Post by ck4829 on Sept 30, 2021 14:53:59 GMT
QAnon is like the classic horror film, The Blob, it feasts on anything. It rolls through America like a monstrous sticky ball, growing exponentially by pulling in the detritus of other conspiracy theories. 5G towers here. Election theft there. The adhesive quality of QAnon comes from the psychological hunger for a story that helps one cope with loss or stress, gives a cause to believe and community to belong to. No wonder a majority of Republicans say it’s either “mostly true” or “some parts” are true. The Right is driven by grievance. QAnon, like most conspiracy theories, satisfies the need to reclaim a lost glory by telling a simple story. A hidden evil elite causes global suffering, and your pain in particular, and if you expose or kill them, you will regain your place.
Even though QAnon began in 2017, it borrows heavily from centuries old anti-Semitism. The bloody line of hatred against Jews can be traced from the ancient world, through the medieval era to the modern epoch, but it’s the 19th Century tropes that resurface powerfully. In the forged anti-Semitic document from 1903, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion the core image is of a cabal that controls the media and finance, claims to support workers only to deceive them, spark a class war and build a Jewish “super-state” from the rubble. Alongside those tropes is the Blood Libel in which Jews are imagined to sacrifice Christian babies during Passover, and use their blood to make unleavened bread.
Take a look at QAnon closely and the recycling becomes clear. Secret society that controls government? Check. Does this evil cabal kill children? Check. Do they keep the masses in ignorance through media manipulation? Check. Will there be a war? Check.
The danger is obvious. In a time of explosive political polarization, rising right-wing racism and authoritarianism during a global pandemic; QAnon’s implicit anti-Semitism will activate more violence. The mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s The Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 could be a prelude of a 21st Century pogrom if the implicit anti-Semitism in QAnon connects to the rest of the far right ideology. The reason is because at its core is an eliminationist nightmare. Destroy the hidden evil, and you will be freed. Never mind if none of it is true. Never mind if you kill people over a lie.
indypendent.org/2021/01/qanon-recycles-anti-semitic-imagery-to-sell-hatred/
Even though QAnon began in 2017, it borrows heavily from centuries old anti-Semitism. The bloody line of hatred against Jews can be traced from the ancient world, through the medieval era to the modern epoch, but it’s the 19th Century tropes that resurface powerfully. In the forged anti-Semitic document from 1903, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion the core image is of a cabal that controls the media and finance, claims to support workers only to deceive them, spark a class war and build a Jewish “super-state” from the rubble. Alongside those tropes is the Blood Libel in which Jews are imagined to sacrifice Christian babies during Passover, and use their blood to make unleavened bread.
Take a look at QAnon closely and the recycling becomes clear. Secret society that controls government? Check. Does this evil cabal kill children? Check. Do they keep the masses in ignorance through media manipulation? Check. Will there be a war? Check.
The danger is obvious. In a time of explosive political polarization, rising right-wing racism and authoritarianism during a global pandemic; QAnon’s implicit anti-Semitism will activate more violence. The mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s The Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 could be a prelude of a 21st Century pogrom if the implicit anti-Semitism in QAnon connects to the rest of the far right ideology. The reason is because at its core is an eliminationist nightmare. Destroy the hidden evil, and you will be freed. Never mind if none of it is true. Never mind if you kill people over a lie.
indypendent.org/2021/01/qanon-recycles-anti-semitic-imagery-to-sell-hatred/