A conspiracy theory is an attempt to explain the cause of a significant social or political event (Douglas et al.). They can range from pretty serious and harmful like 9/11 being faked to birds aren’t real. They usually are about a group or groups that are seen as powerful and evil. This varies greatly depending on perspective. For some, groups like Planned Parenthood are considered evil and to others, people like the Koch brothers would be looked at as evil. Perspective is key. Conspiracy theories are now more prevalent than ever in the digital world with consumers being able to connect to others who have similar ideas. Pre-internet people who believed in conspiracy theories like the CIA assassinated JFK were viewed as crazy and many of them didn’t know other people who held similar views. Now, with the internet, those “crazy” people are connected and feel less alone. Along with that they feel protected in their numbers and anonymity. Now there are groups on various platforms with hundreds even thousands of members who compare their ideas about the theories. Participatory culture adds to this with people feeding that urge from social media to be a part of something greater than themselves. By joining these groups, they are opening themselves up to many things that have been proven to be false and then spread that false information. Studies in the journal of Political Psychology found that most people either believe in multiple conspiracies or none at all. They also found that many conspiracy theories are intertwined and have elements of overlap that explain parts of other conspiracy theories.
An issue that comes with conspiracy theories is this idea of alternative facts that aren’t based on truth. Not only are they not based on truth many of them contradict the truth and lead more people to question the actual truth. This is where Q’Anon comes in.
Q’Anon is a blanket term used to reference an expansive set of internet conspiracies theories that have some pretty outlandish claims (Roose). These theories are put on the internet by an anonymous user named “Q” in the form of riddles. Q supposedly is a high-ranking military intelligence officer who has insider information about the government. The central claim is that the world is run by Satan-worshipping pedophiles who are all plotting against President Trump. Oh, and these Satan-worshippers are funning a global sex trafficking ring as well. Picture the cabal from The Blacklist but on steroids (sidetone, The Blacklist is an amazing Netflix show that I would definitely recommend). People who are supposedly involved in the cabal include but aren’t limited to high ranking democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama, the Pope, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah, and the Dalai Lama. Q’Anon believes think that the people listed are cannibals that eat their victims and drink their blood in order to extract a life extending chemical from their blood. In addition to that Q’Anon believes that Trump is their savior who will “unmask” the great cabal and protect them from the cannibalistic, Satan-worshipping left by waging a war called “The Storm”. An interesting element of the conspiracy theory is that believers think that Trump is in on the whole thing. They point to a comment Trump made back in October of 2017 during a photo op with high ranking military officials when he said “You guys know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm” (What is Q’Anon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?)
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This wouldn’t be that big of a deal normally because there will always be people who believe in conspiracy theories out there but here’s the big issue. Because of heightened polarization on politics and the internet, Q’Anon has begun to move from a far-right fringe group into the mainstream. Believers are actually running for political office in some states. These aren’t just local mayors and small positions that affect very few people, according to CNN.com there are 24 candidates (22 Republicans and 2 independents) who have engaged with Q’Anon. This doesn’t even include candidates who have accepted endorsements for Q’Anon believers like Senator Kelly Loeffler of GA. Some of these candidates have even been praised by President Trump calling her a “future star” of the Republican Party. This puts an added emphasis on people needing to vote not only in general elections but in local ones as well. Below is a map to give an idea where these candidates were running for office. The data used to fill out this map was taken from the same CNN.com article “The congressional candidates who have engaged with the Q’Anon conspiracy theory.” The image was altered by the author and the base map of the US comes from a Creative Commons website
The timeline below illustrates Q’Anons move towards the mainstream and how they gained traction with free press through news stories and Trump political ads. (Sources for Timeline are BBC: Q’Anon, What is it and where did it come from? and RollingStone: A Timeline of Trump’s Q’Anon Presidency)
Where are we today some may ask? Well, despite the fact that Trump has lost the recent election his Q’Anon supporters and the conspiracy is not going away anytime soon. The claims of voter fraud and the “destruction” of our democracy have contributed to greatly to conspiracy theory and only has further inflamed the group and their distrust for the left. The interesting point is that the non existent voter fraud isn’t the thing causing the destruction of the democracy, it is the distrust in the systems (voting, elections, the media) that has been built over hundreds of years. The distrust that Q’Anon is sowing is further dividing Americans and making them fearful of the trustworthy systems. All we are left to do is to sit, wait and see what happens because there is no telling what Q will post next.
-D
Sources
Dickson, E. J. “A Timeline of Trump’s QAnon Presidency.” Rolling Stone, 27 Oct. 2020, www.rollingstone.com/ culture/culture-features/qanon-trump-timeline-conspiracy-theorists-1076279/. Accessed 13 Nov. 2020.
Douglas, Karen M., et al. “Understanding Conspiracy Theories.” Political Psychology, vol. 40, no. S1, Feb. 2019, pp. 3–35, 10.1111/pops.12568. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020.
NADLER, BEN. “Trump Tweets Congratulations for QAnon Supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene after She Wins GOP Nomination for US House in Georgia.” Chicagotribune.com, 12 Aug. 2020, www.chicagotribune.com/ election-2020/ct-marjorie-taylor-greene-election-20200811-mumvzgr5yfhsjesdnw7szb6jom-story.html. Accessed 13 Nov. 2020.
Roose, Kevin. “What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?” The New York Times, 20 Aug. 2020, www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-qanon.html. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020.
Staff, W. S. J. “What Is QAnon? What We Know About the Conspiracy Theory.” Wall Street Journal, 15 Oct. 2020, www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-qanon-what-we-know-about-the-conspiracy-theory-11597694801. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020.
Wendling, Mike. “What Is QAnon?” BBC News, 20 Aug. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/53498434. Accessed 12 Nov. 2020.
