>>>>>Re your:I never a cult also included someone that implored researchers to do their own, well, research into anything and everything, and to not trust what the magic box tells them. That they’ve been lied to about everything.
Last I remember, cults do everything possible to discourage individual thought. Mormons are ruthless when it comes to those that left their cult, same with Jehovah’s.<<<<<<
Ah, but that’s one of the keys to Q’s popularity. It started off as a LARP, but some people believed it was for real and started “playing” for real, and so the guys who started it began playing those people, and it caught on and grew. It’s still a LARP, only instead of players playing a game, the game is playing the players.
Former Q followers describe how it works here:
“At this point the problem isn’t Q, it’s gullible people who lack critical thinking skills and gain a massive ego boost in thinking they have secret in that the sheeple don’t know,” DB wrote.
“Worth noting, conspiracy thinking hooks the brain because it feels like critical thinking. Even though it isn’t.”
That piece right there really is key.
As another user explained, the “do your own research” concept works to reinforce conspiracy theories while making people think they’re coming to conclusions on their own, thanks to the way search engines and social media algorithms work:
“The idea behind the ‘research’ is that you are more likely to believe a source if YOU stumble upon it yourself vs if I tell you -go watch this video.
So if I tell you Hillary is a lizard person, watch this video ... It’s easy to watch and dismiss me as a crazy that saw a dumb video. BUT ... if I tell you Hillary is a lizard person, but don’t take my word for it - google it yourself.... and you come across hundreds of videos and articles about Hillary being a lizard person - that makes it all the more believable. Especially since there’s so many articles saying Hillary is NOT a lizard person. If it wasn’t true, why would people be making videos and articles ‘debunking’ it?
And the debunk articles are appearing higher in searches than the articles saying she is. Why is that? Is big tech in on it to ....and you see where this is going.
So their ‘research’ is just a way of manipulating people.”
https://www.upworthy.com/former-qanon-believer-q-and-a
A game designer describes how it works from another perspective:
QAnon has often been compared to ARGs and LARPs and rightly so. It uses many of the same gaming mechanisms and rewards. It has a game-like feel to it that is evident to anyone who has ever played an ARG, online role-play (RP) or LARP before. The similarities are so striking that it has often been referred to as a LARP or ARG. However this beast is very very different from a game.
It is the differences that shed the light on how QAnon works and many of them are hard to see if you’re not involved in game development. QAnon is like the reflection of a game in a mirror, it looks just like one, but it is inverted.
[snip]
dO tHe ReSeaRcH
The fictional reason Q doesn’t just tell the world what they know is that Q wants you to “do your own research” and come to your own conclusions. How polite…
This is not a real reason. Q does not want you to come to your own conclusions. Q is feeding you conclusions. This is VERY important and here are several reasons why this is included in the verbiage of almost every fictional conspiracy theory ever.
1: Follow The Breadcrumbs
Telling people how and what they should think is the path of most resistance. Ideas that challenge us can do just the opposite of convincing us or enlightening us, but further engrain our old ideas. Even when presented with factual evidence.
“It is well known that people often resist changing their beliefs when directly challenged, especially when these beliefs are central to their identity1,2,3,4,5,6. In some cases, exposure to counterevidence may even increase a person’s confidence that his or her cherished beliefs are true7,8.”
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep39589
Strongly held beliefs are literally a part of us. As such, attacks on core beliefs are treated very much as attacks on us, even as strongly as a physical attack.”
https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5
He also describes how it works through guided apophenia. It’s a long but very interesting read.
If you are a Q believer, none of the above will change your mind. As the former Q believer said (first link, above):
“I don’t think they can be reasoned out of beliefs they were not reasoned into.”
This information will only be useful to those of us who are not Q believers, help us better understand and sympathize with Q believers. It makes it easier to see how someone could easily get sucked into Q.
That is an excellent analysis. Add to it that one of the parts of Q theory is currently that real doctors say things on line and risk themselves while no one else who refuses to identify are credible.
However there is excellent articles examining the professionals who are advancing quackery and they are referred to as the dirty dozen. Tenpenny, Malone, Mercola (who is not an MD but DO), Kennedy (yes related to Ted and the liberals of Mass), McCoullugh (false representations of academic associations sued by Baylor), and Gold). All of these professionals whom Q theory hold out to be the only experts in the field have benefited financially greatly by their manipulations of social media.
It appears to me that based on your articles and info, Q theory trades on narcissistic group think. Tale as old as time.
Thanks for the outstanding info. I am sure there will be some pushback.