Believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory spent the last three years believing that Donald Trump was taking on powerful paedophile networks that had hitherto ruled the world.
Trump's defeat did not discourage them: they were certain Joe Biden's inauguration day would see power cuts, the declaration of martial law and his arrest along with all other leading Democrats.
In the Guardian, Julia Carrie Wong reports on the reaction of some QAnon believers to yesterday's events (or lack of them):
As Biden took the oath of office just before noon on Wednesday, a QAnon channel on Telegram lit up with laments.
"We’ve been lied to," wrote one person.
"I think we have been fooled like no other,” another responded, adding: “Hate to say it. Held on to hope til this very moment."
"I feel like I’m losing my mind,” said a third. “I don’t know what to believe anymore."
"Anyone else feeling beyond let down right now?" read a popular post on a QAnon message board. "It’s like being a kid and seeing the big gift under the tree thinking it is exactly what you want only to open it and realize it was a lump of coal the whole time."
There are religious precedents for such feelings of deflation. The 19th-century American Baptist preacher William Miller forecast that Christ would return to Earth on 22 October 1844.
After He failed to appear, the non-event became known among Miller's followers as "The Great Disappointment".
But, reading about the baffled QAnon adherents, I thought first of the above sketch from Beyond the Fringe.
No comments:
Post a Comment