QAnon: Antisemitism-Tinged, Bizarre Conspiracy Theory Is a Fast-Spreading Cancer!

A recent survey yielded shocking results that should concern all rational, decent Americans — and American Jews in particular. The headline of The New York Times report on the survey: “QAnon Now as Popular in U.S. as Some Major Religions, Poll Suggests.”
 
Conducted by the Religion Research Institute and the Interfaith Youth Core, the poll found “15 percent of Americans say they think that the levers of power are controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles, a core belief of QAnon supporters. The same share said it was true that ‘American patriots may have to resort to violence’ to depose the pedophiles and restore the country’s rightful order.”
 
Less than a year ago, The Guardian newspaper published an article (“QAnon explained: the antisemitic conspiracy theory gaining traction around the world”) that stated: “Nobody knows, but we think [the number of QAnon believers is] at least 100,000 people. Experts in conspiracy theories point out that belief in QAnon is far from common.”
 
Fifteen percent of the U.S. population is not exactly “far from common.” It adds up to tens of millions of Americans. And the phenomenon is not limited to this country. From TheHill.com in September 2020: “The QAnon movement is spreading around the world, turning an outlandish conspiracy theory revolving around President Trump into one of the nation’s most dangerous exports… Researchers have found large QAnon communities in more than 70 countries.”
 
So far there is just one openly QAnon-supporting member of Congress: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green. However, reports say dozens of QAnon believers may be waiting in the wings for the 2022 midterms to run for office.
 
Taylor Greene is the congresswoman who claimed Jewish-owned lasers in outer space were responsible for the devastating California wildfires of 2020. She’s now followed up on that gem by comparing COVID mask mandates to the “gold stars” that Nazis forced Jews to wear before they were sent to the gas chambers.
 
Of course, the stars were not gold; they were yellow. Gold stars are given to school children who excel in their studies, as well to families of fallen members of the U.S. armed forces to honor their sacrifice. A quibbling point, perhaps, yet another indication of Taylor Greene’s seemingly endless ignorance.
 
(For more about Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest outrageous statement, see our new DESPICABLE section.)
 
As for the antisemitic nature of QAnon, back to The Guardian: “QAnon also has its roots in much older antisemitic conspiracy theories. The idea of the all-powerful, world-ruling cabal comes straight out of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fake document purporting to expose a Jewish plot to control the world that was used throughout the 20th century to justify antisemitism.”
 
(Don’t miss Part Two of our in-depth conversation with Mark Weitzman about The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. See the INTERVIEWS section.)
 
So there you have it. QAnon is a rapidly metastasizing cancer on the body of the human race. How to excise the cancer — or at least stop or reverse its spread — is a difficult question of great importance.
 
— Lenny Giteck, Publisher and Editor
 
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