The SWIFT DEATH of QANON

Author: oromagi
Conspiracy Theory
oromagi
QAnon
Cult
Drink Yer Bleach

Posts

Total: 58
Topic's author
#1
oromagi
oromagi's avatar
Debates: 117
Posts: 8,696
8
10
11
oromagi's avatar
oromagi
8
10
11
On the day of election, the conspiracy manufacturing  project known as QAnon seems to have come to sharp end with the firing/quitting of 8chan/8kun's lone admin and now self-confessed son of Q, Ron Watkins.  Watkins outed his father Jim as Q finishing his sign-off  tweet with "fuck you, dad."  That is, the one person best able to confirm that the person most suspected of being Q was actually Q finally confirmed the suspicions of many investigators on Nov 3rd.  Q has been silent since and 8kun abandoned.

So we can now say with fair confidence that Q was not a highly placed Trump official with Q clearance rating but was in fact an amalgam of people including Coleman Rogers before The El Paso Walmart shooting and probably mostly just Jim Watkins after Q returned on 8chan/8kun. Watkins was an US Army Helicopter mechanic who made millions in the 90's by circumventing Asian porn restrictions on American hosts.  Watkins has retained ownership of a large number of pedophile sites linked domain names, some for 30 years though he denies charges of child pornography or any profit by those domain names.  Also, Watkins seem have been  hosting the main QAnon merch site in spite of claims of non-affiliation as well as the server running the neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer in spite of claims of non-affiliation.  Since early October, Russian cybersecurity has taken over security for these sites running on the old .su (Soviet Union) domain.  Watkins in now in the US resisting Filipino extradition and speaking at Republican gatherings.

A month ago,   37% of Trump supporters found truth in QAnon's assertions that Trump was elected as a "savior figure" to root out a secret Satanic child-sex trafficking ring run by Democratic politicians and now the sole source for that claim turns out to be a rogue white supremacist pedopeddler  who's theories have been self-servingly re-tweeted by the outbound President of the United States more than 250 times. 

#2
MisterChris
MisterChris's avatar
Debates: 45
Posts: 2,897
5
10
11
MisterChris's avatar
MisterChris
5
10
11
-->
@oromagi
The conspiracy theories adopted by the far-right are definitely concerning. They need to be discredited, but they should not be deplatformed. Ironically, I think the issue is propagated further by such behavior (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter targeting Alex Jones and others for example). While I understand the intention is to take down harmful conspiracy theories before they become an issue, it ends up backfiring. When you have a group of very paranoid people convinced that there is some sort of elitist conspiracy, the worst way to take down that conspiracy is to try and silence/deplatform them. People see it is a confirmation of their worldview: that there is something the elites are hiding. "Why else would Alex Jones be kicked off platforms? Clearly the media is mad at him because he is telling the truth!" 

Human psychology is an interesting thing. 
#3
Trent0405
Trent0405's avatar
Debates: 34
Posts: 471
3
9
11
Trent0405's avatar
Trent0405
3
9
11
-->
@oromagi
😱😱😱

Woah, be careful Oro, Moloch isn't going to be very happy with you after this post...
Topic's author
#4
oromagi
oromagi's avatar
Debates: 117
Posts: 8,696
8
10
11
oromagi's avatar
oromagi
8
10
11
-->
@MisterChris
@oromagi
The conspiracy theories adopted by the far-right are definitely concerning.
I'd be less concerned if it was just the far right.  12 2020 Congressional races featured some explicit QAnon advocacy and 2 QAnon candidates won their races including the ridiculous Lauren Boebert here in Colorado.  The last Pew poll (early September) found that roughly four-in-ten Republicans who have heard of QAnon (41%) say it is a good thing for the country (32% somewhat good and 9% very good).  Or put another way, 82% of Republicans who have heard of QAnon, don't have a problem with QAnon.  That's mainstream.  QAnon polls better  with Republicans than supply side economics, the core Republican economic tenant.  Republicans trusted Q only a little less than they trusted Fox News.

