By Dr. Jan-Willem van Prooijen
Associate professor, Experimental and Applied Psychology
VU Amsterdam
A secret civil war is going on — or at least, it is in the minds of some U.S. citizens. At recent Trump rallies, people have been observed publicly expressing support for “Q”: An anonymous person or group that claims to have access to top-level security information about a secret cabal of corrupt elites, intellectuals, left-wing politicians and celebrities conspiring to exploit and even enslave people. President Donald Trump, apparently, is one of the few people willing and able to fight this secret conspiracy, often referred to as “Qanon.”
If it sounds crazy, that’s because it is. The mostly right-wing conspiracy theory makes a series of mind-blowing allegations that include Democrat-run centers for pedophiles and Satanic cults. The theory first appeared on various online message boards like “8Chan,” where followers shared “bread crumbs” — clues — about the dark and powerful forces that supposedly run their country.
The theories are so wild at this point that some conspiracy-friendly members of the far right are pushing back on them and even banning them from popular online forums. We don’t know which person or persons originated the theory (yet), or what their motivations may have been. What we do know is that the theory is spreading. And generally speaking, why.
It would be tempting to dismiss those who believe such bizarre ideas as mentally ill. But in reality, conspiracy beliefs such as Qanon are neither pathological nor novel. Putting aside the fact that some conspiracy theories turn out to be true (e.g., Watergate is arguably an example of a real conspiracy), even fact-free conspiracy theories can be followed by people who otherwise behave relatively normally.
Widespread support for conspiracy theories is also not simply a symptom of our modern digital society. In the dark ages, witch hunts were based on the belief that young women gathered in the woods to conspire with the devil, and many traditional societies still accuse enemy tribes of sorcery to harm or control them. The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.