Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Let's Get This Straight: QAnon Are Conspiracy Crackpots and Crazies - Not Theorists

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The perfect treatment for most QAnon conspiracy spreaders would be ECT, as Dr. Pat Bannister used to order for paranoid schizophrenics in the 1970s.

The existence of the QAnon screwballs and crackpots came to light in Trump's Tampa rally last night, when images caught many holding signs reading "Q" and "QANON".   In one shot on Fox News, DoTurd was partially obscured by a sign in the crowd reading “We Are Q.” In another shot during the Traitor's speech, a sign promoting the debunked Seth Rich conspiracy theory, with the hashtag #Qanon, came into focus in the center of the screen. Some attendees wore T-shirts with a blocky Q. Others held up signs with the letter.  What gives with these mental misfits, most of whom belong in rubber rooms attached to ECT machines? According to Rational Wiki:

"The Storm (also known as Calm Before The Storm) is a conspiracy  meme, and right wing fantasy that originated in a series of incoherent posts on 4chan in 2017 by someone calling themselves QAnon. Following on the heels of similar bullshit such as Pizzagate, it advances a fantastic web of deceit that wraps up Trumpism, deep state fearmongering, evil, satanic pedophilia rings controlled by the Democratic Party, investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election, the Las Vegas shooting, and New World Order paranoia into a package easily and wholeheartedly promoted by internet cesspools and Alex Jones.   The term "The Storm" was apparently inspired by a non sequitur mumbled by Trump to the press during a routine photo-op with senior military leaders in October 2017.

TRUMP: “You guys know what this represents? ... Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.”
REPORTER: "What storm, Mr. President?"
TRUMP: "You'll find out."

Because he was surrounded by high-ranking military officers at the time, believers have interpreted his bizarre remarks to mean he was recruited by military intelligence to lead a "quiet coup" to restore "integrity" to the US government; hence, he will impose martial law and unleash a "storm" of retribution against satanic Clintonites, Democratic evil-doers, Deep State dirtbags, and RINO cucks."

That very well sums up the noxious, deranged effluent erupting in the brain embolisms of these losers.   Brains which appear to have been hijacked en masse, and likely germinated in a memetic transfer by whackdoodles like Alex Jones, e.g.

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Let's also get it very clear from the get go that the assorted horse shit being peddled by these ignoramuses does not qualify as conspiracy theories, they are conspiracy claptrap or refuse. In  previous blog posts I noted Barbadian psychologist Pat Bannister's categorization of those who invoke conspiracies and how she differentiated them. As part of her construction of a theory of mind, specifically showing the role of lying in young children, she also noted adeptness at detecting lies was linked to accurate detection of real conspiracies.

Dr. Bannister's classification was simple:

1- Conspiracy analysts

2- Conspiracy theorists

3- Conspiracy crackpots or cultists


At the top of the hierarchy were conspiracy analysts, such as Mark Lane, Peter Dale Scott, Harold Weisberg, Richard Charnin and others (like yours truly)).  These were serious people possessing some measure of intellect who brought their scientific, mathematical and other aptitudes to the investigation of multiple aspects of a putative real conspiracies like Iran-Contra and the JFK assassination.  These people put in real man hours and actually published their work in authoritative media (e.g. BOOKS - real books!) and respected forums as opposed to spreading bunkum through half-assed posts in the lowest dreg regions of the net, like 4chan and 8chan.

By contrast, the "conspiracy theorist" put forward conspiracy conjectures  but didn't  advance adequate evidence or documents to  support them. Or, if such were advanced, they didn't meet elementary scientific standards for acceptance, including consistent data selection. For example, the nincompoops who claimed no men actually landed on the Moon and it was all filmed on a Hollywood lot.

The bottom feeders of the classification scheme were conspiracy crackpots or clowns, like Alex Jones.   Jones is most famous for his off the wall bunkum that the Sandy Hook/Newtown massacre was a federal "false flag" operation. Those kids weren't really slain, they were merely actors- as well as the teachers- in an elaborate script to befuddle the public and make them demand gun confiscation across the land.  Jones claims - probably in a haze of LSD and MJ candies, that he's watched "films over and over and just seen those kids walking in circles".

Another example of swill generated by conspiracy crackpots is "Pizzagate".   This insipid bunkum first came to light in 2016  after a brain-jacked lunatic - Edgar Welch- drove 9 hours from North Carolina to try to "free" child sex slaves at a D.C. restaurant called Comet Ping Pong . Evidently, this pathological mind virus had been circulating on the web since the end of October, 2016. It was traced to a lunatic named Michael G. Flynn, the son of Michael T. Flynn .

