6 ms·

Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? It wasn't QAnon. It was the state -- and it looks like YouTube is aligned

Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? It wasn't QAnon. It was the state -- and it looks like YouTube is aligned with the pro-shutdown folks who don't want their wisdom questioned. Now I'm a big believer in keeping things shut. I thing prudence is super-important. But QAnon's actions are mainly talk. The state's, however, are different.

benignslime 6y ago
"Be skeptical of the actions of the state, regardless of the action"
agentdrtran 6y ago
A Qanon guy brought a gun into a pizza place and one tried to mail bombs to politicians.
- eganist 6y ago
  Don't forget the attempted Venezuelan coup.
_bxg1 6y ago
> QAnon's actions are mainly talk QAnon is an FBI-registered domestic terror organization: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-domestic-terrorism-threat-conspiracy-theory-866288/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-... They've been connected to multiple attempted acts of violence. They aren't just talk.
- abfan1127 6y ago
  FBI has been connected to multiple successful acts of violence.
- techntoke 6y ago
  Terror organization who operates freely on reddit?
  - sangnoir 6y ago
    Name a better location to monitor a terror organizations activity (for investigators). Makes the feds' jobs easy.
- blfr 6y ago
  From the article: The FBI memo cites at least two violent incidents or attempts purportedly linked to QAnon: An Arizona man harassed and doxed locals he suspected of participating in the child sex trafficking ring at the heart of the conspiracy theory; and a Nevada man at the Hoover Dam whose truck was found to contain rifles and other ammunition, who was later discovered to have sent letters to President Trump containing references to the movement. Doxing and keeping guns in your car are not violent acts and the connection is tenuous at best. By that measure you could easily classify The Young Turks as a terrorist organization, Elliot Rodger was their subscriber on Youtube. And the violence was real. Why would people on HN of all places take FBI at their word. How many hackers have been defamed, and even jailed, by FBI like that.
cfmcdonald 6y ago
Actually it was mostly the populace who shut down business activity of their own accord, at least in the U.S. See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/upshot/pandemic-economy-government-orders.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/upshot/pandemic-economy-g...
JohnBooty 6y ago
Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? Well, I'd blame the pandemic itself. Sweden provides an imperfect but interesting what-if scenario for countries wondering what would have happened if they'd imposed little to no lockdown restrictions. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-sweden-economy-to-contract-as-severely-as-the-rest-of-europe.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-sweden-economy-t... Their economy is still taking a very severe hit despite retail businesses remaining open there, because people are shying away from making purchases and visiting shops. You can (correctly) say that many governments took the decision out of peoples' hands. Perhaps the people of country XYZ would have made a different choice. But Sweden's example suggests that economies would have been screwed pretty hard no matter what.
- Hoasi 6y ago
  > Well, I'd blame the pandemic itself. Exactly. In most countries, people are willingly staying mostly at home. More, they continue to restrain from shopping and eating out after the lockdown ended.
  - myk9001 6y ago
    This is not the case for Sweden. For details, take a look at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23266698 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23266698 I don't think this is the case for Germany, Switzerland, or Denmark either. What countries do you have in mind where lock downs ended and most people are staying at home?
- erebrus 6y ago
  On top of that, Sweeden is recording very high death rates and latest estimates point to around 7% in immunity.
  - mc6 6y ago
    The 7% was a month ago, ie that was when the tests took place. If you believe the disease is rampant in Sweden, it’ll be much higher now. If it’s not, then the hard lockdowns elsewhere were superfluous.
acqq 6y ago
> QAnon's actions are mainly talk. The state's, however, are different. Isn't QAnon directly promoted by some people directly related to the president of the state? Don Jr. wears it: https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/716574473/the-official-q-flag-pin-9733-made-for https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/716574473/the-official-q-... The President himself reused their hashtag: https://www.businessinsider.de/international/trump-retweeted-qanon-hashtag-to-his-68-million-followers-2019-12/ https://www.businessinsider.de/international/trump-retweeted...

benignslime 6y ago

"Be skeptical of the actions of the state, regardless of the action"

agentdrtran 6y ago

A Qanon guy brought a gun into a pizza place and one tried to mail bombs to politicians.

eganist 6y ago
Don't forget the attempted Venezuelan coup.

_bxg1 6y ago

> QAnon's actions are mainly talk QAnon is an FBI-registered domestic terror organization: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-domestic-terrorism-threat-conspiracy-theory-866288/ https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/qanon-... They've been connected to multiple attempted acts of violence. They aren't just talk.

abfan1127 6y ago
FBI has been connected to multiple successful acts of violence.
techntoke 6y ago
Terror organization who operates freely on reddit?
- sangnoir 6y ago
  Name a better location to monitor a terror organizations activity (for investigators). Makes the feds' jobs easy.
blfr 6y ago
From the article: The FBI memo cites at least two violent incidents or attempts purportedly linked to QAnon: An Arizona man harassed and doxed locals he suspected of participating in the child sex trafficking ring at the heart of the conspiracy theory; and a Nevada man at the Hoover Dam whose truck was found to contain rifles and other ammunition, who was later discovered to have sent letters to President Trump containing references to the movement. Doxing and keeping guns in your car are not violent acts and the connection is tenuous at best. By that measure you could easily classify The Young Turks as a terrorist organization, Elliot Rodger was their subscriber on Youtube. And the violence was real. Why would people on HN of all places take FBI at their word. How many hackers have been defamed, and even jailed, by FBI like that.

cfmcdonald 6y ago

Actually it was mostly the populace who shut down business activity of their own accord, at least in the U.S. See https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/upshot/pandemic-economy-government-orders.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/upshot/pandemic-economy-g...

JohnBooty 6y ago

Let me be contrary: who shut down millions of businesses and put millions out of work? Well, I'd blame the pandemic itself. Sweden provides an imperfect but interesting what-if scenario for countries wondering what would have happened if they'd imposed little to no lockdown restrictions. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-sweden-economy-to-contract-as-severely-as-the-rest-of-europe.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/30/coronavirus-sweden-economy-t... Their economy is still taking a very severe hit despite retail businesses remaining open there, because people are shying away from making purchases and visiting shops. You can (correctly) say that many governments took the decision out of peoples' hands. Perhaps the people of country XYZ would have made a different choice. But Sweden's example suggests that economies would have been screwed pretty hard no matter what.

Hoasi 6y ago
> Well, I'd blame the pandemic itself. Exactly. In most countries, people are willingly staying mostly at home. More, they continue to restrain from shopping and eating out after the lockdown ended.
- myk9001 6y ago
  This is not the case for Sweden. For details, take a look at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23266698 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23266698 I don't think this is the case for Germany, Switzerland, or Denmark either. What countries do you have in mind where lock downs ended and most people are staying at home?
erebrus 6y ago
On top of that, Sweeden is recording very high death rates and latest estimates point to around 7% in immunity.
- mc6 6y ago
  The 7% was a month ago, ie that was when the tests took place. If you believe the disease is rampant in Sweden, it’ll be much higher now. If it’s not, then the hard lockdowns elsewhere were superfluous.

acqq 6y ago

> QAnon's actions are mainly talk. The state's, however, are different. Isn't QAnon directly promoted by some people directly related to the president of the state? Don Jr. wears it: https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/716574473/the-official-q-flag-pin-9733-made-for https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/716574473/the-official-q-... The President himself reused their hashtag: https://www.businessinsider.de/international/trump-retweeted-qanon-hashtag-to-his-68-million-followers-2019-12/ https://www.businessinsider.de/international/trump-retweeted...