QAnon conspiracy taking over the US
It is an internet conspiracy theory that reached the mainstream public of America in August. The movement has been brewing on the right wing internet community for years but its visibility has exploded in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic. The conspiracy alleges that a group of global child sex-trafficking ring are plotting against Donald Trump, who is battling them. None of it is of course based on facts.
According to Travis View, who has studied QAnon and written about it extensively for The Washington Post, the essence of the theory is that: "there is a worldwide cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who rule the world, essentially, and they control everything. They control politicians, and they control the media. They control Hollywood, and they cover up their existence, essentially. And they would have continued ruling the world, were it not for the election of President Donald Trump. Now, Donald Trump in this conspiracy theory knows all about this evil cabal's wrongdoing. But one of the reasons that Donald Trump was elected to put an end to them, basically. And now we would be ignorant of this behind-the-scenes battle of Donald Trump and the US military were it not for 'Q'. And what 'Q' is is basically a poster on 4chan, who later moved to 8chan, who reveals secrets about this behind-the-scene battle, and also secrets about what the cabal is doing and also the mass sort of upcoming arrest events through these posts."
The theory began with an October 2017 post on the anonymous imageboard 4chan by "Q", who was presumably an American individual, but probably formed into a group of people. Its proponents have been called a deranged conspiracy cult. Q claims to have access to classified information involving the Trump administration and its opponents in the US. The network, NBC, found that 3 people took the original Q post and expanded it across media platforms to build internet followings for profit. Q has accused many liberal Hollywood actors, Democratic politicians, and high-ranking officials of being members of this group of child sex-trafficking ring. These QAnon believers commonly tag their social media posts with the hashtag #WWG1WGA, signifying the motto "Where We Go One, We Go All."
The adherents of this conspiracy theory began appearing at Trump reelection campaign rallies in August 2018. TV and radio personality Michael Lebron, a promoter of the theory, was granted a photo opportunity with Trump in the Oval Office on August 24, 2018. Bill Mitchell, a broadcaster who promotes QAnon, attended a White House social media summit in July 2019. These people who are advocates of this conspiracy theory are having contact with the government of America. A report by the FBI has determined QAnon to be a potential source of domestic terrorism, the first time the agency had so rated a fringe conspiracy theory.
The background of this conspiracy theory can be seen to originate from a Twitter account, poting white supremacist material in 2016, which said it was run by a New York lawyer falsely claiming that the New York City Police Department had discovered a pedophilia ring linked to members of the Democratic Party whilst searching through Anthony Weiner's emails, an American former politicians and convicted sex offender. Throughout October and November 2016, WikiLeaks had published John Podesta's emails. John Podesta was a former White House chief of staff and chair of Hilary Clinton's 2016 US presidential campaign. Proponents of the theory read the emails and alleged they contained code words for pedophilia and human trafficking. Proponents also claimed that Comet Ping Pong, a restaurant in Washington, was a meeting ground for Satanic ritual abuse.
The part "non" refers to any anonymous or pseudonymous internet poster. The concept of anons doing research and claiming to disclose otherwise classified information, while a key component of the QAnon conspiracy theory, is by no means exclusive to it. Before Q, a number of so-called anons also claimed to have special government access. This person that appeared on the 4chan website in 2017, identified as "Q Clearance Patriot", posting a thread titled "Calm Before the Storm.", a reference to Trump's cryptic description of a gathering of United States military leaders he attended as "the calm before the storm". "The Storm" is QAnon parlance for an imminent event when thousands of alleged suspects will be arrested, imprisoned and executed.
Q's posting campaign has a history of false and unsubstantiated claims. Beginning with the first posts incorrectly predicting Hillary Clinton's imminent arrest and followed by more false allegations, such as claiming that North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un is a pupper ruler installed by the CIA. Q's posts have become more cryptic by allowing followers to map their own beliefs. Some of their false claims include that US Representative and former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz hired Salvadoran gang MS-13 to murder DNC staffer Seth Rich and also their suggestion that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is Adolf Hitler's granddaughter. QAnon theorists have also touted drinking an industrial bleach as a miracle cure for COVID-19.
There has been speculation over who actually is Q? Theories have ranged from a military intelligence officer, to Trump himself, to an alternate reality game. As 4chan is anonymous and does not allow registration by users, any number of people may have posted using the same handle. This conspiracy theory could be the best example of the paranoid style of American Politics, that is related to religious millenarianism and apocalypticism. The vocab of QAnon echoes Christian tropes - "The Storm" (the Genesis flood narrative or Judgement Day" and "The Great Awakening" which evokes the historical religious Great Awakenings from the early 18th century to the later 20th century. According to one QAnon video, the battle between Trump and "the cabal" is of biblical proportions, a "fight for earth, of good versus evil."
