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I think we are gravely underestimating the danger of Q-Anon as a reactionary force that will hinder our efforts to build a mass movement.
I’ve seen and heard about tons of people who have expressed solidarity with Black liberation, Indigenous right to self-determination, or were just on the cusp of coming into class consciousness who made a sharp right turn the second they came upon Q.
Q-Anon conspiracies seek to deradicalize people by offering a unified theory explaining how everything wrong with the world is due to a pedophilic cabal whilst avoiding any talk of class struggle (and often replacing that analysis with anti-Semitic and supernatural nonsense)
I think as the contradictions of capitalism continue to intensify we need to get much more proactive with political education. Millions of people are finally starting to ask the right questions and if no one offers a pedagogy of liberation, they will find answers elsewhere.
Why are such outlandish notions espoused by Q-Anon gaining so much traction among the general public? There’s a decent argument that the fantastic elements of Q are just more appealing than a narrative that centers systemic oppression, but:
I think the real issue is that Q, just like many conspiracy theories, casts both the problem and solution as something entirely external to ourselves; it absolves of us feeling complicit within an oppressive system and, lacking a coherent political project, requires no action.
Addressing patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and colonization requires deep reflection and rigorous internal work followed by praxis. Q-Anon, on the other hand, pins all the evil in the world on the work of a few shadowy individuals.
Q-Anon True Believers seem to be instilled with a sense of both terrified impotence and total absolution. Q might be so appealing because, despite offering a macabre story of unaccountable power, it allows its adherents to change very little about the way they live.
