Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
What's got QAnon so Spooked?
35 Plays6 years ago
We return to QAnon to check in with their recent predictions, talk a little about 1080, cast shade on Twitter, and discuss the purported use of microwave weapons against U.S. diplomats in Cuba and Beijing.
[The audio this week is better than last week, but due to a problem with the set up the audio recorded on the wrong mics... Sorry!]
Learn more about M's academic work on the Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories at:
Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/conspiracism
or Podbean crowdfunding?
http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Technical Adjustments
00:00:00
Speaker
This week on the Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy, we change up the new segment. Play around with the camera set up and hope the second mic cable doesn't give up the ghost like it did seven months ago. All this and probably some editing coming up. The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy. Hello and
Degradation of Skype and Alternative Solutions
00:00:25
Speaker
welcome once again to the Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy. Hi!
00:00:29
Speaker
co-located in Auckland, not like physically, not over the Skype with the beaming words through the ether and what have you. And the beaming didn't even really work particularly, so I'm looking for a problem. Skype's got worse, hasn't it? Progressively, so it's almost as if they're deliberately making their own service more and more rubbish to get into Google's good books or Google Hangouts, because it does seem like Google Hangouts is what we should be doing next.
00:00:57
Speaker
But I mean, yes, we used to use it all the time when you were in Romania. And it was fine. Up until two weeks before I left, and Skype pushed forward its new experience. And the new experience is rubbish, because Skype stands for rubbish. But anyway, right, here we are together. One, Josh Edison, the other, Endenteth. One looking slightly shorter than the other, because I'm just really looking at your notice this episode. Yes, the seats could possibly be a little more level.
00:01:25
Speaker
What can you do? Budgetry constraints. Now, if you donate money to the podcast, we could get better seats, better cameras, and, well, I don't want to reveal a secret, but we're getting better lights already. Mm. They're winging their way here from China. China,
Camera Layout and Audio Irrelevance
00:01:42
Speaker
probably. China, yeah. Mm, totally good. Yes, we've got the slightly different camera layout this time. Instead of having one in the middle and one for the little aside comments, I've only got one for me and one for Ian.
00:01:55
Speaker
I feel like we should be looking at the same place at the same time. Maybe we're not. Yeah, I have a feeling this is a bold experience this week. And it's probably not going to be repeated next week. And completely irrelevant if you're just listening to the podcast anyway. Yes, although it's probably doing absolute damage to the sound separation given I'm looking over here, I'm looking over there, the microphone's only at one particular location. My mouth is moving all around the place. That's what he said. Yes.
00:02:24
Speaker
Wouldn't you like to know? And also, yes. I'm curious. Ah, anyway. You certainly are in bed. It's me tonight.
00:02:37
Speaker
and we're not going to say anything more. I think what we should do is actually move on to the news. I think we'd best yes. Otherwise it's going to turn into filth and degeneracy and we've got cameras on us so we can't get away with much. Although what we can get away with, you will be very, very surprised by it. I was about to do the chime there myself.
00:03:08
Speaker
News! News about the news. Yes, we're changing the format a little. From now on we're going to focus on just a couple, maybe three big stories a week and discuss other less important stuff in patron accessible. That's a polite way of saying patron only. Extra content recorded after the show. Because we are utter bastards
Microwave Attacks on Diplomats
00:03:31
Speaker
we're going to tell you what we're going to discuss but crucially not what we're going to say.
00:03:35
Speaker
But because we have some kindness left in the abysses that were our heart, this week the bonus episode will be free to everyone. But don't expect our largesse to last. And now, on with the news. Mmm. Microwaves. They're not just good for reheating your soup, but you can also use them to attack and injure diplomats. Ah, the old throw the microwave suspected spy routine, eh?
00:04:02
Speaker
Clever. It's whether you could toss a microwave or you could use suspected microwave-based weaponry. The director of the Center for Brain Injury, Andrew Peir, at the University of Pennsylvania, one Douglas Smith, now suspects that the second diplomats and staff at the US embassies in Cuba and Beijing have been attacked by microwaves. Now, we've covered this story many episodes ago. At the time, the medical team which examined the 21 affected diplomats and their families
00:04:30
Speaker
thought there was something wrong but they weren't sure of the cause. We also covered the fact that other medical specialists have disputed that anything happened at all and think that the suspected attack was just a mass psychogenic illness with people suffering normal wear and tear. Indeed, the dissenting opinion was very much focused on the idea that as we don't actually have a sense of normal brain functioning,
00:04:53
Speaker
let alone a metric for what state of brain should be in at a certain age, any investigation into a set of individuals working in a stressful environment is going to present symptoms which might be the result of stress or age or microwave weaponry, which has been researched by military powers and could provide a plausible explanation for the symptoms the diplomats and their families have been suffering.
