QAnon's 'Meme Queen' Marches On (original) (raw)
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Valerie Gilbert posts dozens of times a day on Facebook to promote QAnon from her Manhattan apartment.Credit...Meghan Marin for The New York Times
The Shift
A QAnon ‘Digital Soldier’ Marches On, Undeterred by Theory’s Unraveling
Valerie Gilbert posts dozens of times a day in support of an unhinged conspiracy theory. The story of this “meme queen” hints at how hard it will be to bring people like her back to reality.
Valerie Gilbert posts dozens of times a day on Facebook to promote QAnon from her Manhattan apartment.Credit...Meghan Marin for The New York Times
- Published Jan. 17, 2021Updated Jan. 29, 2021
Every morning, Valerie Gilbert, a Harvard-educated writer and actress, wakes up in her Upper East Side apartment; feeds her dog, Milo, and her cats, Marlena and Celeste; brews a cup of coffee; and sits down at her oval dining room table.
Then, she opens her laptop and begins fighting the global cabal.
Ms. Gilbert, 57, is a believer in QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory. Like all QAnon faithful, she is convinced that the world is run by a Satanic group of pedophiles that includes top Democrats and Hollywood elites, and that President Trump has spent years leading a top-secret mission to bring these evildoers to justice.
She unspools this web of falsehoods on her Facebook page, where she posts dozens of times a day, often sharing links from right-wing sites like Breitbart and The Epoch Times or QAnon memes she has pulled off Twitter. On a recent day, her feed included a rant against Covid-19 lockdowns, a grainy meme accusing Congress of “high treason,” a post calling Lady Gaga a Satanist and a claim that “covfefe,” a typo that Mr. Trump accidentally tweeted three years ago, was a coded intelligence message.
“I’m the meme queen,” Ms. Gilbert told me. “I won’t produce them, but I share a mean meme, and I’m kind of raw.”
These are confusing times for followers of QAnon, a deranged conspiracy theory birthed in the bowels of the internet. They were told that Mr. Trump would be re-elected in a landslide, and that a coming “storm” would expose the global pedophile ring and bring its leaders to justice.
But there have been no mass arrests, and Mr. Trump is leaving office on Wednesday under the cloud of a second impeachment. Many prominent QAnon followers have been arrested for their roles in this month’s deadly mob riot at the U.S. Capitol. They are being barred by the thousands from major social networks for spreading misinformation about voter fraud, and law enforcement agencies are treating the movement as a domestic extremist threat.
Here’s how Ms. Gilbert’s Facebook page shifted toward conspiracy
Ms. Gilbert’s personal Facebook page appeared dormant for days after the 2016 election. Then on Nov. 17, more than a week later, she posted 30 times.
Nov. 17, 2016
Ms. Gilbert’s first day of posting after the 2016 election
Roughly half of those posts were about political or social issues, mostly advocating for environmental causes or support for Jill Stein, who was the Green Party’s presidential candidate.
Nov. 17, 2016
Just political posts
One post shared an online petition against factory farming.
She also posted several feel-good stories, like one about how a cow and a tortoise became friends, as well as recommendations for books on Amazon (including her own).
During that time, Ms. Gilbert critiqued politicians across the political spectrum, including Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders and President-elect Donald J. Trump.
By 2021, Ms. Gilbert’s posts had taken a turn. The day after the riots in the Capitol, she posted to her Facebook feed 53 times.
The vast majority of the posts were filled with QAnon-related conspiracies and misinformation about the siege.
Jan. 7, 2021
The day after the siege of the U.S. Capitol
In one, she repeated false suggestions that some of the rioters in the Capitol were antifa activists.
A few were flagged by Facebook as false or dangerous.
Throughout the day, Ms. Gilbert maintained her support for Mr. Trump, suggesting that he had not actually conceded the election.
By Ella Koeze·Source: Facebook
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