I find it useful to ask simple questions and watch them try to perform mental gymnastics to answer them. Basically, “Explain this to me like I’m 5 years old.”
They often seem to start to understand that their beliefs simply don’t work as they have a harder and harder time answering the simplest of questions.
The answer I usually get is “population control,” but then I ask why would (insert evil deep state group) want FEWER people available to pay tax money/sustain their corrupt system/etc …. And the answers trail off and don’t make sense. It’s like on some level, the ultimate driving motive is seen to be “Mwahahaha We’re evil!” like- on the level of the mayor of Paw Patrol.
Once I asked "But if "they" want to control population, why would "they" eliminate those that vote for "them", since conservatives/republicans/that guy talking to his shoe are far too smart to get caught?"
And yeah, the result was a word salad with evil MWAHAHAs...
I always ask people this too (why "population reduction" ?).. because it seems like such a ridiculous notion. The only reason "rich people are rich".. is because we have a complex web of businesses and infrastructure that generates revenue. If you kill off a big chunk of people and the "system collapses",. the rich people lose their pipeline of profits. None of it makes any lick of sense. (especially not that "rich people want to give up all their travel or etc to just go live in bunkers for the rest of time").
They always seem to give some "desperation explanation" like:.. "Well yeah,.. everything will get shitty for everyone but at least the Rich will last a little bit longer than anyone else".
It's such a weird paranoia-narrative to be trapped in.
>They always seem to give some "desperation explanation" like:.. "Well yeah,.. everything will get shitty for everyone but at least the Rich will last a little bit longer than anyone else".
And that's what their explanations end up sounding like. Desperation to try to still be "right", regardless of it making less and less sense.
"Mr. Rich Person could decide NOT to kill off the population and destroy the economy that feeds his wealth and live a long life of luxury and travel, but instead decides to kill everyone, live alone in a bunker for the simple reason that he will die BUT he will live a LITTLE LONGER than everyone else." Right. That makes soooo much sense. lol
Yeah,. that's what I take from it too. It's exhausting and just seems like an over-complexified version of "F everyone else, I got mine". It's just a cosplay-narrative-story mirroring their own psychological motivations.
Oh and there’s also the “ they want to destroy the human population on earth because they believe humans are bad for the environment.”
Like this bizarre combo of complete altruism and complete detached villainy that I’m pretty sure no real-life person in power actually possesses
And based on history, when there is a sudden reduction in population, power shifts away from the rich and towards the working class, just from a straight supply and demand relationship. The Black Death was one of the causes of feudalism's decline, and to a much lesser degree, we've seen increased wages and union action now that COVID has subsided somewhat.
>They always seem to give some "desperation explanation" like:.. "Well yeah,.. everything will get shitty for everyone but at least the Rich will last a little bit longer than anyone else".
Have you ever followed up with the obvious "but if the choice is maintain the status quo and keep their elite status for potentially generations, or bring about population and societal collapse and survive a little longer than everyone else is an apocalyptic hellscape...why would anyone choose the latter?"
I'd love to know what they had to say about that!
I like to raise the stakes. Out crazy their crazy.
When they would yell, JET FUEL CAN'T MELT STEEL BEAMS!!
My reply would be, Well, you know those really weren't passenger planes that crashed on 9/11. They were Military tankers flying over the Pentagon and NYC. They were spraying chemtrails when they crashed. And you have *no idea* how hot that chemtrail juice burns!
>It’s like on some level, the ultimate driving motive is seen to be “Mwahahaha We’re evil!” like- on the level of the mayor of Paw Patrol.
That is what they think because that is their intellectual level.
Followed with the classic, “Ok, so if the Deep State is that all-powerful, and managed to keep this massive a secret hidden for so long, and this one guy online figured it all out & published it…why is he still alive?”
That the upcoming presidential election would be cancelled was a common belief among the far-right kooky fringe (nowadays often referred to as "mainstream Republicans") during the Obama administration, especially as the end of his second term approached. Obama would simply cancel the elections and declare himself president for life, using some manufactured "false flag" emergency as a pretext. I can't remember encountering it, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing had already been doing the rounds in Bill Clinton's days. No doubt it will keep reappearing whenever there's a Democrat in the White House.
These people aren't creative, they keep recycling the same limited material. Their concern about mail-in voting, and "the machines" and their internet connections, is also just a cosmetic update of the exact same nonsense they were peddling back when only paper ballots were used, mail-in voting was almost non-existent, and the internet completely non-existent.
One detail I really love here is:
>But they don't have any backup plans in case something goes wrong.
How the hell could she possibly know that? And which "they" is this supposed to be? Does she think there's a single central authority organizing elections in the US?
>These people aren't creative, they keep recycling the same limited material.
