14 ms·

The Prophecies of Q

34 points by WillDaSilva 6y ago

warranty 6y ago
This is a very old article. The prophecies of Q is a meme which conservatives are enjoying. Author attempts to show all conservatives as hillbillies who need re-education while the world world knows the left can’t meme.
Apocryphon 6y ago
Q has become somewhat of a global phenomenon at this point: https://twitter.com/kos_data/status/1299746985554173952 https://twitter.com/kos_data/status/1299746985554173952
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
skindoe 6y ago
Notice how only 1 post out of thousands by the so called Q we're shown in the making this article? Notice how immediately they point to one case of violence which was denounced by Q. Seems like an attempt to emotionally connect Q with a single nutjob. Do you think it would be fair to write articles about everyone based on the actions of a single supporter with clear mental illness? Why the double standard? If what Q is saying is so dangerous then why not actually show that material and debunk it directly? Just like the podesta emails the content is always completely ignored because the people writing these articles don't want you to be informed here. Ask yourself why? What is their agenda here? Is it in your best interest? Read the drops qmap.pub and think for yourself. If you haven't read any of the drops how can anyone take your opinion seriously on something you know nothing about?
- ideals 6y ago
  Are you a believer in the Q contents? Was there a defining a moment that made you believe in it, if you do? I'm not going read drops or maps, I'm not even sure what that means and don't plan to spend my weekend figuring that out, there's only so much time and we have to pick and choose ya know, so if you could expand, please do.
  - Izkata 6y ago
    > I'm not going read drops or maps, I'm not even sure what that means and don't plan to spend my weekend figuring that out ..."drops" is literal "post was dropped", the site is just a collection of unredacted posts by Q.
  - greenie_beans 6y ago
    Look at their comment history. I’ve asked folks this question in other forums and they never answer. But their comments always defend Q
    - Fjolsvith 6y ago
      If you announced you were QAnon, you'd probably be outed and end up fired, maybe get death threats. Its why the silent majority exists.
      - greenie_beans 6y ago
        QAnon is wayyyy too far out there for the silent majority...that’s just not a fair comparison.
  - j908jA09 6y ago
    Are we just going to pretend that Epstein never existed?
  - skindoe 6y ago
    Just look at the drops and then look at how the media portrays them then look into project mocking bird/MKUltra and the lies we've been told. The message is one of unity (Where we go one we go all!) Yet the media is trying to convince those who are ill informed the exact opposite. Look into the Clinton Foundation, Podesta emails, etc. These things may be labeled as "Right right conspiracies" in your mind but remove the label which you got from the media and think about it for yourself. Why was bill gates and Epstein hanging out with Miss Sweeden and her daughter (15 at the time) I believe til "late in the hours" after everyone knew about him? Powerful people are involved in a large conspiracy here the question is how deep it goes. Start here for basic idea of many of the theories https://youtu.be/MY8Nfzcn1qQ https://youtu.be/MY8Nfzcn1qQ
- betterunix2 6y ago
  "If what Q is saying is so dangerous then why not actually show that material and debunk it directly?" Probably because the "material" is generated faster than anyone could possibly analyze it, which is why there are so many variants of the conspiracy theory floating around and why more seem to appear with each passing day. "think for yourself" Sure, let's start with, "Does this seem realistic?" If not, let's try, "Is there extraordinary evidence for these extraordinary claims?" Thus far the answer is "no, not even close" and the entire thing looks like a desperate attempt on the part of Trump's supporters to deny the plainly obvious fact that the man is an inept moron with deep insecurities and no conscience. (Edit: the first thing I saw on website you provided was an assertion that the DNC logo looks like the satanic baphomet symbol. I do not even see what can be properly debunked there -- it is an opinion and there is no actual conclusion to be drawn even if the logo looked kind of like baphomet. I could claim that Trump's left eye looks like the meta key on an old Lisp machine keyboard, and demand that you debunk my claim.)
  - bonchicbongenre 6y ago
