Fr. Z's Blog

I have a question.  Usually, when I ask the readership for help with some information, smart people step up.

Today during a presser, a newsie asked Pres. Trump if he agrees with a Georgia Republican who holds to what the reporter called the “QAnon conspiracy theory”.  The newsie’s maneuver was obvious to the point of being gawkish.  The President just ignored that part and moved on.

In any event, the question left me scratching my head.  What’s “QAnon” and why is it a conspiracy theory?  On the surface, it seems that this QAnon theory holds that there is a “deep state” against Pres. Trump and anyone who supports him.

Given the main-stream media’s treatment of Trump, and the way that certain agencies have acted in the last couple of years, I can see why some might get that impression.

And I read that in July 2020, Twitter banned thousands of QAnon-affiliated accounts and changed its algorithms to reduce the spread of the conspiracy theory.

This is obviously something Twitter doesn’t want people to talk about.

Searching the interwebs for “qanon conspiracy theory”, virtually all of the top level responses were from ultra-liberal, Trump Derangement Syndrome crazed outlets.    The top level commentators post astonishing synchronized swimming Capoeiras to debunk QAnon as a fake “conspiracy theory” as well as to mock and excoriate anyone who believes or adheres to it.  The very fact that it is called a “conspiracy theory” frames the whole question in a certain way, right?   After all, “conspiracy theories” are only held by nut jobs… like Mel Gibson in the coincidentally named Conspiracy Theory.

Also, I clicked on a recent video from the BBC “QAnon: The conspiracy theory spreading fake news”, and in its lead in I heard the same puerile argument from sentimentality – the sort you are not supposed to respond to because if you do you are “mean” – that I read over at Jesuit-run Amerika, namely that critics of Pope Francis are “tearing my family apart”. That’s what QAnon adherents are apparently doing: Anyone who “tears families apart”.

Pace Matthew 10:35.

In the BBC piece 23 July piece, “This person I knew as my mother is probably not coming back.”

At Amerika on 13 August Mike Lewis writes in a piece called “Pope Francis’ critics are dividing the church and families—including mine”. Interspersed with remarks about Francis that could have come straight from the Second Nocturn, Lewis wrote:

“My mother, who never read anything Pope Francis actually wrote, became convinced he was a heretic by her friends at church, members of her Catholic book club and through watching “The World Over Live,” a weekly talk show on EWTN hosted by Raymond Arroyo, which often features outspoken papal critics. … At a certain point, I realized that I would never persuade her, and I tried to avoid the subject rather than create more division. When she became sick, I raised the subject a few more times, but it was clear that her views had become entrenched. She even had a coffee mug with the word “Viganò” written on it in capital letters. … This division in the church is a tragic situation that is harming families and communities of faith. … Which leaders among us will respond to the urgent need for action to promote unity in the church?”

She listened to EWTN and even had a “VIGANO” mug!

Underdog! Help us!

Since this is about conspiracy theories, wasn’t Amerika one of the outlets invited to the secret, invitation only, Zoom meeting for on 29 July with Bp. Barron, organized by his kuroko Brandon Vogt, to discuss, inter alia, the “rise of ‘radical Traditionalist’ movements that are often marked by personal attacks and vitriolic commentary”.  HERE

Hmmmmm.

Back to my initial issue.

The QAnon thing is always attached to labels like “far-right” and “alt-right”

Can anyone out there give me a sober explanation of the “QAnon” thing with a sober assessment?   Is there some sober and objective site or article out that which describes this?   I look over the Wiki entry, but – frankly – I don’t have a whole lot of time: it’s pretty extensive and convoluted.  Someone put a lot of time and energy into crafting that entry.  As I write there are 181 linked footnotes!  Just scan them to get a sense of the positions of those who edit the entry.

Frankly, the impression I get from the lefty media is that they have a – here we go – conspiracy to coordinate their messaging to make the QAnon thing so toxic that it can’t be touched.  We all know that that happens.  It seems on the surface to be a campaign to cover up something that is real, namely, what QAnon holds (there is a “deep state” against Pres. Trump and anyone who supports him).  A conspiracy to cover up a conspiracy and then another conspiracy to blast the conspirators who unmasked the conspiracy.   It gets confusing.

So, anyone?   Anything out there that isn’t kooky?  Is this something real or has it just been trumped up?

I’m getting a strong whiff of disinformation.

US HERE – UK HERE

Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategies for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism by Ronald Rychlak and Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa.

BTW… in the movie I mentioned, above, the Mel Gibson character was right.  There was in fact a conspiracy.

HEY!   Patrick Stewart – who lately inspired me to read a #SonnetADay was a bad guy in that movie.  And – hey! – Patrick Stewart was in Star Trek Next Generation in which they had to deal with….. Q!

Coincidence?!?