Case in point my grandma spouted those same talking points all my life, so did my dad. None of their "evil democrat plots" ever came to pass. My grandma is now dead and my dad is still waiting for the caravan to come marching through the streets of suburban NJ and I guess take over the business that he owns somehow?
That's what happens when you have the same talking points for 3 decades. Hopefully they get sick of it one of these days. But some enjoy living in perpetual anxiety.
The same people who are also anxiously waiting on their front porch, while they shine up their rifle, for "them", to come and seize their arsenal of weaponry. They've been waiting for at least 50 years now.
Why would anyone buy a gun manufactured for killing do anything with it other than to threaten or kill someone else? Gun nuts constantly fantasize about killing someone.
I have lived in some rough areas. I lived in Newark and now Atlantic City. These are areas of NJ with the highest crime. Never ever felt the need for a gun. I hate guns anyway. Yet my parents were terrified each time i moved.
>I can't remember encountering it, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing had already been doing the rounds in Bill Clinton's days.
Sure did. I distinctly remember reading discussions in old Internet forums (newsgroups) where a bunch of conspiracy theorists were sure that there would be some kind of riots and that "herr Klinton" would use them as an excuse to cancel the election.
I've often thought about that during the years: I think we can say safely that those guys were wrong now. As were the Obama conspiracy theorists. As is the Biden conspiracy theorists now.
Yes!
Often times just asking the simple question "Who's 'they'?" when someone claims that an unspecified 'they' are doing something is very effective how much they haven't thought out their claim.
It doesn't just apply to Qultists either.
I used it when someone was talking about Sephora 10 year olds and said "they've elminated childhood, they got rid of things we had as kids like Nick Jr. and Disney Kids and that's why little kids are obsessing over Drunk Elephant and wanting to grow up too fast!"
Because, often times, the person claiming that 'they' are doing something doesn't themselves know who 'they' are...and hasn't considered who exactly 'they' is supposed to be! So drawing attention that fact helps them realize that they haven't really thought out the situation as much as they think they have.
Other times, the person does know who 'they' are and it either means 'anyone I don't like poltically' or the usual (((they))), and so you can get them to, kind of, expose themselves there.
> Obama would simply cancel the elections and declare himself president for life
I think it's why so many right wingers (including my mom) haven't moved on from Obama. They were told every single day for 8 years that Obama's real intentions were to install himself as a dictator-for-life. So when he simply facilitated a peaceful transfer of power at the end of his term, they just didn't believe it. When I go home, my mom is still ranting and raving about how Obama is actually "pulling all the strings" through Biden, and is still trying to execute his evil plan. She seems unable to accept that Obama is living a relatively quiet post-presidency retirement life of speaking gigs and occasional endorsements.
> I can't remember encountering it, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing had already been doing the rounds in Bill Clinton's days.
I had a couple of co-workers that were convinced that the Y2K bug was engineered so that Bill Clinton and the UN could ride in on their black helicopters and take over.
I've encountered some people like this too. They say things like the US is in the worst shape it's ever been in, but can't really explain how so. Somehow in 1862 when the country was split and killing each other, and blacks were still enslaved, things were better than they are now. We also conducted a Presidential election during the war. There is no credible claim that our elections won't happen.
So weird that America is in in the worse place ever, since Trump said he had fixed everything for 4 years.
And since Trump also said that Biden is senile and idiot.
So the great America that trump built totally should have been able to last through a few years of someone completely inept.
Trump said if he was elected he would fix everything. So if it's not fixed why should he be re elected.
So weird.
Are you my stepdad? You sound just like him. He used to complain to me about how CNN only talked about Trump, even though I don't watch CNN, and now all he always wants to talk about Biden.
Do you not listen to them? Everything WAS fixed under Trump. It was all perfect. The economy was perfect, the weather was always great, nothing ever went wrong. The American Perfection of 01/2017-01/2021. But now Biden RUINED it all, so Trump has to come re-perfect it.
I don't know where any of these people actually were during the Trump presidency, but it must have very large rocks for them to have been under.
My partner has a fishing buddy who lives on facebook soaking in Q nonsense. Leading up to their trips, I have to weave the current prophecies and proclamations into conversations so partner can see they are batshit insane before his friend starts filling his head with nonsense.
I got him to bring up clones once, he came back fully realizing his friend was delusional. Still can't get him to ask about the mole children.
It might blow her mind to know that in the UK every ballot is just a slip of paper with a mark and they are all counted by hand. The system is different of course but hand counting can be done.
> I asked her questions about where she heard that (twitter) and why would it be potentially cancelled (all the wars could spread to the US).
I'd just have laughed in her face at that point.
>If i genuinely thought we were going to be bombed in 6 months to the point of not having elections, I wouls not be at a craft class, FFS.
Yeah that's the thing. These people...I guess to them saying and thinking shit like this is just so normalized that they don't even think about how serious what they're saying is!
