OT - SIAP Qanon into the storm HBO docuseries

[CouldBeDabo]

Anyone watching/watched this docuseries on HBO? Watched first episode last night. Interested to hear what other decent folks thought about it before this thread inevitably makes its way to the roundest of tables.

I’ve always been fascinated by conspiracy theories simply because it makes for an entertaining - albeit hardly provable - story. Coupled with the fact that a lot of large theories are peddled by seemingly intelligent individuals - I’m always curious how they get into that mentality/headspace where the theory essentially consumes their whole life. I knew that Qanon existed but had no idea how far reaching it was. It’s wild to me that the same people clamoring about the reliability of information from MSM (somewhat deservedly) put their faith in an anonymous message board where no one has the slightest clue who the person is that the information is disseminated from. Not to mention how often Qs “insider” information never actually comes to fruition.

Spoiler alert: the qanon community is exactly how you pictured them.

 

[CUFam98]

Anyone watching/watched this docuseries on HBO? Watched first episode last night. Interested to hear what other decent folks thought about it before this thread inevitably makes its way to the roundest of tables.

I’ve always been fascinated by conspiracy theories simply because it makes for an entertaining - albeit hardly provable - story. Coupled with the fact that a lot of large theories are peddled by seemingly intelligent individuals - I’m always curious how they get into that mentality/headspace where the theory essentially consumes their whole life. I knew that Qanon existed but had no idea how far reaching it was. It’s wild to me that the same people clamoring about the reliability of information from MSM (somewhat deservedly) put their faith in an anonymous message board where no one has the slightest clue who the person is that the information is disseminated from. Not to mention how often Qs “insider” information never actually comes to fruition.

Spoiler alert: the qanon community is exactly how you pictured them.

Sounds like most of the "insiders" on all websites....including websites for college sports teams.

 

[UpstateTgrFan]

A fascinating and disturbing watch. Highly recommend to anyone, regardless of political affiliation. There are lessons to be learned for all of us in it.

 

[WinstonW101]

The news networks spew unadulterated bullshit that people have to come up with conspiracies to explain the blatant pandering to whatever team they have their rooting interest . This coupled with crazies having the ability to locate & communicate via the internet.

 

[JStoneTiger]

Just finished it this week. From what it presented, it very strongly points towards the identity of who was running the "Q" account. I thought it did a pretty good job of not spending the entire doc mocking the Q followers, but also exposing the ridiculousness of it all.

I wish they would have spent less time on the personal beefs and in-fighting of the 8Chan team, and more time on the cultural aspects that led to this "movement" and the zealots who bought into it.

 

[richard_10]

Was there a strong liberal bend to it or is it at least watchable for conservatives?

 

[UpstateTgrFan]

Was there a strong liberal bend to it or is it at least watchable for conservatives?

I felt like the documentarian tried his best to be objective. It is not going to give you any warm, fuzzy feelings about Trump and particularly some of the people in his circle (Michael Flynn, for example). But it's a lot better than what we saw on 60 Minutes the other night with DeSantis and I think it would be a mistake to not watch this just because there are moments that are unflattering to Trump and some of his big fans/followers.

EDIT: added the word "just" to the last sentence

 

[dbjork6317]

Was there a strong liberal bend to it or is it at least watchable for conservatives?

This is a conspiracy theory that has been tacitly endorsed by some mainstream politicians - which lead to an attempted coup on our capitol. Exposing that conspiracy and those politicians should not be offensive to conservatives or liberals or anyone who values American democracy.

 

[GoodWord28]

@areeves

 

[metalman82]

Was there a strong liberal bend to it or is it at least watchable for conservatives?

Don't be afraid to watch things that are unflattering to any political party. We should all want to hear opposing opinions, even if we don't agree with them. Being open to other viewpoints isn't a bad thing. Being closed minded stunts ones acumen.

 

[CouldBeDabo]

Was there a strong liberal bend to it or is it at least watchable for conservatives?

Conservative here. Of course there will be things you don’t like but overall I enjoyed it.

 

[CouldBeDabo]

@areeves

Don’t.

Plz.

 

[CoffeeIsForClosers]

Spoiler alert: the qanon community is exactly how you pictured them.

