An infuriating article from Huffington Post! grrrrr

[Sue (Ayt)]

If you want to be infuriated and/or saddened, read this long (propaganda?) article from Huffington Post. It really is quite appalling!

‘I Miss My Mom’: Children Of QAnon Believers Are Desperately Trying To Deradicalize Their Own Parents

Shortly before President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Sam’s mother began stocking up on food in a panic. He didn’t know why, but he knew it probably had something to do with QAnon.

The 19-year-old began to notice changes in his mother’s behavior around the start of the coronavirus quarantine. She had always been a nervous woman: She stopped flying after 9/11 and had hovered closely to Sam and his two younger siblings for their entire lives. But during the pandemic, his mom’s fears spiraled from quirky to deranged. It has turned her into someone he hardly recognizes.

Though she didn’t used to be very political, she now thinks Biden is a pedophile who stole the election. She’s scared of radiation from the 5G towers in her neighborhood and, as a white woman, she told her son, she’s afraid of being targeted and harmed by Black Lives Matter protesters — a movement she once supported. She worries that Sam’s brother and sister are being “indoctrinated” at their public high school and is considering moving them to a Catholic one. She’s refusing to get them immunized against COVID-19 as false rumors swirl that the vaccine contains a secret location-tracking microchip. (She was initially terrified of the virus but now considers the lockdowns to be an affront to people’s freedoms.)

“She wasn’t always like this,” Sam said. “It just keeps getting worse.”

Sam moved back into his mom’s Michigan home last March when his college campus shut down. His dad, who’d been divorced from his mother for many years, had recently died, and it was nice to be back around family. But Sam quickly noticed his mom was spending almost all of her time online. For hours into the night she’d be on Facebook and, later, Parler, obsessing over videos and articles from obscure, ultraconservative websites that traffic in fake news. She’d send posts to Sam pushing political claims that were risibly false, and they’d get into furious arguments at the dinner table as, incredulous, he tried to debunk them.

Story Continues

[Sue (Ayt)]

And this link https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/ (from the article) leads to a reddit support group lamenting their relatives who have fallen victim to "conspiracy BS"<sigh>

Have a friend or loved one taken in by QAnon? Look here for support, resources and a place to vent. Peruse old posts, settle in and relax. Learn to heal, deal and deprogram. Posts should relate to the direct experience of dealing with Q/adjacent folk.

Reading the posts and comments does shed some light on how the other side thinks.

[Journeyman]

I wouldn't get too annoyed Sue, if you take a step back, something curious is happening.

Think about how 'Q' was featured in mainstream news just a few months ago. Can you recall another article where so many of the claims were articulated as they are in this one? Sure, the tone is dismissive and they're labelled as baseless, but from taking a quick look through the article it seems like a lot of things that were never mentioned in mainstream media are now up for, well not discussion, but derision.

I noticed similar from Bill Maher recently and apparently Jimmy Kimmel as well. Mentions of Q are up across the media, just at the time when you'd surely think that it would be subsiding in the aftermath of such a resounding win for Joe Biden. Instead, there's relentless attention on Q related content.

I've previously said all of this is feeling very unreal. This could just be what it seems on the surface, a hit piece on Q from left leaning Yahoo News. However, just maybe, it's part of a gradual awakening process. The people reading that article who have never heard of Q before now have a list of different allegations associated with it and maybe some seeds of wondering if all of it is completely without foundation.

[Tintin]

Wow, I think I've already read enough without going to the continuation

I'm pretty certain this is fictionalised, and not a real story at all. (You know, the "some names have been changed" line.) It's got every counter narrative to the prevailing propaganda neatly and conveniently packaged in that third paragraph. It may well even be true, but, as you say, this is appalling, and really cheesy too.

On the subject of cheese, I smell a very ripe one here

[Gracy]

I reckon I would need to get a clarifying question answered before venturing forth with any comment, because the piece covers a pretty wide scope. Is the main bone of contention concerning the opinions of Q, Trump, supporters of either, conspiracy theories, or maybe even all of the above?

[TomKat]

Posted by Journeyman (here)
I wouldn't get too annoyed Sue, if you take a step back, something curious is happening.

Think about how 'Q' was featured in mainstream news just a few months ago. Can you recall another article where so many of the claims were articulated as they are in this one? Sure, the tone is dismissive and they're labelled as baseless, but from taking a quick look through the article it seems like a lot of things that were never mentioned in mainstream media are now up for, well not discussion, but derision.

