Beyond the Obvious: Q-Defectors and Victims of Bullying

In the weeks since Biden’s inauguration, and throughout Trump’s second impeachment trial, there has been speculation over the future of QAnon.

Will all the failed prophecies weaken Q’s hold over mothers, sons, daughters, wives, fathers, husbands, cousins, friends, aunts, and uncles who disappeared behind walls of paranoia, hatred, and fear? Will loved ones begin to reconnect with their (in some cases, former) family and friends? If not, why not? If so, what obstacles still stand in their way?

QAnon’s expanding power-orbit fed on fears of the “deep state,” a coherent conspiracy-scapegoat. It channeled all the insecurities and outrage that flourish in the hearts of "we, the powerless" onto it. Q stoked paranoia and fear by generating increasingly absurd conspiracy-smokescreens, then managed them by marshaling hate (à la "Fight Club" to some, and a white supremacist interpretation of the Book of Revelation to others). Like any queen-bee, Q constantly worked to maintain influence and power through rumors, gossip, and campaigns of public humiliation against (political) rivals.

Yet even now that the lies and fabrications stand more exposed than ever, the hatred and fear have not dissipated. However, they are now untethered, (self-consciously) standing alongside doubt, anger, and confusion.

How will QAnon believers manage the cognitive dissonance (the stress born of an inconsistency between beliefs, actions, and "reality") that has now beset many rank-and-file members?

Confused QAnon adherents will likely do one of three things:

1. Wander away (hopefully back to family and friends).
2. Renew their commitment, spinning vaster (and more outrageous) conspiracy theories to explain the failed "Storm."
3. Shift their allegiance to a different, potentially more radical group.

The potential for renewed commitment is the devil it is important to know. Researchers have been considering this question since 1956, when Leon Festinger and his colleagues published When Prophecy Fails. Most experts today agree that there are three key strategies QAnon adherents will employ in order to survive and rebuild:

1. Rationalization, or explanations for the failure of prophecies, including:

• Human error
• Blaming others
• Test of faith
• Higher spiritual rationales

2. Reaffirmation, or assurances that QAnon is still a viable force. This will rely on:

• in-group support
• decisive leadership
• the sophistication of the group’s ideology (consider how Q’s conspiracies liberally make use of, focus energy around, but do not actually hinge upon, radical religiosity)
• organization (how it has commandeered social media sites, created its own social media networks, and groomed—or shamed—individuals with power and/or public pulpits)
• ritualistic reframing (e.g. January 6th was a purification ritual of sorts, a test to identify the true believers)

3. Proselytization—seemingly counter-intuitive, this strategy is aimed at reducing cognitive dissonance by seeking validation of (newly expanded and rationalized) views from outsiders.

Current evidence suggests that these strategies are emerging in the face of personal struggles that beset the disillusioned, as they muddle through next steps. What direction is “up”? What is fact and what is "fake news"? What are the guideposts, and where does my responsibility lie?

These uncertainties all swirl around more or less diffuse feelings of shame—shame that, in my view, is important to recognize, affirm, and help former Q adherents begin to negotiate. For negotiate it they must, and if we are not solicitous of their existential dilemmas, Q’s remaining minions may be able to coax uncertainty and shame into anger and resentment, crowding the psyches of the confused, running roughshod over their doubt.

Understanding shame as both a social and an existential emotion better positions us to bring them home, and to challenge Q’s survival strategies.

Although tempting, we cannot tell them how to now be in the world, or how to orient their beliefs and actions. But we can understand that their choice to burn bridges and support Q has, in many cases, led to an emotional crisis (and the need to heal an existential wound. "It is not that I followed QAnon, but that I am the type of person who would either be duped by, or align myself with, a paranoid, hate-mongering, white supremacist cult.)

Shame is the non-languaged consequence that returning family and friends will need to negotiate. It may nestle inside seemingly insurmountable fears:

• "How will anyone ever fully love or trust me again?"
• "Where will I ever again fully belong?"
• "Am I worthy of belonging anywhere anymore?"

Our best response to these (unspoken) questions is to be aggressively empathetic. To focus on the integrity of a person who can admit that they want/need to change course, rather than 'strengthen' their defection with more comprehensive fact-checking (i.e. deepen the shame).

Embarrassment Essential Reads

Managing Embarrassment

Shaming Is an Aggressive Act

Online support groups have mushroomed overnight. In them, former members talk about their “addiction” to exploring twisting and turning conspiracy-tunnels in the Q rabbit hole. Casualties of the information war have already begun bonding with others, creating strategies that "reaffirm" their former lives.

For our part, we can encourage our loved ones to lessen the severity of their self-judgments. Instead, we can foster pride in their willingness to take on this existential challenge.

One final note: We should not forget that perhaps the most frequent response to shame is anger. Anger forestalls any existential crisis by vehemently denying the dissonant facts that tentacle around our breast.

And, for every member who abandons their commitment to Q, there may be one who stays ensnared. One who is not "weak." One who is "chosen," who is able to "see through the hoaxes" of a Biden administration or a COVID pandemic, and who continues to enjoy all the benefits of belonging. One who stares down the apparent cognitive dissonance which would arise, had Q’s prophecies genuinely failed.

Rationalization and reaffirmation of moral purpose (and the headiness of "insider with secret knowledge") will allow any number of followers to stay the course. And, “if men (sic) define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”