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The recent Senate acquittal of former president Donald Trump renewed attention on QAnon followers, with reports that some followers are taking the trial result as evidence of the correctness of their beliefs, galvanizing their faith in "the plan." Prior to the acquittal vote, other QAnon followers had soured on the group, particularly after the failed prophecy on January 6 that Trump would remain president.
Families are also experiencing hard feelings and tensions associated with QAnon, as people struggle to relate with family members who are strong believers.
<p>Whether a follower decides to leave or stay, outsiders and loved ones would do well to resist ridiculing. Deprogramming cultish beliefs is difficult under the best of circumstances. Shaming and making fun of adherents may make you feel good, but it won't help you achieve the more important goal of getting back your loved ones. Social science helps us understand why.</p><p><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iowa-caucus-voters-polarized-america-can-learn-something-1950s-ufo-ncna1127796" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">I wrote earlier</a> about the ways devotees to a cause can respond in the wake of a failed prediction. While there are acute differences between the Seekers cult and QAnon followers, particularly when it comes to their post-disconfirmation behavior thus far, we'd be naive to not learn from the allegiances of past failed prophecies.</p><p>The Seekers example dates back to 1954 when a Doomsday group believed the world would end in a catastrophic flood with only the believers in the group being spared. Social psychologist Leon Festinger <a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Prophecy-Fails-Leon-Festinger/dp/1578988527" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chronicled the group's actions</a> in the months leading up to and after the prophesied day of destruction.</p><p>What was remarkable about the Seekers (and which confirmed Festinger's famous theory of cognitive dissonance) was that when faced with knowledge of the failed prediction—there was no flood—believers not only doubled down on their belief, but immediately began to proselytize. They became desperate to win new converts.</p><p>This may resemble what we're seeing with QAnon followers post-acquittal, but by comparison, it's hard to say what they're currently thinking. Perhaps some are laying low and biding their time. Perhaps <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/16/tech/qanon-believer-how-he-got-out/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">others have abandoned the group</a> (as did some of the Seekers). Some may be experiencing a restored sense of hope given the most recent failed impeachment of Trump, but we haven't yet seen evidence of increased proselytizing by QAnon adherents.</p><p>Both groups experienced a failed prediction on a massive scale, a prediction in which both groups' followers believed strongly and to which they demonstrated fierce commitment. Seekers did so by giving up their jobs and handing over their possessions and savings, while QAnon followers risked exposure and prosecution on January 6 by rioting in the nation's capital. But what determines whether QAnon followers will increase their proselytizing?</p><p>Inspired by Festinger's test of his theory of cognitive dissonance, scientists Jane Hardyck and Marcia Braden <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fh0048636" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">published a report</a> of a doomsday group they observed in 1962 called the Church of the True Word. The group also faced a disconfirmed prophecy that the world would soon end in nuclear war. In commitment to their belief, the group had built underground fallout shelters and stocked them with canned and dehydrated food, large jugs of water, and power generators. On word that the group's prophet had received a divine message, having already been inspired by certain passages of the book of Revelation, 135 followers headed into their shelters.</p><p>Of those who went in, 103 remained for a full 42 days and nights. The faithful received word to come out. Those who'd stayed inside claimed that their stay had strengthened their faith and increased their belief in the work of the group. While the Seekers reframed their own failed prediction as God having spared the world, the True Word group reacted in the same vein by claiming God was testing their faith. In other words, some members of both groups clung to their beliefs.</p><p>However, whereas the Seekers desperately began to search for new converts, the True Word group did not. What made the difference? The observations of scientists Hardyck and Braden suggested one possibility: news coverage of the Seekers was largely disdainful and ridiculing. By contrast, the True Word followers received very little ridicule from news outlets or local townspeople. In fact, the town mayor was quoted as explicitly calling for no one to ridicule the group for their beliefs.</p><p>It was ridicule that backed the Seekers into a corner from which relief could come only by attempting to find other people who believed the same. Because the True Word followers weren't ridiculed, they were not pushed to the point where they felt no recourse but to proselytize. Herein lies the lesson for us.</p><p>Your loved one's next move may depend on the amount of ridicule they experience. It may be tempting to scoff at the group, but in the end it may be counterproductive. If we really want to shrink QAnon, or at least curb its outreach efforts and heal our families, we have to recall the differences in treatment given to followers of the failed prophecies of the past. That's not to say people who broke the law or engaged in other antisocial behavior shouldn't be held accountable, but history does have a way of repeating itself.</p><p><em><a href="https://hope.edu/directory/people/dibble-jayson/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jayson Dibble</a> is an associate professor of communication at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.</em></p>
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John Oliver takes down Fox News for refusing to cover domestic terrorism over fake 'canceling' of Dr. Seuss
March 08, 2021
The last word on the Fox News Dr. Seuss nonsense came from John Oliver, who called out the right-wing for their fake conspiracy that the beloved children's book author was canceled. As Oliver explained, he wasn't, his estate decided not to publish six of his books anymore, which Oliver explained as an example of the free markets at work.
