Conspiracy as Heroic Purpose


The first year I worked in Germany, we met on American Jewish lad who’ve been living there for a year. I mentioned how impressive German culture was, thankful that it was democratic and no longer Nazi. The chap scolded me. His neighbors in Germany, he said, were as peaceful and productive as his neighbors at home in the US. Since I believe that people are mostly alike and good, I felt ashamed.

But I was ambivalent. History shows us people behaving with sadistic violence, at the same time they use cultural ideals trying to perfect themselves. But no life is perfect. If personality drives toward self-esteem, what do we do with actual failure and guilt? After Nazi victories in the west, Klemperer reports in his diary, Germans were satisfied to have the shame and depression off their defeat in World War I erased. With the Hitler cult, the victories created a sense of magical undoing. With their self-esteem assuaged, Germans had less enthusiasm for the invasion of Russia.

Once a German neighbor invited us over for a visit in order to show off her new humid and swanky swimming pool in the basement. Somehow the conversation touched on the Holocaust, and the woman became agitated. She made it clear that the subject was off-limits, saying something like she was fed up with hearing about German guilt for the Holocaust. It seemed to me she was boosting her self-esteem by identifying with the German nation, even as she was politely bragging about her swimming pool to the American visitors who had defeated the Germans in World War II.

I was intrigued that The New York Times (October 11th) reported that the “Q” conspiracy theory was “thriving” among German right-wingers. Not surprisingly, those who have embraced the Q fantasy are mostly from the former East Germany, where self-doubt and envy of the prosperous West Germany created an appetite for self-esteem.

The QAnon fantasy imagines Trump as a superhero battling forces within the government, “the deep state,” who are Satanists and pedophiles. The comic-book quality of the story gives riskless heroic purpose to the lives of believers. And the materials are ancient. The Jewish evil of the Deep State looks back to the blood libel of the Middle Ages (Jews supposedly killing Christian children to use their blood in matsos), even as Q’s antigovernment themes give new life to the deep South’s hatred of federal government going back before the US Civil War. More recently, as far right media has become prominent in the US, Q’s emphasis on the sexual abuse of children recalls the Satanic Abuse story in the 1980s and 90s.

Q thrives on the peculiar hero-worship that Trump inspires in some people. But Q also depends on what Canettti calls crowds and power. As in a cult, you join the belief system with others who expand your power: Q’s motto is “Where we go one, we go all.” Like all conspiracy theories, Q makes believers elite: the special knowledge makes the believer superior to everybody else.

“Q always says: ‘Trust the plan. You have to wait. Trump’s people will take care of it,’” a researcher said. “If Trump does not invade Germany, then some might say, ‘Let’s take the plan in our own hands.’”

Echoes of the messianic Hitler. Covid scares people, but for some, the virus intensifies threats to identity. Not Hitler or Trump but the conspiracy story itself rescues believers by providing heroic purpose.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *