America has a mental health crisis......

 

   Well, that is a pretty bold assertion, eh.  But, I believe I can convince you that it's also TRUE.

   Here's the essence of the case:  QAnon is flourishing.  That's it.  Nothing else is needed.  All good.  

   Nah, I'm kidding.  Okay, here's the reason we should believe that not only does this country have a full-blown mental health crisis on its hands, but the situation is growing more dire all the time.

   Right off the bat, it's important to define QAnon as what it is, a conspiracy theory; nothing more nor less.  But, that seems such a calm and low-key term for this particular conspiracy.  At the core of it is the contention that there is an international cabal of people who run a pedophile ring and are Satanists who also drain blood from the babies after they sexually molest them....and then they EAT THEM. Then they use the infant blood to extract a life-extending compound. Hold onto your hat, it gets worse.  These evil beasts are people you have heard of.....like Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks, Oprah Winfrey, Crissy Teigen, Adam Schiff and on and on.  All of these craven beasts are, of course, Democrats...almost goes without saying.  Right?

 Here is a link to the QAnon page on Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon

 And, another article that goes deep in terms of explaining how it is proliferating:  https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/qanon-gop/

Part of being a Trumpie is being willing to reject science....and ignore 
all the safety measures....because you are merely truculent, and a dumb-ass.

  When I first heard a description of QAnon, my immediate reaction was that it was a joke, maybe something from Saturday Night Live, right out there with all the alien abduction stuff.  Try to imagine my horror when I realized that there are thousands of pages on Facebook dedicated to this insanity and MILLIONS of people who have adopted it as 'true'.  If you take the time to read both of the articles linked above, you will have a rudimentary working knowledge of what QAnon is all about, and, unless you are among those who have 'drunk the Kool-Aid', you will be stunned and perhaps also perplexed at how fantastic the parameters of this cesspool of human confusion are and, even more disturbing, is the fact that it is proliferating at an apparently runaway pace. 

  This might be the moment to mention that The Idiot is at the center of this cockamamie conspiracy. True Believers have the idea that Donald J. Asshole is the Savior of us all, and is working hard behind the scenes (which is the first hint that it's complete bullshit...i.e., he hardly 'works' at all) to destroy the cabal of Satanists and save the world from their evil predations. 

  I submit to you the idea that if a person is ready to believe that all of these named conspirators are molesting and EATING babies, it is proof that they are in big trouble psychologically and likely emotionally as well.  There is simply no room in a sane person's mind to accommodate such absolutely insane ideas.

  You will perhaps remember when a man got into his vehicle and drove some distance to the suspected pizza restaurant where the evil ones were dining on babies in the basement, (Comet Ping Pong in Washington DC), intending to 'rescue' the child victims of this nefarious cabal.  He showed-up with an AR-15 and was ready to do battle....before he was arrested and faced multiple charges.  

  There reaches a point where you end up just shaking your head in disbelief.  But, wait a second, we can't just dismiss something that is growing like a runaway tumor.  QAnon 'believers' are coming out of the woodwork, and some of them do not fit the archetypal description that such far-out whack-jobs would normally fit.  Here are some figures that I hope you will find as alarming and as perplexing as I do:

  Since March 2020, Facebook posts about QAnon have increased 67%, the weekly rate increase of posts has been 791%.  Holy Cow, Batman!!!  And, on Twitter it's even worse: 126% increase of QAnon related posts, and a 176% increase in unique authors tweeting about QAnon.  It should be noted that Facebook has taken measures to ban QAnon pages, and Twitter is being shamed into acting too, but, it will take awhile before either platform has really purged its crazies....if ever.

This dramatic increase in people who are embracing it is also related to the Trump phenomenon.  He has re-tweeted over 129 QAnon related posts, thereby lending his tacit support to it.  He is at the core of it, identified by the Kool-Aids as the Savior sent by God to save the planet from this great evil.  He is portrayed as this heroic knight who will ride in on his white charger and save us all....well, those of us who are ready to be saved, eh....who are ready to drink the Kool-Aid too.

  Coming back to my contention that America has a mental health crisis.  I am of a mind that when you have this many people flocking to a conspiracy that is soooo far out there, it is an indication of much deeper problems in the society at large. I am utterly unqualified to analyze what the psychological and deeper medical conditions would be.  My education is in the philosophy of ethics, and that is merely a bachelor's degree, albeit from a school that is well-regarded.  But, I am qualified as a human being, as are you.  And, it seems utterly crystal-clear that a person who is willing to believe outlandish, even outrageous conspiracies is not playing with a full deck of cards.

  No amount of claiming something is 'real' makes it so.  Sorry all you Kool-Aids out there; just because you WANT something to be true and agitate for it to be so....doesn't make it suddenly become true.  Facts are coming back into vogue.  We have stumbled around the Idiot's perpetual whining that, for instance, mail-in voting is rife with corruption and fraud.  He's actually got some of his base to believe this. But, they would believe it if he told them the earth was flat.  What?  Are you telling me that there are people out there who actually DO BELIEVE this?  Eeeegads.