BuzzFeed News: QAnon Is a ‘Collective Delusion’, Not a ‘Conspiracy Theory’

Drusilla Moorhouse and Emerson Malone, writing for BuzzFeed News:

The editors at BuzzFeed News have become uneasy about using conspiracy theory to describe QAnon, which has grown to encompass a whole alternative world of beliefs and signals. The copydesk has to stay on top of language and note when terms become stale and reductive; QAnon has shifted, and so should how we write about it.

QAnon is a collective delusion, and that’s what BuzzFeed News will be calling it from now on.

I’m not sure how much traction this term will get, but I like it. “Conspiracy theory” gets an unfair rap in that most people use it to describe wacko beliefs that are not true. But there are actual conspiracies, and there are possible conspiracies which could be true. QAnon is up there with believing the Earth is flat or the moon landings were faked — batshit crazy nonsense.

★ Saturday, 5 September 2020