They need to be discredited, but they should not be deplatformed. Ironically, I think the issue is propagated further by such behavior (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter targeting Alex Jones and others for example).  While I understand the intention is to take down harmful conspiracy theories before they become an issue, it ends up backfiring. When you have a group of very paranoid people convinced that there is some sort of elitist conspiracy, the worst way to take down that conspiracy is to try and silence/deplatform them. People see it is a confirmation of their worldview: that there is something the elites are hiding. "Why else would Alex Jones be kicked off platforms? Clearly the media is mad at him because he is telling the truth!" 
I'd agree in theory except the  practice seems to be proving the theory wrong.  In 2012, The Alex Jones show pulled better ratings than Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck combined and Jones was claiming about $20 mil/yr, mostly in supplement sales.  Since the big wave of social media bans in 2018, Jones' listenership is estimated to be down about 90% and Jones whole net worth is now under $5 mil.  Even conspiracy theorists  online seem to want to distinguish themselves as something more substantial than Jones these days.  Likewise, our case in point- the collapse of QAnon came less than three weeks after YouTube bans and 3 months after Twitter bans. Perhaps some judicious gatekeeping can prove more effective than theory supposed.




Topic's author
#5
oromagi
oromagi's avatar
Debates: 117
Posts: 8,696
8
10
11
oromagi's avatar
oromagi
8
10
11
-->
@Trent0405
@oromagi
😱😱😱

Woah, be careful Oro, Moloch isn't going to be very happy with you after this post...
Bring him on.  Moloch's had his due this year and if he wants some more I'd be happy to incorporate him into a nice seasonal cranberry gelee for his troubles.

From Alan Ginsberg's "Howl"  I once briefly shared a jail cell with Ginsberg, btw.

II

What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination?
Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and unobtainable dollars! Children screaming under the stairways! Boys sobbing in armies! Old men weeping in the parks!
Moloch! Moloch! Nightmare of Moloch! Moloch the loveless! Mental Moloch! Moloch the heavy judger of men!
Moloch the incomprehensible prison! Moloch the crossbone soulless jailhouse and Congress of sorrows! Moloch whose buildings are judgment! Moloch the vast stone of war! Moloch the stunned governments!
Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies! Moloch whose breast is a cannibal dynamo! Moloch whose ear is a smoking tomb!
Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows! Moloch whose skyscrapers stand in the long streets like endless Jehovahs! Moloch whose factories dream and croak in the fog! Moloch whose smoke-stacks and antennae crown the cities!
Moloch whose love is endless oil and stone! Moloch whose soul is electricity and banks! Moloch whose poverty is the specter of genius! Moloch whose fate is a cloud of sexless hydrogen! Moloch whose name is the Mind!
Moloch in whom I sit lonely! Moloch in whom I dream Angels! Crazy in Moloch! Cocksucker in Moloch! Lacklove and manless in Moloch!
Moloch who entered my soul early! Moloch in whom I am a consciousness without a body! Moloch who frightened me out of my natural ecstasy! Moloch whom I abandon! Wake up in Moloch! Light streaming out of the sky!
Moloch! Moloch! Robot apartments! invisible suburbs! skeleton treasuries! blind capitals! demonic industries! spectral nations! invincible madhouses! granite cocks! monstrous bombs!
They broke their backs lifting Moloch to Heaven! Pavements, trees, radios, tons! lifting the city to Heaven which exists and is everywhere about us!
Visions! omens! hallucinations! miracles! ecstasies! gone down the American river!
Dreams! adorations! illuminations! religions! the whole boatload of sensitive bullshit!
Breakthroughs! over the river! flips and crucifixions! gone down the flood! Highs! Epiphanies! Despairs! Ten years’ animal screams and suicides! Minds! New loves! Mad generation! down on the rocks of Time!
Real holy laughter in the river! They saw it all! the wild eyes! the holy yells! They bade farewell! They jumped off the roof! to solitude! waving! carrying flowers! Down to the river! into the street!


#6
Discipulus_Didicit
Discipulus_Didicit's avatar
Debates: 9
Posts: 5,758
3
4
10
Discipulus_Didicit's avatar
Discipulus_Didicit
3
4
10
-->
@oromagi
Wait, has this actually caused people to stop believing all the "Q level top super spy secret" nonsense? I would have expected them to just claim that Ron is lying as part of the coverup.
Topic's author
#7
oromagi
oromagi's avatar
Debates: 117
Posts: 8,696
8
10
11
oromagi's avatar
oromagi
8
10
11
-->
@Discipulus_Didicit
--> @oromagi
Wait, has this actually caused people to stop believing all the "Q level top super spy secret" nonsense? I would have expected them to just claim that Ron is lying as part of the coverup.
I've never met a true believer who really stopped believing anything and I'm sure there is some core membership that will mutate and persist if only for fellowship.  The new Russian security/domainname ought to cut deep into the old Q's reputation but perhaps somebody can recreate a new version of 8kun with a new version of Q.  Q's access becomes a lot harder to pretend in a Biden administration.  So not the end of believing, no, not in the short term anyway but the steady increase in believers that has surged pre-election is a tide we might hope has turned.

