1/ Has the announcement, that POTUS and FLOTUS were diagnosed with COVID, impacted the QAnon belief that the virus is fake or a deep state plot to destroy the world? Of course not! let us take an initial look at what their reactions are
2/ As they have done many times in the past, and during the pandemic, QAnon influencers and believers are hilighting that this is all part of the plan. Influencers reinforce the mantra that this is "part of the plan" or "patriots are in control" and "do not be afraid".
3/ Other than offering reassurance, there are calls to "preparedness" and calls "to action" that are made. Influencers are pointing towards some momentous moment that is finally going to happen (as they have done many times over the past 3 years)
4/ The pop culture reference they are using for this is "the hunt for red October". I have written back in may that QAnon is a hyper-real religion i.e. "a religion with significant popular culture content" that forms the base of its ideology. https://religiondispatches.org/in-the-name-of-the-father-son-and-q-why-its-important-to-see-qanon-as-a-hyper-real-religion/
5/ Posted by Q this popular cultural artefact is integrated into the QAnon religious framework. QAnon is not only permeated by religion, but essentially embodies the characteristics and roles of faith by its mutual mimetic play method.
6/ This is key to the power of QAnon and why people believe as it is an arena of human activity marked by the concerns of the transcendent, the sacred, the ultimate. These are concerns that enable people to experiment with what it means to be human
7/ QAnon believers are consumer and/or creator, receiving the text in a kind of secularized parallel to more traditional religious revelation, albeit received in these cases from the creators of media content (Q and QAnon influencers) rather than a deity.
8/ As part of this, they Imitate source citation and evidence presentation in academia. QAnon followers regularly engage in elaborate presentations of evidence to substantiate their claims.
9/ So will the medical diagnostic change they mind? No! Believing in QAnon is not about secular evidence but about theodicy, it is about defining the problem of evil and the development of symbolic resources that enable humans to address the problem of evil.
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