Future Proves Past: The “Q Clock” and Instruments of Conspiracy

• In Event: Conspiracy Theorists and Techno-Science - I

Abstract

Recently, STS scholars have debated the relationship between the symmetry principle, right-wing populism, and the (so-called) “post-truth” in Western societies. Our paper contributes to this debate with a detailed case study of knowledge production in the QAnon conspiracy, which positions Donald Trump against an elite cabal of pedophiles. While QAnon incorporates many conspiratorial tropes, it alone centers on a series of posts, or “Drops,” by “Q” – supposedly a Trump administration insider – which challenge readers to research and decode them. Adherents consider these Drops to be infallible and, if correctly interpreted, to predict future geopolitical events or provide interpretive closure on past ones. The combination of a counterfactual conspiracy, a knowledge-making apparatus, and an appendage of right-wing populism makes QAnon particularly useful for assessing STS debates about post-truth.

We draw on months of non-participant observation and archival work to describe how Qanon researchers utilize an interpretive instrument called the “QClock” to augment their research and validate the authenticity of Q’s Drops. The QClock is an elaborate graphic subdivided into 30 temporal axes; researchers situate a given Drop on one axis and the Clock draws relationships to other, supposedly relevant Drops. We argue that the QClock recasts coincidental relationships as providential, proving the authenticity of Q’s Drops and the legitimacy of the conspiracy overall. Ultimately, our findings lend credence to the idea that, while knowledge may always be “otherwise,” it still requires incentives, infrastructures, efforts, and validation structures to take root, even and especially when it comes to conspiracy theories.

Authors

• Alice Marwick, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• William Clyde Partin, Data & Society Research Institute