Pastels and Pedophiles

Inside the Mind of QAnon

De: Mia Bloom, Sophia Moskalenko

Narrado por: Dina Pearlman

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.

Decent

I liked how the author focused on the women of QAnon. other books don't.

Pick a Boogieman

Okay book, to many Boogiemen. The only thing this book does is paint the internet beyond Facebook as scary.

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.