QAnon goes mainstream

[JFDee]

Didn't find a better place for this ...

Washington Post article today:

‘We are Q’: A deranged conspiracy cult leaps from the Internet to the crowd at Trump’s ‘MAGA’ tour

[...] Believers in “QAnon,” as the conspiracy theory is known, were front and center at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall, where Trump came to stump for Republican candidates. As the president spoke, a sign rose from the audience. “We are Q,” it read. Another poster displayed text arranged in a “Q” pattern: “Where we go one we go all.”

The symbol appeared on clothing, too. A man and a woman wore matching white T-shirts with the YouTube logo encircled in a blue “Q.” The video-sharing website came under criticism this week for unwittingly becoming a platform for baseless claims, first promoted on Twitter and Reddit by QAnon believers, that certain Hollywood celebrities are pedophiles. A search for the name of one of those celebrities on Monday returned videos purporting to show his victims sharing their stories. [...]

Content from External Source

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...he-internet-to-the-crowd-at-trumps-maga-tour/

 

[Leifer]

Another media notation of something like q anon, is like the popular expression... "any press is good press".
I suspect that the biggest unfortunate gain here, is the re-mentioning of an older conspiracy, and making it more popular once again..

 

[Marin B]

Didn't find a better place for this ...

Washington Post article today:

‘We are Q’: A deranged conspiracy cult leaps from the Internet to the crowd at Trump’s ‘MAGA’ tour

[...] Believers in “QAnon,” as the conspiracy theory is known, were front and center at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall, where Trump came to stump for Republican candidates. As the president spoke, a sign rose from the audience. “We are Q,” it read. Another poster displayed text arranged in a “Q” pattern: “Where we go one we go all.”

The symbol appeared on clothing, too. A man and a woman wore matching white T-shirts with the YouTube logo encircled in a blue “Q.” The video-sharing website came under criticism this week for unwittingly becoming a platform for baseless claims, first promoted on Twitter and Reddit by QAnon believers, that certain Hollywood celebrities are pedophiles. A search for the name of one of those celebrities on Monday returned videos purporting to show his victims sharing their stories. [...]

Content from External Source

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...he-internet-to-the-crowd-at-trumps-maga-tour/

Wish I could say that I wasn't familiar with the Q anon theories... but I guess that belongs in the "What to do when family members believe in bunk?" thread.

The linked article has a nice summary of the topic of conversation at more than one family dinner :

Trump only feigned collusion to create a pretense for the hiring of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is actually working as a “white hat,” or hero, to expose the Democrats. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros are planning a coup — and traffic children in their spare time.

Content from External Source

 

[qed]

Someone is stirring up 4Chan (and some regions of Twitter) by posting various predictions of a coming "storm" of political change - strongly favoring Trump.

Trump weighs in conspiratorially: "It's the calm before the storm." (1:05)

 

[Mick West]

Trump weighs in conspiratorially: "It's the calm before the storm." (1:05)

That's from last year. He's not referring to any conspiracy theory, that's the comment that started the whole "storm" QAnon theory.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/...litary-leaders-the-calm-before-the-storm.html

On Thursday evening, the White House told the presidential press corps that Mr. Trump was done with his public schedule for the day. But around 7 p.m., Mr. Trump summoned reporters who were still at work to the State Dining Room, where he was throwing a dinner for military commanders and their spouses.

Gesturing to his guests, he said, “You guys know what this represents? Maybe it’s the calm before the storm.”

“What’s the storm?” asked one reporter.

“Could be the calm before the storm,” Mr. Trump repeated, stretching out the phrase, a sly smile playing across his face.

“From Iran?” ventured another reporter. “On ISIS? On what?”

“What storm, Mr. President?” asked a third journalist, a hint of impatience creeping into her voice.

As the generals shifted from foot to foot, Mr. Trump brought the game of 20 Questions to an end. He praised his beribboned guests as the “world’s great military people” and excused the stymied reporters, who returned to their workstations to start another round of: What was the president talking about?

Content from External Source

It's doubtful he mean anything more than a vague threat of military action against Iran and/or North Korea. But the Q folk interpreted it as foretelling the rounding up of a demonic pedophile ring that had corrupted the highest levels of government.