I noticed similar from Bill Maher recently and apparently Jimmy Kimmel as well. Mentions of Q are up across the media, just at the time when you'd surely think that it would be subsiding in the aftermath of such a resounding win for Joe Biden. Instead, there's relentless attention on Q related content.

I've previously said all of this is feeling very unreal. This could just be what it seems on the surface, a hit piece on Q from left leaning Yahoo News. However, just maybe, it's part of a gradual awakening process. The people reading that article who have never heard of Q before now have a list of different allegations associated with it and maybe some seeds of wondering if all of it is completely without foundation.

I think it's more a process of post-coup clean-up. Label the opposition as crazy. Re-educate through media and, if that doesn't work, re-education camps.

[Sue (Ayt)]

Posted by Gracy May (here)
I reckon I would need to get a clarifying question answered before venturing forth with any comment, because the piece covers a pretty wide scope. Is the main bone of contention concerning the opinions of Q, Trump, supporters of either, conspiracy theories, or maybe even all of the above?

Yes, they appear to have thrown the whole banana under the "QAnon believer" title they came up with.
All subjects outside of the official rhetoric are lumped under the QAnon headline, with no distinctions. Black/white, all/nothing thinking encouraged, just as we are seeing in many of our friends and families.

That is what mainly annoyed me!
(And scanning the reddit group is sad, reading of the divorces and dissolution of families occurring over this type of thinking.)

[Mike Gorman]

The Q movement was all about lumping all of the Trump supporters, the malcontents and mavericks, the libertarians and conservative folk under one, convenient cult-like category.
The fact that the majority of MAGA and Trump supporters are not Q people in the sense of being committed to the numerical codes and 'hidden' directives e.t.c is far too complicated
and big for the sweethearts to take in, they just cannot get their head around it; it blows them away.
Much easier to characterise the entire populist uprising under this Q badge, and laugh at the loonies, but this doesn't work, and they know it.

[palehorse]

I DO NOT believe in Q, actually I never took the time to read anything from it, my first impression for the very first time when I came in contact with Q material said to me: it is the finest bulls crap, stay away.. but I see how many people got trapped.

I can't say for sure because I never make a real deep study of Q, but it seems pretty much like all their theories was fabricated in order to blind the real conspiracies against humanity going on, old trick from these old dogs.

The article seems too exaggerated to me, almost a meme, the patterns/language structure are very familiar.. and reddit I would say, is highly manipulated nowadays, just try to post against vaccines there. I got my account terminated months ago, my old account of many years. Damn reddit.

Who remember the cicada 3301 puzzle game? things like this come and go all the time creating lots of confusion.

[RskikR]

America, you are ****in Finished!

[Journeyman]

Posted by TomKat (here)

I think it's more a process of post-coup clean-up. Label the opposition as crazy. Re-educate through media and, if that doesn't work, re-education camps.

It could be of course. It's just a little heavy handed and I'd expect the propaganda dept to hire better writers!

[Chris Gilbert]

I stumbled across the Qanon Casualties reddit forum about a month ago and have been reading it off and on. There are some instances where it's a case of normies not being able to understand the shift in perspective of someone who realizes the emperor has no clothes. On the other hand....there are many stories in there that are heart breaking, and oftentimes the Q believers ARE the ones who share much of the fault.

The issue is not what one believes, but how they go about it. Namely:

-Constant proselytizing of friends and families. Given that I grew up and eventually broke away from the Jehovah's Witnesses, who are obsessed with proselytizing, this one is a particular sore spot for me. Trying to force your beliefs down other's throats day in and day out is disgusting behavior.

-Dereliction of personal responsibilities and duties in favor of constantly watching conspiracy videos all day and sharing links/sending out chain emails. It's unbalanced, obsessive behavior. When I see people on this site and elsewhere spam endless links and videos at all hours of the day (often without any decent summary) I wonder about their life balance.

-Starting fights with loved ones/name calling.

-And last but not least...the fervent belief that one is RIGHT. I must ask, what is more important? Proving you are RIGHT, or being a good human being? What is more, the certainty that one is right is the end of self reflection and critical analysis. While there are some things I'm feel more certain about, there are many I will probably have to change my mind on in the future as new data comes to light. When you 100% think you are RIGHT, you are falling into the same trap as the normies who passively consume the MSM.