Don't have to look far (The Round Table) to see that. Didn't need to borrow my brother's HBO password either lol

 

[ChicagoTiger85]

It's pretty good. The interesting aspect of it is that the focus of it is less on the QAnon people and how bizarre they are than it is on the freak show that created and runs 8Chan (and some of the folks who managed the Q boards on 4Chan). They even sort of paint the Q people in a sympathetic way. The only people who come off as really sinister are Jim and Ron Watkins. The whole drama between them and Hotwheels is pretty fascinating, and so is the investigation into who Q might be (pretty sure it's Ron Watkins, and it might've been him all along). They did have me convinced Q was Steve Bannon at one point, but I think Ron might've set things up to look like it was him.

 

[DFan]

This is a topic that we cannot view as partisan. QAnon is not defendable and terrifying how something so ridiculous could become so widespread. Many of us on this board have probably had some visibility or interaction with someone who was buying in to either some or all of this. Which is astounding.

A group of people literally stormed the capital, and hundreds of thousands if not millions actually believed that “the storm” was coming in December where all would be exposed and Trump would be anointed. And again in January. And again in March.

We are all so desensitized to noise and nonsense that we don’t collectively appreciate how insane this whole thing is. If someone would have told us 10 years ago that this would happen it would have seemed so unfathomably laughable that no one on either side of the political spectrum could even consider it.

 

[Trading Tiger]

Anyone watching/watched this docuseries on HBO? Watched first episode last night. Interested to hear what other decent folks thought about it before this thread inevitably makes its way to the roundest of tables.

I’ve always been fascinated by conspiracy theories simply because it makes for an entertaining - albeit hardly provable - story. Coupled with the fact that a lot of large theories are peddled by seemingly intelligent individuals - I’m always curious how they get into that mentality/headspace where the theory essentially consumes their whole life. I knew that Qanon existed but had no idea how far reaching it was. It’s wild to me that the same people clamoring about the reliability of information from MSM (somewhat deservedly) put their faith in an anonymous message board where no one has the slightest clue who the person is that the information is disseminated from. Not to mention how often Qs “insider” information never actually comes to fruition.

Spoiler alert: the qanon community is exactly how you pictured them.

I don't have HBO, but I find it absolutely fascinating how the democrats are now the ones who say stupid things like "trust the government, they just want what's best for you, blah blah blah", after decades of skepticism, and it's now the Republicans who are the conspiracy theorists.

 

[GoodWord28]

Don’t.

Plz.

It’s a Qanon thread though...

 

[ChicagoTiger85]

Was there a strong liberal bend to it or is it at least watchable for conservatives?

As a conservative Republican, I would say not really. It's less about American politics than it is about the weirdos who run 8Chan. There were a few comments that seemed to have a liberal bias (for instance, he says that concerns about voter security were entirely about people not voting for Trump, which isn't really true), but not so much that it would make you distrust the documentary.

The guy who made it is someone who's interested in privacy, and the ways in which it's being infringed by the government. He's also made some stuff about how corporations mine data, and about Edward Snowden. So he's probably closer to Glen Greenwald, who's sort of a heterodox lefty, than he is to a typical liberal. I'm not sure I'd agree with him about much, but this isn't liberal activism, either. Adam McKay, who's a socialist (and who directed a bunch of dumb comedies before directing the also somewhat silly portrait of Dick Cheney), is the producer.

 

[activatedsludge]

This is a conspiracy theory that has been tacitly endorsed by some mainstream politicians - which lead to an attempted coup on our capitol. Exposing that conspiracy and those politicians should not be offensive to conservatives or liberals or anyone who values American democracy.

The first attempted coup in history where everyone was home by 8pm.

 

[dbjork6317]

This is a topic that we cannot view as partisan. QAnon is not defendable and terrifying how something so ridiculous could become so widespread. Many of us on this board have probably had some visibility or interaction with someone who was buying in to either some or all of this. Which is astounding.

A group of people literally stormed the capital, and hundreds of thousands if not millions actually believed that “the storm” was coming in December where all would be exposed and Trump would be anointed. And again in January. And again in March.

We are all so desensitized to noise and nonsense that we don’t collectively appreciate how insane this whole thing is. If someone would have told us 10 years ago that this would happen it would have seemed so unfathomably laughable that no one on either side of the political spectrum could even consider it.

Not only that but Qanon conspiracy theories are leading to changes in election laws, which started with Georgia. It’s no wonder certain politicians are happy to encourage these crazy theories as it helps them maintain power.

 

[UpstateTgrFan]

The first attempted coup in history where everyone was home by 8pm.

I think we should not overplay what happened that day but certainly not understate it either.

