It'd be spookier if "trusting the plan" wasn't such a major part of it. They're being fed all sorts of dangerous nonsense, sure, but they're also being encouraged to just sit tight and wait for the good guys in government to clean everything up. Americans are already domesticated enough without being explicitly told to do nothing.
Maybe whoever gets ahold of the Q tripcode next won't be so shy about ordering their followers to engage in human wave attacks, but right now I don't see it as a concern. I think the scariest thing about QAnon is the possibility of a relative becoming terminally brainwormed more than anything else.
Yes, the inherent passivity of Qanon right now is extremely good, and I suspect a part of its appeal. You're told to "sit back and enjoy the show", everything is put into movie/TV terms (seriously, far too many of these folks seem to think movies explain our world), trust the plan, etc.
However, there are different leaders of Qanon - the high level accounts with lots of followers have their own agendas, some are more Christian oriented, etc., and those ones could also turn parts of the Qult violent.
They're not passive because they believe the plan. They believe the plan because it tells them to be passive. The vast majority of q believers aren't dangerous for this reason. They don't really have the potential to become dangerous. They're retired, domesticated petty bougie boomers. That doesn't mean there aren't a few exceptions who will 100% cause harm. But nothing huge.
This video does a good job explaining how Q is essentially a doomsday cult, at the end he talks about how the scary thing about cults like this is when their predictions prove untrue too many times, sometimes they can synthesize the idea that its their duty to bring about the apocalypse themselves. Its a bit long but it is quite a quality documentary. In Search Of A Flat Earth
It makes me think about the occult parts of the Nazi party, very worrying.
It also assigns a very sinister sounding moniker to something that is just a natural byproduct of government......career appointees hired by a previous boss, so it's impossible for it to not be rooted in some form of reality which makes it really easy to latch on to.
But honestly, I've heard more about Q in leftist spaces than I have anywhere else lol Not to say I'm all too connected with the world but I literally haven't heard anybody irl even refer to Q, honestly feel as if it's popularity is just a fever dream by Matt.
Closest I've come to spotting a Qultist in real life was at my last job. One time my coworker brings up pedophilia rings in Hollywood and I'm humoring him, talking about historical examples of abuse in the industry and he stops me to talk about cannibalism and I'm like oh noo, hit the brakes, that's qanon shit. Looking back I should have called it out for what it really is: blood libel.
Remember #savethechildren a few months ago? I was calling that shit out to my fb friends and family who were sharing it. "Hey, this is an inorganic movement being pushed by far right conspiracists with an actual body count. Be careful, please." Then several people started calling me a sex trafficking apologist, lol. Q has successfully infiltrated the mainstream, and it sucks ass.
Honestly a little bit it seems to be spreading outside of just far right people and into the mainstream sphere. Part of Q believes that there is a war with China along the Canadian border and tried to storm the Oregon statehouse because of it. They believe there are 50,000 Chinese troops that are fighting in Maine. It’s only a matter of time that something bad will happen. It seems like the worst has yet to come. This is only the beginning.
The anti-China direction that the Qult is moving in, led by the Epoch Times and the Falun Gong, genuinely terrifies me. Fearing that we'll see hysterical levels of sinophobia in the future and a push for an even more aggressive stance towards China
Yes, especially because the political establishment will absolutely get behind it.
Yeah I’m definitely afraid of the new Cold War with China. With the decline of the US I can definitely see a future where that war becomes hot. I can see the possibility of a direct US-China war.
So was Q just 4chan having a goof, or was it some wag the dog shit the whole time?
It originally started in tandem with the rise of the trump campaign and it happens in multiple chan boards. The original Q posts implied that Q was a high level person in the Trump administration and was secretly carrying out the things that Trump said he would do in the campaign but wasn’t able to do in office.
QAnon followers converting en masse to Falun Dafa would be an amazing bit.
this massive memetic hazard that's taken over half of america.
The good news is, it's not.
I keep tabs on Trump supporters and QAnon is a tiny insane faction of Trump supporters, not even most other Trump supporters want to associate with them. It's why you'll see a rally with thousands of Trump supporters and like 9 people with QAnon signs. Most people -- Republicans included -- don't even know who or what the fuck QAnon is.
