Faith Down the Rabbit Hole: A Critical Rhetorical Interrogation of Q-Anon and Parasitic Christianity

  • Nate Carlson

Student thesis: Master's ThesisMaster of Arts (MA)

Abstract

Communication Studies with Pedagogy Option

Over the course of the last six years, the conspiracy theory community known as Q-Anon has risen to prominence across the internet, coming to encapsulate a significant portion of the United States’ conservative and protestant populations. This study applies the act of Critical Rhetoric as proposed by McKerrow (1989) to the Q-Anon “drops”; message board posts wherein Q, the enigmatic leader of Q-Anon, preached conspiratorial ideology and misinformation to his followers. A pattern of Christian theology being usurped and retooled by Q as a method of faith-based political radicalization emerged throughout the texts, and this phenomenon was named “Parasitic Christianity.” Using this concept of Parasitic Christianity as a guiding framework for analysis, this study explores the four main thematic areas of theology which are present overtly and latently in the texts. In building the scholarly community’s understanding of Q-Anon as both conspiracy theory and theology, I aim to assist in working towards processes of deradicalization for conspiracy movement members.
Date of Award2021
Original languageAmerican English
Awarding Institution
  • Eastern Illinois University
SupervisorMarita Gronnvoll (Supervisor)

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Communication

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