Many QAnon believers have clear political motives, but Vanderbilt says she is a passive participant in politics.
"I've always been someone that you just tell me what to do and I do it. I grew up being told we were Republicans, so I've always been that straight red ticket," she explained in an interview with CNN near her home in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, last Saturday.
She doesn't watch the news. "What have we heard the last four or five years? Don't watch the news. 'Fake news.' 'Fake news.'"
I’m sorry. There’s just no excuse for this kind of behavior. But, then again, it’s a pattern. I have friends caught up in this conspiracy and, without fail, they are friends of mine who are less curious, less educated, and less introspective.
Sounds like a typical Republican, right? Sadly, yes. For over 35 years.
I first saw this blind adherence to authority back during Reagan. One friend refused to believe Oliver North, during his role in Iran Contra, was doing anything illegal, immoral, or unjust in trying to hide his and the government’s role in the arms for hostage debacle. My friend even went so far as to cut his hair like North’s.
During Clinton, my right leaning friends were berating the man days before he even got into office, maligning everything he said, claiming he was illegitimate, and believing Newt Gingrich and the party line on everything they said and did through the impeachment.
This pervasive need for the right to fall in line, to believe the other side is the enemy, to buy into beliefs that no sane person would stomach has been developing for decades. The tea party and the Trumpers are just the end result, along with nearly two decades of poison from Fox news (who, today, is framing Antifa and the Democrats with the same rhetoric and terrorist accusations that are ACTUALLY TRUE of the right).
So, here’s my belief system:
To hell with you people. To hell with your weak minds and need to be soothed. Get a spine. Educate yourself. Stop being such pathetic scared little wusses. You are not patriots. You are traitors. You are idiots. You are the real enemy of decent people.
I don’t know how this is going to turn out, but the dumber of our species do not deserve equal respect unless they can show it for everyone else. That seems to be a stretch these days.