Thread by @dappergander

GhostEzra is a perfect example of how extremists infiltrate and co-opt a welcoming big-tent movement.

We've seen it before with other infiltration efforts, but QAnon made it particularly easy for them.

1/15

Since its inception, QAnon has pursued a growth strategy based on unity, summed up by their ‘Where We Go One, We Go All’ slogan, and has painted anyone who criticizes a fellow believer as someone sowing dangerous discord.

2/15

Q told their followers that ‘together we are strong, divided we are weak’ and Anons fully embraced that notion whenever a feud broke out among influencers.

3/15

This is a perfect environment for extremists, because they know they will not be punished or excluded for spreading a hateful message as long as that message is directed at an out-group.

4/15

Quite the contrary, it is anyone who objects who will be chastised by the community for suggesting the extremist be shunned or their message rejected. This is seen as ‘hurting the movement.’

5/15

The only person in the movement who was ever allowed to categorically reject a theory or statement was Q. Even when Q was around, this didn’t always work, but Q is gone now.

6/15

Couple this with QAnon’s longstanding belief that if someone pushes back against a statement, it must mean that they are ‘over the target’ and therefore the statement is true, and you have a perfect recipe for a neo-Nazi takeover.

7/15

Not only have we seen this exact phenomenon play out before when Nazis have infiltrated other ‘welcoming’ or ‘inclusive’ movements, like furries, but we’ve seen this exact pattern before in QAnon with more comical results.

8/15
rollingstone.com/culture/cultur…

This same strategy is how JFK Jr truthers, Flat Earthers, & Spirit Science adherents found a permanent home in QAnon, much to the embarrassment of the original Superspy faction. Even Q’s denial of JFK Jr could not keep the movement from overwhelmingly embracing the belief.

9/15

This was the same strategy Plissken (aka Wyatt) used to grow inside QAnon, by making a gradual shift from mainline Q beliefs, to fringe beliefs, to Nazi beliefs. Plissken even recommended the same antisemitic documentary that GhostEzra would start pushing months later.

10/15

Mirroring Plissken, GhostEzra started out with standard QAnon talking points before incorporating more and more fringe conspiracies, like Biden being secretly dead and replaced by an actor wearing a Mission Impossible style mask.

11/15

Then came the long-standing ‘Synagogue of Satan’ theory where the Jews aren’t really the Jews (which has been passively endorsed by QAnon for quite some time), presented in tandem with ‘just asking questions’ about the Holocaust. Then, Europa: the Last Battle & Mein Kampf.

12/15

And again, like he did with Plissken, longtime Q promoter Jordan Sather objects to the embarrassing fringey-cringey type stuff, but is tellingly silent on the antisemitic stuff.

13/15

https://twitter.com/dappergander/status/1303160574084296706?s=20

Now, GhostEzra’s telegram channel has a permanent Nazi presence, with users spreading memes and sharing links in the comments to every single one of GE’s posts. Obviously, GhostEzra has the power to moderate and/or ban them, but doesn’t.

14/15

A small minority of GE followers continue to object to all ‘the Jew stuff’ that’s being posted, but the Nazis can just call them Mossad shills and/or accuse them of trying to fracture the movement. And the vast majority of GE’s followers stay silent.

So it spreads.

15/15

Answering an unrelated question for a follower, GhostEzra confirms he's been intent on introducing the JQ to his audience since the beginning of his channel, but needed time to establish himself within QAnon so his followers would trust him when he did.

16/15