#8
FLRW
FLRW's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 6,782
3
4
8
FLRW's avatar
FLRW
3
4
8
-->
@oromagi
People who believe in conspiracy theories are, in part, the result of a functional impairment (lesions) in a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex. This  is
all due to God's lack of quality control.
Topic's author
#9
oromagi
oromagi's avatar
Debates: 117
Posts: 8,696
8
10
11
oromagi's avatar
oromagi
8
10
11
-->
@FLRW
are you saying all conspiracy theorists have a physically detectable impairment- that x-rays or CT scans can show who is being a conspiracy theorist and who is not?
#10
ebuc
ebuc's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 5,061
3
2
4
ebuc's avatar
ebuc
3
2
4
-->
@oromagi
are you saying all conspiracy theorists have a physically detectable impairment- that x-rays or CT scans can show who is being a conspiracy theorist and who is not?
Is denial of obvious truths ex Earth is flat not spherical and humans never went to or landed on moon. Is that a mental issue?

Were there born just a few years ago and so ignorant that the read a false narrative and then keep repeating to all as if it were the truth.

Did my mother really bear me?  How do I prove it? These days nothing can be proved true of false if all narrative has a conspiracy behind it that keeps from never knowing what the truth its..    Society and hum with humanity really need to come to grips with such nonsense.

Truth is becoming less and less relevant to maybe 70 milion USA citizens and then there are those in rest of population who have some mental aversion to truth.
#11
Intelligence_06
Intelligence_06's avatar
Debates: 172
Posts: 3,946
5
8
11
Intelligence_06's avatar
Intelligence_06
5
8
11
I mean, as a Chinese person I would technically be glad if Trump won because then we will be #1 ;)
#12
FLRW
FLRW's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 6,782
3
4
8
FLRW's avatar
FLRW
3
4
8
-->
@oromagi
Yes, see the study, Toward a Neurobiology of Delusions  by P.R. Corlett , J.R. Taylor , X.-J. Wangb, P.C. Fletcher , J.H. Krystal 
They suggest that delusions result from aberrations in how brain circuits specify hierarchical predictions, and how they compute and
respond to prediction errors. Defects in these fundamental brain mechanisms can vitiate perception,
memory, bodily agency and social learning such that individuals with delusions experience an internal
and external world that healthy individuals would find difficult to comprehend.
The account focuses on a particular parameter, prediction error–the mismatch between
expectation and experience–that provides a computational mechanism common to cortical hierarchies,
fronto-striatal circuits and the amygdala as well as parietal cortices.

#13
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@MisterChris
While I understand the intention is to take down harmful conspiracy theories before they become an issue, it ends up backfiring.
That's the funny thing.

We only hear about the RARE EXCEPTIONS when censorship ends up "backfiring" (sample-bias/confirmation-bias/Streisand-effect).

They keep doing it because it WORKS PERFECTLY MOST OF THE TIME (that's why China is currently the envy of every government on the planet).
#14
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@ebuc
Is that a mental issue?
ANY DISTRUST OF ABSOLUTE GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY IS OBVIOUSLY CAUSED BY SEVERE BRAIN DAMAGE.
#15
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@oromagi
I've never met a true believer who really stopped believing anything and I'm sure there is some core membership that will mutate and persist if only for fellowship.  The new Russian security/domainname ought to cut deep into the old Q's reputation but perhaps somebody can recreate a new version of 8kun with a new version of Q.  Q's access becomes a lot harder to pretend in a Biden administration.  So not the end of believing, no, not in the short term anyway but the steady increase in believers that has surged pre-election is a tide we might hope has turned.
Same song, new remix.