00:05:16
Speaker
But we still don't know the who or the why of this purported attack, which gets us into the realm of conspiracy theory. When the attack was just sent in Cuba, it was plausible to think it was either the Cuban government or Cuban dissenters behind it all.
1080 Poison Debate in New Zealand
00:05:31
Speaker
But now Beijing is in the picture. The story of who's behind it is murky, as is the why. We'll keep you updated on the matter, as well as development of our own microwave-based weaponry.
00:05:42
Speaker
One word, catapults. But before we launch ourselves into that endeavour, let's talk 1080. Now we've discussed the use of 1080 poison in Aoteloa several times on this podcast, and how not only is it the most effective way to keep our fragile ecosystem pest free, but also how there are numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the use of
00:06:07
Speaker
poison. Did you know that 1080 is a mutagenic? Which, presumably, means it gives you superpowers. That because water has a memory, you don't even need to find trace elements of 1080 in the municipal water supply in order to be poisoned by it. This isn't whiskey I'm drinking. It's urine that pass through the same gut I used to process whiskey. It tastes terrible, and it's not even getting me drunk.
00:06:32
Speaker
And that 1080 is being used to make us docile, so Jacinda Ardern and the feminazis who run our government can raise the minimum wage and produce a quality of outcome for all. Truly a dastardly plot to look after the country and improve our standard of living. Despicable! And now our NT 1080 activists have worked out a new way to get the average Kiwi on board. Spam!
00:06:55
Speaker
Yes, a Facebook group operation, BAM 1080, which has 40,000 members, has worked out that they can swamp comments threads on social media videos with two simple words. BAM 1080. And has it worked? Well, it's annoyed a lot of people, and we're talking about it, so kind of.
00:07:14
Speaker
Now, aside from the conspiracy theories which underlie the anti-1080 crowd, there is a curious aspect of their own organizing here. They claim that all the social media protests they've been engaged in have been spontaneous, and not at all planned, which is curious, given that the videos they tend to spam are short segments from the news, and getting a significant portion of the group's population to span a segment is, well, quite the logistical nightmare.
00:07:38
Speaker
What have they got to hide? Now, it's possible that this is just all innocent fun. But given that many of the more financially clever members of the anti-1080 crowd
00:07:48
Speaker
are involved in trying to sell to the government a rival poison to 1080, it's not out of the question we're seeing some standard astro sort of tactics here. And how from poison to social media? Ah, poison by another name, how sweetly almond the taste. Yes, we can't always be complaining about Skype, although we really are sorry about the quality of last week's recording. Skype is getting progressively worse as a solution to video conferencing.
Twitter Policies and Alt-Right Accounts
00:08:13
Speaker
Yes, it came out this week that Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and AdsJack, has stepped in several times now to protect users such as Alex Jones and Stephen Miller from having their accounts banned. Twitter, unlike Apple, Facebook, Google, Stitcher, Spotify, etc.
00:08:29
Speaker
have allowed alt-right views to dominate their platform, with Dorsey claiming that the platform is left-leaning and liberal, and people like Jones and the like haven't actually broken any rules. Yet. Yet users are reporting the opposite. Pointing out someone's a Nazi sympathizer, or advocates genocide, or happens to be a turf and the like, is a good way to get banned on Twitter for posting offensive content. However, actually being a Nazi, advocating new holocausts, claiming trans people ought to die, etc.,
00:08:59
Speaker
seems to not get you banned. So people have become a little wary about Dorsey's claims about Twitter and his own personal politics, and the fact that he's now alleged to have been shielding Jones, who had asked for people to literally raise up arms against their government he does not like, and Miller, who's promoted white nationalism, it's making people think that Twitter is just not just not applying their standards equally across the board, but that people are covering up for and
00:09:23
Speaker
covering for and covering up, rather, the actions of the upright on the platform. People being inconsistent isn't a conspiracy necessarily, but there's a pattern of not finding hate speech a problem, whilst at the same time persecuting those who point out said hate speech. So you know, food for thought.
