Fighting real pedophiles might actually require real effort at some point, and might actually be a fight you can win, in theory. Fighting fake pedophiles takes no real effort and you can do it for as long as you like. And as a bonus, if you give up the fight, there’s no real negative consequences to doing so.
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Fighting real pedophiles would likely result in an endless series of own-goals for Qanon…
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I’ve read the article, and I’m too thick to see the hints. Can you give me some pointers?
Here’s what the guy wrote on reddit - one year ago. I have a rather hard time calling that a nonpology:
I hate myself so much right now. I don’t deserve to have an opinion on anything anymore, no one should ever listen to anything I have to say, I should be shunned and ridiculed relentlessly, I should be made an example of, a warning to others of everything a thinking, rational, intelligent human being shouldn’t do. A perfect example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Even when everything else in my life was falling apart, I never doubted for a second that I was smart. I could make mistakes, do dumb things, be an idiot, but deep down I was smarter than your average bear. Or at least that’s what I told myself. That was my one crux I had left in my life to build some semblance of an identity around, and now it’s gone. Not just gone, but completely reversed. Smart? I’m a fucking retard and Q is the proof.
The only person I ever talked to about Q was my Dad. Not my friends, or other family or anyone. I don’t really know why. I would say it was because I wanted to cover my bases in case this all turned out to be bullshit but I don’t trust my feelings or thoughts anymore, I’m probably just saying that to make myself look less of a waste of space. Mental retconning as it were. Still I did tell my Dad and now he’s deep into it, just like I was, he might even be worse than me.
That makes me even sadder, because I did this to him, I introduced him to Q and I am the reason he spends so much of his time watching crazy conspiracy videos on YouTube. This is my fault and that is my penance. I have to find a way to deprogram him. I hope I can, the guilt is too much, hopefully once Trump’s out of office and it’s undeniable that nothing happened I can bring him back to the light. God what have I done? I did this to someone I love, the man who raised me. He worked his whole life to support his fucking loser of a son and this is how I repay him? I must be evil. After all, all evil people believe they’re doing good.
Q didn’t fool me, I fooled myself.
It takes a bit of courage to admit that, I guess, and come out with your photo and you real name. So maybe a bit less judgement is in order here?
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Exactly! Any time I read social media commentators that seem borderline Q, my first thought is usually along the lines of: oh, right, it couldn’t possibly be good old fashioned greed or corruption.
I dunno, I think the existence of QAnon might be a sign that we’re not being anywhere near judgmental enough.
It’s wrong to condemn addicts, but it’s also wrong to pretend their asshole behavior is OK or just a lifestyle choice. If someone keeps pawning your stuff and making you bail them out of jail, then you need that person to change and it doesn’t help anyone to pretend otherwise.
The reason I mention that is it’s exactly what this guy’s post sounds like – twelve-step programs have a name for it. Addicts harm others, which becomes about how bad they feel about that, which bad feelings become a reason to use again – the thing that breaks the cycle is to recognise that when you affect others, it’s not just about you. That is what is conspicuously absent from this post, and it’s what makes me skeptical that he is now someone I’m happy to share a democracy with, just because he’s not currently on QAnon forums.
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I struggle with this as well. I think it’s critical to view folks like this with empathy, and to understand that they are in pain. They are turning to things like QAnon because they are hurting very badly. They are human beings and we need to acknowledge that. At the same time, they keep turning to things are going to get people like me raped and killed someday, so could they please take up golf or something else instead?
That said, I know where he’s coming from. Like any trans person, I had a long period in my life of unimaginable pain. I flirted with the ideas of some extremist people that I met on BBSes (the original, real kind). What happened? The people around me saw what was happening and talked me away from that stuff. A teacher was alarmed by some stuff I had written and brought in my parents and we talked out those ideas. I learned those ideas weren’t okay. So the real question might be, who is this guy’s support network, and why did it fail him? We all fall down and need help up sometimes. Let’s figure out how to build more step ladders.
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This is what this guy‘s entire post appears to be about for me. Where does he pretend his behavior was ok? I don’t get your perspective on this.
So there is this one person from an otherwise monolithic front of degenerate idiocy who puts himself in public, debasing and ridiculing himself for his former views in order to prevent others from going down the same wormhole. And your reaction is „sorry, not good enough“? Isn’t that counterproductive?
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You think?
People wonder who Q really is. He speaks from the grave.
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I used “qat” once in a palindrome (I have four, so far), and I was “shot down” because the feeling was that “qat” should not have been used in an English language palindrome. It’s a good thing “champion” and “bona fide” are unpalindromeable.
Reading between the lines when there is better quality evidence available is a conspiracy theorists game.
If we stick what he does say out loud we get this…
“I can’t say anything with any certainty. I went from being a Berniebro to a Trumptard. I’m done with politics.”
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Maybe I don’t understand cause and effect here, but I think that a phenomenon like QAnon is a systemic one, and no amount of judgement can cure those, quite the contrary I‘m afraid.
The guy‘s father fell for that crap, so it’s not like they guy would have the chance at an upbringing that would have made him resilient against that. He made some bad choices on top of that, and it appears to me that he started taking responsibility in the - maybe limited - way he could.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a lifestyle choice. All the choices people make affect their environment and themselves in some way.
Funny that you quote 12 step programs on that, because they rest on the premise that people are powerless against addiction and need the help of god to overcome it. That somehow makes me suspicious of them. YMMV.
You must have missed the bit about his father then, it‘s right at the end. We have no information about what else he might have done to others, because that’s missing in the article entirely, it doesn’t say if he did anything else than consume information about QAnon.
Also in the article he says this:
Potentially being known as “the QAnon guy” among his friends is the last thing Jadeja wants. But he fears the community will continue to grow. That’s why, he said, he decided to share his story — in the hope that other believers might see that there is life after QAnon and reevaluate their choice to support it
So there’s some indication that he thinks about others, right?
I think what that guy experienced can happen to a lot of people, probably all of us. And it’s not that people who are less likely to fall for QAnon are per se better or more virtuous, they might just have had the good fortune of an upbringing and an environment made them more resilient. How can we blame others for the fact they were less lucky?
If we want less QAnon, we need to build a society that helps people fill their needs for relationship and being a part of something in a more productive way. We need to look
out for each other, not judge each other.
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There are people who fight child abuse and support its victims all day, everyday. Maybe they could support them right now? No need to wait for some farcical dude who’s done nothing for years now.
It’s just the next iteration of “I have a secret plan” with the twist that it’s being run by secret people so there’s even less accountability.
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Stronger than regular Q.
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