Read on Twitter
1/ So I got this question earlier on today and I think it is a good opportunity to shed some light onto QAnon and the environmental factors that can lead someone to believe in conspiracy theories https://twitter.com/skane2600/status/1320776363125608448
2/ Belief in QAnon permit the development of symbolic resources that enable humans to define and address the problem of evil. As I've said in the past the essence of QAnon lies in its attempts to delineate and explain evil; it’s about theodicy, not secular evidence.
3/ QAnon offers comfort in an unprecedented age as it crowdsources answers to the inexplicable. It is the master narrative capable of explaining complex events & providing solace for modern problems: pandemic, economic uncertainty, political polarization, war, child abuse, etc.
4/ Not only are events nonrandom, in the mind of the QAnon believer, but the clear identification of evil gives the conspiracist a definable enemy against which to struggle, endowing life with purpose.
5/ The result is a worldview characterized by a sharp distinction between the realms of good and evil. This sharp distinction is attractive to those who are suffering.
6/ As an example lets look at Alpalus Slyman. He used to work at his local airport prior to the pandemic, but was laid off due to the lack of air travel. His family already was tight economically, and he had expressed frustration at his inability to work https://twitter.com/_MAArgentino/status/1272014864924409856
7/ His frustration at the lock down as the source of his economic sufferance is what lead him to an digital ecosystem that was populated by QAnon narratives. He fell upon Fall Cabal (the QAnon documentary) while trying to understand why these things were happening.
8/ 5 days after watching it he was driving away from cops at 110mph with his family in the vehicle. The impetus for his path towards QAnon was the economic sufferance he was going through
9/ Jessica prim is another example of an individual who was suffering and fell into QAnon. Part of her trauma, according to her own live stream on Facebook, was the sexual abuse that her and her daughter had suffered in the past. https://twitter.com/_MAArgentino/status/1256424602735173632
10/ this past trauma made her vulnerable to QAnon narratives, when someone she knew recommended that she watches Fall Cabal. The content of the documentary resonated with her past suffering and lead her to radicalize into QAnon in 19 days.
11/ As a community "Pastel QAnon" who have been concerned with/ played a role in hijacking "savethechildren" are concerned with trying to understand why child trafficking is still happening in this day and age and why more is not being done. https://twitter.com/_MAArgentino/status/1300974361491406849
12/ QAnon for them acts as the master narrative to explain why this is happening. For some that are more adjacent to QAnon the Deep State = corrupt politicians not doing enough. Though child trafficking is a complex problem QAnon offers simple black and white answers
13/ If you visit the QAnonCasualties subreddit. You can read the stories of families that have lost their loved ones to QAnon and explain what lead their loved ones down this path. https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/
14/ The armed man who drove the gates at Rideau Hall, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives acted this way because he was loosing his business to the pandemics economic impact on his business. https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3ez39/armed-man-corey-hurren-who-allegedly-stormed-justin-trudeaus-residence-rideau-hall-appears-to-have-posted-qanon-content
15/ He has consumed a little QAnon content but had consumed more conspiracy theory content. These theories provided a rationalization of his suffering and why these things had befallen him and provided a target at which he could express his anger.
16/ Not not all QAnon followers are deeply suffering, but most if not all are trying to explain why bad things happen. Evil is a complicated thing to grasp, especially in a year like 2020 when suffering and strife is happening on a global scale.
17/ Many have never experienced something of this magnitude and conspiracy theories and movements like QAnon provide comfort in these trying times. I've said it in the past and I will keep saying it QAnon is a symptom of our weakened societies. It is a human problem at its heart.