00:09:40
Speaker
But enough news for now. After the show, we'll be discussing whether an aid really did flash a white power symbol during the Met Cavanaugh hearing, why a hole was drilled inside of the International Space Station, and whether or not we care that Steve Bannon isn't getting to star in the New Yorker festival. You can listen to that Bose content for free this week. But now,
QAnon's Persistence and Failed Predictions
00:10:01
Speaker
QAnon.
00:10:04
Speaker
So, yes, back to QAnon, the conspiracy theory that just keeps on truckin'. It keeps on giving. It keeps on giving nonsense, basically. And if you dare criticise QAnon on Twitter, QAnon supporters get really, really defensive. Really, really defensive. Apparently, I don't understand QAnon, let alone conspiracy theories, if I dare cast aspersions on their dear hypothesis.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yes, I mean, we talked about QAnon back near the start of the year, I think, as sort of, you know, here's the wacky, here's the latest wacky theory from Trump Town. And as I recall, the very next episode, then we looked at other other conspiracy theories like it that are all about sort of predictions for the future and prophecies that stuff's going to work out good in a little while, you just have to wait for it.
00:10:56
Speaker
But it just hasn't fizzled out like, sort of, uh, uh, Pizzagate kind of did, although this is sort of what Pizzagate morphed into, isn't it? And Pizzagate's kind of been resurgent again, has there been more talk? Well, after Mike Cernovich was quite successful in getting James Gunn fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3, and Mike Cernovich being fairly prominent in the Pizzagate
00:11:21
Speaker
community, suddenly people go, oh, if he was right about James Gunn, maybe he was right about pizza games. If he was right that a bunch of publicly posted tweets actually existed, maybe he's right about a secret basement and things that don't exist. Anyway, so I want more cheese on my pizza. My fellow international pedophiles know exactly what I'm talking about. Yep.
00:11:49
Speaker
But yes, I mean, it keeps going. It sort of started showing up in the mainstream news a bit more. People have been showing up at rallies wearing big Q t-shirts and QAnon stuff. It's just not going away. But we thought an interesting thing to look at this week would be that QAnon has made a lot of predictions. Some of them have been vague and weird and ambiguous and in some cases completely incomprehensible. But some of them have been fairly definite. And those that were fairly definite have a habit of not actually coming.
00:12:19
Speaker
True. Which is a bit of a problem for the adherents of QAnon, but as we'll get to the end of the episode, they're finding ways to cope. Yes, yes we are. So there was an article that covered all this quite nicely for us, which we're going to be cribbing from quite shamelessly, frankly. But just as general points to begin with,
00:12:46
Speaker
QAnon that started what, late October last year, I believe, very end of October started at the end of the last year. And to begin with, things were quite concrete, really. I mean, there was a sort of vagueness of, you know, stuff's going to happen, but it made some fairly definite claims. Yes. And the vagueness was who was behind the QAnon account and the vagueness as to how many people QAnon may or may not be.
00:13:16
Speaker
But the initial predictions by QAnon is, on day x, a rest y are going to occur. On day x plus 1, affidavit which was sealed at x minus 3 will be revealed to the public. Until QAnon was making very, very bold claims. That then just failed to come true. And then after that,
00:13:41
Speaker
As we'll see, the claims started becoming less definite. There was much less stuff will happen on this date and much more stuff will happen in a week. Stuff will happen soon. Big, big things are going to happen. Now, I should probably say at this point, the article that we're basing a large amount of this episode on is called, Here is every QAnon prediction that's failed to come true. It was published at daily.com.
00:14:05
Speaker
It's written by Mike Rothschild. It is problematic not for the sheer fact that Rothschild's problematic. It's problematic to write on conspiracy theories with their particular... If you've got a name which is recognizable to the conspiracy theory community.
