It always seemed to me that QAnon was some sort of online LARP on 4chan that got out of control and metastasized. It’s left a trail of broken families and swept into the mainstream with branding and everything. After the predictions of Trump’s return to power after Jan 6th it seems to have fizzled out. Did QAnon stop posting? Did their adherents just glom onto the next crazy theory? How many followers now disavow the theories of QAnon?
Q went away except for a few random posts around December or January 2020-2021 (can’t recall). A documentary series on HBO seemed to point to Ron Watkins as likely Q. He ran for some office and did very poorly. Q wasn’t needed anymore, but the destruction to families remained in its wake.
QAA podcast continues to study bizarre right-wing conspiratorial thinking (it’s quite entertaining and usually pretty funny when not saddening). There was a book published recently about specific case studies of people whose lives were destroyed by the movement and where they are now, The Quiet Damage, by Jesselyn Cook. There are other books on the subject, including Trust the Plan, by Will Sommer.
Our society will continue experiencing real-world harm because of the radicalization of Q supporters for years, I’m sure.
QAA has become one of my primary information sources. They’re at least good at making all this entertaining
Yes, one of the few places that I get updates on current events that make me laugh. Probably the funniest show I listen to, at this point.
I think it’s a question of time before sb makes an AI that can write exactly the conspiracies necessary to heard people in a way to achieve a concrete, pre-specified goal.
A corrupted Mrs Davies?