Friday, September 07, 2018

Strung Along With QAnon


Image by D. Marshall


Unelected governmental officials really control the US, lurking in the background, evil, nebulous.  The Deep State.  Out to get Trump.

Yeah, right.  I've heard it all before.  Communists, the Illuminati, whatever, boogeymen striking fear in the hearts and minds of non-critical thinkers.

But have no fear -- QAnon is here.

QAnon followers showed up at a Trump rally, proudly displaying their "Q" signs.  So far no bigots unaware of what the Q symbolizes have attacked any of these sign-holders, driven by homophobic rage.  The Q refers to Q-level clearance with the Department of Energy, i.e. top secret clearance.  The Anon is short for Anonymous.

QAnon's beliefs are all based on material shared first posted in October 2017 on the 4chan image-board site where a poster can hide his identity.  An anonymous poster or group referred to itself as Q with the inference that the items of  information being shared -- "bread crumbs" --  originated from someone in the intelligence community.

QAnon is dedicated to protecting Trump from the Deep State.  But there's an unique twist to its version of reality.  Special counsel Robert Mueller, Department of Justice, seems to be investigating Trump for any collusion with Russia but appearances are deceptive.  The truth is Mueller is on Trump's side, secretly looking for criminal evidence on Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama.

The QAnon followers are the same type of true believers who thought Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor in Washington, DC was a front for Hillary's child trafficking operation. In December 2016 Edgar Maddison Welch from North Carolina -- wielding a semi-automatic rifle -- entered the eatery as part of his personal investigation into "Pizzagate."  He fired a few shots but no one was injured.  The police arrested him and he is now serving a four year prison sentence.

Welch stated that he wanted to stop children from suffering, adding he was mistaken in his belief regarding the fantasy of the child sex ring.

So will QAnon lead to similar "mistakes?"  It already has happened.

There was an incident last summer in Arizona. QAnon believer Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer occupyied a cement plant he suspected being the front for another child sex-trafficking operation.  Previously he reported to police that a homeless encampment was the site of a trafficking ring but they found nothing, So the next month he occupied a cement plant tower for nine days.  He left after police again found no evidence of any trafficking operation.  But Meyer came back to the plant and this second trespass led to his arrest.  No mention of weapons or any violence.

But a second incident in Arizona was more problematic.   A QAnon follower named Matthew Phillip Wright (don't any of these guys only have a first and last name?) blocked the southbound lanes at the Hoover Dam bridge with his semi-armored truck.  Armed with a rifle he stood outside his vehicle displaying a sign: "Release the OIG report."  This apparently referred to a purported Office of the Inspector General second hidden report on former FBI director James Comey's activities, the released report concealing the truth, Wright was later taken into custody with no one being hurt.

QAnon believers suffer from delusional gullibility.  How bad is it?  One time Trump mentioned the number 17 a few times in a speech, supposedly his coded acknowledgement of Q.  You see Q is the seventeenth letter in the alphabet.

So how's your reality?

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