The Truth is Out There (Not in Here)!

I believe QAnon was deliberate signal interference and distraction from genuine activism – don’t fall for that again.

The storm isn’t coming. That much must be clear by now to even the most ardent Trump supporters. If it wasn’t clear over the first 100 days of his current term, the sudden ‘disappearance’ of the Epstein client list must surely come as a stark reminder that Donald Trump was never the saviour of US politics. For all the QAnon talk of mass arrests and elite takedowns, the evidence for this most corrupt account of elite criminality has been faded into oblivion. There will be no justice, no more high-profile accountability. Those looking for it must be satisfied with the ‘suiciding’ of Jeffrey Epstein and the incarceration of Ghislaine Maxwell, for trafficking under-age girls to apparently nobody.

If Trump truly were the unstoppable outsider taking down corrupt power structures wouldn’t this have been his moment? Instead, it rather looks like business as usual. This sudden silence around the Epstein files screams louder than any cryptic “Q” drop. The storm is in a teacup, and Trump just poured it down the sink.

Knowing a Q-miner or two myself back when QAnon was ‘all the rage’, though never being one, I was concerned at the time that the whole movement could be a clever psyop. Carl Jung said “If you cannot understand why someone did something, look at the consequences – and infer the motivation.” It’s a blunt instrument, but applying it to my otherwise intelligent and engaged friends getting sucked in to the movement, often spending hours or days (or even making it their full-time occupation) to decode cryptic “Q” drops made me question – what if that was the whole point? What if the spending the time glued to their screen was the objective, while real politics happened outside their window?

“If Q supposedly knows all this stuff, why doesn’t he just come out and say it, why be so cryptic?” I asked one of my more ardent QAnon friends. I don’t want to sound rude, but the reply about why it was important that QAnons do the digging and work it out for themselves didn’t make much sense to me. To me it had all the hallmarks of a deliberate game being played on the gullible, so I never got sucked in.

So, what made it so captivating to those who did get sucked in? The answer is simple: ambiguity was the hook. This anonymous movement, fuelled by cryptic online posts attributed to an anonymous entity known as “Q” managed to captivate millions with its promise of exposing deep-state secrets and foreshadowing a grand revelation. By keeping things cryptic, Q gave followers just enough to feel like they were discovering hidden truths, but without ever having to prove anything. Rather than seeing the vagueness as a flaw, they seemed to interpret it as a sign of depth, importance, and secrecy, making followers feel like insiders, part of a special group decoding secret truths hidden from the general public. The vagueness made it an endless round of interpretation, where believers could always read the “drops” in a way that confirmed their hopes, while any failed prediction could be chalked up to misinterpretation, shifting timelines, or secret moves behind the scenes. It was very much a gamified experience – like a scavenger hunt for truth – where the process of decoding the mystery kept people engaged, emotionally invested and importantly – distracted.

To my mind a genuine whistleblower wouldn’t play guessing games. They’d expose the facts clearly. Yet, Q didn’t offer ‘truth’ – he offered a puzzle designed to keep people chasing their tails, while shielding his narrative from accountability.

The internet has always been a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and misinformation, so I offer a theory of my own – QAnon was a psyop. The addictive and conspiratorial nature for those so pre-disposed, proved a huge distraction. Instead of getting outside and demanding real change, followers got hooked on the game. Instead of channelling their energies into meaningful activism, they became enthralled by the promise of a binary world where evil was about to be vanquished. In this sense, QAnon was a self-contained universe that thrived on the very idea of change while actively diverting people from effecting that change. The collective fixation on this narrative meant that many potential activists were sidetracked from making a real difference in the world (or a real difference to a specific election).

Which brings me to the other aspect of QAnon worthy of our consideration. QAnon is a near-perfect example of the “Big Lie” tactic, described by both Hitler and later by political theorists, as a propaganda technique wherein you tell a lie so colossal, so emotionally gripping, that people assume it must be true because they can’t believe someone would invent something so outrageous. Yet, for others, especially since the bubble has burst, by being so fantastical in its delivery it also has the effect of poisoning the well about genuine corruption. Because QAnon wrapped legitimate concerns – like elite exploitation, human trafficking, and abuse of power – inside cryptic layers of fantasy believed by some of the least credible, any future discussion of real abuse or ritualistic behaviour is now tainted by association with the discredited narrative of QAnon.

Paradoxically, if something like ritual abuse were happening among elite or institutional circles, QAnon, rather than exposing it, would have been the best possible cover. It seemed to bury real corruption under a mountain of nonsense. By flooding the information space with noise, misinformation, and theatrical claims the signal (any truth) becomes impossible to detect. If such things are happening, QAnon made it easier for any real abusers to hide in plain sight, knowing that any accusation too close to a discredited narrative could be instantly laughed off as conspiracy nonsense, radioactive, untouchable by mainstream media (or at least provide the excuse to not touch it).

Although QAnon might have achieved one thing – running interference while keeping millions glued to their screens but doing nothing useful – the very fact that this phenomenon has been recognised as such presents an opportunity for us to reassess our priorities. We can choose between a world where conspiracy theories allow us to wait passively for corruption to be rooted out by invisible actors or one where we become the peaceful agents of change allowing genuine activism to take centre stage, by addressing systemic issues through concerted grassroots efforts and informed civic engagement.

Political change requires tedious work. It means knocking on doors, writing to councillors and MPs, showing up at meetings, building alliances across differences, and engaging in the long grind of civic action. QAnon, instead, offered a shortcut. It told people that they already knew the secret truth, that their online research was more valuable than political participation, and that justice would soon be delivered by unseen heroes working behind the scenes.

As the dust settles on QAnon’s ephemeral presence the lesson is clear: those who genuinely wish to effect change must be willing to go outside and put in the campaigning effort required – not simply follow online rabbit holes or passively await a mythical ‘coming storm’.

The opportunity is ours; let’s not waste it again.