00:14:25
Speaker
Imagine when I write on conspiracy theories, there are certain people, oh you can't trust that, doctor dentors, they got their degree through a state-funded university. We know that that work is all about crushing conspiracy theories, and I do get emails from people telling me that I go around ridiculing conspiracy theories, I need to treat conspiracy theories more seriously, and I'm going
00:14:50
Speaker
haven't actually read my work because I'm kind of doing that. Sometimes people have expectations based upon names and backgrounds and those expectations sometimes don't pan out. Yes, anyway it's probably a little unkind to jump on the dude's surname which just happens to
00:15:12
Speaker
It's more amusing aside. It's amusing aside, yes. So let's set it to one. So I actually start looking at the claims that are cataloged in this article. So each of QAnon's little sort of posts on Reddit. Reddit, wasn't it, not 4chan, where it started? I believe that is correct. Yes, so you had a brain fade there. Each of them were referred to as drops.
00:15:39
Speaker
So there have been over 1,000 of them now, I think it must be getting up to 2,000 now, but drops one and two were the initial claims that Hillary Clinton was going to be extradited from wherever she happened to be at the time, or rather that she had been extradited and detained, had not yet been arrested, but presumably that was on the cards, and that there were then going to be massive riots occurring in defence of her.
00:16:06
Speaker
dropped 15. I believe these all came on the same day, which I think was either October the 31st or at least the green of October, said that John Podesta would be indicted on November the 3rd. Clinton aide Huma Eberton would be indicted, is that how you pronounce it? I think so. I think so, yeah. One of those names that I've already actually seen written down. It was going to be indicted on November the 6th.
00:16:27
Speaker
So the date, especially of November the 3rd, came up quite a bit in some of the earliest drops. So indeed, drop 25 said in full, follow up to last post, return to comments, Ree Pelosi, obviously Nancy Pelosi, and John M, some of us refused to say his last name for a reason, I assume that's John Mueller there talking about.
00:16:52
Speaker
This all has meaning, everything stated. Big picture stuff, few positions, allow for this direct knowledge. Proof to begin, 11-3, that being American for 3-11, or the 3rd of November. We sincerely appreciate the work you do, give up the good fight, the flow of information is vital, God bless. So, yeah, there was a lot of talk about stuff that's gonna happen on November the 3rd now. I'm pretty sure, if I just check my name, you know it's very much the 5th of September, almost a year later.
00:17:21
Speaker
So what did happen on November 3rd? I don't remember anything happening on November 3rd. Not an awful lot. No. No, I have a feeling that maybe, maybe nothing happened that day. No, I mean, in fact, actually, there was even more. Drop 34, I believe, talked about all the stuff that was going to happen.
00:17:44
Speaker
that we are going to be taking back our great country, that everything you've been talking about in secret will be revealed, not be openly accepted, which will result in riots, again, starting November 3rd, that the announcement of John Podesta's arrest on November 3rd would result in a state of temporary military control initiating the emergency broadcast system during this time in an effort to provide a direct message avoiding the fake news to all citizens.
00:18:12
Speaker
drop 44 took that the president was going to be sending an important message via Twitter drop 55 said look to Twitter exactly this my fellow Americans the storm is upon us
00:18:28
Speaker
And so this is, I mean, when we first talked about QAnon, we were kind of talking more about this phrase, the oncoming storm or the storm, even more than QAnon, because that was the term that seemed to be going round a lot, the storm, which was going to be the taking back of America, the taking of Pelham one, two, three.
00:18:45
Speaker
the rounding up of all the Clintons and the Abamas and the Podesta's and all those people and all the deep state. Actually, again, that was something we never quite clear on. Is the deep state the good guys or the bad guys? It depends on who you're talking to. So either they were going to round up the deep state or the deep state was going to round up the enemies of it. And it was all going to happen. Dropped 65, which I think was on or just before November 3rd,
Commitment of QAnon Followers
00:19:15
Speaker
QZ, it has begun. Drop 67 said that news of John Podesta's military plane being forced down would be leaked and a prominent fake news anchor was going to be pulled off the air during these announcements. And yeah, it didn't happen.
00:19:33
Speaker
No, I don't remember anything happening with John Podesta, and I certainly don't remember any news anchors being yanked off the air in the US. Strange. Strange. But of course, as we all know, that didn't stop at all. But it did stop getting quite so specific, at least a lot of the time.
00:19:52
Speaker
Um, so where are we? So there was a lot more, a lot more dates went from being November the 3rd November the 6th to next week. As I said, lots of, lots of, uh, I think one, one drop was big next week. And then another drop saying next week, bigger. Just starting to sound a little saucy to me. Next month.
