Trump

[Haibane]

It would seem that a lot of the QAnon people are deeply confused and upset.

I suppose I have only myself to blame for not fully grasping what is happening in the minds of these people. I think QAnon is utter tripe and nonsense and so mentally I pigeon-holed the QAnon followers into some kind of mass-looney group that really don't actually believe it either. I have been shocked on reading the above article and similar ones that these people really and truly did expect Trump to pull something out of the hat at the last minute, send in special agents and get Biden arrested. Their dismay does seem to be genuine.

[Aiden]

If people who supported Q and Trump weren't complicit in the atrocities of the administration I would almost feel pity for them.

However, they don't deserve that, no matter how manipulated and brainwashed they became from all the fear-mongering. They have proven themselves a threat to their respective countries (since it is going beyond the US) and should be seen as any other terrorist organization.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/07/tech/qanon-europe-cult-intl/index.html

[Haibane]

I agree. If people just think it, and hold these views privately or with others, its okay, but when it spreads into disruptive violent action or lives are put at stake that's when it must get noted by law enforcement.

[Haibane]

QAnon followers in disarray after Biden inauguration

[TheGlyphstone]

Unsurprising. Nothing disrupts a cult like the death/dethroning of the cult leader. Now we see who was always a true believer, because they will be the dangerous ones.

[stormwyrm]

QAnon followers in disarray after Biden inauguration

And so they're having their Great Disappointment. It will be interesting to see what the QAnon folks will do now. I imagine that many of them, like some of the Millerites after October 22, 1844 (their predicted date of the Second Coming, when nothing happened), will renounce their faith and try to get back into normal society. Others will try to rationalise the failures of their prophecies and go on to found mutually schismatic sects, sort of like the many flavours of Adventism that came about after 1844.

[Haibane]

Yes, pretty much. In some ways its a good thing - some will realise they were duped and dragged into a cult and will escape back to normality. The bad flip side is that those who remain may entrench, grow ever more sour, bitter and crazy. The cult shrinks, but hardens.

[Laughing Hyena]

One can only hope loved ones whom were with him will detox. Yesterday really hurt me with how deeply entrenched my family was during the inauguration.

[Beorning]

Reading about the QAnon crowd's reactions is... mind-boggling. Seriously, did this people expect Trump to rally the military on January 20th and arrest Biden? And they actually had *watch parties* yesterday?

That video of the crying woman... it's insane. "President Trump! Please help us!"..? Uhm, sorry. Mr. Trump is currently holed up in his mansion and, quite probably, pondering on his legal strategy for the impeachent and other possible trials... He doesn't give a damn about his helping his followers...

One other mind-boggling thing is that Ron Watkins fellow. IIRC, he was one of the more important figures that helped spread QAnon theories. And now he comes out and - after years of promoting theories about child-abusing Satanists, the coming coup etc. - literally tells people: "Well, we've had some fun, we've made some cool friends - now, let's forget about all these shocking things we thought were true and go back to lives as usual"? Seriously???

What's next? David Icke declaring: "Friends, we've had a blast spreading the truth about evil lizardmen ruling the world. It was fun when it lasted, but it's time to retire this hobby of ours..."?

[TheGlyphstone]

The key phrase in Watkin's post was 'my new project,  stay tuned for information. Hes taking advantage of the cults collapse to build a following for himself.

[Aiden]

The thing that blows my mind (Qanons and Trump supporters) is how they victimize themselves.

Everything is so bad according to them. They are constantly under attack.

From who?!

Just a made up bogeymen.

[Oniya]

One other mind-boggling thing is that Ron Watkins fellow. IIRC, he was one of the more important figures that helped spread QAnon theories. And now he comes out and - after years of promoting theories about child-abusing Satanists, the coming coup etc. - literally tells people: "Well, we've had some fun, we've made some cool friends - now, let's forget about all these shocking things we thought were true and go back to lives as usual"? Seriously???

Worth noting that Watkins is the guy who is responsible for the continuing existence of the repugnant '8-chan/8kun' site.  That, in itself, invalidates his 'we must fight the child-abusing Satanists' posts.

[Beorning]

Worth noting that Watkins is the guy who is responsible for the continuing existence of the repugnant '8-chan/8kun' site.  That, in itself, invalidates his 'we must fight the child-abusing Satanists' posts.

True.

But apparently, fighting the child-abusing Satanists isn't really that important. If he invites people to move on and focus on some new "project" instead...

I wonder what his "new project" will be? "Let's fight alien infilitrators who hide among us in human form! Believe me, it's really an important issue this time around - not like these child-abusing Satanists, who were quite fun to fight, but aren't really that big of a problem, as it turns out!"

[Deamonbane]

The ones that were actually ready to start a fight for themselves were all at the attack on the 6th, and are currently either under arrest or in hiding due to arrest warrants being issued.

