The McAfee Virus: Suicide as a Viral Conspiracy Theory

[Nevilledog]

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Marc-André Argentino
@_MAArgentino
The McAfee suicide would have been enough for conspiracy theorists but the stunt on Instagram cemented that fact. Here are some initial thoughts and reactions to the death of John McAfee

The McAfee Virus: Suicide as a Viral Conspiracy Theory
The Viral Seed On June 23, 2021, a Spanish court made the ruling that John McAfee would be extradited to the United States on tax-evasion charges. Hours after the ruling, McAfee was found dead in his...
insightintohate.substack.com
4:55 AM · Jun 24, 2021

https://insightintohate.substack.com/p/the-mcafee-virus-suicide-as-a-viral

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Why should we care?

From a threat actor perspective, this is not something that would raise a red flag in regards to potential acts of violence. What it does provide is an opportunity for A) QAnon influencers to exert their conspiratorial authority over their communities, and B) provide for QAnon and other actors in alt-tech ecosystems to interact with each other over a common conspiratorial narrative. QAnon as a participatory movement survives and thrives on these types of situations. QAnon adherents are not passive readers of conspiracy theories dropped by ‘Q’ or crafted by influencers in the movement. Rather, they are also content creators who generate memes, videos, texts, music, films and social media content, which in turn feeds and generates the influencers. This behaviour encourages broad participation, grassroots creativity, and economy of ideas.

This in turn permits community building. As Amarnath Amarasingam has highlighted participating in online communities “tends to foster an increased connection to other members of the online community while also solidifying one’s membership in it. As Barkun notes, ‘The validation that comes from seeing one’s beliefs echoed by others provides a sense of connection for otherwise isolated individuals.’”

There is a parallel between belief in conspiracy theories and religion, and QAnon exemplifies a type of spiritual behaviour; most notably in that QAnon adherents and influencers take popular cultural artefacts and integrate them into a spiritual framework. Specifically: the seeker as consumer and/or audience member, receiving the conspiracy theories in a kind of secularized parallel to traditional religious revelation, albeit received in these cases from the creators of media content rather than a deity. Though it may seem trivial, or theoretical, events like these do play a role in sustaining these ecosystems, which foment behaviours and beliefs that lead to radicalization, and as we have seen at times radicalization to violence.

For those of you who are curious, or have loved ones that are pilled and want to know what is happening in this space, let’s dive into what the influencers, adherents and other actors are saying.

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