I know credit was taken by some old creeps that are into Robert Anton Wilson and the whole thing does kinda go with that MO but so does a lot of shit now.
Discordians are, without exception, corny as fuck, and I don't think they would have been that effective at harnessing racist internet esoteric boomer energy even if they had had the idea and believed in it enough to pursue it.
Here's the truth: 4chan is full of bullshitters trying to bullshit bullshitters. People literally make stuff up on there all the time. Elaborate creative fiction is probably the 2nd most popular genre of thread after "contrarian opinion + lust-provoking image." Some dipshit saw the pizzagate stuff and thought it would be funny to make up a super duper anti-pedo secret agent, and then he astroturfed the replies until it permeated the shut-in post-stormfront burnouts' brains. You don't need some kind of conspiracy theory about a CIA psyop or some epic artist collective trolling. It was literally just some dude. At some point he got bored and probably sold the account to Jim Watkins.
Here’s the truth: 4chan is full of bullshitters trying to bullshit bullshitters
I think this is the sad truth. Some 4chan horseshit that grew and grew and traded hands while also being "gamified" in that it encouraged the followers to also develop the conspiracy alongside Q ("baking").
Oh, if it was discordians it was just kind of happened to be what slipped by the goalie in a maelstrom of dumb crap. I know some tried to take credit and either are kind of just as likely.
yeah I've read about that hypothesis too with the Italian novel, but if Q was that kind of prank, it was one of several similar pranks going on at the same time
There was also an FBIanon, and I think one simply called Insider-Anon. I'm not sure why exactly Q caught on more than they did, probably because Q was much more prolific and typed in cryptic weird spy novel codes. Q would post hundreds of times in a day sometimes. I'm not convinced early Q was always the same person either, those tripcodes aren't exactly the most solid security, and in the early days I think the tripcode changed a few times.
I think the role of Q shifted between several people before finally the Watkins seized it. Even if Q were some kind of high level Illuminatus style culture jamming, it was a complete fluke that it worked, because yeah it was one of several similar posters all happening at the same time, and it was...literally posts on 4chan's /pol/ board, and then on 8chan, which is a site for sharing hentai. I should also mention that everyone who has ever believed the Qanon stuff is a complete gormless fool with pudding for brains. I could sell these people a bag of magic beans or threaten to kidnap their shadows. They're the most moronic Americans to ever exist, dumber even than the Millerites or the Satanic Panic.
So essentially even if this was some kind of coordinated intellectual project, it was jangling keys in front of adult babies and shouldn't be regarded as impressive
Doesn't Ghost in the Shell have a series about a "Stand Alone Complex" where a bunch of uncoordinated groups take apparently coordinated political action, but under examination there is no "original" group or actor. It just sort of all sprang up out of the zeitgeist at the same time in similar ways?
Yeah, there are a series of copycats imitating a hacker, although upon interrogation the hacker was simply following a plan he found online, a plan that seemed to have been AI generated. A cool aspect of the series is the discussion of how the real world individuals have become indistinct from bits of floating digital information.
It does, both seasons have that phenomenon actually. When I first watched it, I thought it was a weird and unbelievable premise.
threaten to kidnap their shadows
immediately made me think of the meme of the cop shooting his own shadow because it's black
I should also mention that everyone who has ever believed the Qanon stuff is a complete gormless fool with pudding for brains.
what makes me laugh is when the 8chan screenshot makes it to grandpa's facebook by being passed along and he ends up printing it out and putting it on posterboard like a bible verse and marching around with it in public not knowing it came from the anime tiddies website
Cernovich and Prilosec were definitely trying to get in on money and clout. They've also got pond water for brains, complete imbeciles, so if they were doing an op, I don't think they even realized that's what they were doing. Complete puppets of some federal agents feeding them lines. I don't know how common something like that is.
I don’t know how common something like that is.
considering Enrique Tarrio turned out to be an informant, probably pretty common
glowies
Just a reminder that this term is extremely racist in origin and probably should not be used at all ever.
just look up the video it originated from on know your meme. It's bad enough I don't even want to link it here. CW for n-word.
No problem comrade, I only found out about it after another comrade told me about it.
I've heard this theory but I think it's giving whoever was behind Q too much credit
It was for sure a snowball effect, but it's got that weird Gen x hippie esoteric mind hacker vibe
uh, q is an operative within the deep state who is assisting us to take it down, obviously.
Maybe when the acct was posting on 4chan, but it's probably just the guy that owns 8kun now.
We had a comment thread about this a while ago that I think was eaten by the void because I can't find it.
The novel was written in 1999 so I don't think it's just taking credit. In that other thread I intimated that the watkins are way too stupid to pull "the Q op" by themselves and that I had heard unsubstantiated rumors there was a Discordian-esque angle to the story.
