What if QAnon had been right about everything?

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Bird on a Fire
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What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:19 pm

Like if, during the inauguration, they'd locked the doors and arrested all the Democrats and taken them to a military base and court martialed them for satanic paedophilia or whatever, how would you have reacted?

Like, obviously "surprised."

But I mean, it would be such a deep shock to my worldview and to how I process evidence and so on, I wouldn't know where to start the next day.
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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm

Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:33 pm

I'd have been in my car, heading for the Canadian border to join the queue early.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:44 pm

dyqik wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:33 pm
I'd have been in my car, heading for the Canadian border to join the Q early.
FTFY
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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by bjn » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:45 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm
Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
Meth, no crack.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:50 pm

bjn wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:45 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm
Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
Meth, no crack.
Probably true, but there was a Scrutable meme about their being on crack and I was just trying to fit in with the cool kids GOD BJN YOUR SO EMBARRASSING
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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by bjn » Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:57 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:50 pm
bjn wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:45 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm
Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
Meth, no crack.
Probably true, but there was a Scrutable meme about their being on crack and I was just trying to fit in with the cool kids GOD BJN YOUR SO EMBARRASSING
My work here is done. I can now depart this forum with a true sense of having contributed to the fullness of human experience with this one selfless act of mine.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:59 pm

Nooooo don't go! You can embarrass me so much more!
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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Stranger Mouse » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:09 pm

I’ve often tried to imagine my reaction to finding out ghosts exist or homeopathy works and I have no idea.

I can’t imagine Qanon is going away but will be fascinated to see how it is going to mutate
I’ve decided I should be on the pardon list if that’s still in the works

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by JQH » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:17 pm

They'll probably decide it's all part of Putin's Trump's cunning plan to lull the commie mutant traitor Democrats into a false sense of security.
And remember that if you botch the exit, the carnival of reaction may be coming to a town near you.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:50 pm

Stranger Mouse wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 11:09 pm
I’ve often tried to imagine my reaction to finding out ghosts exist or homeopathy works and I have no idea.

I can’t imagine Qanon is going away but will be fascinated to see how it is going to mutate
Homeopathy is easy, tbh. It's a "huh, that's weird, isn't biology/chemistry/liquid state quantum physics stuff complicated" matter. There's no real fundamental issue with it, except that chemistry and physics doesn't work that way.

Ghosts are a little weirder, but again, not absolutely crazy from fundamental principles.

QAnon, otoh, violates all common sense of human interactions, and is self contradictory where it's specific.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Lew Dolby » Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:39 am

Aren't ghost prohibited by the laws of physics !!?? Moving forever with no energy input - that'd make em perpetual motion machines - No ??
WOULD CUSTOMERS PLEASE REFRAIN FROM SITTING ON THE COUNTER BY THE BACON SLICER - AS WE'RE GETTING A LITTLE BEHIND IN OUR ORDERS.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by jaap » Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:43 am

Lew Dolby wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:39 am
Aren't ghost prohibited by the laws of physics !!?? Moving forever with no energy input - that'd make em perpetual motion machines - No ??
How can you be sure there's no energy input? Maybe they feed off the energy of people that see them, Monsters Inc style.
And given that they are incorporeal, their moving about would not use energy anyway.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Gfamily » Thu Jan 21, 2021 10:48 am

Lew Dolby wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:39 am
Aren't ghost prohibited by the laws of physics !!?? Moving forever with no energy input - that'd make em perpetual motion machines - No ??
Ethereal bodies aren't affected by conservation rules - that's a consequence of the Noether theorem.
My avatar was a scientific result that was later found to be 'mistaken' - I rarely claim to be 100% correct
ETA 5/8/20: I've been advised that the result was correct, it was the initial interpretation that needed to be withdrawn
Meta? I'd say so!

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:18 pm

Lew Dolby wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:39 am
Aren't ghost prohibited by the laws of physics !!?? Moving forever with no energy input - that'd make em perpetual motion machines - No ??
Who said anything about "forever" and no energy input?

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Thu Jan 21, 2021 1:20 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:44 pm
dyqik wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:33 pm
I'd have been in my car, heading for the Canadian border to join the Q early.
FTFY
Either way, I probably would have to queue behind the Von Trapp family. They'd get there first, as they live a lot closer to the Canadian border.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by malbui » Thu Jan 21, 2021 4:45 pm

Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:50 pm
bjn wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:45 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm
Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
Meth, no crack.
Probably true, but there was a Scrutable meme about their being on crack and I was just trying to fit in with the cool kids GOD BJN YOUR SO EMBARRASSING
I enjoyed seeing my crack questions taken up here and elsewhere, but I did feel outclassed by Marina Hyde's suggestion of a standard question, which was something like "Have you recently suffered head trauma?"
And when it starts to slide
Let it go
Leave it behind

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by jimbob » Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:48 pm

bjn wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:45 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm
Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
Meth, no crack.
In New Zealand, they call it "P" if I recall correctly, so appropiate.

I do think this whole thread might demonstrate an interesting thing about people's mindsets. Because, seemingly like BOAF, I do sometimes wonder if it's me or the wingnuts that are wrong... then assess what I know about the world and come to the conclusion that the wingnuts are indeed wingnuts, and, for example, Covid-19 is real.
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:01 pm

jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:48 pm
I do think this whole thread might demonstrate an interesting thing about people's mindsets. Because, seemingly like BOAF, I do sometimes wonder if it's me or the wingnuts that are wrong... then assess what I know about the world and come to the conclusion that the wingnuts are indeed wingnuts, and, for example, Covid-19 is real.
You can spot wingnuts, because they go down elaborate conspiracy trails that you can't believe anyone would believe. They're wingnuts because you don't need to think hard about whether they might be right, based on some basic common sense about how people operate.

