The question is, who is behind QAnon? Who supports the marketing genius that captured so many people’s hearts and souls?
We can develop a meta-conspiracy theory about QAnon by considering some of the main ideas of QAnon.
- Deep State — The nefarious forces at work in our government and institutions
- The Villains — Hollywood and the Democrats
- The Storm — The final accounting, where the villains are brought to justice
- The Savior — The individual leading to the Storm
Deep State
For any conspiracy theory to appeal, it has to have elements of truth. The idea of a Deep State, nefarious forces controlling our government and institutions, has more than just an element of truth.
It’s real and we all know it’s real. It is Big Money. It is the corporate donors and their lobbyists influencing Congress. It’s the Super PACS and the money used to get their own people elected. It’s the corporations limiting our choices and driving up prices, like for gas, or cable TV, or pharmaceuticals, or… well the list just goes on and on.
Hollywood
Consider, though, how we know it’s real. We read about it in papers, and more important, we see it in the movies and on TV all the time. Hollywood loves telling the store of corporate greed behind some dark deeds, and some hero rising up to take them down.
Hollywood is clearly an enemy of the Big Money behind the Deep State. So the Deep State is true, but Hollywood is not a force behind it, but rather a force that exposes it. Worse, for Big Money, Hollywood tends to drive people towards the Democrats.
Democrats
We have a two party system, where neither party is particularly beholden to the people. The Republicans are clearly aligned with Big Money. The Democrats also get funding from Big Money, but are more likely to put in place legislation that makes it look like they are the people’s party. They might tax the wealthy, and the corporations, and pass laws to protect the environment, or worker safety. They might try to provide social safety nets, like Medicare and Medicaid.
These all cost Big Money money. So the Democrats are clearly enemies of the Big Money behind the Deep State.
QAnon
QAnon is a brilliant conspiracy theory that does what all effective propaganda does. It takes the truth of the Deep State and turns it 180 degrees around. It says, look, it’s not not Big Money that is evil, but Hollywood and the Democrats.
Remember, the Big Money people are the ones that used doctors to advertise cigarettes, that got the government to protect us from cheap Canadian drugs saying it was for our own good, and that got Congress to use our tax dollars to bail out the big banks that caused so many to lose their homes in the mortgage crisis (and do nothing for the people who actually lost their homes).
It’s classic. Take the people’s frustration with the Deep State, and turn that anger against the very forces that fight the Deep State. A piece of cake for the manipulative marketing geniuses working for Big Money.
The Storm
Here’s the exciting part. People are frustrated, and feel powerless against the Big Money behind the Deep State. But, with QAnon, and the Deep State redefined as Hollywood types and Democrats, well then, we can rise up and defeat them.
They call them pedophiles. How much of a fight can pedophiles put up? And who would feel sorry for pedophiles going down in defeat? Much easier to fight them, than say Exxon or Goldman Sachs.
The Savior
All that’s needed is a leader, someone willing to carry the flag into battle, to take down those pedophile Hollywood types and Democrats that make Big Money look bad.
But doesn’t it tell you something that that savior, Donald Trump, leading the charge, is someone who self-identifies as Big Money? Whose signature legislation when president was tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy?
Isn’t it obvious that QAnon is a brilliant marketing effort that inspired a large number of people to, not fight against the Big Money of the Deep State, but to fight Big Money’s enemies and help it tighten its grip on our society?