Tag: QAnon

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100 seconds to midnight

What does the Capitol Hill siege mean for us?

It’s 100 seconds to midnight. Last year, the symbolic Doomsday Clock assessed that we are closer to a global man-made catastrophe than ever since the clock’s creation in 1947. The decision was made on account of the climate emergency, rising nuclear tensions, growing distrust in governments all around the world, weaponization of technology… and all this before the whirlwind that was 2020.

The evening of Jan. 6 saw “As a Canadian” trending on Twitter, as so many of us bemocked America’s fate, yet again turning a blind eye to our own run-ins with white supremacy in favour of our ‘it’s not as bad here’ façade. All of a sudden, we forgot that the founder of the Proud Boys is a Canadian man, or that there was a group of Montrealers who organized to participate in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

So let’s get this straight: the civil unrest in the US is especially concerning to us as Canadians.

Civil wars are started when a population loses trust in its government, and feels strongly enough that their issues can’t be solved by other means than organizing and taking arms. Statistically, poorer countries are more at risk of entering wars because of their inability to improve the economy, and financial and political inequality also often spark conflict.

Far-right groups have invented all kinds of conspiracies to discredit the media, Democrats, and basically anyone who doesn’t worship Donald Trump. They believe he’s the only one who can properly handle the American economy and save them from the looming threat that is socialism. They have expressed their anger at the dilution of (white) American culture through the apparent invasion of immigrants.

From what we’ve witnessed through their behaviour in recent years, which culminated with the attack on the Capitol, these far-right groups have shown that they aren’t scared — and are in fact proud — to take arms and uphold their views through violence.

On the left, the increasingly vocal contenders for the Black Lives Matter movement have shown their persistence to take to the streets and protest — rain or shine, through tear gas and pandemic. Left-wing groups have also demanded universal healthcare, erasure of student debt, more money towards climate action, and defunding the police and the army in the last few months.

Though I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist, this seems to me a clear recipe for civil war.

Our economy, national security, military strength, foreign relations, everything down to the results of our elections depend on how the United States is feeling. There’s a reason people say “When America sneezes, Canada catches cold.” Nine days after Trump was sworn in as president, six Quebecers were killed in a Sainte-Foy mosque, a clear message that we haven’t been able to escape Trump’s anti-Islam rhetoric.

Many have also wondered how Justin Trudeau will be expected to handle this. Will officially recognizing the Proud Boys as a terrorist group give the federal government reason to increase our military budget? As political unrest becomes inevitably more violent in the US, will it allow our federal government to take preventive, but invasive measures like increased surveillance and armed law enforcement?

For the past two years, I’ve been saying that I predict a civil war in the United States by 2025, and that I’d be surprised if it didn’t happen in the next three years. I think this is the most sinister ‘I told you so’ moment I’ll ever have.

 

Feature graphic by James Fay @jamesfaydraws

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News

The middleman of conspiracy theories

How COVID-19 skepticism could lead to the growth of QAnon in Québec

Dominick Jasmin describes himself as an ordinary guy. At first glance, the father of two and a family man, from the off-island Montreal suburb of Repentigny, seems to be just that.

Jasmin begins to seem less ordinary when you look at the Facebook page he runs, Actualité Politique du Québec, where he shares his views on provincial politics and, more importantly, his objections to COVID-19 sanitary measures.

Jasmin is part of a growing media ecosystem based on disinformation that many say is leading to a growth in radicalization. According to a recent CROP poll, nearly a quarter of Quebecers believe in some sort of COVID-19 conspiracy theory.

Previously publishing fairly benign political commentary, his content took a sharp turn with the advent of the pandemic. Jasmin doesn’t think COVID-19 is dangerous, saying, “There should be ten times more deaths to justify these measures.”

Jasmin has no scientific training and bases his claims on what he calls common sense. Nonetheless, Jasmin is not your run-of-the-mill conspiracy theorist. “I don’t believe in a New World Order,” he said, also adding that not all vaccines are bad.

Regardless, it is clear that platforms like his are playing an increasingly crucial role in the spread of disinformation that kickstarts online radicalization.

Falling into the abyss

Casey Babb, a Ph.D. student at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs of Carleton University, is currently researching “How malicious actors are exploiting the pandemic to their advantage.”

“I might call them passive conspiracy theorists,” said Babb, talking about people like Jasmin. He explained they don’t necessarily buy into the QAnon worldview but are inherently distrustful of the government and mainstream media, showing there is an increasingly blurred distinction at play.

But Babb said this didn’t make them any less dangerous in the “slow, gradual process,” of radicalization. Someone may at first see a seemingly benign tweet that resonates with them, but quickly fall into a cascading conspiratorial rabbit hole. “Next thing you know, they’re on the 8kun or QAnon website,” said Babb.

The process is compounded by the mechanics of social media’s suggestion algorithms, which feed users increasingly extreme content. This is made evident on Jasmin’s page, where Facebook automatically generates recommendations to more extreme pages like that of Lucie Laurier, renowned Quebec conspiracy theory and QAnon influencer.

Part of the plan

The Counter Extremism Project, based in Berlin, Germany, recently released a study indicating that right-wing extremist groups were leveraging the pandemic to their benefit.

The study showed that these groups use frustration over sanitary measures and pre-existing anti-vaccine sentiment as a gateway to recruitment. COVID-19 is allowing “the extreme right-wing to strengthen its mobilization around anti-government conspiratorial narratives, aimed at criticizing the lockdown measures,” stated the report.

Therefore, previously marginal extremist groups can sell themselves as an anti-mainstream source of information and gain credibility and adherents, according to the study.

Screen capture of far-right Forza Nuova affiliated group posted to Jasmin’s Facebook group.

