QAnon not "Fabricated by the News Media Surrogates of the Left"
"...few in America even know what QAnon is. QAnon theories are widespread and amorphous. QAnon is, in many respects, a fabrication of the news media surrogates of the Left," wrote Must Read Alaska, as they seemingly defended Qpublican congressional representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was stripped of her committee assignments yesterday. Eleven Republicans joined House Democrats, signaling to the country how few true Republicans are left in the GOP.
Greene (Q-GA) has called for Nancy Pelosi to be executed, says there's no evidence a plane crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11, and blamed the California wildfires on Jewish laser beams. She has also subscribed to the beliefs of the vast conspiracy, QAnon.
Assuredly, Must Read Alaska knows Greene is likely positing herself to be the new face of what's left of the Republican party Donald Trump left decimated in the wake of his apparent coup attempt.
Far-right Republicans have no choice but to defend the QAnon cult and suggest to their readership that QAnon is another made-up illusion of the delusional "Left" as more than a few Alaskans subscribe to some or all of the conspiratorial movement's beliefs. Some local adherents have found refuge and safety in the Save Anchorage Facebook group, where articles from the Alaska Watchman and Must Read Alaska are prevalent. The group's members are known for posting antisemitic statements and imagery, vaccine conspiracy theories, and sharing misinformation about masks and the Coronavirus pandemic.
Those aligned with the far-right accused former Anchorage mayor Ethan Berkowitz of being a pedophile. They accused Anchorage Press Editor Matthew Hickman of being a pedophile. They accused Joseph Biden of being part of the cabal — all essential elements to remember as you read what follows.
Pizzagate, which preceded the latest conspiracy theory but is now part of QAnon — was a conspiracy theory spread during the 2016 election that falsely claimed Democratic Party officials and U.S. restaurants were involved in human trafficking, cannibalism, and child sex rings — just exactly the stuff the "Left" wants to "fabricate," as Must Read Alaska alleges. Perhaps they believe we really do eat our own.
The number of current QAnon adherents, while not entirely clear, is not insignificant. In July of last year, Twitter banned seventy thousand accounts associated with the cult. In August of that same year, a Facebook internal analysis found millions of QAnon followers across thousands of its groups and pages.
QAnon is indeed dangerous to its core, with 8kun (formerly 8chan) operating as the home base of conspiracy theorists and the only place their cult leader "Q" posts messages. 8kun, for those unaware, has been linked to "white supremacy, neo-Nazism, the alt-right, racism and antisemitism, hate crimes, and multiple mass shootings."
Last September, months before the QAnon-led insurrection on Capitol Hill, the Freedom of Mind Resource Center wrote prophetically that "there is great concern QAnon might turn violent, particularly if Trump loses the election."
QAnon spews antisemitic tropes, and it uses biblical references to convince others that Jewish bankers want to enslave people and incite world wars, evoking an out-and-out Nazi cult. Many followers believe that Coronavirus is a cover-up for child sex trafficking, and misinformation in the cult has begun to incorporate a new narrative: the supposed risks of coronavirus vaccines. The movement has recruited anti-vaxxers who are sowing distrust of virus experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci and believe Bill Gates wants to put microchips into people.
In August of last year, a previously unpublished FBI bulletin showed that the federal agency labeled "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists" as a growing threat. "The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories will likely emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts."
By November last year, QAnon had 12 crimes associated with the movement. One of those twelve was Anthony Camello, accused in March 2019 of killing Francesco Cali, a Gambino mob boss. Comello said in court that QAnon had led him to kill Cali, whom he believed was part of the deepstate. In a court filing, his lawyer, Robert C. Gottlieb, said that Comello believed "Trump supported the hit."
After QAnon Trump supporters led the insurrection on Capitol Hill in a coup attempt, the FBI informed law enforcement agencies that believers of the QAnon and far-right 'lone wolves' were planning to infiltrate then President-elect Joseph Biden's inauguration by posing as National Guard members in a story broken by the Washington Post.
Trump empowered QAnon as he legitimized the cult in the White House press room by refusing to disavow them, instead claiming that the only thing he knew about them was that they liked him "very much," and the rest of the story is now history.
We all watched as brainwashed, crazed QAnon Trump supporters breached Capitol Hill in an unbelievably brazen attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair presidential election. Five people have died, and over 135 people have now been arrested after the attempted coup.
QAnon isn't "fabricated by the news media surrogates of the Left," as Must Read Alaska writes, but rather is a dangerous and violent conspiracy theory-driven movement created by the far-right and promoted by its spokesperson Donald Trump.