00:20:13
Speaker
tumultuous and to messant and Leon's getting larger this was a bad day to give up sniffing glue uh well is there a good day to give up sniffing glue every day is a good day if you're sniffing glue yes please the the official position of the podcast is going to the conspiracy is that you should not be sniffing glue we're quite resolute on this very resolute um and sort of it went on and on and on um
00:20:39
Speaker
On December the 10th of last year, drop 326 said that false flags are about to occur to expect fireworks. Apparently around that time, there was a partially detonated pipe bomb at New York's Port Authority bus terminal. So the Q, what do they call themselves? The adherence of the Q and R conspiracy theory. They're not Q heads, Q files, Q naughts.
00:21:09
Speaker
I actually have no idea. I don't know if there's a group now. Whatever they call themselves, they jumped on that one. Actually, isn't there the thing where they've started referring to the drops as crumbs and then these guys refer to themselves as bakers who take the crumbs and assemble them into dough, which is not how baking works. So they are missing.
00:21:28
Speaker
they're missing a chance to do a great reference to danger mouse, crumbs their pen faults. But anyway, so that was sort of something where they said a thing was going to happen and then a thing happened and they could sort of point at that but again not nothing definite but dropped 647.
00:21:49
Speaker
Q appeared to predict a major event involving the Department of Defense on February the 1st of this year. Nothing happened involving the Department of Defense or indeed any government department I'm aware of on February the 1st. Now, then we went back to good old Clinton with drop 854, which came on March the 5th of this year. Another one to read in full.
00:22:15
Speaker
Is the stage set for a drop of HRC plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign? Raw vid 5 colon 5. Ex vid 5 7 7 4. Now, I don't know about you, but that means absolutely nothing to me. Ah, well, good thing it goes on. We have it all. Re-read, re-stage. The nail in many coffins. A liberal undo. Impossible to defend.
00:22:44
Speaker
So supposedly, he was saying that they have irrefutable video proof of Hillary Clinton up to something indefensible. Supposedly, a right-wing conspiracy theory. She was easing the pineapple on Penta, wasn't she? That would have been bad enough. They were possibly suggesting something even worse.
00:23:04
Speaker
than eating pineapple on pizza. I'm glad to see, by the way, that we are both on board with the idea that pineapple pizza as a travesty is an offense against God and all that is holy. It's true. It isn't, in fact, one of the worst things you can possibly do. If you eat pineapple on pizza, we have no wish to know you, sir. Or at least we don't want to come around for dinner. No, no. But some people are so...
00:23:29
Speaker
that this video existed of Hillary Clinton and who may have been doing something horrible to a child. Like giving them high map along pizza. It's the core, it's what's been missing from the QAnon conspiracy theory. They haven't worked out that the core precept here is telling people the greatest crime that Hillary Clinton committed and Donald Trump doesn't commit.
00:23:55
Speaker
is having pineapple on pizza. We have blown the story wide open. It's Kate's closed people. QAnon is over. We have solved it. DOD were going to reveal that pineapples cannot be put on pizza without them being considered weapons under the Geneva Code. The info drops that were being released were health warnings to people about putting pineapple on pizza. And if you think about it,
00:24:25
Speaker
The 3rd of November, as a number, almost describes the shape of a pineapple. I'm not seeing it. Nevertheless, I agree. Turn the vision in your head upside down. Now can you see it? V was sort of the top of the... Anyway, I think you're probably completely right, but just assuming you're not, and there are indeed... back on...
00:24:52
Speaker
on insinuations of child molestation and what have you. What is it with the with the pedophilia stuff like? Global pedophile rims are a bon-moth kind of conspiracy. I just don't understand the need to make your political opponents out to be the devil incarnate. Because what you want to be able to do is say by association
00:25:14
Speaker
every single idea must be wrong because people who would do that to a child cannot be wrong about it, have to be absolutely evil. So those would go, well look, they advocate a living wage, a universal base of income, and that sounds really good but
00:25:33
Speaker
They're child molesters, so it must be wrong somehow. It allows you to cast everything they're doing to doubt whether you think it's good or bad. Yeah, I mean, we've established ourselves as being fairly left-leaning and no fans of Trump. I think Trump's an imbecile. I think he is.
00:25:51
Speaker
a not very bright person who has coasted on his wealth and connections his entire life and insulated himself from all consequences. I don't think he's Satan. I don't think he eats babies and strangles kittens. I don't see why in order to dislike someone or disagree with their politics you have to go that far into the realms of being Darth Voldemort Osama bin Hitler.
