QAnon conspiracists and red-capped Trumpanzee MAGA Cultists
In a poll conducted by NPR/Ipsos at the end of 2020, 17% of adult Americans said they though the following statement was true:
A group of Satan-worshipping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media.A further 37% were unsure. This means 46% (less than half) those adult Americans polled thought the statement was untrue!
Readers will be well aware that this belief is central to the QAnon conspiracy theories and fighting this "deep state", comprised of cannibalistic paedophile political elites, senior scientists and media moguls, is what Donald J Trump was put into power (by God) to fight. The same people who believe these theories also believe:
- The "deep state" is a satanic elite with a plan to destroy "American conservative values" and replace them with "Leftist liberalism".
- 9/11 was either an inside job or did not happen.
- The Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
- The coronavirus pandemic is being over-played.
- The SARS-CoV-2 virus was created in a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
- Donald J Trump won the 2020 presidential election by a landslide, winning in 49 out of the 50 states, but the election was 'stolen'.
- "Q" is a whistle-blower insider at the heart of the "Deep State" with access to all the secrets, who makes regular 'drops'.
- Senior military figures are aware of the conspirators, and will launch a military coup to depose Biden, reinstate Trump and execute the leaders in the 'coming storm', any day now, real soon, you'll see!
As Thomas Hendricks points out in his article in Psychology Today:
The extreme forms of the theory defy the credence of any reasonable person. An elite of Satan-worshipping pedophiles purportedly practices cannibalism, with the intent of ingesting a life-sustaining chemical (“adrenochrome”) from their victims. Alerted to the danger, top military officials recruited Donald Trump to run for President in 2016. His victory would result in the punishment of the pedophiles and restore order and decency. Even now, some people await “the storm,” that begins that restoration.It's hard to believe we are talking about people living in a modern, technological society here, not some superstitious early Mediaeval society which still believes in magic!
What then induces people to buy into this nonsense and allow it to dictate their lives to this extent? Hendricks sees its origins in children's fantasies such as the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa where, a reward comes from playing the game and performing the ritual, being good, not peeking, etc. Play the game, obey the rules and get the rewards.
Adults too crave novelty, excitement and rewards:
We want “breaking news.” We want to feel that we are important and vibrant, someone that others must acknowledge. For such reasons, and to break the spell of work and family, we head off to our favorite bar or restaurant, clubhouse, sporting ground, hobby center, and website. Here, we can be a different version of ourselves and, crucially, mix with others who reaffirm that style of living. For some of us, that version may seem truer to the “real” us than the identities we hold as workers, spouses, parents, and neighbors.Lonely, innadequte people and those feeling socially excludes gain solace, companionship and meaning for their lives by playing the vast fantasy game to be found in conspiracy sites, where they can "co-create and sustain a shared, alternative reality", learn the secret codes and importantly, help heroes defeat the villains and fools. They can pretend to know more than the experts with alternative 'facts' and opinions that are just a valid as those of the scientists and historians, without the trouble of fact-checking and weighing up th evidence.
In part, we enter play-worlds because we enjoy holding these identities and because we find satisfaction in our ability to perform the actions those worlds require. We like the quality of “difference” they provide, the sense that there is an alternative or parallel world just beyond the borders of ordinary functioning. Furthermore, these hypothetical or “as-if” worlds give us chances to play central roles, to feel important. Even though the settings confront us with new challenges and improbabilities, they somehow make us feel in control. After all, we choose to enter them and adopt their principles. We initiate actions there. We can quit them when we want. We can hide our involvement from detractors.
There are challenges to decode messages and solve mysteries. Participants seek to be “in the know” and to pass on, via social media, their insights to others. Strangers get to know and trust one another, albeit through the safety of distanced communication. Players sense that they are part of something much bigger, and more daring, than the circumstances of their ordinary lives. Add to this the idea that conspiracy theories offer heightened emotions. Much as we go to horror movies to provoke (and manage) feelings of fear or we tell gross jokes to explore feelings of disgust, so virtual communities give us chances to act and feel in exaggerated ways. The information presented there instigates puzzlement and, ideally, the satisfaction of solution. It promulgates distrust, fear, and anger. It replaces the disrespect common to ordinary experience with feelings of pride and agency. Loneliness, surely the lot of many people, gives way to the pleasure of communal bonding.
To partake of a conspiracy theory then is to be part of a grand army, with flags and badges, secret codes, forbidden weapons, and daring comrades, all directed to saving the world from the worst forms of villainy.
[...]
Crazy theories – about international cabals of bloodthirsty perverts set on destroying the world ˗ are the stuff of goofy action movies and pot boiling paperbacks with red covers. They are willful indulgences, not serious commentaries on the problems that beset us all. Conspiracy theories, which inspire people to assault our common traditions, stand with these excesses. However inspired, no one has a right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater or to shoot a gun in a marketplace. The spread of patently false information, especially to those who are young or poorly informed, is dangerous for the same reasons.
Other false 'facts' believed to be true by a significant proportion of Americans, as revealed in the same poll were:
- 40% believe it is true that COVID-19 was created in a lab in China – more answered true than false. There is no indication this is true.
- 47% believe the majority of protests this summer were violent, while just 38% correctly indicated that this is a false statement.
- 39% agree there is a deep state working to undermine President Trump – another tenet of QAnon. This belief is driven primarily by Republicans and FOX News viewers (a majority of both groups agree with this), though nearly half of white men and rural residents (49% each) agree as well.
If these weren't armed and dangerous individuals, they would be laughable.
See also:
Even If It's 'Bonkers,' Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories
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