“They – all these politicians and Hollywood stars – are stealing the children and doing all sorts of horrible things to them,” an Uber driver informed me out-of-nowhere, the moment I stepped into the car. “They suck their blood, using them for all kinds of Satanic rituals. We have to do something to stop it.”
I looked at this older gentleman through the reflection of the rear-view mirror – his brown eyes wide and his forehead a map of angst – and realized that he genuinely endeavored to protect our nation’s youth and do whatever he could in his limited power to make the world a better place.
Still, it wasn’t my first time hearing such a spiel, and probably will not be the last. I believe most people who brush up on the parroting of propaganda do so from an honest place of believing that human trafficking rings percolate before our eyes, and that so few seem to care about the well-being of children engulfed by this horrible crime.
However, the twisted information tactics propelled via the QAnon push negatively impact the anti-trafficking movement. On the one hand, it drives many followers to misunderstand the problem. On the other hand, it prompts many others to discount human trafficking, also known as modern slavery, to dismiss the issue as a right-wing fringe conspiracy.
Yet human trafficking is a very real and concerning matter that deserves accurate coverage and the proper resources.
But first up, let’s go back to QAnon’s origins.
The movement’s first official post was made in 2017 with coded online messages posted by “Q” on the underground website 4chan, indicating that high-profile Democrats, celebrities and media personnel were involved in a global satanic child trafficking operation – although the campaign is primarily derived from earlier stratagems. Notably, the “Pizzagate” scandal, in which activists alleged the email subject used symbols and coded communication phrases in the hacked emails of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta. Many concluded that these led to a shadowy child trafficking ring conducted in the basement of a Washington D.C. pizzeria, prompting one man to show up to the restaurant to rescue the non-existent children and open fire.
Nevertheless, what initiated as a borderline supposition has since metastasized into some 17 percent of the American population believing that a prominent portion of the U.S. elite is deeply entrenched in a horrific child trafficking outfit. It gained further momentum during the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, when erroneous claims about top Hollywood stars made their way into the chats, forums, and social media platforms. The Boca Raton police department had to go so far as to tweet that the burgeoning rumor that Oprah was on the cusp of being arrested for trafficking simply “was not true.”
In short, distorted information creates a gauze of confusion and imperils those who are actual victims of predatory crimes. The Q-esque theories about human trafficking propagandize susceptible individuals to act upon false narratives and hurt those who need our help most.
For example, the Wayfair conspiracy juggernaut – the 2020 out-of-control narrative that the furniture giant facilitates child trafficking and hides minors in its furniture and warehouses – sucked up countless advocacy and law enforcement resources that could have and should have been dedicated to real trafficking cases and used to aid real trafficking victims. Even all thirty field offices of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were affected by the erroneous but ballooning claims. As a result, authorities halted ongoing investigations to address the deluge of accusations related to the U.S.-based platform.
The false assertions sensationalize and diminish the horrors endured by authentic victims and survivors, exploit the issue for political gain, divert necessary resources from those in need, and give skeptics a reason to believe that modern slavery isn’t a real cause for concern, and instead a figment of the far-right imagination. It is a gift for the criminals, traffickers and predators who get away with their violations as Americans probe all the wrong places to solve the expanding problem.
Believe me; I have little doubt that several of our leaders and those in the highest echelons of our adoration-driven society do incredibly unscrupulous things, but to cement grandiose conspiracies as fact is an insult and a danger to those who need our helping hand the most.
PLEASE CONSIDER A PAID SUBSCRIPTION TO THIS SUBSTACK TO HELP KEEP INDEPENDENT, AGENDA-FREE WRITING AND JOURNALISM ALIVE. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT.
For speaking queries please contact meta@metaspeakers.org
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for more updates
HOLLIE’S BOOKS (please leave a review)
** Short read of meaningful lessons gleaned from the ordinary forced to become extraordinary
Order your copy of “Afghanistan: The End of the US Footprint and the Rise of the Taliban Rule” due out this fall.
For those interested in learning more about the aftermath of war, please pick up a copy of my book “Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield.”
If you want to support small businesses:
How QAnon hijacked the cause of fighting human trafficking