I Understand Why Q-Anon Is Hard To Quit

Let’s call it what it is: a death cult. Trigger warning, suicide/conspiracy theories/CSA

Recently, I’ve been researching Q-Anon casualties — a literal message board on Reddit that details what life is like for people who have lost friends, lovers, and family members to the dangerous conspiracy theory group known as Q-Anon.

Anyone who’s been close to cults can tell you that Q-Anon functions a lot like a cult. And while the premise of the cult is laughable and even debunked, it’s clear these guys are going to be around for a while. Let me explain why.

First, let’s talk about what Q-Anon is.

The premise of Q-Anon is hard to explain. It started with two people from 8Chan who claimed to have a top secret clearance called “Q Clearance.” They claimed they saw children being abused by politicians for something called adrenochrome.

Q-Anon followers used to wait for “drops,” which were minor, vague clues left by “Q.” They would then come up with what this meant. It sounds like an ARG or a game, but it’s not. The people who got involved in Q-Anon started to believe it.

Q would make predictions that didn’t come true, including having Trump reinstated as president, the Republicans saving a bunch of kids, a global cabal, and more bizarrely, the discovery of a sex dungeon on the moon.

Most people recognize them as the people who claimed that “cheese pizza” was a code name for shipping kids to abuse. They also were the ones who used the #savethechildren hashtag, much to my chagrin as a trafficking survivor.

Hey, at least their hearts are in the right place. Kind of.

In recent years, Q-Anon conspiracy theorists took on a deadly turn. It’s not just their refusal to get vaccinated. Many Q-Anon followers were caught at the January 6 coup, and also have been linked to conspiracies to commit murder.

Most people who get involved in this conspiracy cult aren’t bad people. Some are even nurses, teachers, or DJs. (Looking at you, Qbert.) Unfortunately, it’s a cult. It’s a dangerous cult, and yes, that’s what it is.

Why is Q-Anon so alluring to so many people?

No one goes to sleep, then wakes up the next day asking why there’s a sex dungeon on the moon. The claims Q made were ridiculous, even laughable. But, that’s just the thing. It’s a mix of things that drew people in.

Q-Anon is one of many online radicalization groups that gives people a rush of fear and anger. More importantly, though, it gives people someone to blame for the shit that’s going on in their life. Let me explain why this is so important to understand.

• Q-Anon operates the same way doomscrolling does. Did you ever read the news, knowing it’d make you angry, but you couldn’t stop reading? It’s the same thing. Anger is addictive, which is why doomscrolling is so common.
• Fear can be just as addictive as anger. Actually, there’s something to be said about how addictive paranoia can be, in its own warped way. When you’re very paranoid, you keep reading the sources telling you to be paranoid because you’re terrified that you won’t know what to watch for.
• The idea of being beholden to rare or unique information unavailable to the mainstream is alluring. This is one of the most common reasons why people love conspiracy theories. They love the idea of knowing something others don’t, or being “awakened to the truth.”
• Participating in groups like Q-Anon makes people feel like they are fighting the good fight, even if they aren’t. Q fans love the idea of helping take down a major cabal of rich and wealthy people. They also like the idea of being a force of good in a massive battle against evil. It’s easy to see why. Who doesn’t like the idea of being a hero in a movie-like plot?
• Being involved with Q-Anon can also be an ego stroke. If you see things through the eyes of a Q follower, you’re a hero and you’re smarter than the people who live in the mainstream.
• With the amount of conspiracy theory videos Q followers watch, the propaganda becomes their reality. Even if you are strong-willed, you will start to believe things that you’re repeatedly told. One of the reasons why radicalization works is because of the repetition of the same core concepts.

Here’s how Q-Anon ends up destroying families.

Once you’re in a cult, it’s hard to leave. It’s not just because having your beliefs questioned can make you feel affronted, either. It’s because of the effect that radicalization has on you — and Q-Anon absolutely radicalized others.

When you read a lot of stuff that makes you angry, you can start getting addicted to that rage. Worse, you start staying angry, too. This often comes out among Q-Anon followers as angry rants towards their friends and family.

After a while, Q-Anon believers tend to attack their family members via berating them for even questioning whether or not Q exists. Why? Because they are addicted to the rage.

Sometimes, this actually can cause the indoctrination to spread to others. However, most people won’t fall for it. Eventually, like this Redditor shows, some people say, “Enough is enough.”

This, of course, creates an echo chamber. This means that the only people who stay around them are the ones who agree with them — thereby reinforcing the effect that Q has on people.

Just so we’re all clear, this is how all major extremist groups and cults tend to operate. They isolate the victims and followers so that their cult’s tenets and information become more real.

The effects of Q are so poisonous, they can kill.

You can read that and you’ll see what I mean. There are literally dozens of posts about people attempting suicide as a result of being indoctrinated into the cult of Q.

Sometimes the suicides are successful. This is how dangerous Q can be. Thankfully, most people who get into Q-Anon start to realize nothing predicted ever happens. They also start to realize how foolish they were being.

This doesn’t always translate into leaving the cult.

But why don’t they leave, even after they stop believing it?

Here’s the strange thing about cults that people don’t realize until they’re in one: by the time you realize it’s a sham, you’ve lost everyone around you that’s not involved. In many cases, Q followers also got grifted into giving their money away or funneling it into doomsday bunkers.

Believe it or not, recovering from a cult is very difficult — primarily because you lose all the friends and family you had in the cult. This is why a lot of people who are stuck in cults don’t leave.

People are naturally wired to “follow” their support network and stay with people who align with their ethics. It’s a natural instinct that often kills people who lean into it for too long. In fact, it’s why many people stayed in Jonestown.

If you have a loved one who’s a Q-Anon follower, the best thing you can do is leave your phone number with them and tell them that you’ll talk to them if and only if they are ready to rethink their beliefs. Give them the rope they need to pull themselves out of the quicksand.

The only way to deradicalize people away from Q is to cut off the source of their toxic beliefs and to let them know you’re here for them. The more you show them positive media that proves that Q isn’t real, the better off your partner will be — but only if they want to be okay.