 

[JFDee]

A follow-up opinion piece by the WaPo today. I'm beginning to worry a bit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/08/02/what-makes-qanon-so-scary/

It’s obvious that this is scary, but it’s less obvious exactly why. To start, the sheer scope of the supposed conspiracy should cause alarm. By combining the tales tinfoil-hatters have told over time, these truthers have packaged everything attractive about this type of propaganda in one tantalizing product. And that means more and more people will buy what they’re selling.
[...]
Now that it’s clear that what starts on the fringe doesn’t stay there, it is a real concern. QAnon’s lurch from online to off hasn’t manifested only in T-shirted ralliers wielding weird signs. Last week, a “baker” appeared outside Michael Avenatti’s office because Q sent him there. Others have started searching for child sex camps in the desert outside Tucson. A man in an armored truck blocked a bridge near the Hoover Dam demanding the release of a report that Q claimed the government was withholding. He had two guns.

Content from External Source

 

[Marin B]

A follow-up opinion piece by the WaPo today. I'm beginning to worry a bit. [/EX]

I just did a Google news search - a lot of articles today about it:

Conspiracy theories are for losers. QAnon is no exception.
Washington Post-59 minutes ago
At a Trump rally in Tampa on Tuesday, dozens of proponents of the online pro-Trump conspiracy theory called “QAnon” made themselves ...
What is the QAnon conspiracy theory?
CBS News-12 hours ago

What Is QAnon? The Conspiracy Theory Tiptoeing Into Trump World
In-Depth-NPR-13 hours ago

White House dodges 'QAnon' questions as conspiracy theory hits ...
Opinion-ABC News-3 hours ago

What is the '#QAnon' conspiracy theory?
Blog-BBC News-8 hours ago

What Is QAnon: Explaining the Internet Conspiracy Theory That ...
In-Depth-New York Times-Aug 1, 2018

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[Mick West]

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today 5-y&q="conspiracy theory",qanon,chemtrails



And finer grained:


I'd hope that sunlight will be a disinfectant here. It's very interesting in that it's a conspiracy theory about the future as much as the past, so it makes predictions which will not pan out (except in the "oh, so that's what he meant by 'the eagle poops at midnight'" sense of back-fitting). So it's forced to mutate - eventually it will fade away, ossifying into a more traditional theory about the past.

People are already done stupid things though, so it's likely that will continue for a while.

I should have put more QAnon in my book — I just make a passing mention.

 

[Hevach]

Something useful that most articles leave out, and I've seen confusion here and elsewhere on the internet. For example, Deirdre posted in a closed thread (I thought this was recent but is actually about six months old):

heck I could post anonymously on chan4 and sign it "Q". I don't get this whole thing.

A lot of articles mention that 4chan is anonymous, some specifically that it has no user accounts or authentication. The way the rest of the internet works, accounts and two factor authentication are how unique users are identified, so a lot of people assume this cannot be done on imageboards.

However, users are not without means of identifying themselves. You can sign your post with a name, but then, anyone else can just use the same name, too.

The identifying feature is a tripcode. You can (optionally) include a hashtagged "password" to sign your posts, and the imageboard translates this to a non-reversible hash called a tripcode to display to users, so you cannot be impersonated successfully without this hashtag password.

Example, if I were to post and use Hevach#bannana, users would see "Hevach!5RRtZawAKg." If somebody else posted as Hevach!4D9rkjJjik users could tell they were not the same person as me (of course, I used #bannana, the example in just about every single FAQ on the subject, in reality I'd use a proper secure password).

There is a recognized "genuine" Q tripcode, not just anyone can post some cryptic baloney and be accepted as Q. So there is one person (or a group who has shared a password among themselves) behind the posts, not just a random mass of trolls.

 

[Mick West]

There is a recognized "genuine" Q tripcode, not just anyone can post some cryptic baloney and be accepted as Q.

Presumably the 4chan admins could fake some posts though.

Is QAnon76 considered to be the same person?
https://twitter.com/qanon76

 

[Hevach]

Presumably the 4chan admins could fake some posts though.

I do know a former 4chan admin I used to work with, he actually got kicked off by other admins because he habitually mass-banned everybody in pizzagate threads. I'll have to ask him if it's possible for admins to fake or change a tripcode.

