I realize this will have zero impact on you, but for the edification of those of us outside the cult, how about this, from a former Q cult member:
"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."
DB shared that it was hard to admit that they'd been played by a baseless conspiracy theory. "It's NOT easy realizing you've been conned, been a rube, been taken in," they wrote. "It was massively humbling to realize I'd been a sucker."
However, they are also surprised to see how much "crazier" QAnon has gotten, as when they left a couple of years ago they were "certain it would all be over soon." They weren't a "storm the Capitol" kind of believer, but rather a "snicker quietly to myself in my bedroom because those sheeple don't know the truth" type.
Link: https://www.upworthy.com/former-qanon-believer-q-and-a
Yes. I agree with that. For example. 20 years ago I used to tell people to question everything. nothing is off the table. I told people question if the earth is flat. Don't take it for granted that the earth is flat. Figure it out yourself. To this day I stand by this statement. The problem is trolls and controlled opposition had a field day with it and made those that does NOT look themselves believe the earth is flat.
Those that actually believe the earth is flat misses the premise of don't believe anything figure it out yourself.
In other words the flat earthers are wrong because they didn't figure it out them selves. Those that never checked themselves are right for the WRONG reason.
Reminds me of Galileo and the Pope argument. Galileo was wrong that the Sun didn't create most of the tides which was his premise for why the Earth revolved around the Sun. The Pope was right with the preponderance of evidence at the time was the best answer at the time. (IE: the stars locations didn't seem to change location through the seasons. They couldn't measure the small change at the time.)
you said, "rather a "snicker quietly to myself in my bedroom because those sheeple don't know the truth" type"
I'm far past that point. I take it for granted that people don't want to know that they live in a world of lies. You might be part of the great awakening. I hope you are. As you likely understand "global warming", "covid-19" our 2020 election and so on. these massive scams didn't come from no place. To create these mass scams they had to "fix" just about everything we know today from anthropology to zoology. That is the true great awakening.
For example. Is our sun a gas or does it have a lithosphere? We spend trillions (with a "t") of dollars based on the ancient belief that angles dances on the sun to hold the gas together to form our sun. Which completely negates all the laws thermodynamics. it's freaking unbelievable how they manipulate there words to keep this lie together. It's worse the the flat earth arrangement but that is what is being taught. When a real scientist steps up and says this stupid they feed them to the dogs. Meaning most of them are removed from their positions. Which created this corrupted science we have today.