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..
I don't think Q-anon will survive Trump leaving office.
But some new nonsense that's 90% the same people, like Gamergate / Flat Earth / Whatever the fuck before it? Yeah.
The Protocols was just a single document justifying antisemitism
No, the Protocols are very doomsday. The Protocols specify the details of how a "cabal of Jews" are conspiring to trap nations in debt & enslave their people.
Taken from https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/comments/io8i0l/this_is_getting_scary/g4cgzzb/
It has something to do with the massive failure of right-wing governance in America. Instead of questioning the values of those leading the right-wing, they've retreated into a fantasy where the lone individual who is most responsible for America's current failue and predicament is somehow its savior.
This is what happens when these people's belief system starts to backfire. Instead of taking responsibility for Trump's failures, they're going to pretend he's the greatest president of all time and he's only failing (at literally everything) because of some elaborate, massive yet hidden conspiracy. Is it bonkers? Hell yes. Is it sad? Hell yes. But it's somewhat akin to calling shooting victims "crisis actors" when your love of guns and gun-rights collides with the reality of school shootings. It's a way of maintaining your preexisting belief system in the face of its utter failure in the real world.
It's also very much like their desire to drill for more and more oil while pretending climate change is also a hoax (see a pattern here?). Anything they don't want to hear is a hoax, any new information that's coming in that threatens the foundations of their preexisting beliefs is bent and smashed to fit that preexisting worldview...
Examples?
"Oil is good, so it can't cause climate change, that's a hoax."
"Guns are good, they don't kill innocent kids, those must be crisis actors."
"Trump is good, we voted for him, we're good people, he just can't be the corrupt, lying failure he appears to be in every way, there must be a conspiracy against him."
It fits this pattern of magical thinking and willful disbelief of any information that might impune their personal belief structure and/or their personal sense of morality. If you want to feel that you are a good and moral person, but you also want to support to Trump and think the same of him, that's going to require a massive amount of willful ignorance and blindness. That's going to require a ton of excuse-making and unrealistic rationalizations. That's essentially what Qanon is.
It's the way to rationalize their support of this destructive, racist failure in the White House. How do you make anything he does morally acceptable? Just accuse his opponents of worse, even if your accusations are completely fabricated. They only exist to make the qultists feel better, so they don't care if their smears are even real, they want what they want, reality be damned.
Their ideology is more important to them than the truth.
A conspiracy theory going mainstream in right wing politics is definitely some sort of milestone on the road to fascism. Particularly when it's a conspiracy theory that attempts to explain the problems of international capitalism while rejecting anti-capitalist answers.
Checkout Folding Ideas' QAnon /Flat Earth video, it's really good. The doomsday cult conspiracy is wild.
Yes
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/11/protocols-of-qanon/#godwins-qanon
Qanon is not yet quite as bad. Yes it's in some ways more systematic.
But PEZ was a deliberate attempt by the Tsarist secret police to weaponise existing antisemitism against communists. The deaths and the Fascism were the point. I don't think Qanon has that laser focus yet, coming as it is as an outgrowth of hippy radlib libertarianism with its confused mess of libertarian right and left concepts. It's basically hippie conspiricy with a side dish of Bircherism.
Yeah you're right: in that it's like another incarnation of Stormfront. But imagine if Stormfront was better at messaging/public relations. It is radicalising a very diverse group of people it seems, but only because they have been constantly rebranding. Now they are "save the children" but it all goes back to Blood & Soil 14 words shit.
Protocols of Elders of Zion? More like Grillbook of the Eaters of Children
Depends on who you ask, in some Q circles the venn diagram of Qanon weirdness and PotEZ weirdness is a circle.