Is QAnon76 considered to be the same person?
https://twitter.com/qanon76

Seems to be, but there's no consolidated list of "authentic" Q sources in the sane portion of the internet and I've already got too much of a migraine to dig into the kind of places one might be found.

 

[Auldy]

CNN correspondent Gary Tuchman talks with Trump supporters outside a rally in Wiles-Barre, Pennsylvania. Several of the people outside voiced support for a fringe conspiracy group called QAnon.

Content from External Source

Far out.

Tuchman: "There hasn't been any evidence"
Lady 2: "There hasn't been any non-evidence"

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Hevach]

I mean, there has been, but...

I've been reading more on this after a gaming forum I'm on had a mass banning of invading Q trolls, and a few bits don't make sense.

QAnon gets his name from having Q level clearance. Q clearance is technically he broadest clearance in the US government, but it is a strictly Department of Energy clearance dealing with nuclear secrets.

"Need to know," always applies with classified material, hence why people with clearance are strongly warned about viewing classified leaks, because even if it's in their clearance level it's outside what they're allowed to see.

Only the President, or someone being directly enabled by the President, can simply view any classified material they want, and this requires no clearance because the President has ultimate authority on classification - hence why the White House defended Trump revealing secrets to foreign nationals in early 2017, he technically is allowed to while nobody else is. Someone with Q clearance would only have access to criminal secrets that relate to their job, which by definition of the clearance is nuclear secrets.


Another important point is Adrenochrome extraction from the victims of the pedovores (they don't just molest, they kill and eat the kids). Adrenochrome is the oxidized leftovers after adrenaline is used up. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Clockwork Orange both reference it being used as a drug, but actual research found it had no significant psychoactive effects.

An adrenochrone derivative is used as an antihemorrhagic drug, and excessive adrenochrone in the blood has been linked to schizophrenia, but there is positive evidence that it's useless as a recreational drug.


This is a mind boggling theory. The "source" provides the vaguest nothings, which the community calls crumbs. The community "bakes" these crumbs into very specific and complex truths ("bread"), which then leads people to scour the desert around Tuscon for clues, or stand outside the office of a racecar driver turned lawyer with a sandwitch board, or shoot up a pizza store in DC, or stage a sit in at a comic book store in Tempe...

 

[George B]

Intetesting. The Qanon movement has reached critical mass I think. It is a force to contend with. It may be criticized as being unusual, fringe, etc. but will have impact.

The midterm elections I think will see the Q factor felt by both parties.

 

[Landru]

Intetesting. The Qanon movement has reached critical mass I think. It is a force to contend with. It may be criticized as being unusual, fringe, etc. but will have impact.

The midterm elections I think will see the Q factor felt by both parties.

I disagree completely. It has been mentioned in the news and that's kind of it. This is where the pizzagate believers ended up. They weren't a major factor in the last election.

 

[Hevach]

Yeah, Q's kind of worrying on a certain level - having believers interfering with businesses will eventually end up in violence the way pizzagate did. On an electoral level, if it's going to be felt, it's going to be felt in townhall events where any crank off the street can get a venue to bombard candidates with questions, but in the vote?

The Congressional primaries are going on right now, and more than any other season in the US political calendar that's where you see candidates kow towing with all kinds of fringe whackadoodles. When the vote is limited to just a single party within a narrow district, a couple local fringe groups can be a make-or-break demographic. Once through to the general, most of these fringe groups can be counted on to vote for their team or not vote, they'll never be driven so far away as to cross lines and vote against you.

If this group isn't being felt now, they're not going to be felt in the general election.

 

[David Ridlen]

"Qanon" is now passing "flat earth" as the most popular conspiracy hypothesis. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=flat earth,Qanon

If you assume it will die down soon, it might, but I assumed that about flat earth three years ago, that only continued to drastically increase in popularity. Flat Earth searches finally started dropping in May 2018.

 

[Landru]

"Qanon" is now passing "flat earth" as the most popular conspiracy hypothesis. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=flat earth,Qanon

No it hasn't. It has passed flat earth as the most popular search term.

 

[David Ridlen]

No it hasn't. It has passed flat earth as the most popular search term.

Yes. But do you know of a more accurate way to gauge the popularity of conspiracy theories, than the most popular conspiracy search term on the most popular search engine? Practically speaking, how might this not be a fair assessment?

My point is to distinguish the significance of a trend for debunkers to be aware of.

