The QAnon conspiracy web—which hinges on the belief that former President Donald Trump was sent to expose a covert cabal of satanic cannibal pedophiles secretly controlling the U.S. government—grew out of the dark corners of the internet before infecting the reasoning of countless Americans.
The mass delusion encourages subscribers to see non-existent codes and patterns, to trust no one but Trump and an anonymous internet poster, and to take up arms against any perceived threat, no matter how imagined.
Despite the absurdity of its beliefs, the QAnon conspiracy web has thrived—with the help of right-wing disinformation peddlers—engulfing people into delusions, often at the expense of ties with their loved ones.
An entire subreddit, dubbed QAnon Casualties, features thousands of posts lamenting the frustration of companions, parents, friends, siblings, and others gripped by QAnon. It has over 170 thousand members.
That's where VICE reporter David Gilbert found "Bill," a recent high school graduate and survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, which killed 17 people.
Last week a poster on Reddit said they were a Parkland school shooting survivor whose dad had fallen down the QAnon rabbit hole and now believed the shooting was a hoax. \n\nA lot of people on Reddit \u2014 and here \u2014 said it was probably a fake post.\n\nIt wasn'thttps://www.vice.com/en/article/epnq84/im-a-parkland-shooting-survivor-qanon-convinced-my-dad-it-was-all-a-hoax\u00a0\u2026— David Gilbert (@David Gilbert) 1627302558
A running theme in QAnon circles is the belief that constant mass shootings in the United States coordinated by the "Deep State" to weaken public support for the Second Amendment and disarm citizens. This belief was even promoted by now-Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) before her election.
Though Bill saw the catastrophic shooting with his own eyes, his own father doesn't believe it happened.
Bill wrote of his father in QAnon Casualties:
"He's done 'extensive research' on body language and claims he can tell the shooter is a radical commie actor who was paid to sacrifice his life in order to remove our guns. He's questioning why they released the interrogation footage if not to further deceive the 'sheep believing everything they see'. He also says the trial will be rigged and the reason they're talking about the death penalty is to prevent him from ever talking just in case."
He continued:
"He'll say stuff like this straight to my face whenever he's drinking: 'You're a real piece of work to be able to sit here and act like nothing ever happened if it wasn't a hoax. Shame on you for being part of it and putting your family through it too[.]"
VICE confirmed the poster was an actual survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, and he elaborated to the outlet on his dad's precipitous fall into the rabbit hole. After subscribing to QAnon's pandemic conspiracy theories, but came to believe Parkland was a false flag after watching a video of Rep. Greene harassing Parkland survivor David Hogg.
While Bill says he may soon exercise options for vacating the toxic environment, people were horrified at his position and the collective heartache and frustration QAnon imposes on families across America.
This is absolutely horrific to hear, especially coming from a parent. The spread of misinformation like this continues to be a massive threat to human reasoning.https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Prasant Lokinendi (@Prasant Lokinendi) 1627322463
I got family members not believing in COVID even after I spent months working in a field hospital.\n\nIt\u2019s a head trip to experience.https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— C.B.Smith\ud83d\udcd6 (@C.B.Smith\ud83d\udcd6) 1627345323
This is bonkers and I feel so bad for this kid. I also think of it as part of a continuum. After the election, my FB feed was full of people I grew up with, including a cousin of mine posting Qanon theories that ballots were watermarked, etc.--and if i denied it, I was in on ithttps://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Elizabeth Spiers (@Elizabeth Spiers) 1627327884
We face an epidemic of disinformation that will continue if we don't address it forthrightly and vigorously.https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Mark, Deacon (@Mark, Deacon) 1627355585
This is devastating, especially as someone who has seen my own dad fall down the rabbit hole of far-right conspiracy theories over the course of the last decade. When you have the emotional capacity, this is certainly worth reading.https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Nicole McAfee (she/they) (@Nicole McAfee (she/they)) 1627393699
Oh my chest. Oh my god. at this point how do we get this baby out of the house .https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— \ud83d\uddfdSydette Cosmic Dreaded Gorgon \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddfe (@\ud83d\uddfdSydette Cosmic Dreaded Gorgon \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddfe) 1627328498
Some wonder if the damage can ever be undone.
This is an insane and heartbreaking read. We are just fundamentally broken as a nation, and don\u2019t see it ever getting better.https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Matt (@Matt) 1627385057
None of this shocked me, but reading it was still a gut punch. I'm very much for social distancing measures, but I think we haven't even begun to reckon with the social destruction wreaked in April/May 2020 as people spiraled into this crap as a reaction to those measures.https://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Mike Caulfield (@Mike Caulfield) 1627367111
I don't often feel like things are completely hopeless, buthttps://twitter.com/daithaigilbert/status/1419635942831308806\u00a0\u2026— Emily Suess (@Emily Suess) 1627332318
