Read on Twitter
Jesus fucking fuck https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1296208610234634240
I didn’t see the clip until now, but holy crap, it’s the worst possible answer. These people are out of their minds. His wink wink nod nod bullshit to them is only going to embolden them.
People inspired by this have literally committed murders because they think they’re carrying out some sort of mission https://www.npr.org/2019/07/22/744244166/shooters-lawyer-he-wasn-t-trying-to-kill-a-mob-boss-he-was-under-qanon-delusion
For instance, here’s a believer of that conspiracy theory who planned to “take out” Biden https://www.insider.com/biden-qanon-supporter-arrested-attemp-live-streaming-trip-to-take-2020-5
https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1271885987514396679?s=21 https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1271885987514396679
A while back I wrote about why journalists need to take this seriously, as believers of that conspiracy theory are probably going to get elected to Congress https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/qanon-may-be-coming-congress-and-journalists-need-be-ready
And @AlKapDC has been really thorough in his reporting on the Q candidates running for office https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/here-are-qanon-supporters-running-congress-2020
And there is no equivalent of this on the left, so I’m begging journalists to not try to create false balance. Yes, people across the political spectrum are susceptible to conspiracy theories, but there’s nothing as deranged and dangerous (multiple murders) out there on the left.
When he talked about it on air a couple weeks ago, Jesse Watters tried to equate Q believers with people who see everything as part of a Russian conspiracy theory. And while the latter group is... a lot... they haven’t murdered people in the name of that belief.
Anyway, journalists, if you’re going to cover this movement, it’s important that you actually understand it. It’s not just a kooky Tea Party-type group of people. Reporting that draws parallels to that are not helpful. It’s more like a significantly less reality-based alt-right.
If you’re going to cover this, please talk to people who have covered it before and/or read/listen to their work. Some suggestions/Twitter follow recommendations: @BrandyZadrozny @oneunderscore__ @AlKapDC @travis_view @RealRockatansky @julianfeeld @kevinroose @willsommer
https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1296215074827362304?s=21 https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1296215074827362304
This is my worry, as well https://twitter.com/timmarchman/status/1296213161532588032?s=21 https://twitter.com/timmarchman/status/1296213161532588032
https://twitter.com/adriennelaf/status/1296242652694937600?s=21 https://twitter.com/adriennelaf/status/1296242652694937600
I’m on vacation (not doing a very good job of being on vacation [which is really a staycation] as I’m tweeting about this), but hopefully the above resources are helpful.
