"QAnon feels less whimsical than it used to, and now feels much more streamlined & ready for the mainstream. And more likely to inspire people to commit acts of violence."
Epstein's victims aren't all that interesting to QAnon and the media in general because they weren't cherubic toddlers being chained to a wall, they were teenage girls who, and this is important, often went to him to make money giving massages. QAnon wants perfect victims and teenage girls who give massages aren't perfect victims to them. Most sex trafficking victims in the US are teenagers who have either run away from unstable family situations or live in neglectful homes that allow other people to exploit them into sex work that they don't want to do. QAnon most likely sees those victims as asking for it and not worth the Tweet space. When underage kids are sex trafficked they usually come from poor countries and, this is very important, they are very rarely white. QAnon goes hand in hand with racism and victims who aren't white don't fit into their narrative. There simply are not that many kids in The US who are kidnapped period. It's a very rare crime, when kids go missing, it's most often a family member who has taken them and there is usually a shitty divorce or break-up that precipitated it. If (white) babies were disappearing all over The US, it would be HUGE news because it's not a common occurrence.
QAnon's perfect scenario is Trump ripping the top off of a tractor trailer filled with crying, white toddlers who were snatched from wealthy gated communities and preening as they raise their chubby arms towards him. That's their endgame. A bunch of Southeast Asian teenagers doesn't fit their narrative, so when real sex trafficking victims are rescued (and it happens all the time) they don't care. They want white babies to be in danger because it appeals to the white people who mainly believe this garbage. That's the scary part, there will be no end to QAnon because the victims they want to rescue don't even exist in the first place.
this would be sociologically fascinating if it wasn't so horrifying. the demographic shift/"pipeline" breakdown is v interesting, as is linking q with the good vs evil motif. it would be cool if humans weren't so determined to fit everything into oversimplified/dichotomized heuristics, but oh well.
i think more funds intended to support q should be redirected to blm
I still don’t get why this dude has to actively propagate QAnon BS unless it’s just for the lols. Surely he could accomplish pretty much the same ‘research’ without also being part of the problem?
To me he seems more like a shitposter who’s trying to justify himself using his socialist credentials rather than someone who should be taken seriously.
Thanks for the great interview David! I think your final points really clarified for me how much people might be getting sucked into QAnon through the desire to feel like they're doing something important, particularly in a pandemic.
Sometimes, I wonder if the world has gone nuts. Between the Qanon stuff, the pandemic and political stuff going on in the US, not to mention my home state is on fire. Makes me wonder, but I refuse to fall for the conspiracy crap.
I don't want to take away from the excellent article (because it really was a great interview!) but I've been intrigued by the newsletter artwork and the podcast music from a few posts ago, and I was wondering how you go about finding artists for this kind of stuff? I'm a musician that would *love* to make some sort of ambient music for a podcast!
Re spiritual warfare. One of the things I was very aware of at the time is the absolute belief in any proposed power being absolutely real and demonic. Psychics? Mediums? Ouija boards? Dungeons and Dragons? Tarot cards? Homeopathy? Really summoning actual demons that could get inside you. There wasn't any discussion of practitioners of such things being charlatans or grifters, it was all 100% real UFO sightings? As you mentioned, the aliens were really there and real, visible demons. Going into Victoria Park Market was terrifying because there were demons at every turn. (They had dairy free icecream though, so it was worth the risk)
Bill Subritzky spoke at Summer Harvest camp about how his son had caught a demon from staying in a rented bach that had a mildly smutty picture on the wall. My best friend's house was creaky (her Dad had built it and it was pretty ramshackle) but the creaking and ticking of that old house - her Mum was constantly praying to cast out the demons that were tormenting her. The poor lady, she was so devout but her house was out to get her.
My head goes in my hands at all this. I ask all the pointless "why" questions and find that I have no answers at all. I can see no alternative to just holding the door open for sensible conversation. I don't know if it is true but I feel like this stuff thrives when believers get isolated from non-believers. It only really works when the nonsense is protected from scrutiny. Really, Q-anon is not different to your rascist uncle if he got networked globally. A global network of rascist uncles. That's something we can possibly deal with more effectively. If what you say to him about it makes him engage in conversation defending his position, that's good. It's the possibility of change. Slow, incremental change. If he puts the walls up and turns away, you've blown it. Possibility shut down. If it really matters that these crazies are out there in ever increasing numbers getting wackier by the day, it is the responsibility of the rest of us to keep the lights on for sanity. It has never been more important to keep our shit together. Nutter-baiting may be fun but it doesn't ultimately help.
All my thoughts have been bought up already in the comments (I want to be friends with so many fellow webwormers, group meet-up when the world re-opens?).
The illustrated part of this post is cool as hell. It brings to mind the cover art of these “choose your own adventure” series of books I was obsessed with as a child. I’m excited for future collaboration posts.
