Q and On is now the most prolific online conspiracy theory of the twenty one century. None of their predictions came true. Q has vanished and the storm never came, but Q and On is still alive. I'm Jake Hanrahan, and this is series two of Q Clearance, a podcast shedding light on the ongoing Q and on conspiracy theory. This is a production of Kudatar Media and I Heart Radio.
Today is the final episode of Q Clearance, And with that, I want to try and recap on everything we've learned to better understand where Q and On might be headed now. So first I want to focus on December of this year, the upcoming December in a few months. If Q doesn't return before then, that will be a full twelve months without a Q drop. This is something I keep coming back to because I think it's actually quite a big
signifier of how Q and On has mutated. They don't even have a leader telling them what to do now, but they're still moving forward now. One thing I was quite wrong about in the last series was that I suspected the Q and On movement would begin to crumble rapidly once Q stopped posting the drops. I thought without their leader, the followers would all start dropping like flights.
Whilst this was initially true to some degree at the beginning, the collapse of the original Q and on routine has actually, in the long term lead to a strengthened resurgence in the movement and what I think can be best described now as Q and on two point oh, that is the new iteration of Q and on. Now, with this new iteration, I think one thing is very clear after looking into it for a while. Out of sight does not mean out of mind when it comes to Q
and on. Just because the movement was chased off of mainstream social media and because it vantaged from the news, doesn't mean it's followers disappeared. Sure, plenty of them did throw in the towel, and they eventually realized they've been tricked. However, what remained was the most hardcore of the hardcore, and if the telegram channels or anything to go by, it
is still talking hundreds of thousands of people. This, in my opinion, is where Q and On truly becomes its most dangerous, when it mutated from a ridiculous conspiracy based internet movement to something more akin to a decentralized extremist cult. That's how I would personally label Q and On two point oh if I had to simplify it. Now, there is a lot more to we know. We've explored this with Q clearance, but again, to put a bow in it,
it is basically a gigantic conspiracy theory cult. Things have gone a lot darker too. With the evolution of Q and On two point oh has come a new accepted extremism within the movement that was previously taboo to acknowledge out loud within Q and On circles. Yes, many of the theories Q and On is built upon borrow heavily from anti Semitic conspiracies. Yes, there's deep undertones of racism in the Q and On rehetoric at times, but the original form of Q and On at least pretended to
shun racism and anti Semitism. I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's just the way it was. Now though, within Q and On two point oh there is a split and within the factions that that has created. Racism and outright neo Nazism is often accepted and even promoted. It if you subscribe to the right Q and on telegram channels you can basically view each Q and on
offshoot in real time. It's clear that whilst it's growing stronger in some ways, the movement is shattered into different webs of ideology, all under the same insane Q and On umbrella. It seems that without Q, without Trump, where we go, one we go? All is now just words. There is no real unity amongst the Q and Ons. Now there are different camps of thought within the movement. You have Q and on is now who subscribe to
the ideas of ghost Ezra. He is a Q and On neo Nazi that's been slowly playing his followers with Hitler. Wasn't such a bad guy bullshit for a while now. He's also on the wackiest end of the conspiracy spectrum, floating ideas of reptilians and bodied bubbles. His channel has over three hundred thousand subscribers. Then there's the q and Ons who subscribe to the more conventional q and On ideas of Praying medic. He's one of the original q
and On personalities. Him and his followers are still pushing the idea that Trump is secretly in control. Praying Medic thinks Q will come back and take over blah blah blah. He's also trying his hardest to call out the racist Nazi Q and on camps that have emerged. Ironically enough, this has him throwing war on some of the most out there conspiracy theories that were actually once part of
the original user generated Q and on canon. Recently, for example, he wrote the following, which looks to be a shot taken at ghost Ezra's camp quote why do they push fantastic claims? Certain accounts on social medi media share unbelievable claims with their followers. There appears to be a single
overarching reason why they do it. These accounts often post legitimate news and information on current events for a period of time, but then they will suddenly share something out of the norm, like the idea that Hitler wasn't really such a bad guy, or that James Comey or Hillary Clinton have been secretly executed. If I were to tell you the moon was made of cheese, you may not believe me, but I could respond prove that it isn't
made of cheese. To prove conclusively that the moon is not made of cheese, we would have to go there in person and inspect the surface of the moon. That isn't possible right anyway, end quote. It goes on like that. As you can see, their Praying Medic is basically calling out other Q and on groups who are becoming more
extreme and spreading even more fantastic conspiracy theories. Imagine that some of the Q and on conspiracy theories in the new movement even too radical to out there for the originators of Q and On, It's kind of ironic when you think about it. Anyway, Praying Medic, despite being a start up Q and On influencer from day one, actually has less than half as many subscribers as ghost Ezra,
with just over one and ten thousand. Then moving on, there's the q and On spirituality camp that believe the half baked and completely failed predictions of Q are actually some sort of prophecies from a different dimension. I swear to God this is what they believe. These lot mostly congregate on a channel called five D Full Disclosure. They only have thirty subscribers, but what they lack in membership they make up for in complete and total madness, trust me.
