Erebeccon: We have gotten so divorced from an idea of just doing the basics to help each other. I in politics and i don't think getting vaccinated should be a political decision. It should be a science decision. And the science, we know what the science says. So where this is going is further denial of science, further politi politicization,. that's a word, sure; and a furthering of this divide between us. What do you project is coming next with cuaon and trump and all that stuff? If you can make ita more bigger? Ah, more mainstream me.
Michael Shermer speaks with Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in conspiracy theories, about QAnon and its followers.
On October 5th, 2017, President Trump made a cryptic remark in the State Dining Room at a gathering of military officials. He said it felt like “the calm before the storm” — then refused to elaborate as puzzled journalists asked him to explain. But on the infamous message boards of 4chan, a mysterious poster going by “Q Clearance Patriot,” who claimed to be in “military intelligence,” began the elaboration on their own. In the days that followed, Q’s wild yarn explaining Trump’s remarks began to rival the sinister intricacies of a Tom Clancy novel, while satisfying the deepest desires of MAGA-America. But did any of what Q predicted come to pass? No. Did that stop people from clinging to every word they were reading, expanding its mythology, and promoting it wider and wider? No. Why not?