Just Asking Questions
Overview
JAQ is used by conspiracy theorists to promote false claims by phrasing them as questions. They often claim to be "only asking questions" about certain proven facts, such as the Holocaust, the Holodomor, and Assyrian genocide.
Examples
Holocaust denial
Just Asking Questions (JAQ) is often used among Holocaust deniers, who tend to ask questions with false assumptions to cast doubt on the genocide of Jews in WWII Nazi-occupied land.[2]
Writing for the Slate magazine, Johannes Breit, a German historian, stated that JAQ had been seen frequently in posts made by Holocaust deniers in Reddit's r/AskHistorian subreddit (2.2M subscribers), which prompted its moderators to ban them from participation in 2018.[2] American historian Deborah Lipstadt (1947 – ) commented on JAQ's potential impact:[2]
[... p]roperly camouflaged, Holocaust denial has a good chance of finding a foothold among coming generations.
The Institute for Historical Review (IHR), a self-declared academic group that has been promoting Holocaust denial since 1978,[3] uses JAQ in most of their publications.[3] The Counter Extremism Project summarized IHR's activities as follows:[2]
[t]hey do not deny history but seek to provide more in-depth investigations to ascertain the truth [. ...] claims to have no position [... but] "encourage more objective investigation."
The IHR claims that global “Holocaust remembrance” is designated to "further Jewish-Zionist interests."[2][3] The IHR also promoted the myth that "Nazi Germany actively supported Zionism".[3] IHR's Holocaust distortion has had a considerable impact across the political spectrum. Former London mayor Ken Livingstone (1945 – ), who was a British Labour Party member until 2018, promoted the myth,[4] so did PA's leader[5] and American Trotskyist activist writer Lenni Brenner (1937 – ) who published a book endorsing the myth.[6][7]
Since then, Brenner has denied encouraging Holocaust distortion,[7] despite the book's content being cited by some[who?] on both the far right and far left to trivialize the Holocaust.
Similar concepts
Sealioning
Sealioning is a similar concept to JAQ. Sealioning refers to the act of repeating the same questions that have already been answered while faking ignorance and politeness. It is also common on online forums and social media.
Just Asking Questions Media
A pamphlet of Bertrand Russell's 1964 essay "16 Questions on the Assassination," which promoted conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
References
- ↑ Faking as being neutral about a topic to hide one's bias.
- Shermer, Michael (March 1, 2015). "What Can Be Done about Pseudoskepticism?". Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-can-be-done-about-pseudoskepticism. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- Conner, Christopher T.. Conspiracy Theories and Extremism in New Times (in en) (2024-08-15)Rowman & Littlefield. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-6669-3309-3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4
- Breit, Johannes (July 20, 2018). "How One of the Internet’s Biggest History Forums Deals With Holocaust Deniers". Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2018/07/the-askhistorians-subreddit-banned-holocaust-deniers-and-facebook-should-too.html. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- The AskHistorians Subreddit Banned Holocaust Deniers, and Facebook Should Too | Slate. MediaWell. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- History under attack: Holocaust denial and distortion on social media. UNESDOC Digital Library (2022). ISBN 978-92-3-100531-2. doi:10.54675/MLSL4494. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- Antisemitism Resurgent: Manifestations of Antisemitism in the 21st Century. Counter Extremism Project. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- Lubet, Steven (September 10, 2024). "Why Is the New York Times Legitimizing a Holocaust Denier?". The Bulwark. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/why-new-york-times-legitimizing-holocaust-denier-darryl-cooper-tucker-carlson. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Institute for Historical Review (IHR). Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ↑ "Ken Livingstone repeats claim about Nazi-Zionist collaboration". The Guardian. March 30, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/30/ken-livingstone-repeats-claim-nazi-zionist-collaboration. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ↑
- Woolf, Avi (June 23, 2014). "Abu Mazen's Zionist Nazis: Is Abu Mazen a Holocaust denier or not? Dr. Edi Cohen delved deeply into his infamous doctorate to answer that question. What he found may shock you.". Mida. https://mida.org.il/2014/06/23/abu-mazen-zionist-nazis. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- Bergman, Ronen (November 26, 2014). "Abbas' book reveals: The 'Nazi-Zionist plot' of the Holocaust". Ynetnews. https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4596121,00.html. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- "Palestinian leader Abbas offers apology for remarks on Jews". Reuters. May 4, 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/world/palestinian-leader-abbas-offers-apology-for-remarks-on-jews-idUSKBN1I5134. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- Tabarovsky, Izabella (January 18, 2023). "Mahmoud Abbas’ Dissertation". Tablet Magazine. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/mahmoud-abbas-soviet-dissertation. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- "Outrage over Abbas's antisemitic speech on Jews and Holocaust". BBC News. September 7, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-66741336. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- "Simon Wiesenthal Center condemns Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks". The Jerusalem Post. September 9, 2023. https://jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-758258. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- ↑
- Cheyette, Bryan. Pathological anti-Zionism and the 'revisionism' of the left. Patterns of Prejudice 17 (3) (1983). p. 49–51. doi:10.1080/0031322X.1983.9969723.
- Aronsfeld, C. C.. Reviewed work: Zionism in the Age of the Dictators: A Reappraisal., Lenni Brenner. International Affairs 60 (1) (1983). p. 138–139. doi:10.2307/2618977.
- Achcar, Gilbert. The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives (2010)Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-429-93820-4.
- Watkinson, William (30 April 2016). Benjamin Netanyahu and Lenni Brenner: What is Ken Livingstone basing his Hitler-Zionist comments on?. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/benjamin-netanyahu-lenni-brenner-what-ken-livingstone-basing-his-hitler-zionist-comments-1557628.
- Hirsh, David. Contemporary left antisemitism (2017)Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-23530-4.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1
- Bogdanor, Paul. An Antisemitic Hoax: Lenni Brenner on Zionist ‘Collaboration’ With the Nazis. Fathom Journal (2016). Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- Ben-Noah, Gerry. The problem with Ken Livingstone’s “evidence”. Workers' Liberty (May 25, 2016). Retrieved February 6, 2025.
- "Lenni Brenner’s Anti-Zionist Libels". Mosaic Magazine. June 20, 2016. https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/history-ideas/2016/06/lenni-brenners-anti-zionist-libels. Retrieved February 6, 2025.