‘do your research’

Go ahead. Talk about it.
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stilltrucking
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‘do your research’

Post by stilltrucking » August 5th, 2020, 1:47 pm

cut and paste
Unlike video games, alternate reality games aren’t played on a console — they use the world as their storytelling platform. There’s no one particular medium. The story takes place in real time and seems to exist in the world. So game designers hide clues and puzzles in websites, apps and even newspaper advertisements. It’s a bit like a networked treasure hunt that turns the world around you into a game.

For Mr. Hon, that phenomenon resembled the dynamics governing QAnon. In a viral Twitter thread and follow-up post, he argued that “QAnon pushes the same buttons that ARGs do, whether by intention or by coincidence. In both cases, ‘do your research’ leads curious onlookers to a cornucopia of brain-tingling information.”

But specifically what caught my eye is that almost everyone who discovers QAnon uses a phrase like, “I did my research.” I kept hearing that and I couldn’t get it out of my head. This research is, basically, typing things into Google but when they do, they go down the rabbit hole. They open a fascinating fantasy world of secret wars and cabals and Hillary Clinton controlling things, and it offers convenient explanations for things that feel inexplicable or wrong about the world. It reminded me specifically of how people get to alternate reality games. Through these research rabbit holes.

There’s a phenomenon you mention in these games called “This is Not a Game.” Can you explain that?

“This is Not a Game” is the idea that the game is more enjoyable for players if we try and avoid to break the suspension of disbelief as much as possible.
If you were an adherent, no one would be able to tell. You would look like any other American. You could be a mother, picking leftovers off your toddler’s plate. You could be the young man in headphones across the street. You could be a bookkeeper, a dentist, a grandmother icing cupcakes in her kitchen. You may well have an affiliation with an evangelical church. But you are hard to identify just from the way you look—which is good, because someday soon dark forces may try to track you down. You understand this sounds crazy, but you don’t care. You know that a small group of manipulators, operating in the shadows, pull the planet’s strings. You know that they are powerful enough to abuse children without fear of retribution. You know that the mainstream media are their handmaidens, in partnership with Hillary Clinton and the secretive denizens of the deep state. You know that only Donald Trump stands between you and a damned and ravaged world. You see plague and pestilence sweeping the planet, and understand that they are part of the plan. You know that a clash between good and evil cannot be avoided, and you yearn for the Great Awakening that is coming. And so you must be on guard at all times. You must shield your ears from the scorn of the ignorant. You must find those who are like you. And you must be prepared to fight.
You know all this because you believe in Q.
The reason I’m optimistic is not that I think QAnon will disappear in a year but that something like QAnon is proof that people care and people like being involved in pursuit of truth. In QAnon that care and pursuit are dangerously twisted. But it gives people who feel unwelcome in lots of places a sense of purpose. You can make projects and build community that harnesses that positively. The same way bad actors can look at QAnon and find a playbook, so can good actors. We can find similar ways to motivate alienated people in a more constructive way. At least I hope so.
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saw
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Re: ‘do your research’

Post by saw » August 7th, 2020, 8:55 am

QAnon as you suggest fills a void in people that believe there has to be more that the mundane day to day meanderings for some kind of peace of mind.......cults and gangs fill the same need I think....there is more, there must be.....and the idea of tapping into some secret knowledge is very appealing to this lost segment of folks that are needy.....it kind of demonstrates that whatever is done can be explained away, no matter how crazy or hideous....the internet was made for conspiracies when you think about it.....no more leafleting on the corner.....you can instantly reach millions....so could this be used for good ?.....in a way to bring out the best in people....i suppose.....but for the time being it seems to be the go to tool of the fringe right ......reminds me of Scientology.......complex and leaving one wanting more dark secrets.....this may also appeal to gamers.....the video game world is rife with seekers of the next level......it's that next level thing that drives folks......and one might say religions are not bringing people in,
in the same numbers as in past years ( centuries ).....I feel a little left behind in grasping the impact or lack there of.....but i suspect the numbers are dramatically on the rise.....it's rather bizarre to me that's easier to get people to grab on to a conspiracy theory no matter how radical and implausible, then it is to take a hard look at the impact of the 1%.....and maybe in the end, it is the work of the 1% that is creating this diversion.....why not ?.....if we are talking conspiracies, why not that one ?
If you do not change your direction
you may end up where you are heading

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stilltrucking
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Re: ‘do your research’

Post by stilltrucking » August 7th, 2020, 2:03 pm

11 GOP congressional nominees support QAnon conspiracy
At least 11 Republican congressional nominees have publicly supported or defended the QAnon conspiracy theory movement or some of its tenets — and more aligned with the movement may still find a way onto ballots this year.

Why it matters: Their progress shows how a fringe online forum built on unsubstantiated claims and flagged as a threat by the FBI is seeking a foothold in the U.S. political mainstream.
https://www.axios.com/qanon-nominees-co ... ba801.html
The QAnon Candidates Are Here. Trump Has Paved Their Way.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/us/p ... dates.html

saw
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Re: ‘do your research’

Post by saw » August 9th, 2020, 4:28 pm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mad ... ong-thing/

I guess for me it's trying to get a read on how many really believe the lies, and how many are using the lies to get what they want....it may be the kind of thing where when you spout the slop enough you actually come to think it's true allowing you to double down and defend it
If you do not change your direction
you may end up where you are heading

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stilltrucking
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Re: ‘do your research’

Post by stilltrucking » August 16th, 2020, 9:42 pm

cutting and pasting

NBC News about an internal Facebook investigation that gives the first real glimpse into the size of QAnon’s online footprint. The investigation found millions of members across thousands of QAnon groups and pages

This was followed by a Guardian investigation that found “more than 170 QAnon groups, pages and accounts across Facebook and Instagram with more than 4.5 million aggregate followers.”


The stewards of the Big Tech platforms surely didn’t envision QAnon when they sought to connect the world. But they should have. Because the movement leveraged all the platforms’ tools exactly as they were intended to be used.

“When you bring people together, you never know where it will lead,” Mr. Zuckerberg said at the end of his speech in 2017.

He was right.
I feel like, over the past three years, there have been so many moments where I thought it had reached its zenith, but it was really only just getting started.
The Storm
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