Got this thought in my head and just can't shake it. Is this a dumb take or anyone think I'm on to something here?

First and most importantly, I am in no way saying that the QAnon stuff in it's current iteration is anywhere near as harmful as the vile anti-semitism of this insane "theory." Like, no contest. The whole Protocols of the Elders of Zion stuff directly murdered millions of innocent people with its total nonsense.

Also important to note that it didn't cause anti-semitism by itself and Jews in Europe faced persucution for thousands of years before this.

That said, let's go down this dark rabbit hole... First, a quick summary of both of these crackpot theories just so you know what I'm referring to here.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a conspiracy theory that Jews are part of an international conspiracy to undermine Western civilization and control finance. I think that there was also a part of it that alleged that labor unions and COMINTERN were part of this conspiracy.

QAnon theory alleges that there's a cabal of political, financial, and business leaders who are running a satanic child sex ring. There's a small group of "deep state" operatives who are trying to expose this conspiracy to the public and Donald Trump is also actively working to expose this too.

So, both theories take something with a tiny kernel of truth to it - with PEZ - yes, shockingly, Jewish people tend to associate with other Jewish people... just like people who go to the same churches/schools/etc. tend to do. With QAnon, there's no doubt creepy, consequence insulated, social elites doing dubious stuff behind closed doors with little apparent justice for victims.

Key difference is that the PEZ theory snowballed out of control and became national policy under Fascism. I remember from history class that many normal folks were shocked when their grocer down the street, or their kid's teacher, or someone they worked with was rounded up by the state.

QAnon is not there yet, but I'm getting some errie vibes that it's all from the same playbook and could eventually have similar consequences...

Because, at the end of the day, for anyone who truly believes either of these crazy theories - it justifies pretty much doing anything in response to the perceived "problem." Therefore, this QAnon stuff scares me much more than it probably has any right to..