Burke: What Fred Flintstone has in common with QAnon

Published 1:30 am Monday, June 7, 2021

By Tom Burke / Herald columnist

For years one of the scariest numbers I knew was 30 percent. (My No. 1 scariest number is 8 million, the number of people, mostly European Jews, shot and gassed and burned in the ovens in places such as Dachau, by Hitler, the regime supported by the first “America First” folks in 1940.)

But the reason 30 percent was so frightening; it was the percent of adult Texans, identified in 2010 by researchers from the University of Texas, who believed man and dinosaurs co-existed and lived together at the same time (and watched the Hanna-Barbara “Flintstones” not as a cartoon but as a documentary). And to further alarm you, gentle reader, another 30 percent said they didn’t know if man and stegosaurus walked together on the earth. Didn’t know?

Texans also rejected evolution with 51 percent disagreeing [and 15 percent saying they didn’t know] that “human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals.”

Aside from the sheer absurdity of such beliefs; the colossal ignorance; and the complete, total, and insane rejection of science that 30 percent-plus represents, there was a real-world consequence to this madness: Texas required its public schools to offer creationism and intelligent design as viable alternatives to science-based education and bills to codify the denial of global warming and climate change were introduced.

Now, today, there are a new set of numbers — 23, 28, 48, 28, and 29 — that shake me to the core.

And no, these aren’t my losing lottery numbers or the combination to my high school gym locker.

They are the percentages of people who believe both The Big Lie and a bunch of QAnon conspiracy theory. And they scare the crap out of me because that many folks believing that sort of crap, portends the end of American democracy.

Let me explain.

PRRI, the Public Religion Research Institute, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting independent research at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy.

And they asked if people believed: “The government, media and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child-sex-trafficking operation?” 23 percent, almost a quarter of Republicans nationally, answered “Yes.” Yes!

Then they asked who agreed that, “There is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders.” 28 percent of all Republican voters agreed, buying into The Big Lie; and nearly half of Americans (48 percemt) who trust far-right news ala OAN and Fox agreed with the statement! (Trump says he’ll be “reinstated” in August. He’s delusional.)

They also queried if people thought, “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.” And 28 percent said that was a true statement. (Insurrection as Republican policy?)

And if you’re not terminally depressed yet, they also asked who believed the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and 29 percent of all Americans thought it was. (Other research showed 70 percent of Republicans believe the Big Lie.)

That people such as this vote, is scary; that they make policy at the local, state and federal levels (like the pro-Flintstone Texas crowd controlled Lone Star educational standards) is scarier; and that some actually make it to Congress and others, like Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s convicted and pardoned national security aide, stated, out loud and in public, that a military coup, like in Myanmar, “Should happen here,” is simply terrifying and a potential death-knell for democracy.

Now if you need to salvage a bit of hope from these depressing stats, take comfort in that only 25 percent of Americans identify as Republican, as per the latest Gallup polling. The R’s are a shrinking minority. (Any wonder?)

The realities we are dealing with today: Truth has no meaning; facts aren’t facts; the Big Lie is working; and, apparently, more than a quarter of the population is bat-guano stupid is dangerous and shapes a fraught American political landscape.

But for historical context, let’s remember the American Revolution of 1776 wasn’t, in fact, a popular uprising. A third of the colonists were Tories, supporting the Crown; another third were uninvolved, they didn’t care who ruled; and only the final third supported independence. But they were organized and violent.

Today we are faced with an organized, violent minority who apparently advocates the armed overthrow of the government, believes Satan-worshippers run our country, and buy the Big Lie.

And the results are plain to see: an assassination plot against the Michigan governor; the Jan. 6 insurrection; state legislatures attacking and denying the right to vote; Republican lies being substituted for truth; and the complete and total rejection of anything not proposed by R’s, no matter how good for the country or how much people need it.

Any wonder why I continue to fear for our future.

Stay safe. Keep masking up.

Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.