Doing My Own Research : Sonic Cinema

Doing My Own Research

Posted by Brian Skutle Posted on Jul - 17 - 2025 0 Comment

Five years ago, I dove into QAnon. I don’t mean that I began looking at 8kun or Qmap for the latest Q drops from the anonymous, alleged “insider” promising mass arrests and “The Great Awakening.” I mean that, a few years after the conspiracy theory began- and after seeing the occasional article about it- I began to really consider the danger it played in our politics. I began listening to podcasts, and- as books began to come out about the movement- I took them in. I never took it as anything more than a ludicrous theory; it wasn’t until I started to really pay attention to the inner machinations of the theory, and how it could pop up in seemingly innocent posts friends shared, that I saw the risk inherent of its ideas.

In 2020, I wasn’t the only person starting to dive into QAnon. During COVID, plenty of people were anxious, unsettled, and concerned. They were also looking for answers. Isolated, at home, there was plenty of time to get redpilled. My wife and I spent most of our time binging TV shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Bones” and “The X-Files”, but as I went over to visit my mom, get her groceries (she was still living at her house at the time), I started getting more into podcasts. Recently, there were articles about “Save the Children” rallies in the streets. These were not the same as the protests earlier in the summer about police violence in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. This was more opaque. Around the same time, I began listening to the QAnon Anonymous podcast (now known as the QAA podcast), and it wasn’t long until they covered the rallies. The passion of the people they talked to was as furious as that of the Black Lives Matters protesters earlier in the year, but what they were talking about was like something out of of a horror movie. I moved forwards and backwards in the podcast, and by the time of the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021 happened, I had a pretty good grasp on why it was happening, and it was terrifying.

Whether I knew it or not, I had an early run-in with conspiracy theories like QAnon back in 2018. It was during a podcast record with the filmmakers behind No Restrictions Entertainment. I had seen a few of their films over the years- and really liked them (I still do)- and they were releasing their latest film- “A Child’s Voice”. It’s a supernatural drama about a homeless young man who has a telekinetic connection with a young boy being held against his will by shadowy men. At the time, I had not heard about QAnon, but in retrospect, it’s obvious the conceit at the heart of this film is rooted in its ideas about satanic ritual abuse- as well as the 2016 iteration it took on, Pizzagate- and when we began to talk about the film in the interview, one of the real-world incidents that inspired the filmmakers is right out of Satanic Panic back in the 1980s. In hindsight, I wish I knew then what I know now to push back on the assertions implied by their words, but it’s my mistake to bear. It is what it is. I know better now, and that’s part of where this blog comes from.

Nobody is immune to conspiratorial thinking. One of my favorite movies is Oliver Stone’s “JFK”, the mother of all conspiracy movies. Do I think Stone is on the right track with his dramatization of Jim Garrison falling down the rabbit hole? No, but I also have a hard time believing Oswald acted alone; the key headshot, and Oswald’s convenient assassination by Jack Ruby, asks more questions than this movie has definitive answers for. But a cabal of pedophiles- who just so happen to align on one side of the political spectrum- who gain power from a substance extracted by scared children, which Donald Trump- an alleged sexual abuser (not to mention a longtime pal of deceased, notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein)- was to bring to justice in his first term, and the secret anonymous source of information was posting about it on a message board known for harboring extremist ideologies and having child porn posted on the regular? QAnon was always Satanic Panic with a political bent, and even at my most anxious and inquisitive, it just never really landed with me. Redpilling on Q was never in the cards for me.

The QAA podcast has been a great, and entertaining, listen for someone curious about conspiracies and cults- and how they take hold- but it hasn’t been the only resource that gave me fascinating insight on Q. In March 2021, just over two months after the events of January 6, HBO released a terrific 6-part documentary series by filmmaker Cullen Hoback called “Q: Into the Storm”. For three years, the filmmaker dove into Q after its banning on Reddit, not only by looking at the people responsible for the message board that Q has called home- 8kun- but people who have promoted the theories over YouTube and other outlets, as well as followers and debunkers. One of the best parts of Hoback’s series is how he doesn’t spend much time debunking QAnon itself, but how he pulls back the layers of anonymity surrounding the current owners of 8kun (Jim and Ron Watkins), and in doing so, points to a possible reveal that would comfortably be enough to dispel even the strongest beliefs in Q. Ok, it didn’t for a lot of people, but I know- for one person in one of the resources I’ll mention later- it was a big part of their de-radicalization.

