LOL at the picture they used..
The QAnon conspiracy
A convoluted theory gains enough internet traction to warrant media coverage, which in turn attracts even more conspiracy theorists into the fold.
The internet has made it easier than ever before to evangelize on behalf of a conspiracy theory. But this week, the missionaries for QAnon used their physical bodies to spread the word, with T-shirts and a paper sign, “We are Q,” aimed at the cameras covering President Trump’s campaign rally.
People noticed, including journalists. The signs became mainstream news, and the news of QAnon spread. On Reddit’s “Great Awakening” discussion board, devoted to QAnon and its supporters, a user wrote, “QAnon is finally trending on Twitter!”
QAnon is as convoluted as any other conspiracy theory out there but with one distinguishing feature: QAnon is the result of a twisted sort of optimism. It gives the people who believe in the conspiracy internet hope that a reckoning is about to hit.
The layers of the conspiracy go like this: Take your standard Democratic pedophilia ring and world-domination fantasy, but that’s only the base, like the crust of a pizza. Onto this, you layer a fantasy in which Trump, while posing as a flailing president in public, is secretly orchestrating a crackdown on the entire cabal. Trump is working behind the scenes with special counsel Robert Mueller III, whose real federal investigation is aimed at the Clintons. Trump has loyalists spread through the U.S. intelligence agencies, which are otherwise dens of the cabal. The crackdown is imminent. It’s always imminent, and it will be glorious.
Better yet, we don’t need to simply wait in ignorance, because a high-level operative in Trump’s alliance has for the last nine months been communicating with the public through cryptic posts on an anonymous internet forum.
It took a paper sign reading “I am Q” to bring the conspiracy theory to its latest threshold of visibility. Enjeti decided not to ask the White House about QAnon. But now, as curiosity about it is spreading, the conspiracy is becoming a series of explanatory articles.
Phillips said that when journalists become involved in reporting on things like QAnon, conspiracy evangelists benefit from the core belief that drives journalism itself – to provide the public with truthful information.
“The problem is that the information is exactly what the evangelists want. It risks bringing more people into the story who can be converted,” Phillips said.
“These reports, they are serving an important function even as they are doing the worst possible thing they could do.”
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/08/05/commentary-the-qanon-conspiracy/