Tangled Webs: Behold a Pale Horse; 85-90

Evil turns on itself, Hickman and Weiss wrote in the third book of the original Dragonlance Trilogy, and Cooper is going to inadvertently describe why his conspiracy theory cannot work. Last week I fell into the "bewilder gambit;" this is a conspiracy theory technique of blasting the listener with overly-complicated factoids that they become confused and assume that it must be plausible. Think of the nonsense that a Flat Earther will spout off trying to explain why there is no such thing as gravity: the goal isn't to argue for a position but rather confuse the other person so that they can no longer argue back. 

It would be helpful to keep in mind that Cooper's big worry is the New World Order and some kind of UFO invasion. Ultimately, his big apocalypse concerns aliens, maybe some kind of spiritual entity, but this is the 90s and the X-Files grand conspiracy is largely his view (in fact, some of it was taken from Cooper, and Cooper took some of it back). 

Cooper claims that all of the secret society groups he named are working toward the same goal. He claimed they were all the same which is how I recommend anyone read this stuff--if they must read this stuff. Just pick one group, doesn't matter which one, and when you read "Freemason," you just substitute the other name; it never really matters. For Cooper claiming that they are all the same doesn't work. Does the JASON group (the one that launched the satellite into Jupiter, really have the same plan as the Illuminati? Cooper says it does...until he says it doesn't. 

"Many of them, however, disagree on exactly who will rule this New World Order, and that is what causes them to sometimes pull in opposite directions while nevertheless proceeding toward the same goal. The Vatican, for instance, wants the Pope to head the world coalition. Some want Lord Maitreya to head the New World Order [Cooper then says Maitreya is the front runner because he was at a conference with world leaders in 1990]...Someone has spent an awful lot of money announcing his presence. The Pope will have to approve him if Maitreya is selected, however, and that would fulfill the Bible prophecy in the Book of Revelations that states that the first beast will be given his power by Rome."

What we have is a problem? The Vatican wants the Pope in charge of the world--makes sense; while others want this Maitreya. Now Maitreya is a concept in Buddhism that is, essentially, the future Buddha. The concept though found its way into the New Age movements of the 70s and 80s; and there were even some people claiming to be this, which is why Cooper is talking about it here. Cooper's problem is that his worldview cannot abide one puppet master ceding control to another. I know that in Cooper's world; the Vatican is nothing but a heretical organization seeking to usher in the anti-Christ, but they wouldn't step aside for some incarnation of the Buddha to run the world. The other groups will not step aside either. The international Communist conspiracy will not lay down for a religious group; not in Cooper's world. 

There are many memes of conspiracy theorists with their yarn boards connecting these groups, but I'll save you the trip to Michael's--it doesn't matter, "Only members of the Order are initiated into the Order of the Quest, the JASON society that makes up the executive members of the Council on Foreign Relations and, in fact, the Trilateral Commission as well." 

None of it matters. We covered the Trilateral Commission in the Gary Allen book, they are just a think-tank for economic and political affairs concerning the US, Europe, and Japan. Presidential candidate and JBS flirt, Barry Goldwater demonized them until he realized that conspiracy theory appeals were going to be more of an albatross than boon to his campaign. 

Cooper finally, finally, describes the JASON society. The most important thing is that you always have to spell it with capital letters. Secondly, it's probably a reference to the myth of Jason and the Argonauts. We know this from the author's note that Cooper puts in. Let me repeat that: we know this because Cooper inserts an "author's note."

Cooper is doing this for one of two possible reasons: the first is that he doesn't understand what an author's note is for. They are for making a comment within a long excerpt or quote. They are not for the author to make a quick aside within his own writing, that's what a footnote is for. The second possibility is that he forgot that this chapter is his and not a secret document like the first chapter. Either is possible. 

This JASON society, the real one, is a science group that advises the government. That's it. The conspiracy world loves this kind of group because they don't understand it and they are not capable of doing so. Their worldview comes into conflict with reality. JASON is recruited not through CFR, Tri-Laterals, Skull and Bones, or anything else: it was populated by research scientists. This group was very similar to DARPA in that what they did was solve problems using theoretical science in practical ways. Cooper, as a member of ONI, would have seen the name a few times as they created a line of heat and acoustic detectors during the Vietnam War known as "McNamara's Line." 

Perhaps I'm being too hard on these people. If I want to know about the JASON society, I can just alt+TAB over to my Wikipedia tab. Cooper would have to go to the library, request information, and then wait. Cooper would have, undoubtedly, a book with JASON in it that he's going to rely on before he takes the road trip. Though, I know I'm not being too hard because the lack of proper information has just meant that Cooper will make it up. The Jupiter mission was real, but he's inserted JASON's nefarious purpose in creating a second star because he needs the endorphin jolt. Everything has to top the previous claim. The CFR isn't evil enough so they created JASON from the Lock and Key group, etc. It's a tangled web because it needs to be. If Cooper were to go back and second draft this book, he'd confuse himself.