dChan
Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 12:46 a.m. No.22530422   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0425 >>0442 >>0469 >>0551 >>0564

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08969205241228744

Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil’: Interpreting QAnon as a Pseudo-Christian Extremist Movement

First published online January 30, 2024

Abstract

The religious dimensions of the QAnon movement and links with political violence have been noted by researchers. This paper furthers this scholarship by conducting an analysis of 121 religious images taken from QAnon Telegram channels over 18 months. Through adopting semiotic and hermeneutical theory, it is argued that QAnon religious imagery can be categorised into a series of types, all influenced by Christian theological themes. When interpreted in a Christian context, these images reveal a close relationship with US-based Christian evangelicalism and with Christian liberation theology movements. By presenting contemporary politics as an eschatological battle between the oppressed and oppressors, framed as the QAnon community versus the devil, the QAnon movement encourages political activism closely analogous to Christian liberation theology movements. This contributes to an explanatory framework for the connections between QAnon followers and anti-government protest and violence during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 6 January storming of the US Capitol.

Continued:

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 12:46 a.m. No.22530425   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0442 >>0469 >>0564

>>22530422

Continued:

Introduction

Since its emergence as an online conspiracy theory in 2017, self-described QAnon followers have engaged in criminal and violent extremist acts (Amarasingam and Argentino, 2020; Argentino and Amarasingam, 2021). QAnon-related violence has been framed as a security threat by authorities in the United States as well as Australia, the Netherlands and Germany, testifying to its international appeal (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 2019). The Covid-19 pandemic saw QAnon supporters spread disinformation and support anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine protests (Waldek et al., 2021), leading to governmental concern about the potential for the movement to transform into one supportive of mass political violence (Suber and Ware, 2021). Most dramatically, the presence of QAnon followers among the motley crowds that attacked the US Capitol building in 2021 exposed the online conspiracy theory’s potential to incite political unrest (Argentino and Aniano, 2022; Farivar, 2021).

Although QAnon is a decentralised, amorphous and dynamic phenomenon that can be studied from diverse perspectives, researchers in violent extremism and terrorism studies have suggested that the movement’s religious dimensions have played a role in radicalising its followers online (Argentino, 2020a, 2020b; Badham, 2021; Balzakis, 2021; Stanton, 2020). Indeed, survey data documents that the conspiracy theory has found fertile ground among White and Hispanic protestant evangelical communities in the United States (Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 2021a, 2021b, 2022). Moreover, the QAnon supporters who participated in both the 6 January storming of the Capitol in the United States and the 2022 Canadian Freedom Convoy were strongly influenced by QAnon’s supposed religious aspects, especially those related to Christianity (Boorstein, 2021; Lecaque, 2022).

This paper contributes to the study of QAnon’s religiosity and potential connection to violence by performing a visual semiotic analysis of online QAnon religious meme-based imagery taken from the social media platform Telegram. It shows how QAnon’s religious dimensions are mostly (but not exclusively) rooted in Christianity, can best be conceptualised as a form of pseudo-Christian extremism akin to liberation theology and can be argued to share an affinity to violence on this basis. QAnon visual imagery emphasises the importance of Jesus as a saviour and protector against the forces of evil, reinterprets Christian apocalyptic scripture in light of current political events (and vice versa) and encourages supporters to prepare for an ultimate eschatological battle for freedom from oppression. This Christianity-like mythos (termed here ‘pseudo-Christianity’ to distinguish it from normative branches of the religion) shares significant characteristics with liberation theology, potentially radicalising individuals and increasing their propensity to engage in acts of political violence.

