Page 120 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 5-6: Radicalization, Violent Extremism and Conflicting Diversity, eds. Mitja Sardoč and Tomaž Deželan
P. 120
šolsko polje, letnik xxix, številka 5–6
who truly believe this that have a fundamentalist attitude to reality. Only
the fourth dimension in Figure 1 (temporality) shows the social function
of such sanctioning of clothes. Even if we are not phenomenologists, it is
not difficult to predict different temporal “networks of intentionality” in
the perception of this measure. Obviously, some will believe that this is
only a safety measure against the erosion of tolerance in society, while oth-
ers will see the same measure as a symptom or even a trigger of intolerance.
One of perhaps the most bizarre examples of radicalism, which is
unimaginable outside the social context, is the recent movement known
as “QAnon”21 in the USA. It consists of a vast collection of pro-Trump
claims and predictions that foretell, like one of Nostradamus’ prophecies,
the fight against a “deep state”, including ideas such as 1) the “Russian
investigation” is a distraction to hide something else, namely Donald
Trump’s endeavours to uncover a network of paedophiles, naturally in-
cluding Barak Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, and after these fig-
ures are arrested they will be imprisoned in Guantanamo, Cuba; 2) the
Republicans lost the Senate elections in Alabama on purpose, because
this is a long-term plan to fight against those who are tampering with
voting machines, with the final goal of this strategy being to bring down
George Soros; or 3) President Kennedy’s assassination only happened be-
cause he wanted to disclose the existence of the “deep state” and its se-
cret government, while according to some versions of this story Kennedy
is still alive, and the assassination was faked by this same “deep state” in
order to kidnap Kennedy and then use him, in some way, to gain power
in the next elections, etc. QAnon is not interesting because of the bizarre
and obviously false stories that it proposes , but because it has been able
to attract mass attention and help start a kind of social movement (called
by some the “Trumpenproletariat”). An application for mobile phones re-
lated to these conspiracy theories has become one of the top sellers on
Apple’s online store, while a video with the same kind of contents has
already reached over 200,000 views on YouTube; a man “took over” the
Hoover Dam bridge in Arizona, blocked the road and demanded the pub-
lication of some classified documents, the existence of which he was in-
formed of by QAnon; and at a Donald Trump’s rally in Florida his sup-
porters wore T-shirts with capital letter Q and posters saying “We are Q”
(Kopušar, 2018). If we classify these developments in Figure 1, we can see
that they are oriented towards extremes on all four dimensions (radical-
ism in the mode of action, outward orientation, the change of the entire
21 Q is a code for an anonymous person who is supposedly a high official with access to classified
information, and Anon is an abbreviation of the word anonymous.
118
who truly believe this that have a fundamentalist attitude to reality. Only
the fourth dimension in Figure 1 (temporality) shows the social function
of such sanctioning of clothes. Even if we are not phenomenologists, it is
not difficult to predict different temporal “networks of intentionality” in
the perception of this measure. Obviously, some will believe that this is
only a safety measure against the erosion of tolerance in society, while oth-
ers will see the same measure as a symptom or even a trigger of intolerance.
One of perhaps the most bizarre examples of radicalism, which is
unimaginable outside the social context, is the recent movement known
as “QAnon”21 in the USA. It consists of a vast collection of pro-Trump
claims and predictions that foretell, like one of Nostradamus’ prophecies,
the fight against a “deep state”, including ideas such as 1) the “Russian
investigation” is a distraction to hide something else, namely Donald
Trump’s endeavours to uncover a network of paedophiles, naturally in-
cluding Barak Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, and after these fig-
ures are arrested they will be imprisoned in Guantanamo, Cuba; 2) the
Republicans lost the Senate elections in Alabama on purpose, because
this is a long-term plan to fight against those who are tampering with
voting machines, with the final goal of this strategy being to bring down
George Soros; or 3) President Kennedy’s assassination only happened be-
cause he wanted to disclose the existence of the “deep state” and its se-
cret government, while according to some versions of this story Kennedy
is still alive, and the assassination was faked by this same “deep state” in
order to kidnap Kennedy and then use him, in some way, to gain power
in the next elections, etc. QAnon is not interesting because of the bizarre
and obviously false stories that it proposes , but because it has been able
to attract mass attention and help start a kind of social movement (called
by some the “Trumpenproletariat”). An application for mobile phones re-
lated to these conspiracy theories has become one of the top sellers on
Apple’s online store, while a video with the same kind of contents has
already reached over 200,000 views on YouTube; a man “took over” the
Hoover Dam bridge in Arizona, blocked the road and demanded the pub-
lication of some classified documents, the existence of which he was in-
formed of by QAnon; and at a Donald Trump’s rally in Florida his sup-
porters wore T-shirts with capital letter Q and posters saying “We are Q”
(Kopušar, 2018). If we classify these developments in Figure 1, we can see
that they are oriented towards extremes on all four dimensions (radical-
ism in the mode of action, outward orientation, the change of the entire
21 Q is a code for an anonymous person who is supposedly a high official with access to classified
information, and Anon is an abbreviation of the word anonymous.
118
