An Experiment in Knowing: Qanon

I have thought a lot about how people in the modern world can separate fact from fiction, how to determine who is lying, and get at some semblance of the truth. Since Qanon suddenly became the massive story (as predicted…by Q… maybe that wasn’t a hard prediction to make, but it is a data point), and I have been tracking the Q story for a while I thought it would make a great test case in Internet Epistemology… Mostly because if it is true, it is the biggest thing happening today, and if false, is an amazing example of narrative building.

But first, a couple of points.

1. A conspiracy theory is just the derogatory term for the idea that a large number of people make plans in private. This idea is not actually false: see the Bolsheviks, the Borgias, political campaigns, business deals… calling it a ‘conspiracy theory’ is just the modern way to make it so that people don’t have to think, they can just dismiss something as ‘tin foil hat’.
2. There are pedophiles and evil people do evil things. Rich, powerful, evil people almost certainly have the means to get away with an amount of evil that most Christians cannot imagine.
3. The Hollywood gossip blog Crazy Days and Nights (CDAN) has accurately called a number of ‘surprise’ sex scandals long before the news broke, including Weinstein.
4. That CDAN has for a long time been posting about large scale procurement and delivery methods for pedophiles is a data point not easily dismissed, especially in light of the NXIVM cult. A demand for something produces a market and logistics…
5. So, that Qanon spends a decent amount of time talking about cracking down on pedophiles does not disqualify the group.

So first, who is Qanon? Somebody is posting in places like 8chan somewhat cryptic posts. You can see all of them archived here: Q posts. Here is an example:

I won’t try to unpack it. The idea is that Q is someone, probably military intelligence, who is close to President Trump. This person, or team, is using the obsessive types who spend time on sites like 4chan and 8chan to process hints into real intel that the wider public could digest in order to prepare the country for what it actually means to ‘drain the swamp’.

If you think these internet types are useless… check out this…

So, if these obsessive types could be pointed at the right targets, they could become a kind of minuteman intelligence agency. Not really for gathering intelligence for the government, but taking hints about what the Military types and Trump know and running it down so that people know. These are the same types who brought down James Gunn…

That guy is a creeper… a very wealthy powerful creep… at minimum.

Qanon basically states that the powerful swamp types are often pedophiles and the frequently members of  (or associated with) a kind of loosely-knit satanic movement that at least occasionally also indulges in human sacrifice. (I know, most readers are now busting out their tin-foil to mock Q, but wait, for now, until at least the end of our Internet Epistemology.) And that Trump is moving through a massive, tedious, and tricky process to root out as much as possible i.e. ‘Drain the Swamp’. The role of Qanon is 1) keep the Trump supporters engaged and motivated 2) help prepare people to come to terms with the evil that is just out of sight around every corner (would make the Catholic Priest scandal seem little in comparison) and 3) spread some disinformation to the ‘black hats’ when necessary.

Is this impossible? Well, the Devil whishes to be worshipped and has always really enjoyed pedophilia and child sacrifice. Over at ‘The Other McCain’ (a site you should read often…) McCain writes:

Just yesterday, I wrote about a CIA leaker busted for child pornography. It is very easy to write a phrase like “obviously unhinged” to dismiss suspicions about “child sex rings” as a way to imply that (a) such things don’t exist, (b) no Democrats or celebrities could be involved, and (c) Trump couldn’t actually be working to bust “child sex rings.” Isn’t it a curious coincidence, however, that celebrities were involved the NXIVM sex cult, which didn’t get busted until Trump became president? And let me remind you of a few headlines:

President of NYC Young Democrats Arrested
on Child Pornography Charges
— May 27, 2017

Child Pornography Arrest Exposes
Australian TV Reporter’s Sordid Gay Life
— April 18, 2017

Canadian Gay Child Pornography Merchant
Reportedly Made $4 Million
— Aug. 9, 2016

Australian Gay-Marriage Crusader Was
Fugitive Wanted on Kiddie Porn Charge
— May 14, 2016

Gay Pedophiles Used ‘Multiple Fake
Female Personas’ in Child Porn Ring
— March 18, 2014

Famous Gay Rights Activist Now Also
Famous for Child Pornography Habits
— Jan. 25, 2014

University of Toronto Education Professor
Arrested on Child Pornography Charges
— July 8, 2013

Two Gay Men Used Russian Surrogate Mother
to Create Boy for Sex Abuse Ring
— July 1, 2013

That’s just a small sample of creeps who’ve been busted the past few years, and don’t forget about this story from 2014:

A new lawsuit has revealed the extent of former President Clinton’s friendship with a fundraiser who was later jailed for having sex with an underage prostitute.
Bill Clinton’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who served time in 2008 for his illegal sexual partners, included up multiple trips to the onetime billionaire’s private island in the Caribbean where underage girls were allegedly kept as sex slaves. . . .
Tales of orgies and young girls being shipped to the island, called Little St. James, have been revealed as part of an ongoing lawsuit between Epstein and his former lawyers Scott Rothstein and Bradley Edwards.

