The Prophecies of Q
American conspiracy theories are entering a dangerous new phase.
This article is part of “Shadowland,” a project about conspiracy thinking in America
If you were an adherent, no one would be able to tell. You would look like any other American. You could be a mother, picking leftovers off your toddler’s plate. You could be the young man in headphones across the street. You could be a bookkeeper, a dentist, a grandmother icing cupcakes in her kitchen. You may well have an affiliation with an evangelical church. But you are hard to identify just from the way you look—which is good, because someday soon dark forces may try to track you down. You understand this sounds crazy, but you don’t care. You know that a small group of manipulators, operating in the shadows, pull the planet’s strings. You know that they are powerful enough to abuse children without fear of retribution. You know that the mainstream media are their handmaidens, in partnership with Hillary Clinton and the secretive denizens of the deep state. You know that only Donald Trump stands between you and a damned and ravaged world. You see plague and pestilence sweeping the planet, and understand that they are part of the plan. You know that a clash between good and evil cannot be avoided, and you yearn for the Great Awakening that is coming. And so you must be on guard at all times. You must shield your ears from the scorn of the ignorant. You must find those who are like you. And you must be prepared to fight.
You know all this because you believe in Q.
I. GENESIS
The origins of QAnon are recent, but even so, separating myth from reality can be hard. One place to begin is with Edgar Maddison Welch, a deeply religious father of two, who until Sunday, December 4, 2016, had lived an unremarkable life in the small town of Salisbury, North Carolina. That morning, Welch grabbed his cellphone, a box of shotgun shells, and three loaded guns—a 9-mm AR-15 rifle, a six-shot .38‑caliber Colt revolver, and a shotgun—and hopped into his Toyota Prius. He drove 360 miles to a well-to-do neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C.; parked his car; put the revolver in a holster at his hip; held the AR-15 rifle across his chest; and walked through the front door of a pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Heheheh. Wow!
That's a common theme for conspiracy theorists in general. They don't see to realize that part of the psychological attraction of it is to be in the "in crowd", the knowing, the woke, whatever. However, it turns out to be a test for how much denial, delusion, paranoia, etc., you are prone to. Odd how it works backwards. 
I agree, long, but the content was important and explains a lot to us so we are aware of what is going on.
Forewarned is forearmed. This is quite a cultural phenomena. It's not so bad when it is just small fringe groups, (you are bound to have them) but it is a bit more concerning to see how popular and pervasive it has become and we can thank the Orange Thing for throwing gasoline on the fire and emboldening them, etc.
Just denouncing Q would have made a big difference on Trump's part. Oh, they could come up with some that distorted logic to cover it up, ("oh, he said that to throw off the libtards and media...did you see him wink?" but that would have thrown some sand in the gears at least. Again, he has responsibility for his stochastic terrorism. He knows what he is doing with that and his intent is malicious.
