… I wanted to share this editorial (Local PDF: Annie Kelly NYTimes OpEd 20230804 Qanon-Jan6th) by journalist / researcher Annie Kelly. I’ve reported on my interactions with her in previous editions of the Anomaly Archives eNewsletter as well as on the Anomaly-NOW! show. I received a lot of positive feedback from folks about this editorial and wanted to share it with our Patrons. My friends Joe Green, Greg Bishop, and others were interviewed as part of Annie’s research project. Both Joe and Greg are quoted in this OpEd.

I’ve attached a PDF of the article which is sourced from the New York Times:

How QAnon and Jan. 6 Ripped the Conspiracy Theory World Apart

Retitled: Even Conspiracy Theorists Are Alarmed by What They’ve Seen

A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 6, 2023, Section SR, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: How QAnon Broke Conspiracy Culture.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/opinion/conspiracy-theory-qanon.html

. . .

The OpEd begins by referencing the episode of Anomaly-NOW! linked below…

Anomaly-NOW! 1/20/2021 – Qanon, Bill Cooper’s Behold a Pale Horse, and Conspiracy Theory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjXb92XRyoo

https://anomalyarchives.org/video/anomaly-now/anomaly-now-20210120/

. . .

The date was Jan. 20, 2021, and Stephen Miles Lewis was trying to keep the peace.

Two weeks before, a mob of pro-Trump protesters had stormed the Capitol building, and the circles Mr. Lewis ran in were now brimming with tension. Many of his closest friends had been outraged by what they saw. But he also knew someone who had been there, who now claimed that the violence had been stirred up by antifa agents disguised as Trump supporters.

Mr. Lewis, a middle-aged man with a round face and a gray beard who goes by the nickname SMiles, sat at his desk, in front of a wall covered with posters of aliens, flying saucers and Bigfoot. In a YouTube video, he urged viewers to “take a step back and hopefully think, meditate, reflect on the times that we’re in,” to not “malign the others’ viewpoint.” He expressed frustration that the term “conspiracy theorist” was increasingly being used as an insult. After all, he pointed out: “I am a conspiracy theorist.”

At the time, Mr. Lewis was trying to project calm, to help ensure that the community he’d been part of since he was 18 didn’t tear itself apart. But in the years since, he has found himself unsettled by the darker elements of a world he thought he knew.

. . .

Here is the episode of Anomaly-NOW! where Miles first spoke publicly about the NYTimes OpEd:

Anomaly-NOW! 8/9/2023 – Conspiracy, Science and the Freedom to Interrogate Authority and Reality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd7yYMOzbE4

https://anomalyarchives.org/video/anomaly-now/anomaly-now-20230809/

. . .

And finally, here is our coverage of this reportage within the Anomaly Archives eNewsletter:

Anomaly Archives eNews – August 27th, 2023

https://anomalyarchives.org/2023/08/28/anomaly-archives-enews-august-27th-2023/

Everything is Connected: The Influence of the Internet on Conspiracy Theory, its Communities and Culture

What weird times we are living through. Late last year a friend reached out to tell me they had been interviewed by a young lady doing grant funded research on the influence of the internet on conspriacy communities. After looking into her public work I took the plunge and began interacting with her as part of the project. Then earlier this year she told me the NYTimes wanted her to do an article on the project but focused on one of her interviewees to give it a more personal angle. So we did another interview and continued our discussions. The article was published online earlier this month and appeared in the physical print version of the NYTimes on Sunday, August 6th.

Everything is Connected – sites.manchester.ac.uk/eic/

 . . .

Here is a link to an interview Annie did about the article and project a week ago…
For old-school conspiracy theorists, QAnon crossed a line – Think @ kera.org

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For the full NYTimes article, see the attached PDF.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

SMiles Lewis