    Exactly. I'm am very sad to read the grandparent comment. It's not pleasant that anyone could be so misguided, and especially to see such lunacy on HN. It's not incumbent on anyone to continually engage with and point-by-point knock down Q: bullshit can be generated much faster than it can be fact checked (putting truth at a structural disadvantage), and engaging in this stupidity confers it legitimacy it doesn't deserve. I am despondent for humanity, that so many of us are so (1) easily confused (2) incapable of actually doing their own research (instead castigating people to "do their own research", which if they did in any reasonable way would show the absurdity of belief in Q) (3) related to 2, so commonly projecting their own flaws and insisting they are those of others. I hate being a misanthrope, but there's no way to be informed nowadays and not be deeply disappointed in our species.
    - greatquux 6y ago
      We can only hope (as we always have) that our ability to evolve (our software first, hardware next) will stay just ahead of our ability and desire to destroy ourselves. I sure hope I didn’t make a huge mistake having two kids. But I hope that by raising them in a loving household they will be good people in the world to balance the bad.
- whatisthiseven 6y ago
  I read the article and it examines multiple QAnon claims made over time. I have also seen lots of QAnon claims not on this article and it seems the "thousands" of posts from supporters of QAnon is just mass-generated garbage with no truth. Made out of thin air. I am thinking for myself, and when I see QAnon, I don't see a group that is doing any thinking at all. The "drops" you talk about are meaningless garbage.
epistasis 6y ago
This type of fractured epistemology, where subgroups derive truth from truly weird conspiracy theories, while other groups in society continue with a connection to reality, is how a society falls apart, or becomes easily prayed upon by dictators or outside forces. When people no longer have any idea about what could be true, they have to trust, usually a strong-man leader. This is how Putin maintains such control of his country. It's how he spread discord in eastern Ukraine, with wild stories about "they want to kill and eat your children." You hear Lukashenko say the same sorts of things as he struggles to keep power in Belarus (the villain being NATO forces...) I beg of everybody on HN in the US: if you have family that starts to fall into these conspiracy theories, hold on to your relationship with them and try with all your night to bring them back to reality. We are at a scary stage with a pandemic and economic disaster, and many people are quite vulnerable to the false sense of order that these conspiracy theories provide. I think that familial connections might be one of the only things stronger than the strange pull of these conspiracy theories.
- ehvatum 6y ago
  The situation in the US is exceptional. To put it mildly, US big corporate media would prefer that the current government executive be someone else, and their reporting is guided by that animus. This creates an appetite for alternative sources of information, even if those sources are of very low quality.
0DHm2CxO7Lb3 6y ago
I have no reason to believe these Q conspiracies but I understand why people believe them, when we know about all the past shady activities like COINTELPRO, MKUltra, WMDs in Iraq, all the involvement South America, NSA spying, etc.
- Barrin92 6y ago
  your bar is pretty low if you think the fact that actual conspiracies exist justifies engaging in believing arbitrary conspiracy theories. This is akin to believing that all women cheat just because it actually happens to be the case that you met one that actually did, or thinking all Jewish people are trying to get your money because you were once defrauded by one. The problem with paranoid mindsets is not that they're always incorrect, it's that they're pathological in their structure.
  - hodgesrm 6y ago
    Conspiracy theories also obscure the big reasons why things are messed up in society. The root causes often boil down to human frailty and/or bad luck--things that require a lot of plodding work to fix. Commercial aircraft are pretty safe because we've spent decades fixing problems one by one. At this point there are not many left.
  - briefcomment 6y ago
