Reasons for the rise and rise of QAnon

A man in a QAnon vest at a protest against a rule requiring children to get flu vaccination before they can attend school, outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston on Sunday. PHOTO: AFP

How did an online conspiracy theory become so strong that it is influencing the politics of the party ruling the world's most powerful country while inspiring terrorists at the same time?

The rise of QAnon - an online conspiracy theory that has the trappings of a religious cult - is reflective of broader trends in society, notably how technology is blunting our ability to know what is real while driving existing tendencies for politics to head into ever more extreme directions.

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