Book Review: “Pastels and Pedophiles” by Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko

Pastels and Pedophiles by Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko

…and speaking of controversial conspiracy theories…

Stanford researchers Bloom and Moskalenko study online radicalism, and this book applies their understanding to “explaining” the world of QAnon.  Overall, this book is a pretty complete summary of what Q is; the complicated stories that have developed, and the community of committed believers that has arisen.

While it is very clear that the authors consider much of the QAnon narrative to be wrong, if not laughable; they don’t consider the huge community of Q believers to be either laughable or deplorable.  If anything, this book bends over backwards to tell how ordinary, reasonable people can be led into what seem to the non-believer to be wildly irrational beliefs.

B & M’s make one crucial point which I will emphasize:

“Q. How Do We Deradicalize QAnon?

“We shouldn’t attempt it.”

(From the FAQ, p.189)

These scholars are on the case because they study “online radicalism” and QAnon is definitely a child of the internet.  But QAnon is interesting because it has been so much more successful than many other internet movements (if QAnon is a movement), and in such a very short time.

One reason for this success, B & M tell us, is the Q narrative has absorbed and repurposed a variety of existing narratives, not least the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, anti-vaxism, and birtherism; but also popular low brow science fiction, notably the Matrix (1999) (“The Red Pill”) as well as bits and pieces from a century of popular fiction, such as Adrenochrome, space lasers, fake moon landings, and lizard people.  QAnon wins no points for originality—or internal consistency.  But Q has proved to be very, very adaptible.

Much of the book offers up some pop social psychology to describe “the Mind of QAnon”.  B & M have been particularly interested in the prominent role of women in QAnon. Whether or not B & M’s analysis of the psychology of “conservative, white, suburban women” is valid, they are correct that QAnon has had a distinctly feminine strain. 

The “Pastels and Pedophiles” in their title refer to Q’s central appeal to mobilize against alleged child trafficking, which is often presented in soft “pastel-colored” pages styled for a female audience. This is especially notable compared to ideologically adjacent radical movements that are extremely masculine, and often anti-woman.

Of course, the swift rise of QAnon coincided with the Trump presidency and the Covid pandemic, which have interacted in complex ways with the movement. 

B & M believe (with little evidence) that many people who have been socially isolated by lockdowns have found a sense of community on line, including the community of Q believers.  At the same time, absorption into the world of QAnon may lead to further isolation from non-believers, including family and jobs.

QAnon famously adopted Donald Trump as an unlikely savior of humanity, and Trump played along with the game for his own reasons.  In addition, a cadre of agitators and profiteers played up the game, pushing Trump as the key to “The Plan”, while hawking merch to line their own pockets. 

If there are villains in this book, I would say it would be cynical opportunists who have raked in millions for themselves in the name of QAnon, saving children, and electing Trump.  Millions of good-hearted people have been convinced to send money (and votes) to people who really don’t deserve it.

Oh, and don’t forget the undeniable fact that Putin’s infowar agents have done everything they can to promote Q’s narratives, which they accurately view as weakening the US. The Russians didn’t invent most of this stuff, but they sure helped it spread and grow.  (Old lefties like me can never really get used to how today’s rightists have been able to embrace Putin’s Russia without penalty; after decades of being cancelled for even being “soft” on the USSR, let alone praising and collaborating with them.)

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For me, the most interesting thing about QAnon is that it uses the technology of participatory games, AKA “Alternate Reality Games” (e.g., see McGonigal)  The “Q drops” are carefully designed puzzles, and participants self-organize on line to craft solutions and reinforce each other for contributing. 

These days the internet penetrates and intersects with so much of life that all kinds of things get sucked into these online puzzles and made-up solutions.  Such as the unfortunate Pizza parlor in DC or thousands of civic minded volunteer poll workers, suddenly hounded by Q inspired online mobs.

As B & M note,  these ARG game mechanics, the process of “connecting the dots” and solving puzzles, is not only fun and empowering, it strengthens belief in the storyline.  Information from authorities and experts can’t compete with things you have “figured out yourself”.  It’s all addictive and seductive and it literally creates an alternative reality, at least for a time.

Basically, Q and his followers have used this social game technology to deliver political propaganda—crude, low quality propaganda, at that.  (I mean, lizard people?  C’mon.) As an anthropologist, I admire the technique.  As a technologist, I deplore this use of technology. As a citizen I condemn this project as evil.

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What should be done?

QAnon is annoying, especially to the millions of us who may be innocently smeared by insane stories of lizard people / pedophile cabals / god knows what next.  But, as B & M note, only a handful of Q believers have committed crimes or actual violence, regardless of the bloodthirsty rhetoric.

Unfortunately, the victims are likely to be those close to the believers, as well as the believers themselves.  Many believers who have gone down the rabbit hole have damaged relations with family, friends, coworkers; lost their jobs and otherwise hurt themselves and others. 

Digital technology is addictive, and the effects are similar to any other addiction. And we should seek to help people who want to climb out of the rabbit hole to rebuild a life.

B & M suggest how to help people who want to drop out and reenter more conventional realities.  They also wave their hands at things that might inoculate people from going down the rabbit hole in the first place.

I must say, their prescriptions seem to be pretty weak medicine to me, and unlikely to be widely implemented in any case.  The good news is that much of their “cure” is basic stuff:  be good to each other, try to help people who need help, and learn how to think critically in general and specifically about the awful glop that is all over the internet. 

My own view is that the best “cure”–for pretty much anything–is for as many people as possible to find a good life, a life with a secure home, good lively hood, and loving family—and, of course, with the esteem of others and personal feeling of self-worth.  Anyone who is deeply engaged in living a worthwhile life probably has little time or interest in following breadcrumbs to discover wildly improbably “truths” on the internet, from Q or anyone.

So let’s try to build a better world, and “recruit” everyone to participate.

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1. Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko, Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside Mind of QAnon, Stanford, Redwood Press, 2021.

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