On the left, a map of the route that the Ever Given Ship took. (vesselfinder.com) On the right, a picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on Thursday, March 25, 2021, showing a backhoe trying to dig out the keel of the Ever Given. (Suez Canal Authority via AP)
Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
Advertisement
But as the efforts to re-float the massive ship have failed over the past few days, QAnon followers used the time to fall even further down this rabbit hole, and concoct some incredibly complex and entirely fabricated allegations.Like the claim that the ship’s captain looks a lot like Monica Lewinsky.The problem with this theory is that it is based on a fake rumor circulating on social media in Egypt claiming that Marwa Elselehdar, Egypt’s first female shipmaster, is the captain of the Ever Given, which is incorrect.
Advertisement
Another theory addresses the fact that before the ship entered the Suez Canal, it charted a course that looks like it was drawing a giant dick in the middle of the Red Sea.A spokesperson for ship tracking site vesselfinder.com told VICE World News that the ship’s tracking data was accurate and that “there is no room for some kind of conspiracies or false data.”But QAnon followers had different ideas.According to one lengthy theory posted in a popular Telegram channel devoted to the QAnon theory and former President Donald Trump, the incident was the result of the ship’s computers being hacked by those friendly to the QAnon cause.“Those ships are on auto-pilot most of the time. The computers do the work. I am suggesting that the ship’s computers were hacked. My suspicions lean toward the White Hats. This was part of the plan,” reads one post that’s been viewed over 7,000 times. The theory goes on to compare the shipping canal to a birth canal, positing that the incident was a sign that new information about the unmasking of the deep state was about to come to light. “Using a canal is symbolic of a birthing canal. Things are about to happen worldwide. The birthing of the information coming from this mess will be the beginning of the end of the deep state.”Many QAnon supporters are also pointing to an old post by the group’s anonymous leader Q, who wrote cryptically in February 2018 to “watch the water” — a phrase that’s been rolled out repeatedly over the years as “proof” that the QAnon conspiracy is real whenever something happens on or near water.Over on the Great Awakening, a QAnon message board, a post pinned at the top of the site is an elaborate “proof” board filled with seemingly unconnected facts about the ship linked to QAnon prophecies by red arrows, disparate imagery, and obscure and arcane references. In other words, a typical QAnon “proof.”The ship situation isn’t the first time QAnon followers have used the company Evergreen as a way of linking Clinton to some real-world incident. Back in August, QAnon followers tried to link her to the massive explosion in Beirut that killed over 150 people, all because an Evergreen shipping container was seen in video footage from the blast site.