Thread by @RadioFreeTom

Reading this piece from last summer by @normative, I realize that there is a parallel here between Qanon's "Storm" and the Cold War cults that sprang up at various times, but especially in the 70s and the 80s. Bear with me. /1

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/0…

@normative "The Storm" is a moment, like nuclear war, after which everything is different, even if there's bloodshed. It's purgative, restorative, resets all the social relationships, ends all traditional and normal social structures. It's shaking society like a huge Etch-A-Sketch.
/2

Why is this so attractive to so many broken people? Precisely because it *is* a reset. It's awful, but it's an awfulness that sets everything - including all social differences - back to zero. The high and mighty are smited, and the Common Folk live by their superior wits. /3

The Cold War pulp literature is what one scholar calls "Radioactive Rambos," men freed to be Warrior-Kings of the Wasteland, with all rules about sex and society out the window in the name of a greater good: America, Civilization, Killing Commies.
brians.wsu.edu/2016/11/18/rad…
/4

The sexual element of Cold War survival cultism was omnipresent. (Dr. Strangelove and "breeding prodigiously" in the mines, etc.)
But the other undertone is status. And how the low rise up and rule after the pinheads blow all that shit up.
/5

Think of "The Postman," a post-apocalyptic fantasy in which "General Bethlehem" admits who he was in another life: He sold fax machines. You're supposed to side with The Actor, but Bethlehem is the guy who gets it, that Armageddon means his own army - and lots of glory. /6

Anyway, the similarity with Qanon is the idea that this thing, if true, would be awful. Whether a pedophile ring or nuclear war, it would be better not to be true. But if it were - well, wouldn't it be awesome if we Ordinary Folk ended up being the generals of our own army. /7

Nuclear survival cultishness was eroded each day that there was no nuclear war. Qanon, by contrast, has a lot more resilience because it is unfalsifiable. That's going to make it harder to unwind and the people that are in it will always wonder if they were on to something. /8

And each day that goes by where there *isn't* some big pedophile reveal is going to make them a little nuttier. The people I knew who stockpiled water had to give it up eventually. This is easier: You just have to believe in it. No effort needed. /9

But anyway, the point is that people sometimes need to believe in Some Huge Terrifying Thing so they can create a heroic narrative in their minds. Nuclear war was, and is, a real threat. But these Q nuts...man, that makes nuclear war survivalism look rational by comparison. /10x