The world has been living with QAnon nonsense for five long years — the inevitable by-product of America electing a president who crafts his own facts while calling those that contradict him “fake news.” It might somehow be getting worse: The elaborate and deranged conspiracy theory/far right political movement has recently found a new cheerleader in Donald Trump. If that wasn’t bad enough, advocates are now even trying to suck The Simpsons into its tinfoil orbit.
As per Vice News, QAnon followers in Germany have read way, way too much into a recent gaffe by German lawmaker Friedrich Merz. Speaking about Ukraine, Merz misspoke, saying everyone will remember the day Russia invaded the neighboring nation. But he initially got the date wrong, saying it was September 24, not February 24. Whoops! At least it wasn’t as bad a slip of the tongue than MAGA lawmaker Ron Johnson saying “I condone” white supremacy.
Or was it? German Qanon-ers thought it was no flub but rather a promise that something major was going to happen later this week. But what exactly? With no other information to go on, one member of German Telegram seized upon…The Simpsons. They thought Merz was referring to episode 9 of season 24, aka “Homer Goes to Prep School.”
In the episode, from 2013, Homer becomes convinced that civilization is ill-prepared to survive a worldwide castastrophe and gets embroiled in the world of survivalist “preppers” (including one voiced by Tom Waits). QAnon advocates then read way, way too into the episode:
In particular, the characters discuss WROL, or Without Rule of Law, which is doomsday-prepper lingo for the complete breakdown of society after a major catastrophe.
The episode also features an electromagnetic pulse device, which QAnon followers believe will usher in “10 days of darkness” and ultimately the return of former President Donald Trump to the Oval Office.
The idea inevitably crossed the Atlantic, finding its way onto the QAnon wings of Telegram, YouTube, and Truth Social. They in turn took the conspiracy theorizing even further:
To back up their wild speculation, followers flagged other coincidences about the day—such as the fact that Sept. 24 on the Gregorian calendar converts to Sept. 11 on the Julian calendar. Others pointed out that it is the beginning of Rosh Hoshanah, the Jewish new year, though, like many of the claims, this is inaccurate as the holiday begins this year on the evening of Sept. 25.
Now, thanks to over-reading into a nine-year-old Simpsons episode, QAnon-ers are telling followers to expect “[e]verything from nuclear armageddon to a financial reset to widespread water poisoning and an armed revolution.”
Granted, The Simpsons has been eerily good at predicting the future. Insider estimates that it’s done so 21 times so far, including the once-improbably election of a certain dubious businessman. Maybe everything is connected. (Spoiler: It’s not. What did The Simpsons ever do to deserve this other than maybe stay on the air too long?)
(Via Vice)