    So what, we should disbelieve all conspiracy theories by default? In the rare case it happens to be true, it'll probably be too late to act upon, just like COINTELPRO and MKULTRA. We can assign the possibility of Q being true without actually taking a side and acting on it. I can say "this is both compelling and unlikely to be true, but as I long as I don't have to act on it, it doesn't matter if I believe in it or not". We can let the evidence over time build a stronger case for it or destroy it. The only reason I can see not to do that is if it introduces unacceptable consequences in the meantime, as the article is suggesting, but it seems like the reporting against it is ridiculously cherry picked and disingenuous. There's probably a much stronger case for stopping BLM as a organization at the moment, but I don't think I've seen an Atlantic article suggesting that. For the time being, Q seems like a harmless movement. It would be a red flag if Q denounced a group of people without justification, but Q has been pretty specific about the things and people it denounces, and if things go according to Q's plan the people it's denouncing are going to have their chance in court .
tashi 6y ago
Wait, Q started with a clear and verifiable prediction that a thing was about to happen very soon, and then that thing 100% did not happen? And then it grew from there? I thought I understood how the scam of fortune-telling worked, but apparently I do not!
- Johnjonjoan 6y ago
  The issue is that you have all these people who are willing to believe in something getting connected. The prophecy can fail but the connections remain. I guess it's a problem that has been exacerbated by information technology: distance from other believers no longer inhibits your ability to create an echo chamber to the same degree it use to.
- stillbourne 6y ago
  Not the first time a religion was started on the basis of a prophecy that failed to deliver. A spin off of the Millerite Church predicted the end or the world in 1844. The fact that it did not come to pass, a non event that later became known as the Great Dissapointment, had many consequences including the founding of the 7th Day Adventist church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism QAnon is absolutely a cult derived from the ideals of Christian spiritual warfare, apocalypticism, and associated eschatology. The last time it was this bad was during the daycare panics of the 80's and 90's a movement I myself was a victim of.
  - betterunix2 6y ago
    +1 As soon as I heard the stuff about satanic rituals and drinking babies' blood I immediately thought of the McMartin trial. Sorry to hear you were caught up in the SRA mass hysteria, hope it is not still affecting your life.
    - stillbourne 6y ago
      Sadly its had a very profound effect on my life. From external appearances I am a successful individual. On the inside, I am a depressed, anxious mess and have trust issues with relationships.
meekmind 6y ago
The public will usually not have to tools, expertise, or mindset to perform more technical kinds of intelligence gathering/sharing. The public is, therefore, generally limited to relying on human intelligence operations like Q. However, human intelligence has consistency and credibility problems which make it easier to attack and undermine. The problems are magnified by anonymity and the resulting lack of accountability. I am not sure how to solve those problems. The Q faithful should remember the inherent instability of that type of operation and work to solve it, not attack anyone who is in any way critical of it.
- dariusj18 6y ago
  I find Project Owl an interesting thing. https://twitter.com/projectowlosint https://twitter.com/projectowlosint an OSINT initiative.
blindm 6y ago
Q is probably infiltrated by secret CIA operatives and will probably be dismantled soon, and will take on a new guise. Anyone remember the hacktivist group Anonymous in their heyday? Completely infiltrated and dismantled, by who knows? CIA?
- creato 6y ago
  I doubt Anonymous was "dismantled" by anyone. Groups like this just aren't stable. People get bored.
  - im3w1l 6y ago
    This was part of the story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec
im3w1l 6y ago
What scares me about Q is what the narrative enables. If Trump overthrew the institutions of democracy, and had his enemies killed and jailed, then all Q would need to do is whisper is that the cabal has been defeated, and all the Q-adherents would cheer.
- briefcomment 6y ago
  I don't think there are enough of them to outweigh the rule of law. I would drop Q in an instant if it operated outside of the courts.
trasz 6y ago
So, how is it different from other bs those folks used to believe in?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
throwawaynugget 6y ago
I'm not a Q-fan, but I do think it's hilarious the way the material is presented in this article. HN types love their curated content - just like how Dang would delete all posts about coronavirus before a certain epoch after-which western media became concerned about it and the blatant censorship stopped. This is the 'curated garden' that is talked up so much around here - mere toeing the line of the establishment elite. Now it's ok to talk about Q, but only to say bad things and not to point at any of the stuff that was accurate (which I think is just a good larp - not real insider information). The real purpose of this hit piece is to convince left-leaning people who read it that all of Trumps based is unhigned - because you know, it's not like the left ever bought into baseless conspiracy theories. (Russiagate, Ukraine delusion etc etc)