00:26:17
Speaker
Well done. Well done. Been saving that for a while. Anyway, we've possibly got a little bit off track, but just talking about other times, QAnon's got things wrong. So yes, no video of Hillary Clinton molesting or eating or doing what other horrible things to a child has surfaced. I'm pretty sure we would have heard about it.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we've got fun as well. It is the kind of thing which kind of makes the news. There was talk about a parade that would never be forgotten was going to take place on November the 8th of this year. Now that actually hasn't happened yet. It still might. And Trump hasn't even been talking about a parade, but apparently it is now being put off until next year if it's ever going to happen at all.
00:26:55
Speaker
Kind of does want a military parade. Kind of wants a despots parade through Washington with tanks to show that he's not an autocrat. Because one way to show you're not an autocrat is to act as autocratic as possible.
00:27:17
Speaker
Espanol, inferential, no I can't, I can't risk that, and this kind of made it worse. Just move on, power through. So we're actually getting quite far up into the drops now, drop 912.
Nature of QAnon: Prank or Genuine?
00:27:31
Speaker
See that the Five Eyes network won't be around much longer.
00:27:34
Speaker
The Five Eyes Network is something that New Zealand is a part of. We are one of the eyes, and it is very much still around. I mean it would be quite nice if it went away, given it is a global spying ring which allows governments to spy on their own citizens by using foreign powers to do it for them. So I'm quite happy for Five Eyes to just disappear.
00:27:55
Speaker
But it's still with us. Yes, and this this drop 912 was in the region of March, April earlier this year. He's now September. So at least won't be around much longer is referring to a longer time frame than we get a credit for. One doesn't appear to have worked. Drop one thousand one, sorry, one thousand and fourteen, which came out on April the 4th, shifted focus to Marcus Zuckerberg. Apparently he's like either.
00:28:24
Speaker
that said that MZ, or MZ for American listeners, was going to step down as chairman and then be out of the US. The same drop also said, at Jack, good luck. Apparently the earlier drop said that Jack of Twitter was also on the outs. And as we discussed in the news segment, Jack appears to be actually protecting the kind of people who support Trump.
00:28:50
Speaker
Why you'd want him on the out? I don't know. No, no. So again, that was back in April. Nothing has happened there. An interesting one. Drop 1067 on April the 7th simply said China, Chongqing, Tuesday. So Tuesday, the next Tuesday after a particular drop was Tuesday, April the 10th.
00:29:15
Speaker
Nothing appeared to happen on Tuesday the April 10th in the city of Chongqing in China. That's just one of those things, isn't it? Yep, maybe it was... I'm sensing a pattern here of predictions which don't come true. Yep. But I'm sure, I'm sure things are about to change. No, you're right, because drop 1594 said July 2018, the month the world discovered the truth.
00:29:45
Speaker
And as we recall, truth was discovered on July 2018. That's true. In fact, like a lot of truth that month, I had a lot of truth and then I had to drink quite heavily to forget it, which the rest of the world did as well. So unfortunately, even though that did occur, nobody remembers it. Bit of a shame. Bit of a shame.
00:30:08
Speaker
And then, yeah, I mean, and as we see it as it's gone on and on and on, it's just got less and less definite. The phrase something big is on the way has shown up in multiple drops. We've got 1687, 1708, 1748 and 1802. Oh, what a great overture that one was as well.
00:30:31
Speaker
And then things either became indefinite or simply just fired off into the more distant future. So no more stuff's going to happen next Tuesday. Drop1926 said stuff's going to happen on the 1st of January 2019. So it's a good ways way away. A good way, wee way, way away. A good ways way away. Something, a good ways away. No, I don't know my mouth. Something odd is happening.
00:31:01
Speaker
And behind was the one drinking mirror.
Social Consequences for QAnon Followers
00:31:05
Speaker
Apparently on 1st January 2019, there'll be a national emergency and in that particular one linked to some executive decisions of Trump's, which get me off a lot. So, 1st January 2019, can we expect momentous happenings to happen? In short, not. Well, probably not.
