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pnwmom

(108,976 posts)
Mon Dec 3, 2018, 06:48 PM Dec 2018

How three conspiracy theorists took Q and sparked Qanon.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531

In November 2017, a small-time YouTube video creator and two moderators of the 4chan website, one of the most extreme message boards on the internet, banded together and plucked out of obscurity an anonymous and cryptic post from the many conspiracy theories that populated the website's message board.

Over the next several months, they would create videos, a Reddit community, a business and an entire mythology based off the 4chan posts of “Q,” the pseudonym of a person claiming to be a high-ranking military officer. The theory they espoused would become Qanon, and it would eventually make its way from those message boards to national media stories and the rallies of President Donald Trump.

Now, the people behind that effort are at the center of a fractious debate among conspiracy enthusiasts, some of whom believe the three people who first popularized the Qanon theory are promoting it in order to make a living. Others suggest that these original followers actually wrote Q’s mysterious posts.

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Part of the Qanon appeal lies in its game-like quality. Followers wait for clues left by “Q” on the message board. When the clues appear, believers dissect the riddle-like posts alongside Trump’s speeches and tweets and news articles in an effort to validate the main narrative that Trump is winning a war against evil.

SNIP

Corsi has since disavowed the Qanon conspiracy and called the current Q poster “a fraud,” citing a supposed takeover of the channel by someone posing as Q in April. But last week, facing backlash from his base, Corsi tweeted that he supports the Qanon movement and its supporters’ “excellent research.”

SNIP

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How three conspiracy theorists took Q and sparked Qanon. (Original Post) pnwmom Dec 2018 OP
Recommended, and... guillaumeb Dec 2018 #1
Yes -- a self-fulfilling conspiracy. It must be -- because it isn't! pnwmom Dec 2018 #2
But if the Deep State would allow the evidence to be revealed, guillaumeb Dec 2018 #3
Sheriff's Sergeant Demoted For Wearing QAnon Patch In Picture With Pence Gothmog Dec 2018 #4
Sigh...PT Barnum would be proud as fuck if he were still alive. Volaris Dec 2018 #5
This message was self-deleted by its author Roland99 Dec 2018 #6
Oops. Was thinking walkaway Roland99 Dec 2018 #7

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)
1. Recommended, and...
Mon Dec 3, 2018, 06:53 PM
Dec 2018

from the article:

Qanon is a convoluted conspiracy theory with no apparent foundation in reality. The heart of it asserts that for the last year the anonymous “Q” has taken to the fringe internet message boards of 4chan and 8chan to leak intelligence about Trump’s top-secret war with a cabal of criminals run by politicians like Hillary Clinton and the Hollywood elite. There is no evidence for these claims.


There is no evidence....

But to a true conspiracy theorist, the lack of evidence is seen as proof that the Deep State has suppressed the evidence, thus proving that the claim is correct.

guillaumeb

(42,641 posts)
3. But if the Deep State would allow the evidence to be revealed,
Mon Dec 3, 2018, 07:02 PM
Dec 2018

you would see.

Circular reasoning, to be sure, but it explains how many Trump voters can ignore what does not support their narrative.

Response to pnwmom (Original post)

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