verylittlemeat 6y ago
The real hilarious conspiracy is how the media latches onto these troll communities with breathless reporting. One of the founding beliefs of the "movement" is that birds aren't real, they're government drones. I can't wait until The New Yorker is telling me about how a new dangerous cult is worshiping meme magic and praising at the altar of Kek. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that's already happened. It reminds me of when the NYTimes caught wind of the NPC meme* and their initial reporting was along the lines of "ARE THESE RUSSIAN BOTS? IS OUR DEMOCRACY BEING ATTACKED?." No you out of touch ivory tower fools, it's kids in their 20s with too much time on their hands who love the attention you give them. As a side note, I know someone who fell deep into the gamergate hole as it was happening and then realized how toxic it was and did a complete 180. Now they spend all their time arguing with conspiracy theorists on the internet about how their logic is faulty. There's a certain type of person that is susceptible to this kind of stuff in general, for or against. *https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/politics/npc-twitter-ban.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/politics/npc-twitter-b...
- MrDresden 6y ago
  My sentiment as well. This was an overly too deep a dive into an otherwise uninteresting subgroup. An article 8th its length would have sufficed.
  - akhilcacharya 6y ago
    Its important because there's at least 1 QAnon supporter that's going to be walking the halls of congress next year.
    - MrDresden 6y ago
      And the US seems to have a supporter already sitting in the oval office. Frankly this group is not interesting. It is just another group of conspiracy theorists that are spewing out a even more ill defined and crazy theory than most have before. What would be more interesting to look into is why they are getting traction with people that previously were seemingly well informed ([n=1] the man in the article that had watched CNN for years before switching). That is more important. Why is it happening more and more that people get sucked into these 'obviously' lunatic groups and beliefs, and what can be done to make sure it doesn't happen. Deep diving into the nitty gritty of the posting history of this Q person was way too much detail that did little to nothing for the article in my opinion.
ufmace 6y ago
I'm starting to think that the media's breathless anti-Q reporting is more dangerous than QAnon itself. Okay Q is a wacky conspiracy theory. What's the headline real-world event here though? Some kid walked into a pizza joint with a rifle. That's pretty much it. He didn't shoot anyone, didn't explicitly threaten anyone, didn't break anything. But that makes this cult a massive danger? Meanwhile, hundreds of nationwide riots have been going on for months, burning down thousands of businesses, destroying livelihoods, but don't you dare even question the legitimacy of that.
- Fjolsvith 6y ago
  > Okay Q is a wacky conspiracy theory. What's the headline real-world event here though? Some kid walked into a pizza joint with a rifle. That's pretty much it. He didn't shoot anyone, didn't explicitly threaten anyone, didn't break anything. But that makes this cult a massive danger? People are red-pilling. Once they are awake, they cannot be put back asleep. This is what makes this cult dangerous. And its not just conservative America that's red-pilling: https://www.mesabitribune.com/news/6-greater-minnesota-mayors-endorse-trump-pence/article_7725e452-e96a-11ea-914e-e35a54938cf8.html https://www.mesabitribune.com/news/6-greater-minnesota-mayor... https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4852367/user-clip-democrat-call https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4852367/user-clip-democrat-ca...
  - shadowgovt 6y ago
    Red pills are what they hand out in cults when Kool-Aid is too expensive. When reality contradicts beliefs, the mind would rather adjust its filters on reality than adjust its beliefs. I've spent enough time chatting with flat-Earthers to watch the process in action.
    - Fjolsvith 6y ago
      Poo-poo it all you want. It is happening and it will be the end of the deep state establishment.
      - 6y ago
me_me_me 6y ago
So this is not Star Trek related? Oh, you sweat summer child me.