From 1993, in 7 minutes and 4 seconds, [LINK]
#16
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@oromagi
the collapse of QAnon came less than three weeks after YouTube bans and 3 months after Twitter bans.
MORE CENSORSHIP PLEEEEEEEEEEEZ.
#17
ebuc
ebuc's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 5,061
3
2
4
ebuc's avatar
ebuc
3
2
4
-->
@3RU7AL
ANY DISTRUST OF ABSOLUTE GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY IS OBVIOUSLY CAUSED BY SEVERE BRAIN DAMAGE.
?  Boy have you jumped overboard 3ru.  Reread what I stated  ---below again--  and if you actually want to answer the question I posed to someone,as stated, and without your fictional and emotionally charged, "severe brain damaged" comments, please do so.  It appears to me, you must have awoke on incorrect side of bed this AM.  It happens to me, so I will let it go this time.


ebuc..."Post #10 Is denial of obvious truths ex Earth is flat not spherical and humans never went to or landed on moon. Is that a mental issue?"
#18
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@ebuc
I'm pointing out how easy it is to maintain authority when you can just accuse everyone who disagrees with you of being EVIL and or INCINCERE and or irredeemably stupid and or brain damaged (lunatics).
#19
ebuc
ebuc's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 5,061
3
2
4
ebuc's avatar
ebuc
3
2
4
-->
@3RU7AL
I'm pointing out how easy it is to maintain authority when you can just accuse everyone who disagrees with you of being EVIL and or INCINCERE and or irredeemably stupid and or brain damaged (lunatics).
Your still jumping overboard 3ru.  If you dont have the ability to answer the quesiton, stated, then I will do it for you with the correct answer.

Reread what I stated  ---below again--  and if you actually want to answer the question I posed to someone,as stated, and without your fictional and emotionally charged, "severe brain damaged", "maintain authority", " EVIL", "INCINCERE" comments, please do so.  It appears to me, you must have awoke on incorrect side of bed this AM.  It happens to me, but now I have to wonder what is going on with you.


ebuc..."Post #10 Is denial of obvious truths ex Earth is flat not spherical and humans never went to or landed on moon. Is that a mental issue?"

You used to be a relatively fair, rational, logical common sense person.   Are you having some kind of personal issues that has caused this change in you?



#20
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@ebuc
Disbelief in The "official" "government" "narrative" in-and-of-itself does NOT constitute a diagnosis of "brain malfunction".

Furthermore, accusing everyone who disagrees with you of being EVIL and or INCINCERE and or irredeemably stupid and or brain damaged (lunatics) is a TRIED-AND-TRUE tactic of AUTHORITARIANS.
#21
ebuc
ebuc's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 5,061
3
2
4
ebuc's avatar
ebuc
3
2
4
-->
@3RU7AL
ebuc..."Post #10 Is denial of obvious truths ex Earth is flat not spherical and humans never went to or landed on moon. Is that a mental issue?"

Disbelief in The "official" "government" "narrative" in-and-of-itself does NOT constitute a diagnosis of "brain malfunction".
I made no mention of any "official" "government" "narrative" 3RU.   This is what now 2nd or third time that you refuse to answer a question as it was posited?

C,mon dude, get your act together and play fair.


Furthermore, accusing everyone who disagrees with you of being EVIL and or INCINCERE and or irredeemably stupid and or brain damaged (lunatics) is a TRIED-AND-TRUE "tactic of AUTHORITARIANS.
Huh? 3Ru, what you talking about dude? Where exactly to you see me stating what you state above regaridng "EVIL" and "INSINCIRE".  Dude, you need to get some more sleep cause it appears to me, that your kinda of loosing touch with reality dude.


#22
Intelligence_06
Intelligence_06's avatar
Debates: 172
Posts: 3,946
5
8
11
Intelligence_06's avatar
Intelligence_06
5
8
11
When a person of power agrees with a disgusting righty asshole you know something is wrong with him all along.

253 days later

#23
drlebronski
drlebronski's avatar
Debates: 14
Posts: 993
3
5
9
drlebronski's avatar
drlebronski
3
5
9
-->
@MisterChris
I would disagree i think we should deplatform them.
THink of it like this You have a crazy racist far-right White supremacist alt-right conspiracy theorist go one joe rogan (largest podcast in the world)
The guy says that people left africa because of a gene that made black people "more violent"
Joe Rogan doesn't challenge this belief at all and says "wow is that true" (this actually happened)
Do you think that brought more vulnerable people to the alt-right?
#24
drlebronski
drlebronski's avatar
Debates: 14
Posts: 993
3
5
9
drlebronski's avatar
drlebronski
3
5
9
If you let nazis from 4chan roam around on twitter more people are going to subscribe to their ideology
Topic's author
#25
oromagi
oromagi's avatar
Debates: 117
Posts: 8,696
8
10
11
oromagi's avatar
oromagi
8
10
11
UPDATES since OP was posted DEC 1st-

