was showing his family an old viewpoint, Cooper believed him to be a government agent surveilling him.

[v] ibid

[vi] Mark Jacobson. The Conspiracist Manual That Influenced a Generation of Rappers. (Vulture August 22, 2018,) https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/how-behold-a-pale-horse-influenced-hip-hop.html 

[vii] Ironically it also seems Daniel Pipes now ascribes to the Eurabian theory as well.