34 points by WillDaSilva 6y ago

This is a very old article. The prophecies of Q is a meme which conservatives are enjoying. Author attempts to show all conservatives as hillbillies who need re-education while the world world knows the left can’t meme.

Apocryphon 6y ago

Q has become somewhat of a global phenomenon at this point: https://twitter.com/kos_data/status/1299746985554173952 https://twitter.com/kos_data/status/1299746985554173952

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

skindoe 6y ago

Notice how only 1 post out of thousands by the so called Q we're shown in the making this article? Notice how immediately they point to one case of violence which was denounced by Q. Seems like an attempt to emotionally connect Q with a single nutjob. Do you think it would be fair to write articles about everyone based on the actions of a single supporter with clear mental illness? Why the double standard? If what Q is saying is so dangerous then why not actually show that material and debunk it directly? Just like the podesta emails the content is always completely ignored because the people writing these articles don't want you to be informed here. Ask yourself why? What is their agenda here? Is it in your best interest? Read the drops qmap.pub and think for yourself. If you haven't read any of the drops how can anyone take your opinion seriously on something you know nothing about?

ideals 6y ago
Are you a believer in the Q contents? Was there a defining a moment that made you believe in it, if you do? I'm not going read drops or maps, I'm not even sure what that means and don't plan to spend my weekend figuring that out, there's only so much time and we have to pick and choose ya know, so if you could expand, please do.
- Izkata 6y ago
  > I'm not going read drops or maps, I'm not even sure what that means and don't plan to spend my weekend figuring that out ..."drops" is literal "post was dropped", the site is just a collection of unredacted posts by Q.
- greenie_beans 6y ago
  Look at their comment history. I’ve asked folks this question in other forums and they never answer. But their comments always defend Q
  - Fjolsvith 6y ago
    If you announced you were QAnon, you'd probably be outed and end up fired, maybe get death threats. Its why the silent majority exists.
    - greenie_beans 6y ago
      QAnon is wayyyy too far out there for the silent majority...that’s just not a fair comparison.
- j908jA09 6y ago
  Are we just going to pretend that Epstein never existed?
- skindoe 6y ago
  Just look at the drops and then look at how the media portrays them then look into project mocking bird/MKUltra and the lies we've been told. The message is one of unity (Where we go one we go all!) Yet the media is trying to convince those who are ill informed the exact opposite. Look into the Clinton Foundation, Podesta emails, etc. These things may be labeled as "Right right conspiracies" in your mind but remove the label which you got from the media and think about it for yourself. Why was bill gates and Epstein hanging out with Miss Sweeden and her daughter (15 at the time) I believe til "late in the hours" after everyone knew about him? Powerful people are involved in a large conspiracy here the question is how deep it goes. Start here for basic idea of many of the theories https://youtu.be/MY8Nfzcn1qQ https://youtu.be/MY8Nfzcn1qQ
betterunix2 6y ago
"If what Q is saying is so dangerous then why not actually show that material and debunk it directly?" Probably because the "material" is generated faster than anyone could possibly analyze it, which is why there are so many variants of the conspiracy theory floating around and why more seem to appear with each passing day. "think for yourself" Sure, let's start with, "Does this seem realistic?" If not, let's try, "Is there extraordinary evidence for these extraordinary claims?" Thus far the answer is "no, not even close" and the entire thing looks like a desperate attempt on the part of Trump's supporters to deny the plainly obvious fact that the man is an inept moron with deep insecurities and no conscience. (Edit: the first thing I saw on website you provided was an assertion that the DNC logo looks like the satanic baphomet symbol. I do not even see what can be properly debunked there -- it is an opinion and there is no actual conclusion to be drawn even if the logo looked kind of like baphomet. I could claim that Trump's left eye looks like the meta key on an old Lisp machine keyboard, and demand that you debunk my claim.)
- bonchicbongenre 6y ago
  Exactly. I'm am very sad to read the grandparent comment. It's not pleasant that anyone could be so misguided, and especially to see such lunacy on HN. It's not incumbent on anyone to continually engage with and point-by-point knock down Q: bullshit can be generated much faster than it can be fact checked (putting truth at a structural disadvantage), and engaging in this stupidity confers it legitimacy it doesn't deserve. I am despondent for humanity, that so many of us are so (1) easily confused (2) incapable of actually doing their own research (instead castigating people to "do their own research", which if they did in any reasonable way would show the absurdity of belief in Q) (3) related to 2, so commonly projecting their own flaws and insisting they are those of others. I hate being a misanthrope, but there's no way to be informed nowadays and not be deeply disappointed in our species.
  - greatquux 6y ago
    We can only hope (as we always have) that our ability to evolve (our software first, hardware next) will stay just ahead of our ability and desire to destroy ourselves. I sure hope I didn’t make a huge mistake having two kids. But I hope that by raising them in a loving household they will be good people in the world to balance the bad.
whatisthiseven 6y ago
I read the article and it examines multiple QAnon claims made over time. I have also seen lots of QAnon claims not on this article and it seems the "thousands" of posts from supporters of QAnon is just mass-generated garbage with no truth. Made out of thin air. I am thinking for myself, and when I see QAnon, I don't see a group that is doing any thinking at all. The "drops" you talk about are meaningless garbage.

