Friday, January 15, 2021

QAnon’s Afterlife: A Holy Civil War — Jack Z. Bratich

QAnon has stirred up the necrotic passions in such a way that a significant sector of the population is ready for martyrdom. One can imagine the future instagram inspo posts now: “Dying my best death!” They already have some martyrs as a result of Jan 6. How many more are to come? More to the point, how will their slogan “where we go one we go all” include those taken against their will?

QAnon, now publicly moribund because it resides secretly in the hearts and hashtag-engorged profiles of its enthusiasts, has completed its mission’s first phase. It has developed a national social network gearing up for a holy war, ready to become fodder for its operators. Someday historians will puzzle over this elusive alphabet letter much like we do over the Nike shoes on Heaven’s Gate corpses. But the stakes this time are much higher.…
Reminds me of Tim LeHay's "The Rapture," where fiction morphs into reality for a lot of people and becomes a social and political influence in a powerful constituency.

Counterpunch
QAnon’s Afterlife: A Holy Civil War
Jack Z. Bratich | associate professor in the journalism and media studies department at Rutgers University

Related (BTW, I don't think that "fascism" is a useful concept unless one defines it operationally.)

Counterpunch
Why There Was No People’s Rebellion Against a Fascist U.S. President: Nine Reasons
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Counterpunch
A (Not-So-New) Profile of the American Right: On the Authoritarian-Fascist Crisis
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Counterpunch
Enabling a Fascist Putsch and Empowering a Big Lie
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The Intercept
“There Was a Very Real Fear That We Would Not Make It Out”: Rep. Pramila Jayapal on Her Escape From the Capitol Riot
Deconstructed

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Counterpunch
Neoliberalism is Fascism with Better Manners
Rob Urie

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"My client did not break into the Capitol, my client had the doors of the Capitol held for him by Capitol police. Mr. Trump invited him to enter the Capitol during his speech prior to the riot," lawyer Albert Watkins said....

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Counterpunch
Congress Votes to Arm Violent Mobs That Storm through Capitols around the World
Ted Rall, political cartoonist and commentator

For the other side

Zero Hedge
The Destructive Hypocrisy Of The Political Left Is What Caused The Capitol Protest
Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

The Unz Review
The Lynch Mob Comes for Citizen Trump
Pat Buchanan

Strategic Culture Foundation
Big Tech and the Democratic Party Are Leading America to a Fascist Future
Robert Bridge

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