It's like when Walter Sobchack pulled a gun on Smokey for trying to mark his score 8 during a league game. Sure, Walter didn't shoot him. But he did aim the gun at him and put a round in the chamber.

It was on the precipice of being much worse, and I'm glad it wasn't.

 

[DFan]

The first attempted coup in history where everyone was home by 8pm.

Yes, that is correct. Was certainly not well organized or executed.

 

[TigManinSC]

I watched it and thought it was pretty good. The whole Q thing has never made sense to me. I don't like Hillary but her as a child molestor and cannibal, seriously? Come on.

And before all the Dems go crazy, I've noticed from this documentary and others there seems to be a significant number of Q followers who supported Bernie Sanders for President in 2016 and then became Trump backers when he won.

Seems to be some correlation between Sanders, Trump and Q. I guess it's just the anti-Establishment, sticking it to the man type thing.

 

[hopefultiger13]

Anyone watching/watched this docuseries on HBO? Watched first episode last night. Interested to hear what other decent folks thought about it before this thread inevitably makes its way to the roundest of tables.

I’ve always been fascinated by conspiracy theories simply because it makes for an entertaining - albeit hardly provable - story. Coupled with the fact that a lot of large theories are peddled by seemingly intelligent individuals - I’m always curious how they get into that mentality/headspace where the theory essentially consumes their whole life. I knew that Qanon existed but had no idea how far reaching it was. It’s wild to me that the same people clamoring about the reliability of information from MSM (somewhat deservedly) put their faith in an anonymous message board where no one has the slightest clue who the person is that the information is disseminated from. Not to mention how often Qs “insider” information never actually comes to fruition.

Spoiler alert: the qanon community is exactly how you pictured them.

Thanks for this OP. I might check it out. I read an article on why QANON is such an appealing group for a lot of us. It's based in gaming theory and is written by a game designer. No endorsement and no idea if this theory has merit or not... But I found it interesting reading. Edit: Fair warning... This article will actually take a few minutes to read. Millenials should probably just not even bother clicking on it.

 

[ChicagoTiger85]

Anyone watching/watched this docuseries on HBO? Watched first episode last night. Interested to hear what other decent folks thought about it before this thread inevitably makes its way to the roundest of tables.

I’ve always been fascinated by conspiracy theories simply because it makes for an entertaining - albeit hardly provable - story. Coupled with the fact that a lot of large theories are peddled by seemingly intelligent individuals - I’m always curious how they get into that mentality/headspace where the theory essentially consumes their whole life. I knew that Qanon existed but had no idea how far reaching it was. It’s wild to me that the same people clamoring about the reliability of information from MSM (somewhat deservedly) put their faith in an anonymous message board where no one has the slightest clue who the person is that the information is disseminated from. Not to mention how often Qs “insider” information never actually comes to fruition.

Spoiler alert: the qanon community is exactly how you pictured them.

I think the bolded part is just a feature of populism. The spirit of cynicism about institutions and "establishments" (which are often really vaguely defined) can easily turn into an unreasonable skepticism about anything coming from established sources, to the point that you start to think anything that challenges "the establishment" is automatically more trustworthy just because of that challenge. I've seen this all the time with people talking about COVID and vaccines, where they think random stuff somebody has tweeted has more veracity than something from CDC because the CDC is "obviously corrupt." Well, even if the CDC is corrupt, that doesn't mean something you randomly find on Twitter is more likely to be true than the much more vetted, much more transparently created, information from the CDC.

 

[iceheart08]

Love the series. Ron was definitely acting as Q for the last number of months (I know Q has gone silent), even if he didn't start it.

Really fascinating.

Agree that there was too much focus on the internal fighting.

 

[ChicagoTiger85]

Love the series. Ron was definitely acting as Q for the last number of months (I know Q has gone silent), even if he didn't start it.

Really fascinating.

Agree that there was too much focus on the internal fighting.

Who do we think started it? I think it might've been Ron the whole time. But it would be an interesting wrinkle if Q actually was somebody higher up in the administration. Like... maybe he actually knew some things. But it still could've been a psy-op where they mixed in some truth they knew about along with other things they were trying to push for in the future. Basically, they thought they could use Q to try to make certain things happen, or to create certain moods.

 

[CUpewpewcachoo]

The first attempted coup in history where everyone was home by 8pm.

Yes, that is correct. Was certainly not well organized or executed.

