Panic, pizza and mainstreaming the alt-right: A social media analysis of Pizzagate and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy

Bleakley, Paul

doi:10.1177/00113921211034896

Cited by 42 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The quoted examples also show the politically ambivalent nature of participatory cultures and challenge assumptions on critical thinking and social media solutions to 'post-truth' dilemmas (Marwick & Partin (2022). Thus, the alt-right conspiracy faction, QAnon, used the Pizzagate conspiracy for its all-embracing campaign to attract support for Trump and tried to establish it as a popular narrative within the contemporary Republican political Zeitgeist (Bleakley, 2021).…”

Section: Religious and Populist Dimensions Of Conspiracy Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qanon and Other Conspiracy Ideologies’ Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Global Capitalism

Kohnert

2023

SSRN Journal

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Section: Religious and Populist Dimensions Of Conspiracy Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qanon and Other Conspiracy Ideologies’ Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Global Capitalism

Kohnert

2023

SSRN Journal

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“…As noted by Adam M. Enders in his recent research, there are several studies have suggested that conservatives are more likely than liberal to believe in conspiracy theories (Enders & Uscinski, 2021). Indeed, most recent, highly popular conspiracy theories -QAnon (Amarasingam & Argentino, 2020), Pizzagate (Bleakley, 2021), the Great Replacement (Ekman, 2022), and that climate Change is a hoax (Douglas & Sutton, 2015) -have all been propagated and supported by right-wing extremists. In India, a concept similar to the Great replacement, the �हन्दु खतरे में है ('Hindus are in danger') narrative, is being spread by the Hindu right wing.…”

Section: Conspiracy Theories (Ie Love Jihad and Other Conspiracies)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Themes of Right-Wing Extremism in Hindutva Discourse on Twitter

Ghasiya¹,

Ahnert²,

Sasahara³

2022

Preprint

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Hindutva, the core political ideology of India's current ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), seeks to transform constitutionally secular India into a Hindu Rashtra (`Hindu nation'). Although Hindutva has all of the features of right-wing extremism (RWE), it is nevertheless viewed as a sociopolitical phenomenon due to the Eurocentric nature of RWE discourse. Recent theoretical and analytical research has sought to showcase the similarity between RWE and Hindutva, whereas empirical research on their relationship has not been conducted. To fill that gap, in our study we collected 15 million tweets, and in network analysis, identified prominent themes of RWE, including exclusionary nationalism, conspiracy theories, and anti-minority violence and hate speech among the supporters of Hindutva and BJP. Furthermore, our toxicity analysis performed to understand which themes produced higher levels of toxicity, we found that Hindi-language tweets related to conspiracy theories and anti-minority violence or hate speech were more toxic than English-language tweets. Given that the growing global presence and normalisation of RWE-based ideas and movements are sources of concern for political science researchers, our research broadens the discussion on RWE in the Indian context and invites researchers to further investigate Hindutva from the perspective of RWE.

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“…Already in 2016, during the election race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the increased importance of conspiracy theories was becoming apparent (Rothschild 2021 ; Bleakley 2021 ). Donald Trump’s campaign was very much focused on the subject of corruption of political elites in Washington, which was repeatedly portrayed as a “swamp” in need of draining.…”

Section: The Qanon Conspiracy Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The revelations of Q. Dissemination and resonance of the QAnon conspiracy theory among US Evangelical Christians and the role of the Covid-19 crisis

Beyer

Herrberg

2023

Z Religion Ges Polit

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Previous studies show that the QAnon conspiracy theory is especially popular among American evangelical Christians. The paper investigates the reasons behind this relationship. We hypothesize a mediation relationship between evangelical dogma and how it is practiced on the one hand and the susceptibility for conspiracy thinking on the other hand. We argue that evangelicalism due to its biblicism is characterized by the belief that its perception of reality holds absolute truth (nomization), that the world can be clearly divided into good and evil (Manichaeism), and that salvation can be achieved through political means (immanent eschatology). Those beliefs, in turn, in the uncertain times of the Covid crisis resonate with the cognitive (epistemic), the affective (moral), and conative (eschatological) elements of conspiracy theories. Using data of waves 46 (March 2019), 68 (April 2020), and 73 (September 2020) of the American Trends Panel, conducted by the PEW Research Center we show respective mediation effects: Evangelical Christians are particularly convinced that their religion alone holds absolute truth and that religion has not enough influence on politics. The latter also correlates with the conspiracy belief that “powerful people intentionally planned the Covid outbreak”. QAnon support again is linked both to such Covid related conspiracy thinking and the three elements of nomization, Manichaeism, and immanent eschatology.

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Panic, pizza and mainstreaming the alt-right: A social media analysis of Pizzagate and the rise of the QAnon conspiracy

Cited by 42 publications

References 24 publications

Qanon and Other Conspiracy Ideologies’ Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Global Capitalism

Qanon and Other Conspiracy Ideologies’ Impact on Sub-Saharan Africa in the Age of Global Capitalism

Identifying Themes of Right-Wing Extremism in Hindutva Discourse on Twitter

The revelations of Q. Dissemination and resonance of the QAnon conspiracy theory among US Evangelical Christians and the role of the Covid-19 crisis

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