Item 1 – Q’s First Big Post
Collected From: qresear.ch/Originally posted on 8chan
Date Posted: October 29, 2017
Original Poster: “Q”
Contributor: Alex Hunt
Analysis of Texture
The original text found in the above image was originally posted to a forum site known as 8chan. This site allowed users to contribute whatever they wanted to various message boards, making it a fairly open community for those wishing to distribute their opinion to others. This specific piece of text involves a number of deliberately unanswered questions compiled with
ambiguous statements. “Q” is referring to Donald Trump whenever he uses the term “POTUS,” which seems to be a recurring theme throughout this post. QAnon is often associated with Donald Trump due to Q’s constant references to the former president, as well as the fact that many of those who affiliate themselves with QAnon claim to also support Trump. George Soros, well-known investor and philanthropist, is also a recurring name throughout this piece of text. The word “Mockingbird” is also mentioned twice – once at the very beginning of the text, and once towards the end. The phrase “God Bless Fellow Patriots” ends the post. Context
As I mentioned previously, this piece of text was originally posted on the site known as 8chan. 8chan was created to be an all-inclusive forum with the intention of providing users a space to speak their minds freely. This slowly morphed into a completely different monster, though, as the site soon became a breeding ground for racist, anti-Semitic, and white supremacist ideals. 8chan has even been linked to various mass shootings and hate crimes (Roose, 2019). With this being the case, the original post made by Q was dropped into a site filled with alt-right individuals, making it easy for the ideas mentioned in the post to latch onto the minds of these users. Due to the fact that Q’s identity is still not officially known, it requires some assumption in order to discern the intention behind the original post. It can be assumed that Q had no sinister intentions when making this original post, and, perhaps, he was simply venting his frustrations onto a site he frequented. Most people who post online are not doing so with the goal of creating an entire conspiracy movement, and it can be argued that Q was unaware of the mass turmoil this post would cause. However, it can also be argued that this post was made with the intention of sparking doubt in the eyes of any who would listen in order to slowly gain traction for his own ideals through the continued support of others.
Interpretation
I believe this piece of text is of special interest to folklorists because it acts as somewhat of an origin narrative to an ideological movement. Although the post makes futile attempts at concrete explanation and instead relies on simple, ominous statements, it still acts as an example of identity formation. By posting the various thoughts found in this piece of text, Q was stating his own personal beliefs and doubt, and his decision to make this assertion of thoughts on 8chan was done by design. Q most likely saw the other alt-right content that was making its rounds on the site and decided to add his own individual content, formulating his own identity based on how other users on the site had previously identified. This process of self-identification was essential to this eventual movement getting off the ground: Q’s leading questions caused many to assimilate with his views, following his as if they were a sacred text. Like many religious and mythic narratives, there is little to no factual basis for the concepts that are presented. People desire a purpose, and various sacred texts throughout human history have functioned as this desired purpose, forcing people to operate on faith alone if they wish to find comfort in following a certain belief system. Like these sacred texts, Q’s claims are abstract and require from its subscribers a suspension of disbelief in order to be effective. Though I am not trying to directly compare QAnon’s posts to the Bible (or any other sacred piece of literature), I do believe they had an effect on people in a similar way, especially since many view Q as a mythic figure. Q acts as a form of performer, constructing his own content in the venue of 8chan. He holds a position of power above the audience but does not expect them to shy away from interaction: This post, like his many others, was left open-ended in many ways, begging for participation from the various users within 8chan. This forms a call-and-response relationship between Q and
his audience, furthering the idea that he is performing his thoughts on the platform his followers have provided him.