Especially since there was 0 military involvement which means that by definition, was not a coup.
Its crazy that in the world in which we now live, fact and logic doesn't matter and words mean only what certain groups want them to mean, when they want them to mean it.

 

[DFan]

Especially since there was 0 military involvement which means that by definition, was not a coup.
Its crazy that in the world in which we now live, fact and logic doesn't matter and words mean only what certain groups want them to mean, when they want them to mean it.

It was not a military coup. But still within the definition of a coup.

 

[UpstateTgrFan]

Especially since there was 0 military involvement which means that by definition, was not a coup.
Its crazy that in the world in which we now live, fact and logic doesn't matter and words mean only what certain groups want them to mean, when they want them to mean it.

Incorrect on the definition of coup here. No military involvement required.

 

[deshaunwatson4]

Especially since there was 0 military involvement which means that by definition, was not a coup.
Its crazy that in the world in which we now live, fact and logic doesn't matter and words mean only what certain groups want them to mean, when they want them to mean it.

talk about a red herring

 

[DFan]

Everything is a conspiracy theory if you don’t agree with someone in 2021.

My concern is that comments like this dismiss what happened.

To your point, if 2 people have different views on a voting law for example that does not mean one is a conspiracy theorist.

But, if someone believes that Donald Trump was leading a secret crusade against a baby eating cabal and would be anointed as a supreme leader....well, that is actually a conspiracy theory. And a completely insane one with no gray area.

 

[CouldBeDabo]

Felt like this was relatively docile thread so far. I have a strict no round table policy. What gives @nmerritt11

 

[ChicagoTiger85]

Especially since there was 0 military involvement which means that by definition, was not a coup.
Its crazy that in the world in which we now live, fact and logic doesn't matter and words mean only what certain groups want them to mean, when they want them to mean it.

That's not required for something to be a coup, so the rest of your post is kind of ironic. I'm not sure why conservatives feel the need to be defensive about this. It should be totally disavowed, along with the people who abetted it.

 

[iceheart08]

Especially since there was 0 military involvement which means that by definition, was not a coup.
Its crazy that in the world in which we now live, fact and logic doesn't matter and words mean only what certain groups want them to mean, when they want them to mean it.

Rich that you go after people for ignoring "fact and logic" and allowing words to "mean only what certain groups want them to mean" while bungling the definition of coup.

I chuckled.

 

[iceheart08]

Who do we think started it? I think it might've been Ron the whole time. But it would be an interesting wrinkle if Q actually was somebody higher up in the administration. Like... maybe he actually knew some things. But it still could've been a psy-op where they mixed in some truth they knew about along with other things they were trying to push for in the future. Basically, they thought they could use Q to try to make certain things happen, or to create certain moods.

Yea, hard to tell. I bought into the notion that the original admin was exploring, namely that there was a shift in the source of the drops at a certain point.

I think someone like Roger stone or Dan scavino are good choices.

 

[richard_10]

Don't be afraid to watch things that are unflattering to any political party. We should all want to hear opposing opinions, even if we don't agree with them. Being open to other viewpoints isn't a bad thing. Being closed minded stunts ones acumen.

Thanks mom. You obviously didn't understand my question. I enjoy watching things that are bad about my party, team, interests, etc. so long as they are objective. I just can't stand the subjective bend that comes with a lot of recent Netflix "documentaries". You can get down from your stump now.

 

[dbjork6317]

Yea, hard to tell. I bought into the notion that the original admin was exploring, namely that there was a shift in the source of the drops at a certain point.

I think someone like Roger stone or Dan scavino are good choices.

If it was Roger Stone we’d know about it by now because he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from bragging about it.

 

[areeves]

@areeves

For your information, I’ve NEVER believed in “Q” ... in fact, I’ve always been very skeptical of “Q” it doesn’t match up with Bible Prophecy. Daniel 7 clearly states the 4th Beast (Papal Rome/The Vatican/NWO/Beast-Antichrist would be destroyed by JESUS, NOT With Human Hands! By the way, I told you Biden & his NWO buddies would come after our guns & that’s exactly what’s happening!

 

[TigerGrowls]

This is a conspiracy theory that has been tacitly endorsed by some mainstream politicians - which lead to an attempted coup on our capitol. Exposing that conspiracy and those politicians should not be offensive to conservatives or liberals or anyone who values American democracy.

DOJ quietly acknowledges there was no sedition at the US Capitol

Despite all the outrage and the threats of charging "insurrectionists" with sedition—the act of attempting to overthrow the government—proving them

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