As I See It: QAnon in context

The core of this belief system is the existence of an international organization dedicated to the exploitation, sexually and otherwise, of young children by powerful men who are politically protected and are above the law.

It also prophesies a savior often identified with former President Trump. The savior is supposed to expose the perpetrators and their supporters and possibly exterminate them.

This narrative has borrowed material from antisemitic sources, such as the blood libel of the 10th century and the czarist Russian forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

What is striking to me about the QAnon narrative is how closely it resembles the revelation in recent years about the sexual predation within the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts, the Southern Baptist Convention, women’s gymnastics, and by many powerful individuals, such as Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein.

Within these revelations are networks of powerful people with direct access to vulnerable children and an organizational structure to protect the perpetrators and silence the victims.

These revelations make it clear that with decades, if not centuries, of this behavior, there are thousands, if not millions, of victims of this exploitation and abuse, for whom the QAnon narrative is not a conspiracy theory but a lived reality. For the most part, these victims have not been seen, acknowledged or supported by their communities.

For them, QAnon offers the possibility of releiving the shame of their exploitation and explaining the unimaginable trauma they have endured. When one is powerless to take revenge against the cause of one’s suffering, it is common to use that rage against people who are lower in the pecking order.

In the vernacular, “S*** flows downhill.” This phenomenon is formally referred to as “displaced aggression.”

This dynamic could explain the white supremacist, antisemitic, homophobic and misogynistic aspects of the QAnon movement. If I can find somebody else to blame, it can give me a sense of control to help ameliorate my experience of helplessness and shame.

Another common aspect of the experience of abuse is the victim’s awareness of the fragility of the abuser. “He is doing this to me because he has been hurt, because I have hurt him.”

When the abuser is a parent or other authority and the victim’s existence is dependent on that abusive person, then the victim feels a sense of responsibility to protect and support that abuser: “If I don’t take responsibility, no one will, and disaster will happen.”

This psychology has long been known in the 12-step community and is called “the parentified child.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the QAnon conspiracy identifies with a fragile, attention-seeking, bullying authoritarian as its hoped-for savior.

With all of these components, it seems to me what starts out looking like a fantastical fantasy, the QAnon conspiracy, is supported by well-known and common psychological and social phenomena in our world. It has gained the attention and support of a population of survivors of widespread abuse by powerful people, protected by political, religious and financial organizations.

The recognition of these facts can give us an opportunity to heal these wounds, first by addressing the corruption in these institutions that has perpetrated this longstanding abuse and exploitation to save the future victims, next by acknowledging the blamelessness of the survivors as a first step in opening up the healing process. 

We must also acknowledge these survivors’ presence in our communities. We must work to transform “us and them” to “all of us.”