QAnon - a quasi-religious formation

Nemes, Márk (2023) QAnon - a quasi-religious formation. In: Válogatott tanulmányok a IV. Interdiszciplináris Vallástudományi Hallgatói Konferencia előadásaiból. SZTE BTK Történeti Intézet, Vallástudományi Tanszék, Szeged, pp. 102-116. ISBN 9789633069455

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Abstract

In the past decade – through the formation of the so-called Web 2.0 architecture1 – newfound frontiers have opened for challenging the verification systems of former metanarratives. Among these frontiers, one overshines any other competitor: the online sphere, and especially social media. Through the catalyzing effects (i.e., sensationalism, the “trending” effect, and the overall ability for mass sharing and connectivity) of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok – combined with the fallacies of checking the truthfulness of the shared information–, researchers have witnessed an unprecedented emergence of parallel “truths.” These alternative chosen truths may thrive best in conspiracy theories. The presence of multiple (even conflicting) answers may provide an unlimited resource for expanding and diversifying their alternative views. These alternative interpretations may also find an extensive market in societies with social environments dominated by distrust, division, and general uncertainty. In the author’s view, these social-environmental requirements – as well as adequate technological embeddedness – were appropriately fulfilled in the United States for the past decade. Through these conditions, as well as the unassailability of personal freedom of expression and free speech – several alternative narrative movements have emerged. Among these, we may find the QAnon movement since 2017. This alt-right-based revolutionist new social movement functions in a quasi-religious meaning system (at least for a certain segment of the American population), offering alternative – yet ultimate –, answers for existential questions, such as one’s place in the world, the reasons behind personal suffering, as well as grand events, like war, diseases, (etc.).

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