Saturday, September 12, 2020

Trump's QAnon followers are a dangerous cult. How to save someone who's been brainwashed.

I suggest reading the whole article.


https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-qanon-followers-are-dangerous-cult-how-save-someone-ncna1239828

Sept. 11, 2020, 4:40 AM EDT
By Steven Hassan, founder of the Freedom of Mind Resource Center

Nineteen years ago Friday, attacks by the Islamist terrorist cult Al Qaeda took place on American soil, followed by conspiracy theories that the CIA bombed the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. These have been thoroughly debunked, but they have still flourished, as Al Qaeda did itself until the U.S. took the threat seriously.

Now we face another dangerous cult that has inspired political conspiracy theories and could once again do the U.S. homeland damage: QAnon. 

••••

QAnon poses a serious threat to society, and not only because it's spreading misinformation about certain groups of people. Adherents have been accused of acts of violence, including attempted kidnapping and attempted murder. The FBI has named QAnon followers as "conspiracy theory-driven domestic extremists." Some members of Congress have been so concerned about QAnon that the House recently introduced a resolution calling out QAnon's "capacity to radicalize to violence individuals at an alarming speed."

Scariest of all can be when QAnon rears its head close to home, in the form of people you know starting to talk about the "truth" they've discovered from QAnon. If this happens and you want to steer them away from these beliefs, hopefully for good, it's important to know what to say — and what not to say.

•••••

Don't judge. Don't insult the person or try to argue against their beliefs. Don't talk down to them or call them names.

•••••

Appeal to their sense of integrity, reason and conscience. Orient the QAnon believer to the idea that if something is true, it will stand up to scrutiny.

•••••

Suggest alternative information sources. Redirect the person toward legitimate news sources, social psychology research and other sources of reliable information about how the mind works that shed light on some of the topics QAnon uses to draw people in, such as child trafficking.

•••••


2 comments:

rjs said...

what do we do if a leader of the cult happens to be a Senior Vice President at Citigroup?

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2020/09/citigroup-was-having-a-helluva-bad-year-now-a-citi-senior-vp-has-been-outed-as-the-man-behind-a-qanon-conspiracy-website/

truthaboutislam said...

Islam is against Terrorism Terrorists are not following Islam. Allah says in Quran whoever kills a soul unless it is as though he has killed all mankind. Muslims Are Not Terrorists and whoever saves one life it is as if he had saved mankind entirely.

Post a Comment