Collective Conspiracists

This photograph captures a protester holding a sign that expresses their opposition to various issues, such as vaccines, lockdowns, and GMOs. The text on the sign suggests the protester's disbelief and distrust in a variety of political issues, many of which seem very unrelated, such as chemtrails, the New World Order, child trafficking, masks, and even the 5G network. At the top of the sign reads the word "plandemic," which is a term that gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic capturing the idea that the virus and its related restrictions are part of a larger, orchestrated plan. While many people share similar beliefs, the statements on the sign can largely be traced back to a group called QAnon. QAnon is a conspiracy theory movement that sprung to existence on online forums such as 4chan and 8chan, where an anonymous user who went by the name "Q" began posting cryptic messages in 2017. The messages claimed to have insider information about a secret plot by high-ranking government officials, Hollywood celebrities, and other elites to traffic children and undermine Trump's presidency. QAnon supporters, who call themselves "anons," began interpreting and spreading the messages, building a community around the conspiracy theory. By displaying this sign, this protester shows their rejection of mainstream information and a deep-seated distrust towards institutions such as the government, the media, and the scientific community.   

 Jefffrey Alexander accurately predicted the emergence of a group like QAnon as a result of anti civil relations in the civil sphere. Alexander claims that if our motives as social actors are calm, realistic, and rational, then our civil relations will be open, trusting, and honorable. However, if social actors are “irrational, dependent, passive, wild-passionate, and unrealistic,” then this will characterize their social relationships, as well. He continues, “Rather than open and trusting relationships, they will form secret societies that are premised on their suspicion of other human beings. To the authority within these secret societies they will be deferential, but to those outside their tiny group they will behave in a greedy and self-interested way. They will be conspiratorial, deceitful toward others, and calculating in their behavior, conceiving of those outside their group as enemies” (2006:58). These statements could have been written today describing the state of our civil sphere, and QAnon is a perfect example of this. However, though solidarity is difficult to achieve between members of this conspiratorial group and outsiders, there is a sense of solidarity on the inside. Q’s supporters are all joined together by their shared values and morals. We can also see Durkheim’s theory of collective effervescence at play, especially when members of QAnon come together in person, such as at rallies or at the January 6th insurrection. In these situations, a sense of pride and heightened emotions takes over. “In the midst of an assembly animated by a common passion,” Durkheim says, “we become susceptible of acts and sentiments of which we are incapable when reduced to our own forces; and when the assembly is dissolved and when, finding ourselves alone again, we fall back to our ordinary level, we are able to measure the height to which we have been raised above ourselves” (2015:155). When we consider Alexander’s theories of anticivil relationships and motives along with Durkheim’s ideas of effervescence and collective consciousness, it becomes a little easier to see how something like QAnon could get so out of hand.