After reading that article I assume some Italian friend of Steve Bannon or maybe himself IDK someone familiar with the italian group/read the Q book either originally posted as "Q" or used the Watkins although I should be sober if I'm gonna speculate like this.
E) Sorry uh I posted this referring in part to the article @JustAnotherCourier linked so that's the added context if this was confusing.
Coincedentally Steve Bannon had been spending a bit of time in Italy/Rome
:thonk:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/31/the-last-stand-at-steve-bannons-gladiator-school
FURTHER drunken foil-head speculation
I wouldn't be surprised if this is what they really picked him up/put him away for. Border Wall Scam & Contempt of Court? Those are Capone charges lol. He's had a couple months in prison to get a stern talking to and/or a script.
Could be. I don't think that'd necessarily have to be a deep state op. either. He's a trouble maker.
The guys who almost blackmail-sissified their discord server are what I'd point to as the wide vulnerability of people to anything.
I don’t think that’d necessarily have to be a deep state op. either. He’s a trouble maker.
:100-com:
is this a Veep reference? I'm unfamilliar but I agree I am very cynical about these things. I kind of imagine this "Selena Meyers character" thinks they can turn Bannon, Bannon thinks he's "playing" them, and they all just make everything worse.
Edit: This article describes what I was talking about, the potential "origins" of Q that were then copy and pasted by someone as a low effort arg.
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/01/19/qanon-the-italian-artists-who-may-have-inspired-americas-most-dangerous-conspiracy-theory
Yes, sorry. It's a prank that was co-opted after it took off. The problems verifying accounts, changes in style, etc. all point to a shift in control of the Q meme. Anyone could be in control now, for whatever nefarious purpose.
It's important to remember a rash of people were ready to be indoctrinated after the 2016-primary; people thought Hillary Kkklinton had stolen Bernie's chance (she did), and leftists were actively stating this. We, briefly, had no mercy for the Democratic party. Benghazi had primed the chuds. Hillary constantly lied about everything (gay marriage, passing out on 9/11, etc.) and it drove people insane. Pizzagate had just come and democrats tried to gaslight people instead of admit their dumb emails got hacked.
Someone did a great shitpost, and then another poster out posted them.
Edit: Documentation on change of style - https://mashable.com/article/qanon-study-two-people-wrote-q-posts-4chan-8kun
Oh yeah, it's easy to trace where it came from but the first domino really felt like some Operstion Mindfuck shit
That's fair, I certainly felt that way at the time. It did feel like something beyond my grasp was happening.
But from my perspective, with time, it now seemed inevitable that someone would form some type of cult. People were in a real bad place. The tea party had died, that energy needed to go somewhere. The Satanic Panic was back (pizza gate.) The "government" (DNC) had just outwardly denied the most popular politician in America a seat, even as they screamed about Trump and Democracy. Even old Stephen Colbert said "death, taxes, and Hilary." 2016 was real fucked up, we just forget because every year is worse.
For sure, the conditions were there and something would have been Q if not for Q. I'm just looking into this specific case, not any sort of historical significance to do with it.
I spent some time in those spaces (for r/cth content) very early on, and just wanted to point to the mundane choice I decided on a few years back. I appreciate you listening.
When I was younger and doing a lot of acid I was an Anton Wilson guy and the similarities between the way if dissemination of info and stuff just felt super close and then various weirdos of that type started to be rooted out as possible originators.
I mean yeah but the guy running the Q account that people listen to now is probably Jim Watkins, the guy who owns 8chan
The giant guy from Street Fighter 3 didn't deserve having all this horrible stuff done in his name...
I was under the impression it was orchestrated by Ron Watkins, with help from Steve Bannon.
It is now, but the original Q poster on 4 Chan and probably for a while after was probably a different person, although at some point the Watkins's either directly or indirectly took control of the account
They're about Dr Who, setting fire to money and doing a collab with Extreme Noise Terror that slapped pretty hard and is the only song I've heard with them.
I literally only know 3am Eternal cause of Extreme Noise Terror and then I glanced at their wiki once. They seem cool
Jimmy Cauty of KLF also did some cool shit with Alex Paterson as 'The Orb'.
Their album 'Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld' worth a listen if you enjoy ambient psychedelia (as is KLF's 'Chill Out' for that matter).
Can't really say that seems up my alley. I know they exist cause they did a weird collaboration with an early crust punk band which is more my speed (acrual amphetamine and also the tempo)
nice nice, makes me wanna re-engage with my city's punk scene, so many fun gigs pre-covid.
Come get your mojo hey
Come back fat as a rat
All the way down the east coast
