The QAnon conspiracy was always hidden from me. If not for media reporting, I would not have known it existed or any of the cult’s strange beliefs. But we’ve entered a new phase now. Trump wasn’t reelected. The January 6 coup was unsuccessful. The global cabal of liberal pedophiles was never put to the guillotine. The “Storm” never came.
Yet, “Anons” are still with us, and perhaps getting stronger. At least, that’s the opinion of Australian ex-cultist Jitarth Jadeja who was interviewed by Politico in December.
Even though I wasn’t there, one thing that surprised me about that Dallas conference was how polished and well put together it was on a professional level. It tells me that the movement’s infrastructure is improving and it is growing. I disagree with people who say that QAnon is fading away — I think its believers are growing as fast as the fandom of “Game of Thrones” when it came out. Their content might be banned from popular social media but I think they are still there, flourishing away from the eyes of polite society.
The Washington Post reported on Monday that “Dozens of candidates who have boosted QAnon talking points are running for Congress this year.” This is in spite of the fact that Q has apparently gone silent.
Without Q’s cryptic messages, influencers who once hung on Q’s every “drop” have started fighting to “grab the throne to become the new point person for the movement,” said Sara Aniano, a Monmouth University graduate student of communication studying far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories on social media.
“In the absence of a president like Trump and in the absence of a figure like Q, there’s this void where nobody knows who to follow,” Aniano said. “At one point it seemed like Q was gospel. Now there’s a million different bibles, and no one knows which one is most accurate.”
I’m not shocked to see an armageddon cult survive the loss of its prophet and the failure of his central prophesy, nor to see the “professional” decentralization of tenets. The Council of Nicaea took place about a quarter millennia after the Gospel According to Mark was written. It could be a while before QAnon’s official orthodoxy is nailed down for good. As an aside, I would totally have subscribed to Arius’s podcast. That dude was lit.
I’m more like Celsus, whose books were all destroyed for heresy. You know, he tried to talk some sense to people, but we wouldn’t know about him it at all if some Egyptian bishop hadn’t had the ancient version of a Twitter war with him. Maybe my posterity will be assured in a similar manner. And likely , centuries hence, there will be QAnon fundamentalists available to explain away any apparent shifts or inconsistencies among the first Q evangelicals.
I know there will be holy relics for those willing to dig deep in the ancient landfills.
To help cover their legal bills, the factions have set up online merchandise shops targeting their most loyal followers. Fans of [Sidney] Powell’s bogus conspiracy theory can, for instance, buy a four-pack set of “Release the Kraken: Defending the Republic” drink tumblers from her website for $80. On [Michael] Flynn’s newly launched website, fans can buy “General Flynn: #FightLikeAFlynn” women’s racerback tank tops for $30. And [Lin] Wood’s online store sells $64.99 “#FightBack” unisex hoodies; the fleece, a listing says, feels like “wearing a soft, fluffy cloud.”
The birth of a religion is never pretty. The combination of new religions even less so. Take for example, the blending of QAnon and Mormonism:
“Q said it would happen. Special investigation, everything will come out.”
“Noah was a conspiracy theorist, then it started to rain.”
“Don’t get this [Covid] shot if you haven’t already it’s deadly. And why would God and his Prophet [Russell] Nelson [president of the LDS Church] do this to people? People in here actually think this is from God.”
“We have all been warned about the Globalist/Elites plans for the world. Now they are coming in full force. Even our own LDS leaders are calling themselves Global Citizens.”
“I believe that Brigham Young was a Rothschilds agent sent to assassinate the Smith family and gain control over the church. The Cabal have taken over every major religious institutions. The Book of Mormon warns against this, but modern day propehts [sic] don’t even talk about it, and also.cover up a lot of what Joseph Smith taught.”
That’s an angle with potential. Could sell a lot of merch.
Might help win a congressional seat or two, as well.
The good news is that this only feels like the End Times and we’ll be dead for more than a millennia before the QAnon Reformation sparks a few centuries of religious wars.