A billionaire friend of Bill Clinton had a private island with teenage sex slaves, but it’s “obviously unhinged” to suspect that other Democrats and celebrities may eventually be exposed as pedophiles? Is it far-fetched to think President Trump may be getting Justice Department briefings about ongoing investigations of child sex rings? Is it a crazy conspiracy theory to believe that some administration “insiders” might know who’s under investigation, and that they might anonymously post tips on Internet forums?

Also, that Jeffrey Epstein has this on his private island.

That is a temple, as per admission… and well, its not anything good. Zoom in of the statues…

Alright, now that you know a tiny taste of what Qanon is about (For a further, very detailed, introduction see: Neon Revolt). We have now started our Internet Epistemology (IE). We must not dismiss something just because all the news outlets over the last 48 hours have called it crazy. We can check  background issues like the existence of NXIVM, Epstein, and the apparent increase in crackdown on pedophiles. And reasonably can conclude that more consideration is needed. We can continue with our IE experiment.

Let us investigate the claim that Q is close to President Trump. Sometimes, Q signs off as Q+ and that is intended to mean that Trump himself posted that post. That is how close we are talking. Lets take Q post #1776. Being an America First type, Q obviously had to commemorate that number somehow. He posted this picture.

The question is: is that or is it not, Donald Trump’s signature under the pen. (And why cover half the signature?) If you compare, it is reasonable to accept that the signature is Trump’s. Does that prove that Q could step over to Trump and say ‘Hey, I need to post #1776, could you sign it?’ No, it really doesn’t. With phenomenal planning, the President’s signature is not impossible to come by.

Next, we have a video of the presidents motorcade passing some supporters, one of whom has a sign asking Q to honk. and… listen, it is towards the end of the 1 min clip.

Many Q followers point out that the Morse code for ‘Q’ is dash – dash – dot -dash… what the white van at the back of the motorcade beeped… Does that mean that Q is real?

.

.

.

Not really, but it probably does prove that someone travelling with the president knows about Q, at least.

How about Trump recognizing a Q shirt?

Or… or… or… if you believe Q, the evidence is everywhere (there are many, so called ‘Q confirmations’). It could be brilliantly engineered confirmation bias, or it could be real. If you don’t believe it, every proof has deniability. And then again  Q would say that was on purpose so that the plan could be followed. Q often reminds people to ‘Trust the Plan’

How can we know? What is real? Every Christian epistemology must start with what we know from what scripture teaches us. We know that throughout the old testament the Israelites bounced between sacrificing their children and fornicating by the Ashtaroth poles and begging God not to destroy them utterly. We know that the Prince of this world is powerful and real. We also can infer some of his favorite things: such as Child Sacrifice. Why would he give that up now, knowing the depravity and wickedness of the current generation? We also know that God raises up men from time to time to punish the wicked and bring comfort to His people. Is that Donald Trump? Maybe, maybe not. But I can say this: the narrative that has been masterfully built by Qanon fits reality far better than the narrative built by the MSM.

I think this is summed up best by McCain again

OK, maybe that’s all tinfoil-hat stuff, but you can’t just call it “baseless claims” and pretend you’ve proven that everything about #QAnon is false. Because for all you know, next week’s headlines will be a new scandal you never imagined in your wildest dreams, and the #QAnon guys will point to a previous tip and say, “See? We told you so!”

One of the best parts about the Qanon is that predictions are made, and sometimes seem to come true. Also, Qanon has an expiration date of November of this year. We will know one way or another. Either a lot of powerful (whether you know their names or not, like Tony Podesta) people go to jail or they don’t.

I think that Qanon is near the president and is at least a counter narrative. Maybe some or many things are not true, but the narrative is truer than that found in the MSM. I think Qanon works to build a back-channel between Trump and the American people so that the conspiratorial monopoly of the MSM cannot destroy the country. (If you think they are not in a conspiracy, look up Journ0list)

I think that Qanon is part of the show that our realty TV president is putting on, all while working for peace in Korea and 4.1% GDP growth and high employment. Whether it is more than that remains to be seen. Internet Epistemology at his point is at least well begun. And as they say, well begun is half done.

Either way, as Q would say, ‘Enjoy the show’.

Update: Q has been posting “Something BIG is about to drop. Q” on and off for a couple of days… so maybe the timeline for knowing the truth is sooner than November…