It might seem like a thing of semantics, but I would like to submit my thoughts about why the ‘social movement’ known as ‘Pastel QAnon’ should be called ‘Pastel Anon’. The minor difference I am proposing in the nomenclature is the alphabet ‘Q’, but that discrepancy is necessary. There are quite a few reasons for that - the first and foremost is that ‘Q’ is not directly involved in ‘Pastel Anon’ content creation, and not all ‘Past
el Anon’ content comes from QAnon. By leaving the letter ‘Q’ in there, we create an illusion that Pastel QAnon filters ONLY through QAnon. Pastel Anon is a much bigger umbrella than QAnon, and as much as the origins of the movement may link to QAnon, it cannot be considered a lineage, progeny or a sibling to QAnon.
As identified by Marc-André Argentino, a researcher at Concordia University, Canada - Pastel QAnon is a collection of techniques and strategies of using feminine-coded aesthetics to indoctrinate predominantly women into the QAnon conspiracy theory, chiefly on social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, YouTube and TikTok. It co-opts the aesthetics (including a pastel colour palette, which is where it gets its name) and language of communities and activities popular with women and uses gateway messaging to frame the conspiracies as reasonable concerns. CITATION(Gutierrez)
Marc provides an excellent definition and explanation of the term and movement Pastel QAnon as it talks about ‘feminine-coded aesthetics to indoctrinate predominantly women into the QAnon conspiracy theory. With the evolution in misinformation pipelines along with Q fading away from the rhetoric thanks to the ‘Jan 6th Insurrection’, the relevancy of Q is going away. What is not going away is the creation and adoption of new conspiracy theories where the source is irrelevant if the conspiracy theory feeds into the ‘truth seeker’ biases. Many ‘influencers’ have successfully unlocked the knowledge that they can make their audience feel special by sharing with them this secret knowledge. The knowledge that the rest of us ‘sheep’ don’t know or wouldn’t even believe if we found out about it. Because they are so intelligent and awake, and we are so stupid and asleep.
The events on 6th Jan at the Capitol in DC didn’t happen in a vacuum. Many of us were researching and following this craziness, and we saw this coming. This insurrection was initially pinned on QAnon (thanks to Jake Angeli, the QAnon Shaman and his wacky mates) and not the White Supremacists groups who came armed with all kinds of weapons except guns. QAnon was only one of the many groups who made the trip to Washington DC that day, and, in all probability, the QAnon folks were probably the less dangerous ones there that day. Along with QAnon and the White Supremacists, another group of people was there; they’ve been called the ‘economically anxious’, the ‘disenfranchised’ and a few other euphemisms of those sorts. They don’t have a label yet. This group was in the majority at that event. Many who ended up in court claimed that they got “caught up in the moment”. The findings of multiple journalistic investigations have shown that the folks who came to DC on that fateful day were not economically anxious or disenfranchised. They had the means to fly to DC, stay in a hotel and then spend more for this event to watch their Dear Leader President rile them up. This unlabeled group is ‘Pastel Anon’ (without the Q). They did not consume QAnon or even Pastel QAnon conspiracies/content, but they consumed other conspiracies like the one “2020 election was stolen from Trump”. To believe this ‘Big Lie’, they had to eat up a lot of little lies in the days, months and years before that, and for some people, none of those lies came from QAnon or Pastel QAnon. These lies came from multiple disingenuous sources. They were then confirmed within the bubble by other disingenuous sources in a vicious cycle of monetization, need for attention, and eventually narcissism.
I believe that the movement has moved on from Q, but the Pastel is here to stay. The word ‘Pastel’ is defined as ‘of a soft and delicate shade of colour,’ and ‘Anon’ is an abbreviation of ‘anonymous’; both those things are here to stay. Q couldn’t monetize his grift, but the grifters in many other communities did. People in communities related to lifestyle, celebrity, influencers, fashion, beauty, fitness, dieting, yoga, self-improvement & self-care, holistic living, childbirth (including home birth), pregnancy & childcare support groups. Many of the attendants at the Jan 6th rally were from vocations ranging from interior design, party planning, construction workers, chiropractors, plumbers, electricians, and even first responders like EMTs, firefighters, law enforcement, and the list could go on and on.
The grifters are NOT the Anons. They are the ‘artists’ who keep an eye on various contrarian opinions about culture wars and conspiracy theories. When they find the one approach they believe is most monetizable, they will choose that one and run with it creating content for more views. I don’t need to tell you that views = money. The origin of the misinformation or conspiracy theory will more or less stay anonymous, even though sometimes the influencer will try and steal credit for it if they feel their brand is fading away. A claim like that provides the shock value needed to keep their audience engaged.
Q is gone. ‘Pastel Anon’ is here to stay - it’s an umbrella that’s only going to grow with time, like the Wikipedia page called ‘Criticism of Facebook’. By leaving the Q in the term ‘Pastel QAnon’, we affix the movement to QAnon and Q more than it should be. Maybe we are also minimizing its danger to the future of information sharing and its consequences.
‘Pastel Anon’ would be defined (redefined) as a collection of techniques and strategies of using Surface Web pleasing aesthetics to indoctrinate predominantly the disenchanted, self-victimized, under-educated, highly privileged, low-information people of all ages into a habit of chasing the rabbit from one rabbit hole of conspiracy theory to another.
Surface Web — also called the Visible Web, Indexed Web, Indexable Web, or Lightnet — is that portion of the World Wide Web that is readily available to the general public and searchable with standard web search engines. Social media sites like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, YouTube and TikTok are all part of the Surface Web. These companies have ‘Community Guidelines’ for their users, which don’t allow for any illegal content like child pornography or selling drugs. They also don’t allow inappropriate but legal content that amounts to hate speech, targeted harassment, spamming, and other vile behaviours. Covid-related medical misinformation is one of the more recent additions to the community guidelines.
‘Pastel Anon’ content creators, promoters and victims successfully dodge the ‘Community Guidelines’ by JAQing off (‘Just Asking Questions’, also known as ‘JAQing off’, is a way of attempting to make wild accusations acceptable by framing them as questions rather than statements. It shifts the burden of proof to one’s opponent rather than laboriously proving any of the ridiculous claims made in the question. The tactic is closely related to loaded questions or leading questions, Gish Gallops (when asking a high number of rapid-fire questions without regard for the answers) and Argumentum ad nauseam (when asking the same question repeatedly to overwhelm refutations). CITATION
They will also use ‘Satire’, ‘Just Joking’, ‘Free Expression’, ‘Symbols’, ‘Coded Language’ as an excuse to dodge these loosely structured ‘Community Guidelines’.
This social behaviour and profitable markets built around it will continue to emerge as tech companies refrain from being labelled as ‘publishers’ while gladly providing a platform for dangerous ideas to spread at a frantic pace because it is suitable for the bottom line. This attitude in business is not uncommon and is flaunted proudly in a capitalist system. This attitude is the same attitude with which the narcos of Mexico and South America conduct their business. The only difference between Facebook and the narcos is that one is selling an illegal product that a tiny fraction of the population consumes through the nose. The other one sells a product that can change a culture and the land laws while being consumed at a mass scale, even by your grandma.
The lousy information peddled by Pastel Anon is already causing more harm in our society than drugs ever did. Facebook is your grandma’s information dealer who brings her all the lies she wants to consume. Talk to your grandma and anyone like her before it’s too late.
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