How to Survive a Fail Prophecy

Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. To solemnly mark the end of this reporting dynasty, we rebroadcast one of our TOP 10 most popular Weird Religion episodes of all time: The 2020 election and inauguration came and went, leaving the predictions of the QAnon prophets…hanging in the air. What happens to a religious movement when its key prophecies fail to come true in real time? Are adherents disappointed? Is/was Q a “religion”? And did the biblical prophet Ezekiel make a false prediction—and then try to correct it?

UPDATED NOTES

Think this story is old news? A February 2022 PRRI poll shows that nearly 20% (!!??) of all Americans still believe in the core QAnon message: https://www.prri.org/research/the-persistence-of-qanon-in-the-post-trump-era-an-analysis-of-who-believes-the-conspiracies/

Tucker out at Fox: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/24/1171641969/fox-news-fires-tucker-carlson-in-stunning-move-a-week-after-787-million-settleme

Chris Bader, “When Prophecy Passes Unnoticed”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387588?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Dr. Christopher Bader: https://www.chapman.edu/our-faculty/christopher-bader

Cat Transcendence - limitless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwmeH6Rnj2E

“The QAnon ‘Storm’ Never Struck”: https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958907699/the-qanon-storm-never-struck-some-supporters-are-wavering-others-steadfast

Clips of Q adherents from: CNN reporting from 2018 at a Trump rally (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dGVXmuLmEM )

Clips from “Satanic Panic” reporting from: CBC/Radio-Canada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plEImKEIRm8)