The pseudo-Christian extremism that dominates QAnon visual imagery reveals an intrinsically violent socio-political character that draws upon fervent US nationalism, most strikingly a religio-political support for the former President Donald Trump who is viewed as a messiah figure and religious liberator. These themes have been intermixed with religious interpretations of the Covid-19 pandemic as presaging Biblical end-times. The commonalities between these themes and Christian liberation theology are striking. QAnon imagery consistently portrays current politics as a cosmic battle of the oppressed against the oppressors and views Jesus and his elect political leaders such as Trump as a source of liberation from evil. Although important differences exist between Christian liberation theology and QAnon, not least the traditionally left wing and Marxist orientation of liberation theology movements, identifying the pronounced similarities helps to frame QAnon’s contemporary appeal and relationship with anti-government movements.

 

Sheesh….Read much much much moar, long and exhausting how they go on and on and on:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08969205241228744

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 12:54 a.m. No.22530469   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0551 >>0564

Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil’: Interpreting QAnon as a Pseudo-Christian Extremist Movement

 

First published online January 30, 2024

 

>>22530425

>>22530422

>>22530442

 

Sheesh….Read much much much moar, long and exhausting how they go on and on and on:

 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08969205241228744

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 1:14 a.m. No.22530551   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0564

>>22530422

>>22530469

 

Figure 5. Jesus Christ among children and Pepe the Frog and reporting the acronym WWG1WG.

 

Figure 7. Pepe the Frog and the US Capitol depicted as Babylon, reference to nuclear war.

 

Figure 8. Image associating the World Health Organization with Baphomet flanked by children.

 

Figure 9. Image portraying Molech and drawing a parallel between child sacrifice and vaccination.

 

Balzakis J (2021) Op-Ed: why QAnon’s similarity to other cults makes it a significant national security threat. Los Angeles Times, 21 February. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-21/qanon-cults-capitol-attack-trump-threat

 

Argentino M (2020a) In the name of the father, son, and Q: why it’s important to see QAnon as a ‘hyper-real’ religion. Religion Dispatches, 28 May. Available at: https://religiondispatches.org/in-the-name-of-the-father-son-and-q-why-its-important-to-see-qanon-as-a-hyper-real-religion/

 

Balzakis J (2021) Op-Ed: why QAnon’s similarity to other cults makes it a significant national security threat. Los Angeles Times, 21 February. Available at: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-02-21/qanon-cults-capitol-attack-trump-threat

 

Bleakley P (2023) Panic, pizza and mainstreaming the alt-right: a social media analysis of Pizzagate and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy. Current Sociology 71: 509–525.

 

Bloom M, Moskalenko S (2021) Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon. Redwood, CA: Stanford University Press.

 

Conner C, MacMurray N (2022) The perfect storm: a subcultural analysis of the QAnon movement. Critical Sociology 48: 1049–1071.

 

DiMaggio A (2022) Conspiracy theories and the manufacture of dissent: QAnon, the ‘big lie’, Covid-19, and the rise of rightwing propaganda. Critical Sociology 48(6): 1025–1048.

 

Donegan M (2020) QAnon conspiracists believe in a vast pedophile ring. The truth is sadder. The Guardian, 20 September. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/20/qanon-conspiracy-child-abuse-truth-trump

 

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (2019) Anti-Government, Identity Based, and Fringe Political Conspiracy Theories Very Likely Motivate Some Domestic Extremists to Commit Criminal, Sometimes Violent Activity. Washington, DC: FBI. Available at: https://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-ConspiracyTheoryDomesticExtremism.pdf

 

Kingdon A (2021) The meme is the method: examining the power of the image within extremist propaganda. In: Lavorgna A, Holt T (eds) Researching Cybercrimes: Methodologies, Ethics, and Critical Approaches. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.301–326.

