Conspiracy theories are as old as civilization. We have found rumors on the walls of ancient Roman cities. Some were designed to hurt individuals and others entire people. The blood libel of the Middle Ages led to the death of many Jews and laid the foundation for what was the 20th century's worst result of conspiracy theory belief, the Shoah (Holocaust). But some are not so drastic. The idea that Elvis still lives, that Men in Black run a secret alien control program or that moon landing was faked. In previous generations these ideas, considered part of a lunatic fringe were shared via late night radio and mimeographed newsletters. The dawn of the internet however made spreading all kinds of stories easier and influencing the person who may not have had a way to connect to others with similar ideas. Like in ancient Rome where politicians were attacked with graffiti today a message board can start a story and before long it is popping up everywhere.
During the 2016 election, a story went around the right wing noise machine of a pedophile ring in Washington DC being run out of the basement of a pizza parlor by the Democratic National Committee. Called Pizzagate the creation of this story on a dark corner of the internet rose to the level to be referenced by General Mike Flynn and his son. Flynn for a brief time was the National Security Advisor and his son was on the Trump transition team. This story was believed by many including a man from North Carolina who brought a gun to the place identified as the center of this false tale firing the gun. He wanted to go into the basement, which doesn't exist. Some denounced this long debunked story but it still comes up. But now something more insane the Qanon conspiracy and this one is getting more mainstream followers.
The theory is a muddled group of accusations and stories. Some that are mutually exclusive. The main focus of this theory is the Robert Mueller is not investigating the President but is in-fact investigating Secretary Clinton, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Senator John McCain among many others. The charges are anything from their own collusion with Russia to a Global child trafficking ring (similar to Pizzagate). It started with an anonymous post by a person referring to themselves as Q posting that he has a top-secret security clearance and that he has evidence (never produced). This has been fully debunked over and over. The favorite part for me is that the principles in this fictional idea all have ankle monitors on and will soon be picked up. As if they know they are under investigation and are doing nothing about it. I mean we saw President Obama in France recently, what is the point of the ankle bracelet? This is all part of the deep state argument that the President makes, that there is an internal opposition standing in the way of the President's vision. That is a problem.
We expect that there will always be a handful of people who believe such nonsense, even when it makes absolutely no sense. But recently the Q crowd is marketing to a larger group and are showing up at Trump rallies as he goes around the country to promote Republican candidates. People seem proud of wearing t-shirts and hats suggesting the conspiracy is true. There is a larger profile on social media and while some people are just bandwagoning on this pro-Trump movement, some are trying to convince others that this is really true and they are succeeding with many. People will always believe stupid things, this feels different, it seems to be getting a foothold in the more mainstream Republican population. People will go to the polls in November believing this garbage. Believing that voting against Democrats is a vote against an evil secret attack on Donald Trump that is being administered by current and former government officials. That is a dangerous way to choose our leaders. So please don't ignore this like it is easy to ignore those that believe the moon landing was faked. Learn to counter the stories you see, you may only change one mind, but each voter informed by facts and not some fictional construct is better for the country. That is how democracy stays healthy. That is how we can take our country back to reality.
During the 2016 election, a story went around the right wing noise machine of a pedophile ring in Washington DC being run out of the basement of a pizza parlor by the Democratic National Committee. Called Pizzagate the creation of this story on a dark corner of the internet rose to the level to be referenced by General Mike Flynn and his son. Flynn for a brief time was the National Security Advisor and his son was on the Trump transition team. This story was believed by many including a man from North Carolina who brought a gun to the place identified as the center of this false tale firing the gun. He wanted to go into the basement, which doesn't exist. Some denounced this long debunked story but it still comes up. But now something more insane the Qanon conspiracy and this one is getting more mainstream followers.
The theory is a muddled group of accusations and stories. Some that are mutually exclusive. The main focus of this theory is the Robert Mueller is not investigating the President but is in-fact investigating Secretary Clinton, Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Senator John McCain among many others. The charges are anything from their own collusion with Russia to a Global child trafficking ring (similar to Pizzagate). It started with an anonymous post by a person referring to themselves as Q posting that he has a top-secret security clearance and that he has evidence (never produced). This has been fully debunked over and over. The favorite part for me is that the principles in this fictional idea all have ankle monitors on and will soon be picked up. As if they know they are under investigation and are doing nothing about it. I mean we saw President Obama in France recently, what is the point of the ankle bracelet? This is all part of the deep state argument that the President makes, that there is an internal opposition standing in the way of the President's vision. That is a problem.
We expect that there will always be a handful of people who believe such nonsense, even when it makes absolutely no sense. But recently the Q crowd is marketing to a larger group and are showing up at Trump rallies as he goes around the country to promote Republican candidates. People seem proud of wearing t-shirts and hats suggesting the conspiracy is true. There is a larger profile on social media and while some people are just bandwagoning on this pro-Trump movement, some are trying to convince others that this is really true and they are succeeding with many. People will always believe stupid things, this feels different, it seems to be getting a foothold in the more mainstream Republican population. People will go to the polls in November believing this garbage. Believing that voting against Democrats is a vote against an evil secret attack on Donald Trump that is being administered by current and former government officials. That is a dangerous way to choose our leaders. So please don't ignore this like it is easy to ignore those that believe the moon landing was faked. Learn to counter the stories you see, you may only change one mind, but each voter informed by facts and not some fictional construct is better for the country. That is how democracy stays healthy. That is how we can take our country back to reality.
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