
Pastels and Pedophiles
Inside the Mind of QAnon
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Narrated by:
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Dina Pearlman
About this listen
A New York Times Editors’ Pick/Top 10 Recommended Read
Two experts of extremist radicalization take us down the QAnon rabbit hole, exposing how the conspiracy theory ensnared countless Americans, and show us a way back to sanity.
In January 2021, thousands descended on the US Capitol to aid President Donald Trump in combating a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles. Two women were among those who died that day. They, like millions of Americans, believed that a mysterious insider known as "Q" is exposing a vast deep-state conspiracy. The QAnon conspiracy theory has ensnared many women, who identify as members of "pastel QAnon", answering the call to "save the children".
With Pastels and Pedophiles, Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko explain why the rise of QAnon should not surprise us: Believers have been manipulated to follow the baseless conspiracy. The authors track QAnon's unexpected leap from the darkest corners of the internet to the filtered glow of yogi-mama Instagram, a frenzy fed by the COVID-19 pandemic that supercharged conspiracy theories and spurred a fresh wave of Q-inspired violence.
Pastels and Pedophiles connects the dots for listeners, showing how a conspiracy theory with its roots in centuries-old anti-Semitic hate has adapted to encompass local grievances and has metastasized around the globe - appealing to a wide range of alienated people who feel that something is not quite right in the world around them. While QAnon claims to hate Hollywood, the book demonstrates how much of Q's mythology is ripped from movie and television plot lines.
Finally, Pastels and Pedophiles lays out what can be done about QAnon's corrosive effect on society, to bring Q followers out of the rabbit hole and back into the light.
©2021 Mia M. Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko (P)2021 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Its messaging can seem cryptic, even nonsensical, yet for tens of thousands of people, it explains everything: What is QAnon, where did it come from, and is the Capitol insurgency a sign of where it’s going next? Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in conspiracy theories, has been collecting their stories for years, and through interviews with QAnon converts, apostates, and victims, as well as psychologists, sociologists, and academics, he is uniquely equipped to explain the movement and its followers.
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Overall
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Performance
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Since 2015, there has been a spectacular boom in a centuries-old delusion: that the earth is flat. More and more people believe that we all live on a pancake-shaped planet, capped by a solid dome and ringed by an impossible wall of ice. How? Why? In Off the Edge, journalist Kelly Weill draws a direct line from today’s conspiratorial moment, brimming not just with Flat Earthers but also anti-vaxxers and QAnon followers, back to the early days of Flat Earth theory in the 1830s.
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Unconvincing
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What listeners say about Pastels and Pedophiles
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Ago Smith
- 02-09-22
Pick a Boogieman
Okay book, to many Boogiemen. The only thing this book does is paint the internet beyond Facebook as scary.
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Overall
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- Chris Conner
- 06-16-23
Decent
I liked how the author focused on the women of QAnon. other books don't.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Q Garcia
- 10-21-22
QAnon
After seeing this author on C-SPAN's book television, I had to get this book. I've heard of QAnon, but didn't know what is was. The old saying 'this was eye opening ' fits this perfectly. I try to see things from all sides, and find this almost unbelievable that someone could be sucked into this. It appears that American politics are no longer American.
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