QAnon Supporters Have Questions – I Have Answers

Mike Rothschild5 Comments

When I blogged for Skeptoid, I would often find a piece of conspiracy theory or psuedoscience and refute it point by point. One of my favorites was this piece from October 2013, where I tackled a 29-point listicle alleging that the west coast was being “fried” by radiation from the Fukushima meltdown.

It was and is not, and I was able to refute each of the bad faith claims made by the original piece. It’s exhausting to do, but useful in that it meets head on a favorite tactic of conspiracy theorists: the Gish Gallop. This is throwing out half-baked claim after half-baked claim in an endless succession and counting on the skeptic to eventually get tired of debunking them all and quit.

I don’t write much of these anymore, but wanted to come back to the format to answer a piece challenging the validity of anyone who thinks online conspiracy avatar QAnon is fake.

The piece, published on August 8th on Medium and called “Turn Them Off! #QAnon and the collapse of #FakeNews media,” was written by “Humanistic technophilosopher” Martin Geddes. It asks eight questions of readers to allow them to “decide for yourself which way the truth might lie.”

Read More »

Does it Actually Matter Who QAnon Is?

Mike Rothschild

The subject of whether conspiracy theory avatar QAnon is actually a Trump administration insider, a naughty prankster, or something else has consumed the right wing infotainment sphere.

While liberals debate whether or not QAnon should be given oxygen (and I think we need to, if nothing else, to debunk it), conservative personalities are doing their best to simultaneously inflame and shoot down the whole thing.

On one side, you’ve got prominent conservative personalities who are absolutely sure Q is a live action roleplaying game that’s snared a massive amount of suckers. On the other side, you’ve got Q devotes who are utterly convinced that Q is real, and that the others are delusional.

They’re arguing a lot on Twitter and reddit, but it’s likely that where a conservative media personality falls regarding Q rests entirely on the makeup of their audience – more mainstream infotainters will be skeptical, while those on the fringes will shift their allegiance depending on what their followers want.

Read More »

Why We Have to Talk About QAnon

Mike Rothschild7 Comments

I’ve been writing about online conspiracy theory QAnon for a while, and figured it was just too weird, esoteric, and creepy to make mainstream news.

I mean, fascist fantasies about a massive purge of Democratic baby-eaters, with a cadre of self-proclaimed “autists” deciphering rhetorical clues to the events to come left by a secret insider?

So imagine my surprise when a large and vocal group of Q believers swamped a Trump rally in Tampa on July 31st.

Suddenly, QAnon was everywhere – from the New York Times to the BBC and back.

It introduced Q to millions of people and brought mainstream recognition to a movement that had primarily been a secret club with very specific codes and keys to get in.

The coverage also brought up a very real backlash asking an important question: why are we talking about this crap?

Read More »

QAnon Is Setting His Followers Up For Massive Disappointment

Mike Rothschild2 Comments

Amazingly, the #QAnon conspiracy theory is continuing to grow in both followers and mainstream coverage.

In fact, as the conspiracy has gotten weirder, it’s also gotten more mainstream.

To be clear, the supposed Trump administration insider known as Q has revealed nothing in the way of classified information. In fact, he seems to be relying more and more on wild theories and empty promises, spinning fantastical (and unprovable) tales of missile launches against Air Force One, false flag forest fires, and secret, unredacted FISA memos that will utterly take down the dreaded deep state.

Read More »

More Blood Moon Crap

Mike Rothschild1 Comment

Friday, July 27th will bring a 103 minute long lunar eclipse, along with a blood moon – the full moon turning red as the earth blocks the light from the Sun.

Though it won’t be visible in North America, this will be the longest lunar eclipse of this century. It will also, by coincidence, be the closest Mars has passed to the Earth in 15 years, with the red planet popping ten times brighter than normal.

The confluence of an eclipse, a blood moon, and Mars passing close to Earth has brought the usual flood of prophecies, predictions, rumors of catastrophe, and “preachers” trying to cash in on blood moon hysteria with books and YouTube videos.

Read More »