Tag: qanon

All For a LARP?

Mike Rothschild6 Comments

A live-action role playing game, or LARP, is a type of RPG where the participants physically portray their characters, using  props and costumes appropriate to that world, while carrying out missions that cause them to interact with other live characters. They are essentially historical reenactments for events that haven’t happened.

QAnon is a conspiracy theory revolving around an anonymous figure claiming to be a member of the Trump administration revealing cryptic bits of supposedly classified intelligence about an upcoming massive purge of America’s enemies through field trials and executions.

These two things would seem to have little in common with each other. One is a fun diversion, the other a terrifying fantasy of America embracing fascism. Yet one of the most common accusation of Q believers is that the mainstream media believes it to be a LARP – something unworthy of their time and unimportant to the zeitgeist. And yet…they spend copious amounts of time debunking it. All for a LARP?

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How to (Not) Talk About QAnon During the Holidays

Mike Rothschild4 Comments

During my normal dredge through conspiracy theory social media, I stumbled on this tweet from a diehard QAnon believer detailing all of the people she claims to have told about the anonymous conspiracy avatar.

Assuming this is true (and it’s Twitter, so you never really know), I can only imagine all of the blank stares that greeted this person as she ambushed random strangers with her enthusiasm for Donald Trump’s supposed plan to purge America’s enemies in a spasm of extra-judicial violence.

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Six Reasons Why QAnon is Still Popular

Mike Rothschild3 Comments

qpop13For a conspiracy theory that’s been marked by a litany of failed predictions, disappointments, de-platforming, and infighting between factions; QAnon remains remarkably popular.

This is the theory that Trump is about to unleash a massive wave of indictments against the deep state, and anonymous Trump administration official known only as Q is leaking foreknowledge of events to acolytes on far right social media.

And despite the endless exhortations that the great purge of America’s enemies is coming “next week” or “soon,” none of these arrests or events have materialized.

Every prediction Q has made has either failed completely or only been right because it’s so vague that it could be applied to anything – a cold reading tactic called “shotgunning.”

Yet QAnon has now been going for over a year, and inexplicably seems to get more popular every time it gets some mainstream attention.

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How Big is the #QAnon Movement?

Mike Rothschild7 Comments

How many people believe in QAnon? That’s a good question, and one that is basically impossible to answer.

To start with, activity in QAnon tends to ebb and flow, with Q going silent for a while, followed by dozens of posts and furious analysis by acolytes – only for Q to go silent again.

(Hint, I talk about this a lot on my YouTube channel, which you should subscribe to.)

Believers likely think it’s because Q is gathering the intel he drops on his following. Skeptics might say it’s because Q only posts when something happens that he can use to retroactively prove his own existence.

They also argue among themselves endlessly over whether or not “something big is happening” and what the plan is.

I did a Twitter thread on this that got picked up by some big news sites, and got a truly insane Neon Revolt article written about me, as well. So RIP my mentions.

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The QAnon Clock Explained

Mike Rothschild2 Comments

QAnon acolytes love jargon, and they love using jargon to prove that the conspiracy theory they’ve invested so much time in is real.

One of the most popular QAnon “proofs” is “the map,” a massive layout of how centuries of conspiracy theories all connect to each other in ways only Q can reveal – and only Q believers can understand.

To outsiders, it’s proof that everything skeptics believe about conspiracy theorists is true, that they’re deranged and obsessive and need heavy doses of medication. And to believers, it’s proof that the skeptics are asleep and unaware, totally oblivious to the maleficence going on all around them.

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