National Heroes, Digital Soldiers, Vulnerable Children and all the Others: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Videos Communicating the QAnon Conspiracy Theory

Abstract: This thesis analyses the making of Us and Them in videos communicating the QAnon conspiracy theory, which have been circulating on online social forums. For this purpose, Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis is used, together with Sara Ahmed’s cultural theory of emotions. The narrative that emerges in the videos creates a division between Us - the people, and Them - an evil elite referred to as the Cabal. Another We is constructed in the collective identity of Q adherents, within which the narrators position themselves and invite the viewer to join. This We is constructed within a social hierarchy with Donald Trump and the anonymous Q on top, Q adherents in the middle and the unenlightened mass at the bottom. In the videos, boundaries are discursively drawn around the Nation and the Family, while bodies that threaten these borders at the same time become Othered; like Migrant Bodies, Queer bodies and bodies representing a non-conforming Femininity. Through convincing narration, audial and visual effects, twisted representations and an image of political neutrality; conservative values are promoted in the videos. The discourses and narrative also pave way for authoritarian leadership by suspicious-making of both independent societal forces and governed societal institutions, which leaves poor choices of possible allies against the evil elite.