00:31:26
Speaker
No, so what we're seeing here is what I like to call the Harold Campion effect. Campion, camping effect. So camping was one of those
00:31:35
Speaker
biblical revelation people who was always talking about the end of the world being just around the corner and he would predict is happening in February of this year and then in case February would occur and nothing would happen in case of getting fresh revelation from God it's September it's been delayed and it kept on going and going and going and camping kind of became a laughingstock in the skeptical community for predicting the end of the world and then the end of the world never happening.
00:32:05
Speaker
And Kempen, at the very end of his life, was saying, look, I've been told by God this date is definite. This October, the world ends. And October comes, and nothing happens.
00:32:20
Speaker
and camping went, oh no no no, it started, I never said the end of the world would be instantaneous, the world is now in the process of ending, it started, it's just it's not evident it's ending yet.
00:32:37
Speaker
And that's what we're seeing with the QAnon stuff, which is going from quite definite, this is what's happening here, to a much more interesting case of, there are events happening behind the scenes, trust me, something is happening next week.
00:32:54
Speaker
Nevertheless, how do they reconcile those earlier predictions that didn't happen? I mean, we talked about last time the ideas that, oh no, yes, Clinton and Podesta, and then they actually have been arrested. But it's all been done in secret in all the business about how supposedly they were all wearing ankle bracelets. And so any time there was a photograph of a Clinton or whoever wearing slightly big trousers or something, it would be, aha, look, see, that's hiding the ankle bracelet.
00:33:20
Speaker
And so this one's date made the claim that John McCain had an ankle breprest as well, which if that's true, and John McCain was a convicted felon at the point he died, the fact they gave him a state funeral is really quite astounding. I mean, that's the deep state going really deep. But so I mean, is there anything other than just flat out sort of denial?
00:33:49
Speaker
So yes, you get the people saying it is happening, we just have to trust in QAnon, and also apparently Donald Trump is the most ethical business person to have ever lived on the earth. According to the defenders, the QAnon crumbs, which I find really quite fascinating. So yes, they go in, look, it is happening, we just have to have trust. Some of the members of QAnon want to start suing the media for making fun of QAnon.
00:34:16
Speaker
because they're of the firm belief that as it is true, if they do discovery, they'll be able to prove the media is covering up what's really happening behind the scenes. So there's a certain segment of the cure nonpopulation
00:34:31
Speaker
who really do believe these events have occurred, and the media is lying and covering up those occurrences. So we're maintaining the fiction that Hillary Clinton is free, presumably using body doubles of some kind, because she's rotting in a cell with John Podesta somewhere. The Clinton you saw on TV the other day, that's just Paul McCartney's double in a wig. Well, that makes perfect sense. I think you'll agree.
00:35:01
Speaker
And other members of QAnon are having huge social issues because it turns out that when you're really into the QAnon conspiracy theory,
00:35:11
Speaker
then you tend to be really really into the cure non-conspiracy theory and if you've got family members like siblings or a partner who doesn't understand why you're spending large sums of money to attend rallies that never occur or buying up big to move overseas for a disaster they're fairly sure is not going to come then you're finding people becoming estranged or divorced from their loved ones. So there are
00:35:40
Speaker
huge social consequences to holding onto this particular theory. And it is quite fascinating to see that adherents really by this particular point in time are sticking with it. And that's presumably because it works on the same way that 9-11 scams work. Once you get someone buying into the narrative, they've already expended enough capital, whether it be financial or psychological or emotional,
00:36:11
Speaker
that they kind of have
00:36:13
Speaker
to keep going down that pathway or admit they've wasted their time on a lie. That is one of the key features of any sort of a con job, that eventually the mark becomes psychologically dependent on the con. It becomes part of their identity and it would be too psychologically damaging to themselves to admit that they've been conned. And at that point they're doing the work for you, they're doing the work for the con man who just needs to sort of sit back and watch.
00:36:42
Speaker
What of the theories that QAnon is not just a hoax, but is a prank? This is the Luther Blissett hypothesis. So there's a book called Q, written by an Italian art collective known by the name Luther Blissett, which is a kind of historical conspiracy, naparative, which has a secessionist member of the Roman Catholic Church, or members of the Roman Catholic Church, called Q,
00:37:13
Speaker
are leaking information about what's going on to the church to outsiders to reveal in their doings. The Luther Blissett conglomeration were or still are actually political activists in Italy and they kind of wrote Q the book as a
00:37:34
Speaker
a type-set way of, this is how you would run a colon of this particular type. And people notice the similarities between Q the book and QAnon, and going, well, obviously it's one and the same. Now the response to that is, certainly it's possible that the people behind QAnon
00:37:55
Speaker
were inspired by Q the Book, although Q is also conveniently a security clearance which has another fictional history with respect to things like James Bond and information about how the US and UK establishments work, so that could be pure coincidence. But even if it started off as a con, it's kind of now self-sustaining. And the thing is, because we don't know who's behind QAnon,
00:38:23
Speaker
It's possible it started off as a con, but it's been co-opted by someone along the way, or it was started by someone who was sincere, but possibly misguided, but then adopted by people running the con later on.