Then around all of this there's the more conventional hard core conservative conspiracy apes that latch onto Mike Flynn and lynn Wood, the ladder of which seems to be mostly these days posting about God and how his Q and on mania has wrecked his family. It's all quite pathetic, to be honest. Still, Lynnwood has nearly nine hundred thousands subscribers, clearly has a lot of cloud in the Q and
on community. Still there are other camps outside of these as well, but generally they all have some variations of these ideas. So now not only is Q and On in some kind of shadow war against the deep State, or at least they think they are, they're also at
war with each other. Whilst these varying degrees of delusion sound funny to speak about, and I know I've been kind of laughing whilst looking into it, we must always remind ourselves that several people have already died as a direct influence of the frenzied madness that is Q and actually is not a game, and it's not funny. One of the saddest examples of death by Q and On is,
of course, Ashley Babbitt. Actually bubb It was shot dead during the January six Capital Building riot by a police officer as she tried to climb a ledge whilst breaching, smashed in the security door. Actually, Babbitt laid there, bleeding on the ground, with a Make America Great Again flag draped around her shoulders. Bwad is up to Congress to confront dis egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we're gonna walk down, and I'll be there with you.
We're gonna walk down. We're gonna walk down to the capital, and we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congress men and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. Actually, bubb It later died in hospital. She was just thirty five years old. Babb It was a true believer in q and On.
Despite this, Whilst many initially saw her as a martyr, her status was quickly cast down when Q and On's claimed her death was in fact a false flag event designed to make them look bad. Bubb It was an
Air Force veteran who served in Iraq. Q and Ons took this and ran with it, deciding she was in fact working for the kabal of pedophiles and deep state actors that they believe they're fighting against ironic clear enough, even after effectively dying for the cause of q and On, actually, Babbitt was turned into parts of the evil conspiracy she
believed in. In total, five people lost their lives in the midst of the January sixth Capital Building riot, which, as we've already established, was massively connected to Q and On. Brian sick Nick, a member of the Capitol Police Force, died after being beaten by protesters and sprayed with mace. He was forty two years old. Kevin Greson, a former Obama support turned MAGA loyalist, died of a heart attack as protesters became more rowdy. It's believed he was on
the phone to his wife as it happened. He was fifty five. Rosanne Boiland, a hard core Q and On believer, was crushed to death as other MAGA rioters tried to fight through a police line. She was just thirty four years old. Ben Phillips, a big time Trump loyalists who believed in some of the conspiracy theories of Q and On, died of a stroke after attending the riot. En route, he told the media. He believed it was the first day of the rest of our lives for the movement.
He was fifty. Now some people have pointed out that the majority of people who lost their lives during the January sixth Capital Building riot were Q and On or MAGO loyalists, and that it doesn't matter. It does matter. Forget your political affiliations and pearl clutching for a moment and consider that these were all real people with lives, aspirations,
and families. Sadly, for whatever reasons, they weren't wise enough to realize how unbelievably stupid Q and On his they were manipulated, roped in, and tricked by a bunch of sociopathic internet goons from h N online. Lots of people still think that's funny, but ultimately people are now dead due to a fake prediction that sprung up on an
image board in October. From that to this, Q and On is not a partisan issue, as we've discussed, It's mutated into something much more extreme that can affect everyone. The wreckage it leaves in its wake is felt all across the political spectrum. Now, I'm not saying Q and On is the next terror movement. I don't think calling January six rioters insurgents makes any sense, and I'm also
not saying more Q and on violence is a definite. However, I do think that it's worth paying attention to the way it's evolved, and it should most definitely not be ignored just because it's no longer trending. So what can you do to help stop people falling into the trap of Q and on two point Oh? Honestly, I'm not even sure anymore. I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you, but that's where it is. In the last series, we asked this question when Q and on
was coming to the end of its first phase. Now, though without its leader, it's built autonomous cells with different ideas, that's much harder to tackle. All we can do is focus on the biggest issue currently. I think that is the fact fascist groups have purposely targeted Q and on channels as a means to infiltrate and convert already wide eyed conspiracy nuts that are there. It goes to Ezra's Mountain support base is anything to go by, They're clearly
quite successful. Now I've seeing these Nazi supporters toying with Q and On supporters in real time on telegram. They don't steam him with swastickers and gas chambers at first. What they're often doing is taking on the role of a Q and On adherent and asking more and more extreme questions, linking everything back to racist myths and anti Semitism. They engage with the q and Ons and turn up slow boil until Hitler was right becomes an accepted point
of view. Their methods are clever and very fucked up. I don't know how to stop someone believing in hateful political ideas, but I do know stopping those spreading them helps. I would say at this point, if people really want to help stop the spread of Q and On, they need to get active. That doesn't mean publishing a fifty tweet thread on why someone somewhere did something bad. It doesn't mean laughing in the face of Q and On's.
It doesn't mean showing at them, screaming at them. What getting active could mean is participating in the many online investigations currently taking place to unmask the neo Nazis infiltrating Q and On circles. Perhaps, if you've got time, have a listen back to the series, listen to the guests and think, how could you help, Maybe reach out to a few of them. I'm sure they'd appreciate the help. As of now, Q and on remains a burning wildfire
of hate, conspiracy theory, and cult like manipulation. As it stands, Q and on is yet to die out. Logic, common sense, the fall of Trump and online the platform NG hasn't killed it. Unfortunately. I think Q and on will be around in some form for years to come. Week due to convert it it stay one step ahead byre trying to understand it. This has been QUE Clearance. Thank you for listening. M m hm m hm. Q Clearance is brought to you by I Heart Radio and cou Data Media.
I'm Jake Hanrahan. You can find me online at Jake Underscore hand Rahan. That's h A N A h A N. You can get Q Clearance merch at dark wash dot net. This episode was produced by myself, with fact checking and additional research by Sarah A. High Tower. The music is by Sam Black and the sound was mixed by Thomas Griffin at Splicing Block.