NPR

Some fascinating insights into these people that are being radicalised, used as pawns and then directed to walk right into the meat grinder.
Reading this, you can see why this is so terrifyingly effective and difficult to combat.
So many sad stories on Reddit of families torn apart because a mother or father or brother was electable to this nonsense.
I don't envy cult de-programmers at all.

Pretty good indy documentary of QAnon and how they are the key to Trumps power.

I feel sorry for you.
Nobody cares bro

average joe wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:28 am I feel sorry for you.
Nobody cares bro

Haha...it's fine. I fine this shit fascinating; so I thought I'd share. Others don't, or the issue has already been discussed somewhat in some other threads.

I'm just glad nobody in my immediate orbit has been sucked in by this bullshit, but I definitely know people that are susceptible.
Found these to be some interesting resources with practical approaches to address the problem should it cross your path.

I read it actually. Manias and mass delusions are common enough and the yanks have history with batsh*t theories.

Uncle fester wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:19 pm I read it actually. Manias and mass delusions are common enough and the yanks have history with batsh*t theories.

Indeed.

I quite liked learning about apophenia from the article. I wasn't aware there was a word for the phenomenon.
It's a very powerful thing that has been weaponised but Fox news for some time. Glen Beck and many before him built careers out of it.
The combination of a "real news channel" created a veneer of credibility for their opinion hosts; who would in turn drop the breadcrumbs and let apophenia do the rest.

Social media and the Q phenomenon just cranked it to 12.

It's not a tl;dr article. Well worth the time to digest.

The next step for these guys are the birds aren't real and giraffes don't exist schools of thought.

Blake wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:14 pm

average joe wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:28 am I feel sorry for you.
Nobody cares bro

Haha...it's fine. I fine this shit fascinating; so I thought I'd share. Others don't, or the issue has already been discussed somewhat in some other threads.

I'm just glad nobody in my immediate orbit has been sucked in by this bullshit, but I definitely know people that are susceptible.
Found these to be some interesting resources with practical approaches to address the problem should it cross your path.

I have an uncle that would probably be a convert if he managed to find his way on the interwebz, if he's not already. He once read somewhere that he could be rich and live like a king if only he packed and moved to Panama. He kept trying to flog the idea to anyone that seemed slightly interested. I asked him if he was "befok in sy kop" and asked way he thought his armgat would become rich all of a sudden because he was now living in fokon Panama, and why fokon Panama of all places? The little I know about Panama is that it's a bigger shithole than Danville with very little prospects for old toppies with boggerall skills. He's been avoiding me ever since, I wonder why?

average joe wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:10 pm I have an uncle that would probably be a convert if he managed to find his way on the interwebz, if he's not already. He once read somewhere that he could be rich and live like a king if only he packed and moved to Panama. He kept trying to flog the idea to anyone that seemed slightly interested. I asked him if he was "befok in sy kop" and asked way he thought his armgat would become rich all of a sudden because he was now living in fokon Panama, and why fokon Panama of all places? The little I know about Panama is that it's a bigger shithole than Danville with very little prospects for old toppies with boggerall skills. He's been avoiding me ever since, I wonder why?

My mom is super susceptible to things link this, but fortunately Q hasn't crossed her path yet.
But MLMs, and "crime trend" WhatsApp messages and even Covid "cures"...she falls for all of them.
Fortunately she doesn't have any interest in being engrossed in an internet scavenger hunt for clues and crimes 8 hours a day. She'll rather tend to her garden or plan a camping trip...thank goodness.

Blake wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:16 pm My mom is super susceptible to things link this, but fortunately Q hasn't crossed her path yet.
But MLMs, and "crime trend" WhatsApp messages and even Covid "cures"...she falls for all of them.
Fortunately she doesn't have any interest in being engrossed in an internet scavenger hunt for clues and crimes 8 hours a day. She'll rather tend to her garden or plan a camping trip...thank goodness.

I got a Whatsapp from my dear mum about how steam is the cure to covid. Steam.

assfly wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:22 pm

Blake wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 2:16 pm My mom is super susceptible to things link this, but fortunately Q hasn't crossed her path yet.
But MLMs, and "crime trend" WhatsApp messages and even Covid "cures"...she falls for all of them.
Fortunately she doesn't have any interest in being engrossed in an internet scavenger hunt for clues and crimes 8 hours a day. She'll rather tend to her garden or plan a camping trip...thank goodness.

I got a Whatsapp from my dear mum about how steam is the cure to covid. Steam.

Got the same from mine. SMH.
I had to unpack the message line by line explaining that even if it were true, there is no way you can inhale steam warm enough that will both destroy the virus and not give you a burn. And even then you'll only get the ones in you nose, not your lungs or throat.

She was completely shocked when I explained clickbait and fabricated news to her..."but why would somebody do something like that?". "For advertising money and for the lulz, Ma"
Luckily she doesn't do a ton of online shopping and my dad is pretty tech savvy, otherwise I have no doubt some scammer would have cleared out her life savings by now.
Her spinster friend got catfished by some guy ho got some of her savings, that was quite a wakeup call for her. But she still sends the crime and Covid chain messages..."just in case they are true" *sigh*

Everyone should have a setting on their social media that only allows you to send a message to Drafts, then 15 minutes later will you get a "Are you sure you want to post this crap?" click-button......before it actually sends it out.

Sandstorm wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:21 pm Everyone should have a setting on their social media that only allows you to send a message to Drafts, then 15 minutes later will you get a "Are you sure you want to post this crap?" click-button......before it actually sends it out.

Would destroy Faecesbook twitter and instagram in a few days (most users not realising there is a publish button)

laurent wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:46 pm

Sandstorm wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 3:21 pm Everyone should have a setting on their social media that only allows you to send a message to Drafts, then 15 minutes later will you get a "Are you sure you want to post this crap?" click-button......before it actually sends it out.

Would destroy Faecesbook twitter and instagram in a few days (most users not realising there is a publish button)

Yes. Yes it would

Uncle fester wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:19 pm I read it actually. Manias and mass delusions are common enough and the yanks have history with batsh*t theories.

I have a theory that America's weirdness is down to it being a dumping ground or exile destination for Europe's oddballs, cranks, crackpots and weirdos from the 17th to the end of the 19th Century.

Hellraiser wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:21 pm

Uncle fester wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:19 pm I read it actually. Manias and mass delusions are common enough and the yanks have history with batsh*t theories.

I have a theory that America's weirdness is down to it being a dumping ground or exile destination for Europe's oddballs, cranks, crackpots and weirdos from the 17th to the end of the 19th Century.

Same with South Africa to some extent.

Hellraiser wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:21 pm

Uncle fester wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:19 pm I read it actually. Manias and mass delusions are common enough and the yanks have history with batsh*t theories.

I have a theory that America's weirdness is down to it being a dumping ground or exile destination for Europe's oddballs, cranks, crackpots and weirdos from the 17th to the end of the 19th Century.

A guest (political author, I think) on the Cracked podcast years ago had a personal, but admittedly unprovable and maybe unfounded, opinion that immigrants to North America self sorted based on the type of life they wanted. "Gov't stays out of my g-damned business!" to America. "Mother Britain looks after us!" to Canada. I think it was relatively easy to cross the border for the longest time (I know some ancestors crossed a couple of times for work in the early 1900s)

Between 1901 and 1914, over 750,000 immigrants entered Canada from the United States. While many were returning Canadians, about one–third were newcomers of European extraction—Germans, Hungarians, Norwegians, Swedes, and Icelanders—who had originally settled in the American West.

Brent nails the 'madlibs' quality to the conspiracy theories!