As one writer on The UK Guardian put it:

"In any other year a story like 'Pizzagate'  would get you laughed out of a room. The conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton was part of a sex-trafficking ring run out of a pizza shop is bizarre and disturbing from start to finish.  But in 2016, a year when nothing makes any sense any more, it can be cited as a motive for a crime".


Interestingly, the Pizzagate mind virus - like the current 'Storm" codswallop-  was assembled from a host of disparate incidents, events subsequently patched into whole cloth rubbish by febrile brains. These included photos of NYPD officers hauling supposed bags with email evidence out of a residence, speculation about Anthony Weiner and his sexting propensity and the presence of some Hillary emails left on his computer, by wife (and HRC aide) Huma Abedin. Supposedly all this in tandem with a paranoid schizophrenic's claim about Hillary's "predilection for underage children" spawned the original brain fart..  Add in the phenomenon of stupid repetition and 'Voila!' - millions of idiots gobbled this fake news like it was the real thing.  



How would Dr. Bannister, if she were alive today, describe a convoluted, paranoid mental mosh pit like "the Storm"?   Basically, she'd probably call it a phantasmagoria and quasi psychotic ideation attempting to make sense of disparate, suspicious elements in the contemporary U.S. - driven by social media.  She'd also make note that such fever dreams don't need a whole lot of external memetic fuel to get started: a coincidence here, a loaded word from Trump there, an obscure reference to "deep state" there- oh  and some "genius" who first puts it all together in his mother's basement and posts it on 4chan. Whereupon a susceptible brain will be infected and spread it on to other gullible souls, searching for meaning in their vacuous lives. Well, to be sure, it's probably a bit better than using opioids!



Another example of this I gave about a year ago, noting some right wing nitwit  (Michael Weiss) who found a video or image of Russkie lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, e.g.

Sitting at a hearing (from June 14, 2016) behind then Ambassador Michael McFaul. Weiss - who I designated as "Dolt Zero", yapped in a "Eureka!"- style tweet:



"Hey, look what I found. Veselnitskaya sitting behind @McFaul at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Russia, June 14, 2014"

As if it was some huge discovery of a nefarious link, as opposed to simple seating coincidence. But this is the nature of egregious conspiracy claptrap ideation : it grabs isolated events and imagery and tries to stitch these disparate spots into a coherent whole - using all manner of irrational backflips, non sequiturs and hasty conclusions to arrive at  half-cocked rubbish, like Mike Flynn's 'Pizzagate' refuse.



Sure enough, as with all mind virus infections, Weiss' garbage was then picked up by Gateway Pundit - which we shall designate "Dolt Zero + 1".    These morons handled a website often known for inaccurate information.   Once again, following the playbook of conspiracy crackpots - notorious for jumping to conclusions with zero substantiation - the image was presented as evidence of a connection between Veselnitskaya and the Obama administration.


This was based on the fictitious claim Veselnitskaya was "sitting with" McFaul, despite the fact she was doing no such thing. She was seated BEHIND him. BEHIND him is NOT seated with him.  If I attend a concert with wifey and our rabid right wing congress critter Doug Lamborn is seated behind us, that doesn't mean we are "seated with" him! 

The spread of the mind virus then leapt again to "Dolt ZERO + 2" in the guise of the guttersnipes known as the Sludge ....errrr..... "Drudge Report".  WikiLeaks, losing any semblance of temperance or intelligence, then further spread this nonsense, re-tweeting the image with this:

Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at hearing on Russia left of Obama's @McFaul eight days after @donaldjtrumpjr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMJkgSPSb0o 

 This fantasy conspiracy then jumped the shark - infecting  the usual stable of half-assed, right wing media personalities (e.g. Hannity, Limburger etc.) who then regurgitated this offal.

I submit the Storm bunkum pretty well fits the same model and modus operandi of spreading.

It would be great if we could just ignore these looneytunes-  or dispatch them to an asylum for general ECT and lithium therapy. But alas, their fevered baloney can have real world consequences and act outs - especially when a virulently infected zombie gets activated - like the guy who fired a round into the D.C. pizza parlor looking for child sex slaves. Or the other screwball who tried to block traffic headed for the Hoover Dam.

These people desperately need help, but it seems there are just too few professionals around now to get the job done.   Where is Dr. Bannister when we need her?


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2 comments:

Darrin Rychlak said...

Trumpers laugh at the prospect that they voted for Trump bc of Russian pro-Trump propaganda.

Yet they voted for a Trust Fund TV star spouting advertising slogans and racist mumbo jumbo.

You know, the very propaganda Russia used to help Trump steal office.

Copernicus said...

Exactly! LOL!