Travis View, a researcher who studies QAnon, says that it is as addictive as a video game, and offers the player the appealing possibility of being involved in something of world-historical importance. According to View, "You can sit at your computer and search for information and then post about what you find, and Q basically promises that through this process, you are going to radically change the country, institute the incredible, almost bloodless revolution, and then be part of this historical movement that will be written for generations." View compares this to mundane political involvement in which one's efforts might help to get a state legislator elected.
Whilst we may not notice explicitly the presence of this conspiracy theory, Trump has implicitly advocated for it. Perhaps using it as a ploy to gain more following. According to an analysis conducted by Media Matters, through August 20, 2020, Trump had amplified QAnon messaging at least 216 times by retweeting or mentioning 129 QAnon-affiliated Twitter accounts, sometimes multiple times a day. Into 2020, the number of QAnon adherents is unclear, but they do have a large presence on social media. In July 2020, Twitter banned thousands of QAnon-affiliated accounts and changes its algorithms to reduce the theory's spread.
However, there has been disillusionment in the community of QAnon believers. For example, there have been many false predictions. Q predicted Republican success in the 2018 US midterm elections and claimed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was involved in secret work for Trump, with apparent tensions between them a cover. Further disillusionment came when a predicted December 5 mass arrest and imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Trump's enemies did not occur, nor did the dismissal of charges against Trump's former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn.
In the US elections, in August 2019, a video posted online by "Women for Trump" was reported to include "Q's" on two campaign signs. The first sign, which said "Make America Great Again", had a "Q" taped to it in the corner. The other side, "Women for Trump" had the "O"'s in "Women" and "for" pasted with "Q's". Additionally, two people declared themselves as Republican congressional candidates in 2019 expressed interest in QAnon theories. Matthew Lusk, a Florida candidate, told The Daily Beast he was not a "brainwashed cult member" although he said QAnon theories are a "legitimate something" and constitute a "very articulate screening of past events, a very articulate screening of present conditions, and a somewhat prophetic divination of where the political and geopolitical ball will be bouncing next." Danielle Stella, running as a Republican, wore a "Q" necklace in a photo tweeted and twice used the hashtag #WWG1WGA, a reference to the QAnon motto.
This theory is playing a big role in the 2020 elections. Jo Rae Perkins, the 2020 Republican Senate candidate in Oregon, tweeted a video on the night of her May primary victory showing her holding a WWG1WGA sticker and stating, "I stand with President Trump. I stand with Q and the team. Thank you Anons, and thank you patriots." The following month she tweeted a video of her taking the "digital soldiers oath" that Q had requested followers to do three days earlier. In July 2020, Business insider reported that, "At least 10 GOP Congressional candidates have signalled their support for the QAnon movement."
This conspiracy theory is rising within the US political landscape. An app called "QDrops" which promoted the conspiracy theory was even published on the Apple App Stores and became the most popular paid app in the entertainment section of Apple's online store in April 2018, however, on July 15, 2018, Apple pulled the app after an inquiry from NBC news. Facebook has removed 5 pages, 20 accounts and 6 groups in 2020 related to the QAnon network. This network has its roots in older anti-semitic conspiracy theories. The idea of the all-powerful, world-ruling cabal comes straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake document purporting to expose a Jewish plot to control the world that was used throughout the 20th century to justify anti-semitism.
This conspiracy is ultimately a conservative movement. People are even engaging in violence to stop this sex-trafficking ring of people. It has involved vicious online harassment campaigns against perceived enemies, which can have serious consequences for the target. QAnon is gaining traction as a political force in the Republican party, which could have damaging effects on American democracy. As the hero of the narrative, Trump has the unique ability to influence QAnon believers but instead on the 19th of August he praised the followers as patriots and appeared to affirm the central premise of the belief, saying: "If I can help save the world from problems, I'm willing to do it; I'm willing to put myself out there, and we are, actually. We're saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country and, when this country is gone, the rest of the world will follow."
In this current climate, anxiety over children due to COVID-19 has fuelled scaremongering about child trafficking and created a modern-day moral panic. It has made inspired more people to believe in this QAnon conspiracy theory. Hundreds of real life "Save Our Children" protests have been organised on Facebook in communities across the US. These small rallies are driving local news coverage who do not realise that by publishing news designed to "raise awareness" about child trafficking, they are encouraging their viewers to head to the internet and go down the QAnon rabbit hole. Or perhaps that is the media's intention after all.
Comments
Post a Comment