 

[Landru]

Yes. But do you know of a more accurate way to gauge the popularity of conspiracy theories, than the most popular conspiracy search term on the most popular search engine? Practically speaking, how might this not be a fair assessment?

My point is to distinguish the significance of a trend for debunkers to be aware of.

Anyone who wanted to know what QAnon is would use it for a search term. It doesn't mean they believe it. A better way would be to measure how many people believe it.

 

[George B]

Anyone who wanted to know what QAnon is would use it for a search term. It doesn't mean they believe it. A better way would be to measure how many people believe it.

Who, Where and How would you ask that?

 

[Landru]

Who, Where and how would you ask that?

News organizations do this all the time. You can find polls on how many people believe 9/11 was done by the government for example. The fact that it hasn't been done yet for this should tell you everything you need to know. http://amp.timeinc.net/time/5356851/what-is-qanon
reports that dozens of Qanon supporters were in attendance at two recent rallies. That's less than a hundred at each.

 

[deirdre]

when I googled "what is q clearance" I got a 1986 novel by Peter Benchley

A departure for Benchley, who sheds his swim trunks (Jaws, The Island, The Deep, The Girl of the Sea of Cortez) for a pin-striped suit in this amiable, low-key comedy of White House intrigue. Timothy Burnham, presidential speechwriter, bumbles his way from day to day. His daughter worships Mao, his wife despises his job, his chief concern is what phrase to put in the President's mouth for low-level proclamations to which no one pays any attention.

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/peter-benchley-5/q-clearance/

Content from External Source

Coincidence? I think not

Although if I was posing as a speechwriter I would get the internet to use the term "Q-tips" for my clues.

 

[Mick West]

Yes. But do you know of a more accurate way to gauge the popularity of conspiracy theories, than the most popular conspiracy search term on the most popular search engine? Practically speaking, how might this not be a fair assessment?

My point is to distinguish the significance of a trend for debunkers to be aware of.

You have to distinguish between the popularity of a conspiracy theory in terms of interest in that theory and belief in that theory. Flat Earth is NOT a popular theory in terms of believers. It probably only less than 1% of a popular broad theory like "9/11 was an inside job."

But I would not be at all surprised if QAnon was more popular than Flat Earth in terms of believers. I first heard about it from one of the more technical 9/11 Truthers who used to post here. I think it has broad appeal to conspiracy theorists of all stripes so it will tend to rope in everyone from "Seth Rich was killed by the DNC", to "The Queen is a reptile". It's a hopeful entertaining fantasy that does not conflict with their conspiratorial world view.

 

[George B]

I agree Mick. It has a broad appeal.

 

[Mick West]

I agree Mick. It has a broad appeal.

But largely temporary. It's rooted in the events of the day. When it becomes increasingly clear that the underlying theory (Trump was put in power by the military to counter a deep state coup run by pedophiles and he is dropping clues on 4chan to give people hope) does not pan out, it will just mutate and fade away into a niche. I'm sure there's some people that still think that Jade Helm was a NWO takeover plot, but it's not something you hear about any more.

 

[Mick West]

 

[George B]

What if there is confirmation of some of the claims; as in a larger than normal number of arrests regarding child trafficking, for example?

 

[Mick West]

What if there is confirmation of some of the claims; as in a larger than normal number of arrests regarding child trafficking, for example?

That's a bit vague. Those arrests tend to come in waves when rings are busted.
And what exactly has QAnon claimed "there will be a larger than normal number of arrests regarding child trafficking some time in the future"? That's kind of like predicting a 6.0 earthquake in California in the next few years.

Given the vague nature of the pronouncements then you can always claim something "came true". There were predictions of the elite being arrested, and when some of the elite hurt their ankles that was taken as proof of this.
Source: https://twitter.com/becki_p20/status/931651489126268928


QAnon obviously contains a vast amount of nonsense, but the wishful thinking of conspiracy theorists allows them to see past that and hold out hope for a grain of truth. It will fade, just like Jade Helm did.

 

[deirdre]

What if there is confirmation of some of the claims; as in a larger than normal number of arrests regarding child trafficking, for example?

1. you would have to find actual numbers over the years.
1a. its hard to find numbers that separate "human trafficking" from "child trafficking".

