Finished this audiobook in just a couple days!
Just wanted to come here to recommend this audiobook The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family
I finished this in just a few days. I found it so riveting. Not only was this fantastic investigative journalism. It was just really great human storytelling. This book tells the stories of 5 families ripped apart by the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon; which by the way reports in 2022 showed that nearly 1 in 5 Americans (and 1 in 4 republicans) believed some version of the QAnon conspiracy theories. And I’d imagine during its peak in 2020, it was nearly doubled!
This book shows a great deal of empathy & compassion; not only for the loved ones of Qanon believers; but for these Qanon adherents themselves. I think it’s easy to forget, that they are also victims; victims of politically driven far-right Christian nationalist rhetoric & propaganda.
Through these five stories it also paints a broader picture of where we were as a culture in 2020; and how a pandemic, online grifters, misinformation, & a president who amplified dangerous conspiracies for his own political gain was a recipe for disaster. The same president who was just reelected. In that context, it made this a very sobering listen. I can’t recommend enough!
Further recommended reading/listening: if this subject interests you, I also highly recommend reading or listening to Naomi Kline’s 2023 book, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World. In it; Kline who is one of our greatest leftist thinkers; explores the intersection between far-right conspiracies, new age spiritualism, podcast grifters, & capitalism.