Tag: qanon

The American Roots of QAnon, Part One

Mike Rothschild1 Comment

The following text is the first half of the speech I gave at Purdue University in early April on the uniquely American properties of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Because it wasn’t recorded, I decided to post it online, broken up into two parts because it’s really long. Part two will follow later this week. Enjoy!

My name is Mike Rothschild, and I’m an author and journalist focused on the history and spread of conspiracy theories. And since you’re probably wondering, yes I debunk conspiracy theories while also sharing the last name of one of the most prolific subjects OF conspiracy theories of the last century, the Rothschild family. And no, I’m not related to the Rothschild family.

BUT the conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family are the subject of my next book, called Jewish Space Lasers and out in September. And in writing that book, I realized that for as universal as Rothschilds conspiracy theories are – they’re not called “globalists” for nothing – there’s also a deeply American aspect to them. The Rothschilds actually had very little success in the US compared to the rest of the world, but the conspiracy theories and myths about them are intertwined in American institutions, American paranoia, and America’s economic calamities. Even if the Rothschilds had nothing to do with them.  

Of course, Rothschild conspiracy theories are just one part of the buffet of madness that is QAnon. And while Rothschild theories started in Europe and migrated across the Atlantic, QAnon’s foundations are almost entirely American. Yes, it’s based on universal tropes – the blood libel, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and so on. And it’s become popular around the world, particularly with far-right movements in Europe and Australia. But Q has become popular overseas by sanding off its most American aspects, and exploiting universal unease over power, wealth inequality, and science.  

There is something deeply and uniquely American about QAnon. It’s built on layer after layer of past American conspiracy theories and hoaxes. It exploits deeply American evangelical fears and hopes. And it revolves around not just American politics, but the most uniquely American president – the outsider who claimed he would stick it to the elite and fight for the ordinary, forgotten American.

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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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