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.

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      1 year ago

      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?

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

      • Beaver [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        It does, both seasons have that phenomenon actually. When I first watched it, I thought it was a weird and unbelievable premise.

    • Tachanka [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      threaten to kidnap their shadows

      immediately made me think of the meme of the cop shooting his own shadow because it's black

    • Tachanka [comrade/them]
      ·
      1 year ago

      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

      • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        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.

        • Tachanka [comrade/them]
          ·
          1 year ago

          I don’t know how common something like that is.

          considering Enrique Tarrio turned out to be an informant, probably pretty common

      • Antisocial_Socialist [he/him]A
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        glowies

        Just a reminder that this term is extremely racist in origin and probably should not be used at all ever.