  • In spite of last fall's revelations that QAnon was just a father and son pornographers running Stormfront and the QAnon servers out of their Filipino pig farm using Russian Intel for cybersecurity, QAnon's popularity has managed to increase somewhat.  In May, the New York Times ran an article stating that the cult of QAnon was the same size of the Christian Evangelist movement and met many qualifications for calling itself a mainstream religion.
  • QAnon was the origin point for many of the most outlandish claims about the 2020 election including the Hugo Chavez and Dominion server stuff.
    • It's started to look like five or six of Trump's most prominent lawyers might actually get disbarred for trying to present some of these cuckoo claims in court.  Two are facing one of the largest libel claims in US history, Dominion is asking for more than a billion dollars in damages from each.
  • QAnon was prominently represented at the Jan 6th insurrection.  Hundreds of people could be facing jail time for acting on the beliefs put forward by QAnon.
    • Since Jan 6, the St. Petersburg cybersecurity firm shared by Stormfront and Russian military intelligence dropped QAnon as a client.  It is no longer clear who provides cybersecurity for Watkins' QAnon server but it still seems to be happening in Russia somewhere.  Interestingly, a rival QAnon server is now gaining popularity- QSear.ch.  The .ch indicates China's internet domain.  So, a website that claims to run by a guy with high ranking Q level clearance in the US  Dept. of Energy is now actually multiple sites with China and Russia openly competing for control of the Republican Party's belief system.
  • HBO ran a really interesting 4 part documentary about QAnon generally and the Watkins specifically.  The documentary ends with Ron Watkins accidently revealing that he and his dad were QAnon.  So that 's two confessions by Ron although most of the time when asked he still denies it.
  • The Federal Election Commission sent a letter this week to Lauren Boebert asking why her campaign kept venmo'ing her money from the election fund to her which she deposited in her personal accounts.  Immediately afterwards Boebert amended her tax filings to show that although she claimed a net loss of $300,000  over the past two years her husband actually made nearly a million in consulting fees from Terra Energy and they'd just forgot to report it.  Boebert also forgot to disclose her conflict of interest when introducing Natural Gas legislation this year for which Terra Energy was the priniciple lobbyist.

#26
Wylted
Wylted's avatar
Debates: 34
Posts: 5,754
3
4
11
Wylted's avatar
Wylted
3
4
11
Dude literally took a picture inside of airforce one and posted it. One not found prior to that anywhere on the internet 
#27
Wylted
Wylted's avatar
Debates: 34
Posts: 5,754
3
4
11
Wylted's avatar
Wylted
3
4
11
I'd agree in theory except the  practice seems to be proving the theory wrong.  In 2012, The Alex Jones show pulled better ratings than Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck combined and Jones was claiming about $20 mil/yr, mostly in supplement sales.  Since the big wave of social media bans in 2018, Jones' listenership is estimated to be down about 90% and Jones whole net worth is now under $5 mil.  Even conspiracy theorists  online seem to want to distinguish themselves as something more substantial than Jones these days.  Likewise, our case in point- the collapse of QAnon came less than three weeks after YouTube bans and 3 months after Twitter bans. Perhaps some judicious gatekeeping can prove more effective than theory supposed.
So as a liberal, you think that it is better to defeat arguments you disagree with by banning the arguments, than it is by confronting them?


#28
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@Wylted
So as a liberal, you think that it is better to defeat arguments you disagree with by banning the arguments, than it is by confronting them?
CENSORSHIP is like an inoculation against REVOLUTION.
#29
Wylted
Wylted's avatar
Debates: 34
Posts: 5,754
3
4
11
Wylted's avatar
Wylted
3
4
11
-->
@3RU7AL
CENSORSHIP is like an inoculation against REVOLUTION.
Revolutions are usually a result from lack of freedom.  Not sure how restricting freedom, prevents it
#30
3RU7AL
3RU7AL's avatar
Debates: 3
Posts: 14,582
3
4
9
3RU7AL's avatar
3RU7AL
3
4
9
-->
@Wylted
CENSORSHIP is like an inoculation against REVOLUTION.
Revolutions are usually a result from lack of freedom.  Not sure how restricting freedom, prevents it
It drives potential revolutionaries underground.

And if done properly, it can prevent revolution altogether.