These two tweets/threads from Katie Mack give a variation on this theme
https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1 ... 80417?s=20
https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1 ... 36163?s=20

As does Arnie (final paragraph):
https://twitter.com/ketch/status/135201 ... 45026?s=20

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by jimbob » Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:14 pm

dyqik wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:01 pm
jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:48 pm
I do think this whole thread might demonstrate an interesting thing about people's mindsets. Because, seemingly like BOAF, I do sometimes wonder if it's me or the wingnuts that are wrong... then assess what I know about the world and come to the conclusion that the wingnuts are indeed wingnuts, and, for example, Covid-19 is real.
You can spot wingnuts, because they go down elaborate conspiracy trails that you can't believe anyone would believe. They're wingnuts because you don't need to think hard about whether they might be right, based on some basic common sense about how people operate.

These two tweets/threads from Katie Mack give a variation on this theme
https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1 ... 80417?s=20
https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1 ... 36163?s=20

As does Arnie (final paragraph):
https://twitter.com/ketch/status/135201 ... 45026?s=20
Indeed, but do you every so often sanity check your view (and then come to that conclusion) because it's obvious for that reason?
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:20 pm

jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:14 pm
dyqik wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:01 pm
jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:48 pm
I do think this whole thread might demonstrate an interesting thing about people's mindsets. Because, seemingly like BOAF, I do sometimes wonder if it's me or the wingnuts that are wrong... then assess what I know about the world and come to the conclusion that the wingnuts are indeed wingnuts, and, for example, Covid-19 is real.
You can spot wingnuts, because they go down elaborate conspiracy trails that you can't believe anyone would believe. They're wingnuts because you don't need to think hard about whether they might be right, based on some basic common sense about how people operate.

These two tweets/threads from Katie Mack give a variation on this theme
https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1 ... 80417?s=20
https://twitter.com/AstroKatie/status/1 ... 36163?s=20

As does Arnie (final paragraph):
https://twitter.com/ketch/status/135201 ... 45026?s=20
Indeed, but do you every so often sanity check your view (and then come to that conclusion) because it's obvious for that reason?
I rely on talking to other people with a range of reading habits, and reading things like middle of road media outlets to know that I'm not drifting into a rabbit hole. If conservative and liberal newspaper columnists, people on here, various Slacks, my government scientist colleagues and wife and neighbors are still making sense, then I'm probably fine.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by jimbob » Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:28 pm

dyqik wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:20 pm


I rely on talking to other people with a range of reading habits, and reading things like middle of road media outlets to know that I'm not drifting into a rabbit hole. If conservative and liberal newspaper columnists, people on here, various Slacks, my government scientist colleagues and wife and neighbors are still making sense, then I'm probably fine.
My point is that you do seem to actually check this. Whilst a lot of those who embrace certainty and dogmatism, don't.
Have you considered stupidity as an explanation

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by dyqik » Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:33 pm

jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:28 pm
dyqik wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:20 pm


I rely on talking to other people with a range of reading habits, and reading things like middle of road media outlets to know that I'm not drifting into a rabbit hole. If conservative and liberal newspaper columnists, people on here, various Slacks, my government scientist colleagues and wife and neighbors are still making sense, then I'm probably fine.
My point is that you do seem to actually check this. Whilst a lot of those who embrace certainty and dogmatism, don't.
It's not really necessary to actively check though if you talk to/read a range of other people generally. And read/watch/listen to satire and understand it.

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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:16 am

These are good points. I suppose there are fairly objective behavioural differences between me/ dyqik versus a stereotypical wingnut. I also deliberately keep a broad social circle, use generalist online forums rather than echo chambers (it's always reassuring to be disagreed with by smart people, in a way), and so on.

A friend's dad has been youtube radicalised during lockdown, and is now a full-on flat earth QAnon antivaxer.

Online algorithms are especially pernicious. A while ago Reddit added a new default algorithm, described opaquely as showing you the "Best" content. Suddenly, everyone agreed with me and were posting about topics I'm interested in. I reverted to the old algorithm, "Top", which shows the content that has the most positive engagements from other users, and suddenly there was a lot of boring stuff and stupid opinions. And then I sorted by "Controversial", which also factors in negative engagements, and hooooooly sh.t it magically filled up with trolls and c.nts.

At least Reddit is transparent. Facebook and Twitter and stuff also manipulate the content you're shown based on how they think you'll react (whatever holds your attention best for selling you sponsored content). So everyone is just getting radicalised by algorithms all the time.

Scrutable shows posts in chronological order, no funny business. You're safe here, friends.
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Re: What if QAnon had been right about everything?

Post by Bird on a Fire » Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:20 am

jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:48 pm
bjn wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:45 pm
Bird on a Fire wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 9:20 pm
Presumably there's a lot of QAnoners going through all this right now, with the added difficulty of all being on crack.
Meth, no crack.
In New Zealand, they call it "P" if I recall correctly, so appropiate.
So that's what on the famous "P" tape!
jimbob wrote:
Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:48 pm
I do think this whole thread might demonstrate an interesting thing about people's mindsets. Because, seemingly like BOAF, I do sometimes wonder if it's me or the wingnuts that are wrong... then assess what I know about the world and come to the conclusion that the wingnuts are indeed wingnuts, and, for example, Covid-19 is real.
Indeed. I mean I'm pretty sure on QAnon and covid the wingnuts are definitely wrong.

But perhaps a reasonable person should assume that while no single view of theirs is ostensibly wingnutty, they probably are a wingnut on at least one of their views.
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