epistasis 6y ago

This type of fractured epistemology, where subgroups derive truth from truly weird conspiracy theories, while other groups in society continue with a connection to reality, is how a society falls apart, or becomes easily prayed upon by dictators or outside forces. When people no longer have any idea about what could be true, they have to trust, usually a strong-man leader. This is how Putin maintains such control of his country. It's how he spread discord in eastern Ukraine, with wild stories about "they want to kill and eat your children." You hear Lukashenko say the same sorts of things as he struggles to keep power in Belarus (the villain being NATO forces...) I beg of everybody on HN in the US: if you have family that starts to fall into these conspiracy theories, hold on to your relationship with them and try with all your night to bring them back to reality. We are at a scary stage with a pandemic and economic disaster, and many people are quite vulnerable to the false sense of order that these conspiracy theories provide. I think that familial connections might be one of the only things stronger than the strange pull of these conspiracy theories.

ehvatum 6y ago
The situation in the US is exceptional. To put it mildly, US big corporate media would prefer that the current government executive be someone else, and their reporting is guided by that animus. This creates an appetite for alternative sources of information, even if those sources are of very low quality.

0DHm2CxO7Lb3 6y ago

I have no reason to believe these Q conspiracies but I understand why people believe them, when we know about all the past shady activities like COINTELPRO, MKUltra, WMDs in Iraq, all the involvement South America, NSA spying, etc.

Barrin92 6y ago
your bar is pretty low if you think the fact that actual conspiracies exist justifies engaging in believing arbitrary conspiracy theories. This is akin to believing that all women cheat just because it actually happens to be the case that you met one that actually did, or thinking all Jewish people are trying to get your money because you were once defrauded by one. The problem with paranoid mindsets is not that they're always incorrect, it's that they're pathological in their structure.
- hodgesrm 6y ago
  Conspiracy theories also obscure the big reasons why things are messed up in society. The root causes often boil down to human frailty and/or bad luck--things that require a lot of plodding work to fix. Commercial aircraft are pretty safe because we've spent decades fixing problems one by one. At this point there are not many left.
- briefcomment 6y ago
  So what, we should disbelieve all conspiracy theories by default? In the rare case it happens to be true, it'll probably be too late to act upon, just like COINTELPRO and MKULTRA. We can assign the possibility of Q being true without actually taking a side and acting on it. I can say "this is both compelling and unlikely to be true, but as I long as I don't have to act on it, it doesn't matter if I believe in it or not". We can let the evidence over time build a stronger case for it or destroy it. The only reason I can see not to do that is if it introduces unacceptable consequences in the meantime, as the article is suggesting, but it seems like the reporting against it is ridiculously cherry picked and disingenuous. There's probably a much stronger case for stopping BLM as a organization at the moment, but I don't think I've seen an Atlantic article suggesting that. For the time being, Q seems like a harmless movement. It would be a red flag if Q denounced a group of people without justification, but Q has been pretty specific about the things and people it denounces, and if things go according to Q's plan the people it's denouncing are going to have their chance in court .

