From USA Today:
“Biden
inauguration leaves QAnon believers in disarray”
Followers of
the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory are divided after Joe Biden's inauguration
confounded their predictions that Donald Trump would remain president in order
to punish his enemies in the "deep state". Many reacted with shock
and despair as Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US president. "I just
want to throw up," said one in a popular chat on the Telegram messaging
app. "I'm so sick of all the disinformation and false hope." Others
insisted "the plan" had not failed, finding new theories to latch on
to. For weeks, QAnon followers had been promoting 20 January as a day of
reckoning, when prominent Democrats and other elite "Satanic
paedophiles" would be arrested and executed on the orders of President
Trump. But, as Mr Biden took his oath and no arrests were made, some in the
QAnon community had an uncomfortable meeting with reality."It's done and
we were played," wrote another.
In the hours
that followed, thousands more made similar comments on platforms like Gab,
Telegram and other online forums where believers go to discuss the conspiracy,
after being kicked off mainstream social media in the wake of the Capitol
riots. Doubt even seeped into posts by some of the biggest influencers of the
movement, as some started to question the phrase "Trust the plan" - a
key QAnon slogan that has been used by "Q", an anonymous figure whom
followers believe to be an influential government insider. "This is a very
difficult day for all of us," said one influencer whose Twitter account
with 200,000 followers was recently suspended. "Today's inauguration makes
no sense to the Christian patriots and we thought 'the plan' was the way we would
take this country back." One woman whose husband is a QAnon follower told
the BBC that inauguration day had been "the most disappointing" of
his life. She's hopeful Wednesday's events may have shaken his faith in the
conspiracy, but fears what comes next. "I'm not a told-you-so kind of
person and never seek to belittle or humiliate," she said, adding that his
beliefs had put a strain on their marriage in recent months.
The QAnon
community "risks fracturing", said another influencer on Gab, a
right-wing social media platform, adding that "real friendships might be
irreparably damaged because people are angry". The widely accepted belief
within the movement was that at some point before Joe Biden stepped on the
stage to take the presidential oath, members of the military - on the orders of
Mr Trump - would intervene to arrest Mr Biden and his wife along with Kamala
Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Barack and Michelle Obama, Hillary and
Bill Clinton, George and Laura Bush and other members of "the deep
state". A number of extremist and neo-Nazi Telegram channels have already
tried to capitalise on the chaos in the QAnon community, asking their members
to seek out and convert distraught followers. Some influential accounts told followers to
keep the faith and not give up so easily. One popular Telegram channel
reassured its 130,000 subscribers that Mr Trump and the "Q" team were
still in control behind the scenes, and the "evil deeds" of the deep
state would be exposed "over the next four years". Some doubled down,
criticising those who in their view had rushed to judgement. One claimed Mr
Biden was running his administration as an inmate inside a military compound,
but he "doesn't know it yet".
Later in the
day, Ron Watkins, one of the most influential figures in the QAnon community,
called on his followers to move on - to the surprise of many observers. The son
of Jim Watkins, the man behind 8chan and 8kun - message boards filled with
extreme language and views, violence and extreme sexual content on which
"Q" posts - the younger Watkins has been one of the main purveyors of
election conspiracies and played a vital role in encouraging some QAnon
supporters to gather in Washington DC on 6 January. "We gave it our
all," he said to his 120,000 subscribers on Telegram. "Now we need to
keep our chins up and go back to our lives as best we are able." As
inauguration day drew to a close, QAnon communities were still filled with
mixed emotions. Some said they were waiting for "Q", who has been
largely silent since election day, to post as they had so many unanswered
questions. And some expressed hope that Mr Trump would communicate directly
with them soon. A considerable chunk of the community remains steadfast in
their belief, urging one another to remain patient and keep the faith. It is
difficult to predict where the movement goes from here.
But some
experts and researchers think that QAnon, which has successfully duped hundreds
of thousands of followers into thinking they alone could stop a global cabal of
criminals ruling the world, will not simply vanish overnight. Followers
"will likely remain a threat until they can exit the QAnon space",
tweeted extremism researcher Marc-Andre Argentino. "Even without QAnon,
without 'Q', without Trump, the core elements that lead these individuals to
believe in QAnon will still remain and they will need to find outlets for their
conspiratorial mindsets and their anti-democratic ideals," he added.
^ It is
extremely sad and scary to know these kinds of dangerous and deadly groups are
out there. It’s even more scary and sad to see (in-person or online) your
friends and family members drink the QAnon Kool Aid and fall for all of this. I
can only hope that with more time my friends and family members will wake-up
from all of this nonsense and come back to reality. ^
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