Oliver explained that the real reason that Fox News wanted to get people up in arms about Dr. Seuss was to avoid talking about domestic terrorism in the United States.
<p>
During the fake scandal, FBI Director Christopher Wray was testifying before Congress, a story carried live by every major news network except Fox.
</p><p>
"We at the FBI don't tend to think of violent extremism in terms of right, left, that's not a spectrum that we look at," said Wray. "What I would say is that it is clear .... a large and growing number of the people that we have arrested so far in the connection with the 6th are what we would call militia violent extremists like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers ... and some already who emerged that I would have been in the racially motivated extremist bucket."
</p><p>
According to conservatives, the attack was prompted by "fake Trump protesters," a conspiracy theory that gained traction <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/conservative-antifa-lies-scapegoating-conspiracies/" target="_blank">off of a false story published by the <em>Washington Times</em>.</a> It was a myth that Wray dispelled, but Fox News viewers never found out about it because they were too busy making up another conspiracy that Democrats somehow canceled Dr. Seuss.
</p><p>
"We have not seen evidence of that," Wray told the senators this week.
</p><p>
"Yeah, of course, you haven't because it's not f*cking true," said Oliver. "Despite everything, it's still amazing that he has to debunk a conspiracy theory that is so obviously false. It'd be like to swear under oath that three lemurs in a trench coat didn't commit the Oklahoma City bombing. Of course, they didn't, and anyone who suggested that they did clearly has some significantly bigger problems."
</p><p>
"Now that testimony was pretty newsworthy," continued Oliver. "But while some networks took the hearings live Fox, not surprisingly, barely covered it. In fact, across conservative platforms, you'd hardly know that hearing happened because they were too busy with this."
</p><p>
He went on to show a montage of conservative hosts losing their minds over Dr. Seuss. He went on to dispel the conspiracy theory and have the last word on the right-wings desperate attempts to make something "cancel culture" that hasn't actually been canceled.
</p><p>
See the video below:
</p><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" src="https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x7zrnnn" style="width:100%;height:100%;position:absolute;left:0px;top:0px;overflow:hidden" type="text/html" width="100%"> </iframe> </div>
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President Joe Biden intends to strike back against Russia for their cyberattack on the United States government, the New York Times reported. It might be the start of something with China as well.
According to the report, the response against Russia will take place in the next three weeks as the U.S. aims to "impose a steeper penalty on rivals who regularly exploit vulnerabilities in government and corporate defenses to spy, steal information and potentially damage critical components of the nation's infrastructure," the Times said.
<p>It's the first move against Russia in years as former President Donald Trump was never capable of holding Russia accountable. </p><p>"The issue has taken on added urgency at the White House, the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies in recent days after the public exposure of a major <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/technology/microsoft-hack-china.html" target="_blank" title="">breach in Microsoft email systems</a> used by small businesses, local governments and, by some accounts, key military contractors," the report explained. </p><p>In that case, Microsoft identified China as the intruder in the system, but the Pentagon and national intelligence agencies have not done so publicly.</p><p>"The White House is undertaking a whole of government response to assess and address the impact" of the Microsoft hack, a statement from the White House said. <span></span></p><p>It's possible that if state-sponsored hackers in China are concluded to be behind the attack on Microsoft, Biden could also act against China. </p><p><span></span>"I actually believe that a set of measures that are understood by the Russians, but may not be visible to the broader world, are actually likely to be the most effective measures in terms of clarifying what the United States believes are in bounds and out of bounds, and what we are prepared to do in response," said Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/us/politics/microsoft-solarwinds-hack-russia-china.html" target="_blank">Read the full report at the</a> <em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/us/politics/microsoft-solarwinds-hack-russia-china.html">New York Times. </a></em></p>
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