QAnon is completely irrelevant, the only reason you even hear about them is because crazy shit they say just makes great headlines, gets clicks and makes money.
It peaked in like 2018 and has been dying off as the conspiracy theories mutated from plausible stuff like "there are probably pedophiles in politics and entertainment" (see: Bohemian Grove) to some massive hydra of random conspiracy theories that has no common theme... a huge portion of "Q supporters" are just legitimate trolls and /pol/ fucking with left-wingers and normies.
Even the within the "Q believers" only a tiny fraction of them believe the most insane shit they crank out, with the majority of them just being morons that have no idea what they're supporting and just think it's some kind of anti-pedophilia movement.
And the ones that DO believe the most insane theories are like 57yr old housewives from a town of 300 in Missouri and doesn't know how to drive.
Fret not however, there are still plenty of things to worry about... the establishment shitbag politicians and whatever war(s) Biden will inevitably start.
(Bonus Wired Article): QAnon Supporters Aren’t Quite Who You Think They Are (https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-supporters-arent-quite-who-you-think-they-are/)
TL;DR -- QAnon isn't really even a thing, let alone half the country lol, the numbers are probably in the high hundreds/low thousands... it's just another one of those things the media over reports on because they make money from outrage clicks.
I think you've mostly got it right, except that the peak of QAnon was far more recent. I would say it peaked in May or June, due to the combination of election, Covid lockdowns, and BLM protests. People who research Q seem to think it has died down since this summer, and since Trump lost it will probably continue to fade (https://twitter.com/_MAArgentino, https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch)
Yeah, especially because there's quite a few of them round where I live
Hell, one of them put up QAnon Christmas decorations
I would try and take pictures, but the last thing I fucking need is to get mowed down by some Q-honkey
I was going to try and go with Qonkey
But that feels like it's a little insulting to my homie Conky from Pee-Wee's Playhouse
Oh shit yeah
So, in the front bay windows, are a bunch of lighted angels and a bunch of homemade Q's plastered all over
This, plus the giant Trump 2020 flag on the side of the house, leads me to believe they're unhinged
As far as I could see, there was effort
Then again, I didn't want to linger
Gives me real Esoteric Fash vibes. A belief system that makes little sense in retrospect... but at the time helped Weimar Germans cope with steadily worsening conditions.
Weirdly I don't feel afraid, but I'm also not too familiar with the q sects. I was shocked when someone who I have know for like a decade was talking to me about aliens, ufos and people normalizing pedophilia.
Ravenously devouring scraps from the trashcan of ideology while material reality continues unphased in the background.
I mean there have been several violent or at least dangerous incidents regarding Q, plus I think the widespread nature of it makes it cast a wide net to catch people who would be susceptible to this kind of brainwashing.
For example heres just whats listed on wikipedia.
Of course I hope you're right and nothing comes of this, I think its a mess waiting to happen though.
So far q has killed a mob boss and bones a nsa data house.
They seem ti be attacking the bad guys
Are there any good numbers on how many people believe in Q? I get the impression that it’s only like .1% of the population or less.
I guess it depends on what "believe" means. Like, how much does someone have to believe or trust that shit in order to count as a qanon believer?
I would quantify it as the belief in a person referred to as Q within the Trump admin. Believing in global pedophile rings, the deep state, etc don’t count.
It doesn't have specific numbers but this video I feel does a good job explaining the scope of the problem: In Search of A Flat Earth
Probably 1/3rd of republicans or so, or at least that amount tolerates people who do, since they keep getting elected to congress
It's scary to me because, if push comes to shove, most would get away with the murder of leftists. That's always been the case with fascists in the United States. Luckily I'm for as crazy as they are, most of them are cowards and in relative comfort. Take that away from enough people and take their internet? Powder keg.
for the most part, the folks doing the violence aren't being radicalized by Q shit (i.e. they're already sovereign citizen militia types)
the most compelling theory on Nashville is that it's a mcveigh-esque turner diaries copycat, which would fall into the above
if you're existentially terrified of Q you haven't been paying attention. these folks have existed as long as I've been alive (black helicopters and whatnot)
I recommend this video, it shows that Q is something to be concerned about, maybe not an existential threat but still. In Search Of A Flat Earth