tashi 6y ago

Wait, Q started with a clear and verifiable prediction that a thing was about to happen very soon, and then that thing 100% did not happen? And then it grew from there? I thought I understood how the scam of fortune-telling worked, but apparently I do not!

Johnjonjoan 6y ago
The issue is that you have all these people who are willing to believe in something getting connected. The prophecy can fail but the connections remain. I guess it's a problem that has been exacerbated by information technology: distance from other believers no longer inhibits your ability to create an echo chamber to the same degree it use to.
stillbourne 6y ago
Not the first time a religion was started on the basis of a prophecy that failed to deliver. A spin off of the Millerite Church predicted the end or the world in 1844. The fact that it did not come to pass, a non event that later became known as the Great Dissapointment, had many consequences including the founding of the 7th Day Adventist church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism QAnon is absolutely a cult derived from the ideals of Christian spiritual warfare, apocalypticism, and associated eschatology. The last time it was this bad was during the daycare panics of the 80's and 90's a movement I myself was a victim of.
- betterunix2 6y ago
  +1 As soon as I heard the stuff about satanic rituals and drinking babies' blood I immediately thought of the McMartin trial. Sorry to hear you were caught up in the SRA mass hysteria, hope it is not still affecting your life.
  - stillbourne 6y ago
    Sadly its had a very profound effect on my life. From external appearances I am a successful individual. On the inside, I am a depressed, anxious mess and have trust issues with relationships.

meekmind 6y ago

The public will usually not have to tools, expertise, or mindset to perform more technical kinds of intelligence gathering/sharing. The public is, therefore, generally limited to relying on human intelligence operations like Q. However, human intelligence has consistency and credibility problems which make it easier to attack and undermine. The problems are magnified by anonymity and the resulting lack of accountability. I am not sure how to solve those problems. The Q faithful should remember the inherent instability of that type of operation and work to solve it, not attack anyone who is in any way critical of it.

dariusj18 6y ago
I find Project Owl an interesting thing. https://twitter.com/projectowlosint https://twitter.com/projectowlosint an OSINT initiative.

blindm 6y ago

Q is probably infiltrated by secret CIA operatives and will probably be dismantled soon, and will take on a new guise. Anyone remember the hacktivist group Anonymous in their heyday? Completely infiltrated and dismantled, by who knows? CIA?

creato 6y ago
I doubt Anonymous was "dismantled" by anyone. Groups like this just aren't stable. People get bored.
- im3w1l 6y ago
  This was part of the story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LulzSec

im3w1l 6y ago

What scares me about Q is what the narrative enables. If Trump overthrew the institutions of democracy, and had his enemies killed and jailed, then all Q would need to do is whisper is that the cabal has been defeated, and all the Q-adherents would cheer.

briefcomment 6y ago
I don't think there are enough of them to outweigh the rule of law. I would drop Q in an instant if it operated outside of the courts.

