"Never before have I been so uncertain about the future. Think of all the giant issues that confront us: artificial intelligence, potential financial bubbles, the decline of democracy, the rise of global authoritarianism, the collapse of reading scores and general literacy, China's sudden scientific and technological dominance, Russian advances in Ukraine. I could go on and on. So what has America's political class decided to obsess about over the last several months?"
"The QAnon mentality is based on the assumption that the American elite is totally evil and that American institutions are totally corrupt. If there is a pizzeria on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest D.C., it must be because Hillary Clinton is running a child abuse sex ring in the basement. The Epstein case is precious to the QAnon types because here, in fact, was a part of the American elite that really was running a sex abuse ring."
A broad array of existential risks faces the nation, including artificial intelligence, financial instability, democratic backsliding, rising global authoritarianism, declining literacy, China’s rapid technological ascent, and Russian military advances. Political attention has instead focused on Jeffrey Epstein, a long-deceased individual with limited recent ties to major figures. Sensational, easily digestible topics perform well in short-video-driven media ecosystems and reward confident opinion without expertise. The QAnon worldview assumes elites and institutions are deeply corrupt, treating Epstein as representative rather than anomalous. Historical conspiratorial impulses, such as John Birch Society claims about Alger Hiss and Eisenhower, echo this pattern.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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