All the others were just waiting around for something magical to happen, and when Biden was inaugurated, they all looked around, pointing at each other or at Trump because they expected someone else to get something done. Now that nothing happened, they're realizing that Trump was always a conman, not the messiah, and that he was never going to pardon the terrorists that attacked the capitol and instead was just spreading the pardons around to folks that were decidedly swamp based.

No swamp-draining, Mexico didn't pay for the wall, no healthcare plan and no tax returns. It's starting to dawn on them that they hitched their wagon to a horse that needs help walking down a slight decline.

[The Lovely Tsaritsa]

I’m really amazed, so very many beleive this Q Anon nonsense.  Its not the joke? Even news here, doesnt know for discussing. It seems very obvious, rediculous.

[Skynet]

I’m really amazed, so very many beleive this Q Anon nonsense.  Its not the joke? Even news here, doesnt know for discussing. It seems very obvious, rediculous.

A lot of them are aware, they just don't care. I made a post way back when showing how they immediately flip their stances whenever it's exposed that by their own logic Trump would also be a Satanist pedophile.

I don't know if you saw it, but there was a great YT documentary showing how many Flat Earth believers left said conspiracy theory for Q Anon, and the rationale behind how they end up in such movements. The quote near the end was quite powerful:

The reason they aren’t more bothered by Q constantly getting things wrong, why they aren’t more bothered by the extreme inconsistencies and outright contradictions, by the claims that are just materially wrong, is because it gives them power over others who are bound by something as weak and flimsy as reality. They claim to be against corruption while hanging their hopes on an openly corrupt man, and that naked hypocrisy is the point. They will effortlessly carve out an exception because it makes them exceptional. They engage in wild hypocrisy as an act of domination, adhering to something demonstrably untrue out of spite, because they believe that power belongs to those with the greatest will to take it, and what greater sign of will than the ability to override truth? Their will is a hammer that they are using to beat reality itself into a shape of their choosing, a simple world where reality is exactly what it looks like through their eyes, devoid of complexity, devoid of change, where they are right and their enemies are silent. They are trying to build a Flat Earth.

If you want to just skip straight to the Q Anon stuff, it's 37 minutes in.

[Bibliophilia]

I believe a lot of them also don't believe anything being said, but being involved in it makes them feel like they're special and part of a community they lack in their everyday lives.  I think part of the reason that stuff like this really exploded around the time the internet got really popular is because two things happened: people stopped really getting to know their actual, real life neighbors and the internet offered an easy alternative to people who were lonely.

When you can say whatever you want without fear of repercussion from the people in your real life looking at you like you're nuts, or walking away, or ostracizing you, and you have a whole bunch of new people at your fingertips willing to agree with you, that makes the conspiracy theories feel that much more enticing.  It's an echo chamber, but more importantly an echo chamber of people who make you feel better about yourself...not worse.  Their agreement helps you feel less lost in a world that's rapidly leaving you behind.  A lot of these people are disenfranchised, disabled, neuratypical, poor, etc.  They're mostly just grasping for anything that can make them feel connected to other people.

[Aiden]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/dr-anthony-fauci-says-he-now-feels-liberated-speak-freely-n1255220

Not sure which thread to post this in.

SO it goes here!

[Beorning]

I have a morbid question about QAnon: I know this stuff is toxic and gets blocked on various platforms (which is a good thing). Still, is there any archive or detailed analysis of some of the discussions among these people or of the infamous "Q drops"? I'm curious how exactly this whole thing works, why did it draw so many people in? I've seen people discuss various weird things on the Internet, but a conspiracy theory that is so engaging that people actually committed crimes due to "being on the mission from Q"? How is that possible? I'd like to understand...

[Oniya]

Probably better to put the QAnon stuff over here.

[The Lovely Tsaritsa]

Probably better to put the QAnon stuff over here.

Thank you, I didnt know of this thread, I’m sorry.

[Haibane]

With reference elsewhere to a Trump TV series, the BBC has made a series of four documentaries covering his political career. I have not watched them but plan to. They are on the BBC iPlayer but its quite possible they are not viewable outside of the UK as a BBC TV license is required.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08svfgq/the-trump-show-series-1-episode-1

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=bbc+trump+show

[gaggedLouise]

Four More Posts - #Trump10.000!

Trump will be a guy for the history books, but for all the wrong reasons...

[Kitteredge]

Trump has a lot in common with Nero, who was idolized by many and reviled by many. For yers after Nero's death there were legends that he would return to raise an army to conquer Rome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Redivivus_legend.

[stormwyrm]

Yep, Nero and his Redivivus legend is quite probably the basis for Revelation 13, which describes the Beast / Antichrist. "Nero Caesar" transliterated to Hebrew נרון קסר‎ (NRON QSR), and since every letter in the Hebrew alphabet has a numeric equivalent, taking those letters and adding them up totals the infamous number 666 associated with the Beast. Revelation 13 also tells of how the Beast received a mortal wound that was healed. The Book of Revelation was likely written in the 90's CE, when the Nero legends were very much current.