Here's an example from that forum of how obsessive and combative behavior, regardless of the accuracy of one's views, is toxic and destructive to healthy relationships and functioning:

https://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasual...d_before_this/

One day my sister face timed me while my boyfriend was over. My boyfriend is from Armenia and has a very heavy accent. They immediately started ridiculing him and asking him why he still speaks English so poorly when he’s been here since the 90s. Ironically, my boyfriend speaks better English than both of them put together and has a college degree unlike either of them, he just has an accent. He started joking back to them but wasn’t disrespectful which then led to her boyfriend threatening him the next day to me. This hurt me deeply.

[Journeyman]

Posted by Chris Gilbert (here)
I stumbled across the Qanon Casualties reddit forum about a month ago and have been reading it off and on. There are some instances where it's a case of normies not being able to understand the shift in perspective of someone who realizes the emperor has no clothes. On the other hand....there are many stories in there that are heart breaking, and oftentimes the Q believers ARE the ones who share much of the fault.

The issue is not what one believes, but how they go about it. Namely:

-Constant proselytizing of friends and families. Given that I grew up and eventually broke away from the Jehovah's Witnesses, who are obsessed with proselytizing, this one is a particular sore spot for me. Trying to force your beliefs down other's throats day in and day out is disgusting behavior.

-Dereliction of personal responsibilities and duties in favor of constantly watching conspiracy videos all day and sharing links/sending out chain emails. It's unbalanced, obsessive behavior.

This one was pretty stark:

She’s sinking deeper and deeper into debt, convinced that it will all soon be forgiven under a new financial system called NESARA — a bogus theory, revived by QAnon, that stems from a set of economic reforms that were proposed in the 1990s but never introduced before Congress. After Elaina and her husband bought a house last year, her mother told them to skip their mortgage payments.

Stupidity, greed, doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum you fall on these are not the actions of a rational actor.

See also the Christmas cards turned into personal propaganda. etc.

[TomKat]

Posted by Journeyman (here)

Posted by TomKat (here)

I think it's more a process of post-coup clean-up. Label the opposition as crazy. Re-educate through media and, if that doesn't work, re-education camps.

It could be of course. It's just a little heavy handed and I'd expect the propaganda dept to hire better writers!

They're heavy-handed because they believe their own lies and forget that over half the country doesn't. To understand the Democrat mindset you have to visit San Francisco. A loudmouth in an elevator starts editorialising to strangers about the evil Republicans, secure (in its own mind) that it's preaching to the choir and stating obvious facts. Sore winners. The tyranny of the majority.

[Ernie Nemeth]

In this case, however, it is the tyranny of the minority - just like in China.

[Journeyman]

Posted by TomKat (here)
They're heavy-handed because they believe their own lies and forget that over half the country doesn't. To understand the Democrat mindset you have to visit San Francisco. A loudmouth in an elevator starts editorialising to strangers about the evil Republicans, secure (in its own mind) that it's preaching to the choir and stating obvious facts. Sore winners. The tyranny of the majority.

Hey San Francisco has nothing on Santa Cruz if you want to get a West coast liberal take

For sure you get some very biased people on either side of the political divide and even more so in these heavily polarised days, but the past few months some of this stuff has seemed a little forced and unnatural. I had this feeling once again watching Bill Maher's opening on Real Time so maybe you or others can sense check my reaction and see if I'm just delusional

https://www.hbo.com/video/real-time-...up-for-romance

It's a rubbish segment frankly. Couple of things stood out. At about 1:20 he starts his impeachment routine and he does a very quick nose touch. It can be seen as a gesture associated with lying, but I believe in certain circles it's used to say 'this is part of an operation'. Course he could just have an itchy nose, Occam's razor etc etc. Then at 2:30ish he does the Capitol joke and it's awful and falls flat. Why does it even make the monologue? They days to write it, there's lots of material and they do a gag that has as its lead in - 'Trump supporters say that it was Antifa that invaded the Capitol'. Again, maybe it's just a lousy segment. He then goes on to do a weird '1080 days since Solar'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwIbpbljl6A

Again I felt like there was some comms or double meaning going on. I switched off after that so no idea what else happened.

Will try embedding: