I wrote this a similar thread a while back but it’s worth repeating given the way in which QANON and similar theories are spreading and how it resonates with people who are mentally unstable. This is a thread about giant ants. Sort of.

A while back, I was covering a terrorism trial and a guy I knew from decades ago who had since become schizophrenic became fixated on me. He became strangely convinced he could save the world and that I had to be part of it.

He was convinced at times I was Hillary Clinton (in disguise), and at other times he thought he needed to impregnate me (against my will) to save the human race. He once emailed a whole bunch of people at the newspaper where I worked. It wasn’t great.

I ended up getting a restraining order against him. But since I had once known him, and had known him at a time when he wasn’t like this — when he hadn’t posed a threat — I tried to understand what was going on.

I had one conversation with someone who knows a lot about what drives people who become fixated on things that aren’t real or true. And he explained it to me in a way I think about a lot as I watch people who are convinced QANON is warning them about real dangers.

He told me to imagine that I was being chased by giant ants. To imagine that my life was in immediate danger by enormous ants. And he asked me what I would do. And it’s hard to imagine that, but I did. And decided I would obviously kill the ants, if I could.

I would do everything in my power to protect myself and those I love from these giant, terrible ants. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? And then he asked me if I would change my approach if someone told me the ants weren’t real. Would I believe them?

And I realized that probably, no, if I could see giant ants, if I truly believed my life as I knew it was in danger from giant ants, I wouldn’t listen to people who claimed it was all in my head. Because they were probably working with the giant ants — part of the conspiracy!

The giant ants in this analogy can be what they’ve always been, time and again throughout history — a conspiracy of Jews seeking to take over the world and destroy your life as you know it.

The giant ants don’t exist, of course. There is not a group of giant ants planning my death. Jewish people are not plotting against the white race. Democrats are not running an underground ring of pedophiles. There are no lizard people.

But to a significant number of individuals — many of whom are plagued by mental illness — the giant ants feel very real, and their suspicions about the existence of the giant ants is bolstered by websites offering proof.

I think this is worth remembering right now. I think it’s worth thinking about those people you know, the guy or woman you know who might be especially susceptible to falling into believing this.

This isn’t an excuse for everyone promoting QANON theories or lizard people theories or any similar bullshit. Many, if not most, of those promoting this nonsense know full well the giant ants don’t exist. But it only takes a few who do believe it to create terrible tragedy.

Because the giant ants in this analogy are just people, like I am, who aren’t Hillary Clinton in disguise, and who truly aren’t plotting against anyone. And we need to work as hard as we can toward convincing people that killing the ants won’t solve a damn thing.

Stay safe out there.