2. you need to adjust those numbers for population inflation ie. are victims rising in numbers.

3. Even if you find the numbers in 201 slightly were larger than 2016, you still don't really know if they just finally decided to crack down more. Police do those kinds of things all the time. NY city at some point finally said "ok enough is enough, we need to start seriously cracking down on violent crime", so they did.
3a. so..what is considered "larger than normal"?

 

[Keith Beachy]

A conspiracy of capitalism mixed with deep state gullible paranoia - t-shirts 20 bucks

T-Shirts, some marketed under the name, 'Funny Russian Bot Gifts by KNUXX'. More from https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirts/q-an

Making some money from a conspiracy theory. Some CT comments found in verified purchase Amazon reviews.

"Made in Honduras. Q does not sell any products, so get em where you can."
"This shirt lets them know you picked the red pill and not the blue one."
"Q to save the world"
"I love this hat. I've bought several and keep giving them away as I "red-pill" people with it Lol. As things have evolved, I have a style change suggestion. The MAGA under the Q is great, but I'd like to have one with WWG1WGA in the killbox. I think it would inspire more questions and result in more red-pilling! Thanks!"

 

[deirdre]

Someone had mentioned increased number of arrests for child trafficking. I'm not going into huge detail of the Bureau of Justice Statistics numbers, but for outside readers I'd like to point out that Obama's 2015 government (republican control of congress) passed the
S.178 - Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015

This section also establishes the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund into which revenues from such assessments shall be deposited and used in in FY2016-FY2019 to award grants to states and localities to combat trafficking, provide protection and assistance for victims of trafficking, develop and implement child abuse investigation and prosecution programs, and provide services for victims of child pornography. None of the amounts in the Fund may be used to provide health care or medical items or services, except for medical items or services to victims of trafficking.

.....
(Sec. 103) This section amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 to replace the pilot program to establish residential treatment facilities for juveniles subjected to trafficking with a program of three-year renewable block grants administered by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop, improve, or expand domestic child human trafficking deterrence programs that assist law enforcement and other entities in rescuing and restoring the lives of trafficking victims, while investigating and prosecuting offenses involving child human trafficking. No entity shall be disqualified from receiving a grant on the grounds that it has only recently begun soliciting data on child human trafficking.

Grant funds may be used for the establishment or enhancement of: (1) specialized training programs for law enforcement officers, first responders, health care and child welfare officials, juvenile justice personnel, prosecutors, and judicial personnel to identify victims and acts of child human trafficking and facilitate the rescue of child victims of human trafficking; (2) anti-trafficking law enforcement units and task forces to investigate child human trafficking offenses and to rescue victims; and (3) problem solving court programs for trafficking victims. Grant funds may also be used for activities of law enforcement agencies to find homeless and runaway youth.

Content from External Source

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/178


So if arrest numbers are rising (even though they had been rising even before the law was passed) it is due to funding established prior to Trump.

 

[Hevach]

3. Even if you find the numbers in 201 slightly were larger than 2016, you still don't really know if they just finally decided to crack down more. Police do those kinds of things all the time. NY city at some point finally said "ok enough is enough, we need to start seriously cracking down on violent crime", so they did.

You also see isolated spikes in arrests for this kind of crime just like drugs or adult human trafficking or gangs or wire fraud. You get the right person in the organization and they drag down their whole chain. So year to year changes aren't enough to establish a trend.

 

[deirdre]

You also see isolated spikes in arrests for this kind of crime just like drugs or adult human trafficking or gangs or wire fraud. You get the right person in the organization and they drag down their whole chain. So year to year changes aren't enough to establish a trend.

there is also a difference between arrests and convictions. According to the White House website, they had less convictions in 2017 than they did in 2015.

In FY 2017, DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE/HSI) initiated 833 human trafficking cases, resulting in 1,602 arrests and 578 convictions, and identified 518 victims of human trafficking.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...donald-j-trump-working-end-human-trafficking/

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Nearly all (99%) of the 769 convicted human-trafficking defendants in 2015 received a prison sentence.

https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=6286

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and the fake meme

 

[David Ridlen]

You have to distinguish between the popularity of a conspiracy theory in terms of interest in that theory and belief in that theory.

Not really. My initial post stated "popular conspiracy hypothesis" which includes interest and belief. I think the clarity of my point may be nitpicked, when it is really understood well enough.