Like a lot of people, I’ve been concerned at the worship towards Trump that borders on cultish, and wondering what may break the fever of his supporters. I’ve been especially concerned whether those around my- friends and family- who support him might fall into such beliefs, which are rooted not only in good old Satanic Panic but antisemitism and blood libel. When you listen to the Q supporters, you can tell that their belief is unshakable, and they truly believe what they hear in terms of how the media sells a specific agenda in its coverage (which, to be fair, is accurate); political leaders cannot be trusted (another accurate assumption, though Trump getting a pass for “not being a traditional politician” feels like grading on a very steep curve); and- in some cases- that JFK Jr. is actually alive, and will be Trump’s running mate (that’s a fringe theory, but one sincerely held by those who believe it). I’m on the alert for such conspiratorial discussion and posts from friends and family, in part because of what I’ve learned from QAA, “Into the Storm”, as well as books by reporters like Will Sommer and Mike Rothschild. Recently, however, I found out about another book on QAnon, and it’s part of what inspired me in writing this.

I recently began catching back up with QAA; after a while, the further it got away from the conspiracy theory directly, I stepped away from the podcast. (Plus, I had other podcasts I had to listen to, as well.) With Trump back in office, I felt like the time was right to get back into listening to it. I was listening to an episode recently at work, and it was an interview with journalist Jesselyn Cook. A few years ago, she wrote an article for Huffington Post about families struggling with family members they lost to QAnon. She turned that article into a book, The Quiet Damage: QAnon, and the Destruction of the American Family. In it, she tells the story of five adults who went down the rabbit hole, and how it causes collateral damage within their family. I listened to the audiobook last week, and it’s heartbreaking and powerful in how we follow these families to the heart of darkness. There’s a husband and father whose life spirals because he thinks QAnon gives him a sense of purpose he’d been missing; a wife whose decades-long marriage is put on pins and needles because of a single mis-diagnosis of cancer; a Bernie supporting young woman whose anxiety about COVID turns into an alienating chain of events for most of her loved ones; two sisters who reacted to trauma and racism differently, and how it divides them as adults; and a widowed mother whose isolation after all her children move out transforms her into a person her kids do not recognize. Cook has profound empathy for each and every one of them, and in how she tells each story, we get a painful look at how families can break under Q’s influence. Sometimes, people can make it out, but other times, people get too far gone.

This blog comes at an interesting time in American politics. Right now, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice is not releasing any new files in the case of Epstein- including a supposedly “list” of clients that exists (even though a redacted version of his Black Book is online, and victim testimonies have given us several names over the years, including Trump himself)- and maintain that Epstein did, in fact, kill himself while in custody in August 2019. But MAGA is not really having it; they don’t accept that narrative, and are insisting the files be de-classified. QAnon was long absorbed into the GOP orthodoxy, but it’s fascinating to see how it is backfiring on Trump when he tries to lie about it now. Of course, MAGA thinks just their enemies will be hurt by a de-class, but seeing them implode at Trump’s dishonesty about THIS- and not the aggressive deportation of immigrants, his “Big Beautiful Bill,” not to mention everything he’s said or done since he first entered the campaign in 2015- is enough to give some people hope that his base is finally cracking. I’m less optimistic, but I also won’t lie- seeing the Conspiracy Superspreader and Chief lose his base over this would bring a smile to my face.

This isn’t the first time I’ve discussed QAnon. Back when I was doing the Sonic Cinema Movie Chat I did an episode of conspiracy movies inspired by “Into the Storm’s” release. You can find excerpts of that on the Sonic Cinema Podcast YouTube channel. I’ll share the first one below.