00:38:38
Speaker
the anonymity of Q is actually what makes Q a non-so-fascinating. We don't know who is behind it and not knowing who's behind it allows us to hypothesize in a vacuum to our heart's content. Yes and it makes it much harder to think about any idea of sort of a motive. Assuming it is a hoax or a con or something you can look at other you can look at your Ponzi schemes
00:39:05
Speaker
And see, you know, obviously it's all being done to enrich the con man or con person. You look at the sort of religious, the biblical ones, it's generally about getting a whole bunch of people into a compound and making them have sex with you. But for QAnon, it's hard to see what anyone is actually getting for it, other than the nice feeling that all these things you believe about the world are really true and it's not going to be okay. Yeah.
00:39:34
Speaker
or rather disturbing. So there we go.
Conclusion: QAnon's Engaging Narrative
00:39:38
Speaker
Will this be the last we ever talk about Q&A? Probably not. Probably not. Probably not. It seems to have a bit of tenacity to it. So if anything interesting happens, if, for example, one of its many predictions actually comes true in a dramatic way, then we'll be sure to talk about it. But based on past form, it doesn't look like that's going to happen. It doesn't seem like we should be holding up much hope.
00:40:02
Speaker
That being said, QAnon has now made so many predictions of now increasing vagueness, something is going to happen next.
00:40:16
Speaker
three or four months, which is as close to satisfying a prediction as you can get, which is going to cause people, look, it was true the entire time. This one thing happened. It's all true. Everything you believe is a lie. Yes, it is taking on sort of Nostradamus-like qualities, I think he is. But anyway, I think for now, for the purposes of this episode,
00:40:39
Speaker
We've said all we need to say. We have. So what we're going to do right now is say goodbye and end the episode, but then we're going to go and record our extra little bonus content to Milwaukee. Yes, now normally this bonus content would be for patrons and patrons only, and you'd be able to get access to it
00:41:00
Speaker
by becoming a patron for as little as one dollar a month although we would encourage you to give us say two or three dollars a month because we've got new cameras to buy better microphones to get and of course that facelift that we both made we're only getting one facelift between two of us so it's going to be very very disconcerting but it's going to be the same face so when we turn in the right way it's going to look fantastic on camera
00:41:28
Speaker
And also, horrify our loved ones, of which of course, we have none. So the bonus content I'm assuming will be audio only, given that we don't have a way of getting to videos. Technically we do with Patreon, but not with the...
00:41:47
Speaker
Podbean stuff. Technically you could also do it with the Podbean stuff as well, but it's probably easier to just write stuff just as audio for the time being, but who knows? If you give us exciting moolah
00:42:04
Speaker
people who want to hear bonus content as opposed to our existing patrons, then maybe we'll get an even better camera. Who knows? Who knows? But until then, we will make a show of saying goodbye, and you can actually go and do some more stuff. So goodbye. Wink, wink. La rida de re.
00:42:25
Speaker
Wink wink! You've been listening to the podcaster's guide to the conspiracy. It is written, researched and performed by Josh Addison, aka monkeyfluids, and MRXtenteth, aka Conspiricism on Twitter. This podcast is available where all good podcasts can be found, as well as iTunes, Podbean and Stitcher.
00:42:52
Speaker
It can also be watched on YouTube. Just search for the podcaster's guide to the conspiracy, or, if you happen to be technophobic, consult the auguries. You can support the podcaster's guide to the conspiracy via our Patreon page, as listed in the podcast description, or just by searching for us on Patreon.
00:43:14
Speaker
You can also support us via the Podbean patronage system, if that is more your style. You do you. If you want to get in contact with us, why not email us at podcastconspiracy at gmail.com, or find us on Facebook. And remember, remember, oh December, what a night.