trasz 6y ago

So, how is it different from other bs those folks used to believe in?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

throwawaynugget 6y ago

I'm not a Q-fan, but I do think it's hilarious the way the material is presented in this article. HN types love their curated content - just like how Dang would delete all posts about coronavirus before a certain epoch after-which western media became concerned about it and the blatant censorship stopped. This is the 'curated garden' that is talked up so much around here - mere toeing the line of the establishment elite. Now it's ok to talk about Q, but only to say bad things and not to point at any of the stuff that was accurate (which I think is just a good larp - not real insider information). The real purpose of this hit piece is to convince left-leaning people who read it that all of Trumps based is unhigned - because you know, it's not like the left ever bought into baseless conspiracy theories. (Russiagate, Ukraine delusion etc etc)

verylittlemeat 6y ago

The real hilarious conspiracy is how the media latches onto these troll communities with breathless reporting. One of the founding beliefs of the "movement" is that birds aren't real, they're government drones. I can't wait until The New Yorker is telling me about how a new dangerous cult is worshiping meme magic and praising at the altar of Kek. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that's already happened. It reminds me of when the NYTimes caught wind of the NPC meme* and their initial reporting was along the lines of "ARE THESE RUSSIAN BOTS? IS OUR DEMOCRACY BEING ATTACKED?." No you out of touch ivory tower fools, it's kids in their 20s with too much time on their hands who love the attention you give them. As a side note, I know someone who fell deep into the gamergate hole as it was happening and then realized how toxic it was and did a complete 180. Now they spend all their time arguing with conspiracy theorists on the internet about how their logic is faulty. There's a certain type of person that is susceptible to this kind of stuff in general, for or against. *https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/politics/npc-twitter-ban.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/politics/npc-twitter-b...

MrDresden 6y ago
My sentiment as well. This was an overly too deep a dive into an otherwise uninteresting subgroup. An article 8th its length would have sufficed.
- akhilcacharya 6y ago
  Its important because there's at least 1 QAnon supporter that's going to be walking the halls of congress next year.
  - MrDresden 6y ago
    And the US seems to have a supporter already sitting in the oval office. Frankly this group is not interesting. It is just another group of conspiracy theorists that are spewing out a even more ill defined and crazy theory than most have before. What would be more interesting to look into is why they are getting traction with people that previously were seemingly well informed ([n=1] the man in the article that had watched CNN for years before switching). That is more important. Why is it happening more and more that people get sucked into these 'obviously' lunatic groups and beliefs, and what can be done to make sure it doesn't happen. Deep diving into the nitty gritty of the posting history of this Q person was way too much detail that did little to nothing for the article in my opinion.

ufmace 6y ago

I'm starting to think that the media's breathless anti-Q reporting is more dangerous than QAnon itself. Okay Q is a wacky conspiracy theory. What's the headline real-world event here though? Some kid walked into a pizza joint with a rifle. That's pretty much it. He didn't shoot anyone, didn't explicitly threaten anyone, didn't break anything. But that makes this cult a massive danger? Meanwhile, hundreds of nationwide riots have been going on for months, burning down thousands of businesses, destroying livelihoods, but don't you dare even question the legitimacy of that.

Fjolsvith 6y ago
> Okay Q is a wacky conspiracy theory. What's the headline real-world event here though? Some kid walked into a pizza joint with a rifle. That's pretty much it. He didn't shoot anyone, didn't explicitly threaten anyone, didn't break anything. But that makes this cult a massive danger? People are red-pilling. Once they are awake, they cannot be put back asleep. This is what makes this cult dangerous. And its not just conservative America that's red-pilling: https://www.mesabitribune.com/news/6-greater-minnesota-mayors-endorse-trump-pence/article_7725e452-e96a-11ea-914e-e35a54938cf8.html https://www.mesabitribune.com/news/6-greater-minnesota-mayor... https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4852367/user-clip-democrat-call https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4852367/user-clip-democrat-ca...
- shadowgovt 6y ago
  Red pills are what they hand out in cults when Kool-Aid is too expensive. When reality contradicts beliefs, the mind would rather adjust its filters on reality than adjust its beliefs. I've spent enough time chatting with flat-Earthers to watch the process in action.
  - Fjolsvith 6y ago
    Poo-poo it all you want. It is happening and it will be the end of the deep state establishment.
    - 6y ago

me_me_me 6y ago

So this is not Star Trek related? Oh, you sweat summer child me.