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Comment by tashi | Hacker News Reader

Wait, Q started with a clear and verifiable prediction that a thing was about to happen very soon, and then that thing 100% did not happen? And then it grew from there? I thought I understood how the scam of fortune-telling worked, but apparently I do not!

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This phenomenon led Leon Festinger to the concept of cognitive dissonance.

https://www.amazon.com/When-Prophecy-Fails-Leon-Festinger/dp...

When reality contradicts beliefs, the mind would rather adjust its filters on reality than adjust its beliefs.

Not the first time a religion was started on the basis of a prophecy that failed to deliver. A spin off of the Millerite Church predicted the end or the world in 1844. The fact that it did not come to pass, a non event that later became known as the Great Dissapointment, had many consequences including the founding of the 7th Day Adventist church.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerism

QAnon is absolutely a cult derived from the ideals of Christian spiritual warfare, apocalypticism, and associated eschatology.

The last time it was this bad was during the daycare panics of the 80's and 90's a movement I myself was a victim of.

As soon as I heard the stuff about satanic rituals and drinking babies' blood I immediately thought of the McMartin trial. Sorry to hear you were caught up in the SRA mass hysteria, hope it is not still affecting your life.

Sadly its had a very profound effect on my life. From external appearances I am a successful individual. On the inside, I am a depressed, anxious mess and have trust issues with relationships.

This is exactly how both religious cults and fascist regimes work.

Both social forms require rigid distinction between the in-group and the out-group.

The in-group separates themselves from the out-group by the ritual of confirming that they believe things that are obviously false.

Similar to how criminal gangs use tattoos to both identify the in-group to each other, and to ensure the out-group won't accept them if they defect.

The issue is that you have all these people who are willing to believe in something getting connected. The prophecy can fail but the connections remain.

I guess it's a problem that has been exacerbated by information technology: distance from other believers no longer inhibits your ability to create an echo chamber to the same degree it use to.

Purportedly, Q is a military intelligence operation. Some of the posts are supposed to be information releases that get around the secret classifications. Some of them are supposed to be intended to mislead their enemy and manipulate them into committing actions desirable to the Q cause.

Remember, the US Military is the true defender of the Constitution. Q is supposed to be coordinating the restoration of constitutional control of the government to the American people.

There's nothing in US law, the Constitution, or really tradition that calls the military the "true defenders of the Constitution." Indeed, the US government intentionally subordinates military interests to civilian authority by having the President assume the role of Commander-in-Chief.

There have been dozens if not hundreds of governments where the military wrested control from elected officials as "true defenders of the Constitution." We call those military coups. They generally represent the death of a Constitutional republic.

It is in the oath that every service member, enlisted or officer, swears upon entering service.

Unless I've misunderstood what you meant by "true" in your previous post, nothing in the oaths says what you say they said. They aren't any kind of sole defenders, nor would the American people want that.

America was founded partially to escape rule by military might.

The oath I swore when I joined the Air Force:

“I [state your full name], Do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God (optional).” [1]

1. https://www.airman.af.mil/Portals/17/002%20All%20Products/00...

Yeah, I've read it. And the Navy one. And the Army. What do you think I said that contradicts that? How do you think the Air Force would be upholding that oath if it overthrew the elected government or did something to the "deep state" (which is just the bureaucracy)?

Just watch the show.

I have been. It's been fascinating to watch so many members of the President's advisory circles go to prison. Campaign chair, deputy campaign chair, personal lawyer, national security adviser, political adviser, foreign policy adviser.

If I didn't know better, I'd guess the American people elected someone to "drain the swamp" who brought a swamp with him.

Its all going to boomerang. Just watch the show.

The flat-Earthers say the same thing. The conspiracy to hide flat Earth will break down. Any day now.

Any day now.

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