Epstein's victims aren't all that interesting to QAnon and the media in general because they weren't cherubic toddlers being chained to a wall, they were teenage girls who, and this is important, often went to him to make money giving massages. QAnon wants perfect victims and teenage girls who give massages aren't perfect victims to them. Most sex trafficking victims in the US are teenagers who have either run away from unstable family situations or live in neglectful homes that allow other people to exploit them into sex work that they don't want to do. QAnon most likely sees those victims as asking for it and not worth the Tweet space. When underage kids are sex trafficked they usually come from poor countries and, this is very important, they are very rarely white. QAnon goes hand in hand with racism and victims who aren't white don't fit into their narrative. There simply are not that many kids in The US who are kidnapped period. It's a very rare crime, when kids go missing, it's most often a family member who has taken them and there is usually a shitty divorce or break-up that precipitated it. If (white) babies were disappearing all over The US, it would be HUGE news because it's not a common occurrence.
QAnon's perfect scenario is Trump ripping the top off of a tractor trailer filled with crying, white toddlers who were snatched from wealthy gated communities and preening as they raise their chubby arms towards him. That's their endgame. A bunch of Southeast Asian teenagers doesn't fit their narrative, so when real sex trafficking victims are rescued (and it happens all the time) they don't care. They want white babies to be in danger because it appeals to the white people who mainly believe this garbage. That's the scary part, there will be no end to QAnon because the victims they want to rescue don't even exist in the first place.
some thoughts in no particular order:
"baby-eating MAGAs" = good band name
this would be sociologically fascinating if it wasn't so horrifying. the demographic shift/"pipeline" breakdown is v interesting, as is linking q with the good vs evil motif. it would be cool if humans weren't so determined to fit everything into oversimplified/dichotomized heuristics, but oh well.
i think more funds intended to support q should be redirected to blm
thanks for another great webworm :)
I still don’t get why this dude has to actively propagate QAnon BS unless it’s just for the lols. Surely he could accomplish pretty much the same ‘research’ without also being part of the problem?
To me he seems more like a shitposter who’s trying to justify himself using his socialist credentials rather than someone who should be taken seriously.
Thanks for the great interview David! I think your final points really clarified for me how much people might be getting sucked into QAnon through the desire to feel like they're doing something important, particularly in a pandemic.
Sometimes, I wonder if the world has gone nuts. Between the Qanon stuff, the pandemic and political stuff going on in the US, not to mention my home state is on fire. Makes me wonder, but I refuse to fall for the conspiracy crap.
I don't want to take away from the excellent article (because it really was a great interview!) but I've been intrigued by the newsletter artwork and the podcast music from a few posts ago, and I was wondering how you go about finding artists for this kind of stuff? I'm a musician that would *love* to make some sort of ambient music for a podcast!
Excellent interview and thank you (and of course Richard Parry!) for my new desktop wallpaper! 🍕🐙 #PepperoniCthulu
Re spiritual warfare. One of the things I was very aware of at the time is the absolute belief in any proposed power being absolutely real and demonic. Psychics? Mediums? Ouija boards? Dungeons and Dragons? Tarot cards? Homeopathy? Really summoning actual demons that could get inside you. There wasn't any discussion of practitioners of such things being charlatans or grifters, it was all 100% real UFO sightings? As you mentioned, the aliens were really there and real, visible demons. Going into Victoria Park Market was terrifying because there were demons at every turn. (They had dairy free icecream though, so it was worth the risk)
Bill Subritzky spoke at Summer Harvest camp about how his son had caught a demon from staying in a rented bach that had a mildly smutty picture on the wall. My best friend's house was creaky (her Dad had built it and it was pretty ramshackle) but the creaking and ticking of that old house - her Mum was constantly praying to cast out the demons that were tormenting her. The poor lady, she was so devout but her house was out to get her.
My head goes in my hands at all this. I ask all the pointless "why" questions and find that I have no answers at all. I can see no alternative to just holding the door open for sensible conversation. I don't know if it is true but I feel like this stuff thrives when believers get isolated from non-believers. It only really works when the nonsense is protected from scrutiny. Really, Q-anon is not different to your rascist uncle if he got networked globally. A global network of rascist uncles. That's something we can possibly deal with more effectively. If what you say to him about it makes him engage in conversation defending his position, that's good. It's the possibility of change. Slow, incremental change. If he puts the walls up and turns away, you've blown it. Possibility shut down. If it really matters that these crazies are out there in ever increasing numbers getting wackier by the day, it is the responsibility of the rest of us to keep the lights on for sanity. It has never been more important to keep our shit together. Nutter-baiting may be fun but it doesn't ultimately help.
All my thoughts have been bought up already in the comments (I want to be friends with so many fellow webwormers, group meet-up when the world re-opens?).
The illustrated part of this post is cool as hell. It brings to mind the cover art of these “choose your own adventure” series of books I was obsessed with as a child. I’m excited for future collaboration posts.
Can someone clarify for me; why did he start the troll twitter account in the first place? I'm not sure I understood why he did that