 

Meltzer M (2021) How new age spirituality and sensitive masculinity led to QAnon. The Washington Post, 29 March. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/03/29/qanon-new-age-spirituality/

 

Stanton G (2020) QAnon is a Nazi cult, rebranded. Just Security. Available at: https://www.justsecurity.org/72339/qanon-is-a-nazi-cult-rebranded/

 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08969205241228744#fig4-08969205241228744

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 1:22 a.m. No.22530590   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0591 >>0609

>>22530522

 

What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little bitch? I'll have you know I graduated top of my class in the Navy Seals, and I've been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda, and I have over 300 confirmed kills. I am trained in gorilla warfare and I'm the top sniper in the entire

US armed forces. You are nothing to me but just another target. I will wipe you the fuck out with precision the likes of which has never been seen before on this Earth, mark my fucking words. You think you can get away with saying that shit to me over the Internet? Think again, fucker. As we speak I am contacting my secret network of spies across the USA and your IP is being traced right now so you better prepare for the storm, maggot. The storm that wipes out the pathetic little thing you call your life. You're fucking dead, kid. I can be anywhere, anytime, and I can kill you in over seven hundred ways, and that's just with my bare hands. Not only am I extensively trained in unarmed combat, but I have access to the entire arsenal of the United States Marine Corps and I will use it to its full extent to wipe your miserable ass off the face of the continent, you little shit. If only you could have known what unholy retribution your little "clever" comment was about to bring down upon you, maybe you would have held your fucking tongue. But you couldn't, you didn't, and now you're paying the price, you goddamn idiot. I will shit fury all over you and you will drown in it. You're fucking dead, kiddo.

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 1:54 a.m. No.22530631   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0640 >>0644 >>0656 >>0665 >>1100

>>22530607

I would like to know for decades where all the money taken from humongous lottery winners upfront, before lottery winners get to claim prize, where did all the multi-million dollar tax hits go. 37 % straight to the fed off the top.

Elon should look into the lottery tax dollars, mega millions and powerball, especially with all,the wonky draws, delays, no camera drawing next day after midterms, ala edwin castro, california.

His only statement when winning the biggest prize ever, is his name. Edwin Castro. Then the diversion from the wonky draw delay, the lawsuit where another man says ticket stolen from him by Castro. Ticket bought at JOE’s SERVICE station in CALI. As in Joe Biden SERVICE STATION to grab cash for Calfornia money laundering?

Make lotteries legit. Many people like to dream about winning, but it seems to be rigged, not only who really has the winning ticket, but the massive tax money grab. Most other countries do not tax lotteries, but USA grab nearly half from get go.

I hope Elon and DOGE audit the IRS and look into lottery tax funds and then assures that lottery moving forward is legit.

ED ucation WIN s CA lifornia STRO

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 2 a.m. No.22530640   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0665

Edwin Castro statement after winning largest lottery prize ever. 2.2 BILLION.

 

he says :

 

“ED ucation is the real WIN ner.“

CA lifornia STRO”

Edwin Castro

 

Weird, right.

What are the odds his statement is derived from his name.

Fake.

>>22530631

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 2:08 a.m. No.22530656   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0665

>>22530644

Yes.

But it would be great to be able to be able to play and know it is legit.

It could be cleaned up. If Elon and Trump assured it was made to be legit, it would be massive and give people a little dream to fuck around with. Simple stuff. A little dream to carry you through the wage slave week.

Plus, to catch them would be dasting because so many little guys, dreaming of winning would be super pissed to realize they have been scammed for years, they will want people heads, like super , duper normies, who buy lottery tix on the regular. Then to turn it around and make it legit and have Elon tweeting about it, it would be massive.

>>22530631

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 2:31 a.m. No.22530673   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Well, it is fucking funny.

>>22530667

>>22530658 hahahahaaaa

Moms across rhe world will be horrified to hear this, boymoms and girlmoms.

Moms asking, “what’s a jigglier vein?”

Preferably, get on video, the reaction when she understands. Hahahaha

Anonymous ID: d3664d Feb. 7, 2025, 2:55 a.m. No.22530707   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Agree.

Kid needs to be defended for expressing his FREE SPEECH wheter anyone likes it or not.

Perfect time for Elon especially tomhilight free speech, since that is what his social media X is supposed to be all for. Now rehire him and shout from rooftop that everyone has free speech and should be free to exercise it and not fear being fired.

Perfect set up for the discussion.

ELON!!!???

>>22530702