Q: Into the Storm on HBO Max

QAnon, that anonymous organization that continually posts conspiracy theories that were catapulted to notoriety during the Trump Presidency and 2020 campaign, is explored in what can only be described as an eye opening documentary on HBO Max.

Q: Into the Storm is an interesting breakdown of what is QAnon. The documentary explores how QAnon came to be and their theories but also it introduces the type of individual who eagerly engages in the messages and seeks meaning from these communications.

Understanding how QAnon reached almost a cult following and how the posts started to appear on the message board of 8kun, leads you to meet Ron and Jim Watkins. Ron the administrator of the message board for 8kun. 

Jim Watkins is the owner of 8kun, which is the home for QAnon. Both Ron and Jim deny any connection to QAnon, but all the 4,000+ messages that have posted since 2017, first appearing on 4chan and then moving to 8kun in 2018 and have since been solely on the 8kun message board.

Q: Into the Storm explores the mindset of the followers and conspiracy theorist and why QAnon appeals to them in a cult like status. The FBI have gone so far to designate QAnon as a domestic terrorist threat, but this hasn’t diminished any of the ongoing appeal.

The QAnon movement many have decided who is responsible and were cited by numerous followers as the inspiration for the Capitol riot on Jan 6th 2021. But QAnon have grown to become a message board for everything including anti-covid vaccinations, covid conspiracy theories and even political agendas. Interestingly enough QAnon did go offline for nearly three months after a series of mass shootings in 2019 that some link to their online messaging.

The rise and popularity of QAnon some are calling one of the biggest conspiracy-theory movements of the Internet age with some saying QAnon has incited violence and criminal acts from baseless claims.

There is a curiosity to understand this ongoing phenomenon and how some of the most absurd claims made by QAnon are believed by followers without any questioning or reflection. The followers simply believe everything they are told through an unregulated message board that hosts some obscure and different ideas.

Watching this documentary there are a lot of questions that are answered in realizing how this became such a political based movement. It also highlights how the followers embraced this type of conspiracy movement and their motivations around QAnon. There are also a lot of areas where you will become frustrated. 

The common thread here in this documentary is that the followers appear to do no questioning or research of the theories that are presented on the 8kun message board and these posts are embraced as gospel and the truth. The major problem being that when simple facts or knowledge are presented as a counter idea to the communication by QAnon that the followers dismiss and refuse to engage in constructive discussion or argument often aggressively dismissing it as criticism of the cult.

Q: Into the Storm is currently available in HBO Max.