I try not to get too personal on FaceBook, what with trolls and such.. Also, griping about my personal life is something I was taught a long time ago is just something one doesn’t do. But I have to speak up about this.
If you’re friends with me on FaceBook, or on Twitter, you would have noticed, that in as much as my political views skew left, I have been particularly vicious towards a conspiracy group called QAnon.
And yeah, they’re crazy. And yes, they love Trump. But that’s not the reason I actively, hate – yes, I said “hate” (another thing I was told was bad, but right now, I don’t care), everything about them.
And here’s why.
My now former childhood best friend.
I’ve known this person since I was 13.
She was 14 when we met, and didn’t know much about Jews or the Jewish way of life, or that there were as many different variations on practicing Judaism (or not practicing it all that much) as there are stars in the sky – Truly.
We grew up in one another’s homes. She was accepted as a member of the family – not just by my immediate family – but by my extended family as well. She used to call my grandmother “baptcha.” My sister, for the longest time, considered her a like a second older sister.
She used to ask me questions about rumors she’d heard about Jews, and their traditions. Having gone to Yeshiva, I considered myself quite the expert, and explained everything I could as best as I could.
We went through everything together. First loves, first heartbreaks, the ups and downs of HS, College and post college life. We were roommates for a couple of years. We used to joke about our weddings, who we’d marry, how our kids would grow up to be best friends like we were – all the stuff young girls and women talk about.
When I got married, she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. I flew her in from Texas (where she was living at the time) and bought her dress and paid for her hair and make-up because it was THAT important to me that she be a part of that day we both had dreamed of all our lives.
So, to find out that she joined this fucking cult killed me.
It broke my heart worse than any ex-boyfriend ever did.
You see, QAnon is drenched in Anti-Semetism. They believe in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion – A series of theories, that has long been debunked, but that has been used, in various different forms as the justification for Anti-Semetism in one way or another, for centuries.
Ultimately, the Protocols state that the Jews were said to have made plans to disrupt Christian civilization and create a world they rule along side the Freemasons. Liberalism and socialism were the means they would use to do this, along with financially sabotaging all the capitals of Europe.
The combined Anti-Semetic theories were published in Russia in 1903 and printed and distributed in America by Henry Ford to justify what he knew was going on in Germany during WWII.
QAnon also believes in “Blood Libel.” It’s an old, also debunked, conspiracy theory that claims that Jews use the blood of Christians, particularly Christian children, in religious rituals, especially in the preparation of Passover Mazoh.
To hear, that after 36 years of friendship, she was so quick to embrace a group that believes in this shit, and proudly supports their anonymous leader, how could I not react the way I did?
I tried to talk to her. I really did. I tried to explain how hurtful it was that she’d believe some anonymous stranger’s lies over the truths she witnessed her whole life – but to no avail.
We did get childish – each of us posting passive-aggressive remarks about one another on our personal FaceBook pages. I guess my post about people who join cults only do so because they can’t face their own failures in life, really got to her because she ‘unfollowed’ me.
Funny enough, within a week of her unfollowing me, five different mutual friends, along with my mother, asked me what the hell was wrong with her. I couldn’t answer with the whole truth – that this person they knew for over thirty years, didn’t just go over the edge mentally, but she took a swan dive over to the dark side.
I realized, that had we grown up together in Poland back in the 1930s, had been best friends, to the point of considering one another family, she would have likely been first in line to report me to the Gestapo when they came to our town.
I’ve never been the type of person to exclaim that someone was ‘dead to me,’ But I guess there’s a first time for everything.
Truly speaking, if you believe even an ounce of what QAnon is shitting out into the world, I have nothing left to say to you. People like those leading and following QAnon are no different than all those Germans who had no problem turning Jews in to be slaughtered.
And if you’re a Jew who entertains the other parts of QAnon’s narrative, you’re no better than those Jews who were okay with Hitler because ‘he couldn’t be serious’ about his plans for the population of the Jews.
So yes, for the first time in my life I can honestly say I “hate” something. I don’t know what exactly it is I hate, because the person that started this movement is anonymous. I hate them for taking away my best friend.. or maybe I should thank them for showing me who this person really is.
Because how much of a friend could she have been if she could follow anything this cult believes in, knowing they believe this about people like me?