QAnon: The Making of QAnon: A Crowdsourced Conspiracy

Once again, this dangerous and eclectic conspiracy is in the spotlight. It has come a long way since its birth on a forum barely three years ago.

On October 28, 2017, an anonymous user browsing the /pol/ section of 4chan, a notorious alt-right imageboard, saw a post that read, “Hillary Clinton will be arrested between 7:45 AM — 8:30 AM EST on Monday — the morning on Oct 30, 2017,” and decided to respond. This user would later adopt the name “Q Clearance Patriot” (soon shortened to “Q”). Q hinted that they were a military officer in President Trump’s inner circle; their writings — almost 5,000 posts to date — gave birth to the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Most accounts of QAnon present this first “Q drop”, as Q’s posts are known by their acolytes, as the starting point of the Q movement. This is mistaken for two reasons. One is trivial: Q first gained an audience with a different set of drops, because their earliest efforts sank without a trace and weren’t rediscovered by anyone on 4chan until November 11 that same year. The other is deeply significant: Q’s origins can’t be divorced from the culture of /pol/, which was a rich slurry of racism, anti-Semitism, and (especially relevant here) right-wing conspiracy theories.

Therefore, QAnon was both an outgrowth and an evolution of /pol/ culture: not only were many of Q’s claims already popular on /pol/, but Q borrowed key themes and ideas from predecessors. The key to understanding the roots of Q is to understand the culture of /pol/.

Read complete rreport at: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2021/01/07/the-making-of-qanon-a-crowdsourced-conspiracy/

USA: Trump slammed over conspiracy theory about senior hospitalized in Floyd protest | CBC News

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday advanced an unfounded conspiracy theory about a 75-year-old protester in Buffalo, N.Y., who was pushed down by police officers, tweeting without evidence that the confrontation may have been a "set up."

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-tweet-buffalo-gugino-1.5604326

USA - spy agency denies conspiracy theories: Coronavirus originated in China but was 'not manmade or genetically modified'

U.S. spy agencies believe the COVID-19 virus originated in China but was not manmade or genetically modified, the agency that oversees U.S. intelligence operations said on Thursday.

Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-usa-intelligence/coronavirus-originated-in-china-but-was-not-manmade-or-genetically-modified-u-s-spy-agency-idUKKBN22C2Q6

Fact check: behind the 5G conspiracy theories

Fires at mobile phone masts are being investigated amid conspiracy theories claiming a link between 5G and coronavirus.

here have been mast fires in Birmingham, Liverpool and Melling in Merseyside, while The Guardian reports that telecoms engineers have also faced verbal and physical threats.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said on Twitter: “There is absolutely no credible evidence of a link between 5G and coronavirus”, while Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove added that it was “dangerous nonsense”.

The BBC reports that scientists say the idea of a connection between Covid-19 and 5G is “complete rubbish” and biologically impossible.

Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, told the broadcaster: “The idea that 5G lowers your immune system doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Your immune system can be dipped by all sorts of things – by being tired one day, or not having a good diet. Those fluctuations aren’t huge but can make you more susceptible to catching viruses.”

Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at the University of Bristol, added: “The present epidemic is caused by a virus that is passed from one infected person to another. We know this is true. 

“We even have the virus growing in our lab, obtained from a person with the illness. Viruses and electromagnetic waves that make mobile phones and internet connections work are different things. As different as chalk and cheese.”

Coronavirus is spreading just as quickly in cities, and even countries, which are yet to roll out 5G technology. Iran, for example, has the sixth highest number of coronavirus deaths of any country in the world and is digging mass graves due to the extent of the problem. The country does not use 5G technology.

As fact-checking organisation Full Fact notes, one origin of the conspiracy, a Daily Star article headlined “Fears 5G wifi networks could be acting as ‘accelerator’ for disease”, quotes not a scientist but an “activist and philosophy lecturer at the Isle of Wight College”.

Read more at: Fact check: behind the 5G conspiracy theories | The Week UK

CREATIONISM: Is creationism the ultimate conspiracy theory?

Read more at:
https://www.newsweek.com/creationism-ultimate-conspiracy-theory-opinion-1085225?spMailingID=3992873&spUserID=MTI0NzM2NDgxNDcS1&spJobID=1090967916&spReportId=MTA5MDk2NzkxNgS2

Oil Prices: Six conspiracy theories behind plunging oil prices - by Eric Reguly

So it is with the price collapse that sent oil from $110 (U.S.) a barrel in June to about $50 today. How and why did it happen so fast? How do you explain the fall when global oil demand is not, in fact, falling; it continues to rise. Surely, more than simple economics – supply outstripping demand – is at play.

Easy answer: It’s a conspiracy.

It’s not just the conspiracy nuts who say so. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a cabinet meeting that the oil price collapse was “politically motivated” and a “conspiracy against the interests of the region, the Muslim people and the Muslim world” (never mind that the OPEC giant behind the price drop, Saudi Arabia, is rather Muslim).

 Russian President Vladimir Putin in effect said the same. “We all see the lowering of the oil price. There's lots of talk about what's causing it,” he said recently. "Could it be the agreement between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to punish Iran and affect the economies of Russia and Venezuela? It could.”

Ditto Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, the OPEC country driven to near collapse because of the price fall. Answering his own rhetorical question, he explained that the low price was engineered by the United States and its allies “to harm Russia.”

Herewith your handy guide to the most popular oil-plunge conspiracies, plus one that I made up – my oil-soaked grassy knoll.

1. SLAPPING RUSSIA
2. SLAPPING VLADIMIR
4. SAUDI ARABIA VS. CANADA
5. SAUDI OWN-GOAL
6. IT’S THE ENVIRONMENT, STUPID  
 
Read more: Six conspiracy theories behind plunging oil prices - The Globe and Mail

Muslims on the move against ISIS: German Muslims invite all faiths to day of prayer against ISIS - by Bethan John

More than 2,000 German mosques have invited Germans of all religions to join their Friday prayers to present a united front against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to try to dissuade young Muslims from travelling to fight with radical Islamists in Syria and Iraq.

Germany’s four main Muslim groups announced their plan on Tuesday in response to concerns that German Muslims are joining ISIS and returning home with radical ideas and combat experience, posing a domestic security threat.

“We want to make clear terrorists and criminals do not speak in the name of Islam, they have trampled on the commandments of our religion, and that murderers and criminals have no place in our ranks, in our religion,” the head of the Central Council of Muslims, Aiman Mazyek, told a news conference in Berlin.

The groups are also organising peace rallies across Germany on the same day which senior officials, including Interior Minister de Maiziere and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, are expected to attend.

Authorities estimate 400 Germans have joined IS in Iraq and Syria. De Maiziere, announcing a ban on the group last week, urged the country’s 4 million Muslims to be vigilant about IS recruitment, especially on the Internet.

A 20-year-old man charged with joining IS in Syria went on trial in Frankfurt on Monday, the first such case in Germany.

Ali Kizilkaya, a spokesman for the umbrella group behind Friday’s initiative, said the Muslim community needed the support of the rest of German society to stop the radicalisation of young Muslims.

Note EU-Digest: excellent  initiative by German Muslim organizations  Should be copied by Muslim organizations around the world . Also more in-depth investigations should be conducted as to the actual provenience of so-called "radical Muslim" organizations. This could possibly lead to some surprising results?

Read more: German Muslims invite all faiths to day of prayer against ISIS - Al Arabiya News