Never Again: QAnon Cult and Nazism
I’m sorry God, but I don’t think you support the QAnon cult despite their great show of religiosity. QAnon has utilised social media platforms to pursue their hate filled indoctrination amongst the mainstream. Their beliefs have not improved in credibility since their first appearance a few years back. Their attitude towards non-believers continues to be hateful and derisive. Their contradictions endure. Their aggression grows. Their recruitment tactics persevere. Their menace increases globally and is characterised as white nationalist extremism. Despite this, our Western leaders refuse to call them out as far-right extremists. God has not intervened to stop the atrocious actions of other radicalised groups, so I don’t think we can rely on God’s intervention with this group either.
Twitter has a significant number of Q followers who hide their identities behind fictional avatars and indistinguishable Twitter handles. This mode of hiding, reminiscent of the hood-wearing of the KKK, implies QAnons are acutely aware their antics are not socially acceptable. Otherwise, why else would they hide? Their chosen anonymity is curiously contradictory when their mantras are #Darktolight and #truthseeker.
A Twitter account recently posted a cartoon depiction of a crying woman with the text, “I was raped by whoever Trump nominates to replace Justice Ginsburg. I never told anyone because nobody paid me to say it till now.” As a victim of sexual assault as a child, I find this utterly reprehensible. I reported my sexual assault to the police more than twenty years after the assaults occurred. QAnons claim they are aiming to #savethechildren from sexual abuse but have absolutely no respect or understanding for those who grow to be adults before they report their abuse. That is an enormous contradiction and an abhorrent politicisation of sexual assault.
Recently a woman published an online video where she expressed her indignation at being disallowed access to a Trump rally because her hat displayed a large Q; she claimed it was merely a letter of the alphabet.[1] Another QAnon contradiction: if Q is merely a letter of the alphabet, why is there so much merchandise available sporting the letter Q?
Pepe the Frog was a green frog created by artist Matt Furie who made the frog humorous in its willingness to defy social etiquettes. Eventually Furie “killed him off”, by drawing Pepe in a casket, after frog likenesses were associated with Nazi-themed memes[2]. The alt-right captured Pepe the Frog from the comical mainstream and it is now recognised as a symbol of hatred by the Anti-Defamation League. QAnons have a strong penchant for this character and is often a feature of their online posts. Pepe the Frog’s symbolism of the alt-right has been denied to me by QAnon believers claiming it’s just a frog. Yet another contradiction: The QAnon movement is obsessed with supposed paedophile symbolism yet refuse to acknowledge a recognised alt-right symbolism of Pepe the Frog.
The level of judgement applied by QAnons upon other members of society is not how the QAnons allow themselves to be judged. Disturbingly, they wear scorn and censorship of themselves as a badge of honour. QAnons regularly tell non-believers to “do your research” and form your own opinions. I’ve asked many QAnon followers to provide a bibliography of their own independent research supporting their outlandish claims. To date, I’ve not seen one. I was pointed to qresearch and prominent Q promotor, Martin Geddes. Nothing independent or reliable. Particularly strange when QAnons deny researching with confirmation bias. I have researched; even reading quite disturbing articles. Nothing contained information that could be considered factual. That’s where I run into trouble. Apparently, I didn’t research well enough or with an expansive mind, because I didn’t arrive at the same conclusion as the Q believers. I’ve been called stupid, uneducated, an idiot and plenty of other derogatory names by QAnons. Even with those personal afflictions, I felt I formed a reasonable opinion about the gullibility of QAnons when I read a story of wealthy men masturbating into a huge vagina constructed of dirt. Unsurprisingly, that story had not been written by a recognised journalist.
The rhetoric surrounding the QAnon movement is frequently focused on warring concepts and evangelical Christianity. Our indignant Q-hat-wearing-lady evicted from a Trump rally declared, “It’s on, guys. The war is on.” It’s easy to find hashtag references to war: qarmy; digitalsoldiers; qanonarmy; armour of god; spiritual warfare; etc. and many QAnon social media accounts picturing army tanks, guns, gallows, etc. One Twitter account even had their name as “Bring back the Crusades.” I wonder if this user understood that the Christians lost the crusades, and these were wars crossing centuries. Why would we want those religious wars back again? Typically, the QAnon cult uses a divisive model. This is where the left-wing of politics is painted as being evil and largely infiltrated by satanic paedophiles, therefore, everyone should hate the left-wing. Paedophilia is a long-standing propaganda tool because nobody ever admits to loving paedophilia. It’s easy to prey on that fear and besmirch the character of your opposition (or enemy as QAnons would have it). Why would anyone choose to expose themselves to the ugliness of paedophilia when they’re not detectives or interpol? I don’t imagine these are attitudes or actions endorsed by a deity especially when the Bible says, “But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness![3]”
George H. Stanton is a former Research Professor in Genocide Studies & Prevention at the George Mason University in Virginia, USA. He is also the founding president of Genocide Watch. Stanton’s recent article compares the recruitment techniques of QAnon with the techniques of Nazism[4]. I can imagine QAnons dismissing this comparison as merely following Godwin’s Law[5]. The reality is, however, this academic has the knowledge to point to a societal movement and sound the alarm. We must listen when somebody like George Stanton says of QAnon, “Genocide Watch and the Alliance Against Genocide, the first international anti-genocide coalition, see such hate-filled conspiracy theories as early warning signs of deadly genocidal violence.” We must listen.
World War II is modern history, but my generation didn’t live through it. Baby Boomers were born in it or after it. Veterans and survivors of this war become fewer with the sands of time. There were almost one million Australians involved in WW2 and our total population was around seven million; this meant every Australian knew someone affected by the war[6]. That is not the case in 2020. War stories by personal account are now scarce. We must listen to qualified and knowledgeable people like George H. Stanton.
After the horrors of World War II became increasingly apparent, the world promised itself: never again[7]. With the firsthand accounts of this war fading with each ANZAC Day, it is vital to humanity that we listen to the historians and the researchers. Never again. Social media must take responsibility for their platforms’ content and stamp out disinformation. Never again. We must not bow to nationalism and celebrate war. Never again. We must honour our veterans’ memories by recognising their sacrifice to defeat hatred and discrimination. Never again. We must stand up to those with divisive political rhetoric promoting hatred. Never again. We must refuse the rise of conspiratorial hatred. Never again. We must outlaw those that seek to recruit followers to their cult of hate. Never again. Our media must call out the extremism from the far-right. Never again. We must not stand idly by as people are persecuted because of their skin colour, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Never again. Our leaders must loudly oppose extremists promoting sedition, anarchy and war mongering. Never again. Our political leaders must loudly oppose extremists even at the expense of votes. Never again.
On 15th September 2020, a Research Professor in Genocide Studies and Prevention writes, “The world has seen QAnon before. It was called Nazism. In QAnon, Nazism wants a comeback.” We must listen. We must listen. We must listen. Never again.
[1] https://twitter.com/i/status/1305576064173789190
[2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2017/05/09/how-pepe-the-frog-became-a-symbol-of-hatred/#33b4820b426b
[3] Matthew 6:23
[4] https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/2020/09/09/QAnon-is-a-Nazi-Cult-Rebranded
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
[6] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-07/concern-over-australias-dwindling-number-of-world-war-veterans/10911602
[7] https://www.neveragain.com/