Lately I’ve been keeping an eye on the Great Awakening message board. Not because I want to read that shit, but because I suspect there’s a QAnon angle behind some right-wing attacks on books, authors, teachers, and librarians, attacks I try to stay abreast of in my You Can’t Read That! banned book posts.
When I dropped by yesterday, I saw this message:
I added a link to the image so that you can click and view the entire conversation (if you wish … personally I recommend against it). The short version is that Ehjax78 is deliriously excited about yesterday’s referendum in Ukraine. You know, the referendum where Ukrainians in four regions “voted” in favor of annexation by Russia. While looking down the barrels of AK-47s pointed at them by the Russian soldiers who went door-to-door collecting votes.
While a few commenters point out the sham nature of the voting, most are as giddy over the results as the original poster. Spread the good news! Russia grew a little bigger today!
Fifth column Baghdad Bobs, cheering on the crudest Russian state media lies and pro-Putin propaganda, thinking it marks them as insiders with special knowledge not shared by the masses of sheeple.
It occurs to me there’s something else behind QAnon idiots cheering America’s enemies, and that is the fact that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a Jew. Check out Ehjax78’s avatar. Check out the avatars of his friends and supporters. Pepe the Frogs everywhere. What do all these groups — QAnon, Teabaggers, Birchers, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Unite the Right, MAGAs, and yes, I’m including Moms for Liberty and book banners in general — have in common? AntiSemitism and racism.
They are beneath contempt. But they are real, and they vote. Therefore, so must we.
Speaking of Russia (and its newest citizen Edward Snowden), here’s a tweet I repost from time to time (it’s not mine):
Your regular reminder that Edward Snowden is not on your side. Whistleblowers don’t run to Moscow with help from dirtbags. Spies do.
My feelings exactly. If Snowdon had stayed behind to face the music he’d have been a hero, like Chelsea Manning or Reality Winner. Instead, he ran. He’s a traitor, never mind that he peeled the lid off something that needed to be exposed.
Now for a hot take that’s certain to offend almost everyone. The Iranian people enthusiastically embraced religious theocracy. While I’m happy they’re finally getting tired of it I don’t think for a second they’ve stopped hating America and the West (granted, we earned that hate). Iranians are going to go their own way and don’t need or want our help. I hope we don’t stand in their way, but honestly, their future is theirs to determine, and I’m largely indifferent to the outcome.