Flat Earth is NOT a popular theory in terms of believers. It probably only less than 1% of a popular broad theory like "9/11 was an inside job."

Based on what?

I maintain that a Google trend is a fair gauge for the popularity of a conspiracy theory. Do you know of a more accurate survey?

Polls tend to be taken from relatively small groups. Stats indicate that nearly half the world population uses the internet daily. And 75% of searches are thru Google. https://www.smartinsights.com/search-engine-marketing/search-engine-statistics/ 2013 stats show that number to be about 1.17 billion Google searches. https://www.statista.com/chart/899/unique-users-of-search-engines-in-december-2012/ I do not see a way to compare the actual number of specific search terms.


But Google Trends shows that "flat earth" far outstrips 9-11 conspiracy in search popularity.
https://trends.google.com/trends/ex...th,/m/043yvr,/m/07vxlr,9/11 was an inside job

... I think it has broad appeal to conspiracy theorists of all stripes so it will tend to rope in everyone

All these conspiracy hypothesis mentioned do fall under what is certainly the broadest conspiracy belief in a nefarious "they" controlling everything, that must be a comforting focus for those who may feel understandably confused and helpless in such a technically and politically complex world.

 

[Landru]

Not really. My initial post stated "popular conspiracy hypothesis" which includes interest and belief. I think the clarity of my point may be nitpicked, when it is really understood well enough.



Based on what?

I maintain that a Google trend is a fair gauge for the popularity of a conspiracy theory. Do you know of a more accurate survey?

Polls tend to be taken from relatively small groups. Stats indicate that nearly half the world population uses the internet daily. And 75% of searches are thru Google. https://www.smartinsights.com/search-engine-marketing/search-engine-statistics/ 2013 stats show that number to be about 1.17 billion Google searches. https://www.statista.com/chart/899/unique-users-of-search-engines-in-december-2012/ I do not see a way to compare the actual number of specific search terms.


But Google Trends shows that "flat earth" far outstrips 9-11 conspiracy in search popularity.
https://trends.google.com/trends/ex...th,/m/043yvr,/m/07vxlr,9/11 was an inside job






All these conspiracy hypothesis mentioned do fall under what is certainly the broadest conspiracy belief in a nefarious "they" controlling everything, that must be a comforting focus for those who may feel understandably confused and helpless in such a technically and politically complex world.

By that reasoning suicide is more popular than QAnon.

 

[Mick West]

Based on what?

Based on my observations of 9/11 groups and Flat Earth groups. All Flat Earthers are 9/11 Inside Jobbers. But I've yet to see a 9/11 Truth group member who will admit to being at Flat Earther.

1% might have been low though,

I maintain that a Google trend is a fair gauge for the popularity of a conspiracy theory. Do you know of a more accurate survey?

Yeah, actual surveys. Google Trends tells you how many people are searching for something.
https://today.yougov.com/topics/phi...t-flat-earthers-consider-themselves-religious


No QAnon surveys yet unfortunately. But if you were to back-fit that to the Google Trends, than that implies something like 1% of people might have some belief in the validity of QAnon.

 

[Rory]

Maybe people aren't searching for 9/11 as much anymore 'cos they've already made up their minds about it some time ago and don't need any new info.

And maybe Mick meant that it's more likely the average Joe in the street will believe in something like a 9/11 inside job because that doesn't take much investment, just a general suspicion, whereas flat earth most likely requires a little more input, and a larger shift from mainstream thought patterns.

That's what I understand by "broad appeal" versus "niche".

 

[qed]

By that reasoning suicide is more popular than QAnon.

It is, surely?

 

[JFDee]

A QAnon promoter has visited the White House.

The Washington Post writes:

President Trump posed for a photo in the Oval Office this week with one of the most prominent promoters of the “QAnon” conspiracy group, who later posted a video commemorating the visit.

Michael Lebron, a New York-based attorney and radio host who goes by the name “Lionel,” shared the photo on Friday morning, with an accompanying video that showed him poring through a White House “swag bag.”

Lebron has grown his online following by sharing speculation about QAnon conspiracy theory. In the social media post Friday, he assured his fans that the president “knows about” the theory. [...]

Content from External Source

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...63548a-a816-11e8-a656-943eefab5daf_story.html