Documentary explores the disturbing appeal of QAnon

REVERB is a documentary series by CBS Reports. Watch “The QAnon Effect” in the video player above.

John, a 30-year-old Pennsylvania man who asked us not to use his last name, has a collection of baseball hats that are all variations of a theme. Each includes some reference to President Trump, such as “Trump 2020” or “45,” and each has the letter “Q” fixed or sewn together.

“Who is Q? Well, no one knows for sure,” John told CBS Reports. “But Q has told us that at its core, Q are 10 people very close to the president.”

The “Q” John is referring to is the dark central figure in a network of conspiracy theories known as QAnon. Since 2017, Q has launched critical online tracks that fans interpret and expose with enthusiasm, weaving an elaborate story of a nefarious group, or full, of global elites who supposedly control the world and manipulate the media while participating in a satanic child trafficking operation. involving Hollywood celebrities and Democratic politicians.

Followers like John believe that Q is a covert group of secretly authorized government agents, and refer to themselves as “announcements.” They are convinced that President Trump is destined to expose and defeat the evil cabal. Critics have compared the group to an apocalyptic religious cult, and the FBI has warned of the growing threat of violence from “conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists,” including QAnon.

In the run-up to the 2020 election, a Yahoo News / YouGov poll found that nearly half of Trump supporters had heard of QAnon, and of those, more than a third said they believed at least one part is true. When asked about the baseless claim that “high Democrats” are involved in child sex trafficking, half of all Trump supporters agreed.

Trump himself has refused to condemn QAnon, claiming aa televised town hall in October he knows “nothing” but has heard that “they are very strong against pedophilia, and I agree.”

“There’s a big obsession between the right wing, this idea that people are out there trying to get your kids,” NYU professor Eliot Borenstein, who studies conspiracy theories, told CBS Reports. “I think it’s pretty dangerous. I mean, if you look at what happened to the Tea Party, which started out as a strip that people could easily make fun of, it basically took over most of the Republican Party. But QAnon goes much further, regardless of what the Tea Party was or is. “

According to Borenstein, the spread of QAnon from the dark corners of the Internet to major American culture and politics is primarily disturbing because, at its core, it indicates a serious social grievance.

“A conspiracy theory is implicitly trying to address the grievance, the suffering, the pain that people are feeling and that they feel are being neglected by the mainstream,” he said.

“I think every time you have a popular conspiracy theory, the question you should be asking is, what’s going on in our country that makes something like this attractive? What’s going on?”

A America strained by a bitterly divisive policy, economic insecurity and the coronavirus pandemic has proven to be fertile ground for QAnon.

“I think it’s a very chaotic time, there are a lot of people who are very scared. It seems like the world is coming to an end. [QAnon] offers organization to chaos, “said Alyssa Kann, a researcher at the Digital Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

“2020 has been an exceptional year for the Q movement,” John said. “We’ve never had more support like this year. I think it’s been in a fever. You see what’s going on with COVID and you’re forced to do things that are unconstitutional, like wearing masks, and they’re talking about mandatory vaccinations. in many blue states, and that scares a lot of people. “

Data from digital researchers show that QAnon content increased especially during the first coronavirus blockages in the spring of 2020. Even after conventional social media platforms began cracking down on QAnon-related accounts: Twitter banned them in July and Facebook i YouTube he did it in October: people like John continue to defend their beliefs through camouflaged account names and hashtags.

A survey conducted in October 2020 found that approximately 1 in 10 social media users said they had friends or family who had been linked to QAnon content online.

In recent months, QAnon supporters have organized and witnessed protests against Hollywood studios like Disney and politicians like Hillary Clinton, claiming that they take a stand against child trafficking. They have also been elected to the post: about two dozen candidates who had shown some degree of QAnon support was presented to Congress and two of them he won.

Asked about The loss of President Trump in the 2020 election and what will be next for QAnon, John said he was not worried about it.

“They are trying to steal our election. Everything will be uncovered,” he said. “I am not at all disappointed. In fact, I am very encouraged by this, to be honest with you.

“We’re not going anywhere. In fact, we’re just getting started.”

According to Borenstein, the details of the QAnon theory may change, but the underlying problems will not go away any time soon.

“QAnon may not survive in two years, but there will be something else, or QAnon will have changed its name or taken some other form,” he said. “People don’t change their minds about anything very easily. QAnon and conspiracy theories and political affiliations are all huge investments. They are psychological and emotional investments.”

For those hoping to persuade believers of such extreme conspiracy thinking, Borenstein says, “The best approach is an empathic relationship based on a long-term commitment to the person who has gone through this particular rabbit hole. And no It ‘s a lot about what they believe in. But talking about the things they are afraid of. ”

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