Jasmin’s page is a direct example of this, where content by users is often taken directly from right-wing extremist groups. For example, one of the anti-lockdown videos posted to the group was initially published by Forza Nuova, a right-wing extremist political group based in Italy that holds openly racist views and promotes violence.

Made clear with the recent storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, online conspiratorial beliefs are now causing real-world consequences. Just this summer, trucker Philippe Côté was arrested for threatening to kill Quebec Premier François Legault and Public Health Director Horacio Arruda, and further found conspiratorial theories on pieces of paper in his truck.

When asked whether he may be contributing to people’s radicalization via his Facebook group, Jasmin said he felt no responsibility for the misinformation he was spreading. “People can believe what they want,” Jasmin said, choosing instead to deride what he sees as an attack on free speech.

Regardless, Jasmin has not seen any form of censorship on his platforms.

Climbing out of the rabbit hole

But deradicalization is possible. According to Margaux Bennardi at the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, it is essential not to ostracize or judge the people who believe in these theories, as it may entrench them further into their beliefs.

“Calling people covidiots does not help,” said Bennardi.

“We reinforce the productive factors instead of targeting the things that are not working,” said Bennardi. This could lead to encouraging them to spend more time doing something that may expose them to a different viewpoint.

Nonetheless, complete deradicalization is tricky, said David Hofmann, a researcher in right-wing extremism at the University of New Brunswick. “It has to happen on an individual basis,” Hofmann said. “Something has to shake their entrenched worldview.”

According to Hofmann, the individualistic argument for ignorance seems to be a common thread among conspiracy theorists and especially with COVID-19 skepticism. The ‘I haven’t seen it so it mustn’t be true’ viewpoint.

For Jasmin, it was clear that the event had not yet occurred.

 

Photographs are screenshots from social media videos

Inside the mind of an anti-masker

How QAnon conspiracies, religion, and anti-maskers come together

Since the pandemic hit North America, many have been criticized for their public refusal to follow government lockdown orders and, most notably, for not wanting to wear masks. These people have been identified as “anti-maskers.”

Some anti-maskers are part of a movement linked to far-right ideologies involving religion and an internet conspiracy group called Qanon.

Qanon is an online conspiracy group that claims that a cabal of sex trafficking satanic pedophiles run the world. The group was started in 2016 on sites like 4chan by an anonymous user. They now have a worldwide following.

Qanon

“There is no second wave. There wasn’t even a first one,” stated Richard Décarie in an interview with The Concordian. Décarie is a former Conservative politician who was banned from running as the Conservative Party leader for saying controversial things like “being gay is a choice.”

Décarie is also a firm believer that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is part of Agenda 21, a UN resolution signed by governments in 1992 with an action plan for future sustainable development. QAnon and other conspiracists have included Agenda 21 as part of a complex and elaborate conspiracy theory.

In a nutshell, the conspiracists claim the UN has a plan to impose a “world government” by 2030, meaning they want to get rid of all the sovereign countries and have one global government for the entire world. Essentially, they’re saying the UN and other “deep state” members want a globalized communist government where we would have no individual rights and freedoms.

“The government is favouring large global companies and disfavouring small businesses,” stated Décarie. According to him, this plan has been in the works for years. He claims the COVID-19 pandemic was created to distract us from what’s happening: a world takeover which is only advantageous for the “world’s elite” and big corporations.

Décarie is also avidly against wearing a mask. He claims that “Wearing a mask is a sign of submission.” Décarie is convinced that masks are a control mechanism to see how submissive the population is to the government. Meanwhile, the CDC and other scientific organizations provide significant data showing that wearing a mask can reduce the spread of any virus, including COVID-19.

With no scientific evidence to justify his arguments, Décarie still assumes that he is doing the right thing by spreading his message.

Many other conspiracists like Décarie are sharing their theories on social media platforms, believing they are doing the “right thing.” Facebook, in particular, recently banned all QAnon-related content from its platform.

Even when asked if he’s a “conspiracy theorist,” Décarie instantly said he is a “truth finder,” a label consistent with the QAnon narrative.

Décarie believes we will find a way out of the deep state’s plan and our “faith in God will make us see what they are doing and they will not succeed.”

Religious Matters 

It’s no surprise that Décarie is very religious. Many unsuspecting Christians go down the “rabbit hole,” a term used to describe the altered state of those who go so far into the QAnon conspiracies that it takes over their lives.

Many religious leaders in the United States, such as Danny Silk, have been preaching QAnon-related narratives to their followers and encouraging them to vote for Trump. However, this isn’t only limited to the USA; some Canadian ministers and preachers have also been preaching similar narratives, such as Pastor Jean-Francois Denis.

Many unsuspecting Christians are vulnerable to following QAnon because the interpretation of the conspiracy theories can be similar to their beliefs and interpretations of the Bible.

In the USA, there are many fundamentalist Christians. Some fundamentalist Christians believe that everything written in the bible is factual and true. Many still believe in concepts like creationism, which has since been proven incorrect by scientific evidence that supports the theory of evolution.

In this current pandemic, some fundamentalist Christians support QAnon’s theories, which, like their own religious beliefs, are contrary to what is proven by science.

Why would Christians start believing in science at a time like this where their lives have been turned upside down and everything is so uncertain?

In a word, comfort.

By maintaining their beliefs in spite of scientific evidence, they gain comfort in these turbulent times. It’s easier to adhere to a narrative like QAnon, which promotes unproven theories that they assume are correct. Based on their interpretations, some even believe the Bible predicted COVID-19.

In one of his videos, Denis stated to “Never let anyone take away your right to question things, be critical, and find the truth.”

Although critical thinking is good, and we shouldn’t always believe everything we hear or read when it comes to public health… wear your mask, wash your hands, and stay home!

 

Feature graphic by @the.beta.lab

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