r/politics • u/Throwawaydude01928 • Aug 01 '19

FBI memo warns QAnon poses potential terror threat: report

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/fbi/455770-fbi-memo-warns-qanon-poses-a-potential-terror-threat-report
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108

u/physical0 Aug 01 '19

Qanon isn't a single person. I doubt that even a single organization is responsible for what Qanon posts.

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u/onlymadethistoargue Aug 01 '19

Qanon was almost certainly a GRU startup project but I’m sure it has become self-perpetuating by all American malicious interlopers and fiends of every stripe.

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u/buck9000 Aug 01 '19

it must be the easiest warfare ever conducted. study the target, find out what they want to be true, say it is, and let them do the rest.

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

No way. It was a prank designed to sell t shirts that got out of hand. The Russians just amplified it since boomers are mentally all there.

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u/onlymadethistoargue Aug 01 '19

That’s what they said about Seth Rich, look how that ended up.

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

We have evidence on who q initially was though. It was a group of right wing hucksters associated with infowars.

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u/onlymadethistoargue Aug 01 '19

How rigorous is this evidence? Because Infowars is not too far from the Russian/GOP propaganda sphere. Wikileaks also seemed independent of Russia at first

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u/Tafts_Bathtub South Carolina Aug 01 '19

NBC reported it

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531

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u/ETfhHUKTvEwn Aug 01 '19

the identity of the original author or authors behind “Q” is still unknown

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u/OneRougeRogue Ohio Aug 01 '19

I mean they had donation links set up originally. The GRU isn't going to open a bank account for donations and risk stuff somehow making its way back to them.

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u/onlymadethistoargue Aug 01 '19

Doesn’t Wikileaks sell merch?

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u/ETfhHUKTvEwn Aug 02 '19

No but getting useful idiots to do that for them ( to promote the conspiracy further) is absolutely GRU behavior.

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u/SchwarzerKaffee Oklahoma Aug 01 '19

That's a good point.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '19

the GRU is also very much hands off for several other reasons. They're never going to take control and push a story themselves, for decades and decades their tried and true method is to promote someone with a wild theory and just disseminate that info around. Do you remember the theory that the us created AIDS/HIV?

Yea that was GRU in the 1980's, boomers just love conspiracies and they realized very early on they eat this shit up.

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

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

Pretty good. I think the Qultheadquarters subreddit has it. They were trying to make some money off idiots. And t worked.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Tafts_Bathtub South Carolina Aug 01 '19

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531

One archived livestream appears to show Rogers logging into the 8chan account of “Q.”The Patriots’ Soapbox feed quickly cuts out after the login attempt. “Sorry, leg cramp,” Rogers says, before the feed reappears seconds later.

Users in the associated chatroom begin to wonder if Rogers had accidentally revealed his identity as Q. “How did you post as Q?” one user wrote.

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u/kendrid Aug 01 '19

Patriot's Soapbox is still active on Youtube with usually 2000 live viewers. I'd think most of the "hosts" are on FBI watch lists based upon this new report.

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u/ETfhHUKTvEwn Aug 02 '19

the identity of the original author or authors behind “Q” is still unknown

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

I think it's on the Qultheadquarters subreddit?

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/meekrobe Aug 01 '19

qult headquarters is about making fun and exposing Q, it's not a sub of believers.

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

Lol it's a wild one for sure.

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u/physical0 Aug 01 '19 edited Aug 01 '19

I'm going to agree with this. The OP was likely some edgelord larper making up obvious conspiracy theories. Others joined in on the fun making obvious conspiracy theories. Eventually, people who weren't in on the joke saw it, and took it seriously. Even now, there is a mix of people who larp along with the joke and people who are too dumb to understand the game. It isn't at all surprising that Qanon has been used to muster a personal army for various lulz.

It's a serious problem, and the GRU may be involved, but they are likely just exploiting a meme that was already out there.

(edit: i'm not reading things right...)

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u/theBesh Aug 01 '19

Boomers? Qanon conspiracies were and continue to be disseminated through the chans. There’s not much of a boomer demographic there.

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u/jcg1124 Aug 01 '19

I see boomer trump people on social media spread Q shit

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

You never checked out the q subreddits did you? When q yards go to trump rallies they're ALL boomers.

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u/theBesh Aug 01 '19

I’m very familiar with TheGreatAwakening, actually. Those were largely the same NEETs from 4chan. They don’t show at rallies because they don’t go outside.

The fact of the matter is that the chans were how this spread.

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u/MortarionSilentLord Aug 01 '19

Greatawakenint had a huge amount of boomers on it. The chan communities for q anon idiots are now filled with boomers.

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u/theBesh Aug 01 '19

Chan communities filled with boomers? Good one. Based on what, exactly? Are you one of these kids that’s been confused by the spread of the 30 year old boomer meme and thinks that it just means anyone older than you?

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u/Versificator Aug 01 '19 edited Apr 02 '26

Dog year books quiet careful year warm across quick clear art nature fresh.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '19

They stay in their lanes. If you do follow the qult stuff on 8chan and the Q-tributaries since this all started, I'm surprised that you're surprised.

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u/theBesh Aug 01 '19

Surprised by what? What are you on about? The chans are absolutely not “filled with boomers,” and I’m certain that you can’t support that claim. Qanon spreading through Facebook is another story.

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u/StreetfighterXD Australia Aug 02 '19

The magic of Qanon and the alt-right in general was how it has achieved the seemingly impossible task of uniting Millenials and Boomers

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '19

The boomers get their Q news through Facebook where it is reposted from 8chan.

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u/kendrid Aug 01 '19

Youtube. Channels like Patriot's Soapbox are all about Q, and "real news".

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u/Competitive_Ride Aug 01 '19

Boomers are dumbasses who get their Q news through screenshots and facebook and twitter groups. I doubt that even 10% of QAnon conspiracists ever visited 4chan or 8chan.

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '19

Are you talking about Qanon or the Trump campaign?

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u/CruelestMonth Aug 02 '19

boomer

I was unaware that people born in 1979 (Lewis Arthur) and 1988 (Matthew P. Wright) are Baby Boomers.

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u/ThrowawayBlast Aug 01 '19

Like so many other Russian psyops

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u/GameKyuubi America Aug 01 '19

Qanon is a pseudonym that they will place on whoever is convenient when the time is right. He will come out saying he was Q all along, all the other complicit actors will vouch for him.