Tag: qanon

QAnon is Dead, Long Live QAnon: Thoughts on the Q Twitter Ban

Mike Rothschild

Late on July 21st, news broke that Twitter was finally taking action against accounts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory, rolling out a multi-pronged approach to stop harassment and Q-related hashtags from trending. They’re also planning to ban QAnon accounts that engage in targeted attacks on other accounts, gaming hashtags, or trying to evade bans.

Despite having written extensively about Q over the last two years, I would like nothing more than this toxic prophecy cult to disappear for good and release the hold it has on its believers. In that respect, what Twitter has done here is a good thing: it will reduce Q’s visibility, make it harder for disinformation and conspiracy theories to go viral, and hopefully reduce harassment against celebrities and journalists who run afoul of Q.

https://twitter.com/MajorPatriot/status/1285742727553060866?s=20

But is it the end of Q for good? Will whoever has been making the mysterious posts on 8chan over the last two-plus years give up the ghost and reveal themselves? Will people walk away from the movement – or dig themselves in even deeper?

Here are some thoughts I have as a long-time conspiracy theory watcher:

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Waif Error: Why the Wayfair Conspiracy Theory Took Off

Mike Rothschild4 Comments

Last week, America’s weekly conspiracy obsession shifted from “who’s giving away all those fireworks” to “wait, is Wayfair actually trafficking children through their website?”

Thanks to a few price anomalies that either made stuff look way more expensive than it actually was or just didn’t seem right, and some office cabinets anthropomorphized with human names; the Peaceful Researchers and Trafficking Experts of the internet determined that the furniture and decor clearinghouse was actually selling kids that had gone missing – disguising them in broad daylight as office cabinets and other furniture with the names of missing kids, and posting their prices for everyone to see.

And the internet went crazy.

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4517 Frenzy!

Mike Rothschild

Since returning to posting on the rickety 8chan copy 8kun, QAnon’s drops have been both less frequent and less interesting. The first 8kun posts went up in early November, and Q has only made about 500 drops since then – mostly tweets, links to news stories, memes, and even carbon copies of old posts.

Conspiracy theory researchers and Q watchers have mocked these new drops for how low effort and cheap they are. While there’s no such thing as a good Q drop, the old ones at least told interesting stories and spun an entertaining mythology. Remember the “Air Force One almost shot down by a missile” drops? Or the “Trump cut a secret deal with Kim Jong Un, who’s actually a CIA puppet?” Good times.

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The Storm Is (Not) Upon Us

Mike Rothschild

On Wednesday, one of the biggest names in the QAnon community was suspended from his biggest platform. Prolific Q evangelist and videomaker Joe M, aka @stormisuponus, was permanently kicked off Twitter, losing access to the 273,000 followers who gave every single one of his brain-damaged, paranoid musings thousands of retweets.

I’ve talked about Joe a lot on different platforms, because he was probably the most visible Q promoter other than Praying Medic, and also the one who likely did the most damage in the real world. Remember the debacle last year when QAnon believers swamped the organizers of a small charter school fundraiser because they thought James Comey was going to blow it up? Yeah, Joe M. started that. And felt no remorse about it whatsoever. Joe also was “famous” for his insanely weird memes, including ones featuring celebrities in Joker makeup and one of William Barr slam dunking Andrew McCabe’s severed head. Totally normal stuff.

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NESARA Reborn

Mike Rothschild2 Comments

As the United States government struggles under the weight of both the pandemic and the economic devastation it’s brought, an old conspiracy theory has suddenly reared its ugly head – and because I’ve written about it before, I’m in a unique position to write about it again.

That conspiracy theory is NESARA, a pie-in-the-sky prosperity scam that would see all debt abolished and vast riches raining down on the people as the culmination of a great war between good and evil. In the prospective cash payments, mortgage pauses, and debt forgiveness that are being kicked around by Congress, conspiracy believers see the fulfillment of NESARA – a time of light and hope that will make us all rich beyond our dreams.

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