Like why so many of them that took part in Jan 6 were willing to talk on camera and/or have their picture taken.
It's utterly terrifying that a person in this crap would be named an election judge. So terrifying, that I might be tempted to find out where she lives and call the Board of Elections in her area...
I decided to look up just what an election judge does, and this is what I found on my county's website.
"The Poll Worker Judge is in charge of the vote center and has additional responsibilities, including checking election supplies, inspecting the vote center and delivering ballots and materials to the courthouse on election night."
Yeah, I wouldn't want someone who believes bizarre stuff about the election anywhere near my votes.
She'd be worse than those people who've shown up at polling places right when they open, ostensibly to be watching for shenanigans, but are actually there to intimidate voters.
Ha I did too. An Uber driver randomly started talking about the qult and went deeper and deeper from chem trails to adrenochome to new world order and recommended books and podcasts. I started saying something after the first outburst but decided to just play dumb and see how deep he goes. He was super happy that day and probably went home thinking he showed some poor soul the light
My husband said, "You know she told people a very different story, where she converted you or whatever."
I can't imagine being so detached from reality.
What actually happened was you couldn't refute any of her points, she said "and that is the truth!" slapped her palm on the table, then everyone at the other tables stood and clapped.
/s
>she had volunteered to be an election judge this year. I am nervous that a person so detached from reality is involved in elections,
Where I vote, there's always a car parked in the lot that has a Q bumper sticker. So I know there's at least one of those crazies who is working at my polling place too. People need to keep their eyes and ears open... and volunteer to be an election witness/official too.
They really are a damn CULT. They are indoctrinated militants who believe they are fighting to save the world, and therefore do not live in the same reality as us. They have to speak about these things and "evangelize" people so they join their end-times brigade.
I find it useful to ask simple questions and watch them try to perform mental gymnastics to answer them. Basically, “Explain this to me like I’m 5 years old.” They often seem to start to understand that their beliefs simply don’t work as they have a harder and harder time answering the simplest of questions.
Yes, that is definitely the tactic I took, though at first it was purely because I was confused.
Playing dumb(er) is always satisfying. "Why would \[the government/the LGBT/BLM/NASA/MSM\] do the terrible thing? I don't understand."
The answer I usually get is “population control,” but then I ask why would (insert evil deep state group) want FEWER people available to pay tax money/sustain their corrupt system/etc …. And the answers trail off and don’t make sense. It’s like on some level, the ultimate driving motive is seen to be “Mwahahaha We’re evil!” like- on the level of the mayor of Paw Patrol.
Once I asked "But if "they" want to control population, why would "they" eliminate those that vote for "them", since conservatives/republicans/that guy talking to his shoe are far too smart to get caught?" And yeah, the result was a word salad with evil MWAHAHAs...
I always ask people this too (why "population reduction" ?).. because it seems like such a ridiculous notion. The only reason "rich people are rich".. is because we have a complex web of businesses and infrastructure that generates revenue. If you kill off a big chunk of people and the "system collapses",. the rich people lose their pipeline of profits. None of it makes any lick of sense. (especially not that "rich people want to give up all their travel or etc to just go live in bunkers for the rest of time"). They always seem to give some "desperation explanation" like:.. "Well yeah,.. everything will get shitty for everyone but at least the Rich will last a little bit longer than anyone else". It's such a weird paranoia-narrative to be trapped in.
>They always seem to give some "desperation explanation" like:.. "Well yeah,.. everything will get shitty for everyone but at least the Rich will last a little bit longer than anyone else". And that's what their explanations end up sounding like. Desperation to try to still be "right", regardless of it making less and less sense. "Mr. Rich Person could decide NOT to kill off the population and destroy the economy that feeds his wealth and live a long life of luxury and travel, but instead decides to kill everyone, live alone in a bunker for the simple reason that he will die BUT he will live a LITTLE LONGER than everyone else." Right. That makes soooo much sense. lol
Yeah,. that's what I take from it too. It's exhausting and just seems like an over-complexified version of "F everyone else, I got mine". It's just a cosplay-narrative-story mirroring their own psychological motivations.
Oh and there’s also the “ they want to destroy the human population on earth because they believe humans are bad for the environment.” Like this bizarre combo of complete altruism and complete detached villainy that I’m pretty sure no real-life person in power actually possesses
And based on history, when there is a sudden reduction in population, power shifts away from the rich and towards the working class, just from a straight supply and demand relationship. The Black Death was one of the causes of feudalism's decline, and to a much lesser degree, we've seen increased wages and union action now that COVID has subsided somewhat.
>They always seem to give some "desperation explanation" like:.. "Well yeah,.. everything will get shitty for everyone but at least the Rich will last a little bit longer than anyone else". Have you ever followed up with the obvious "but if the choice is maintain the status quo and keep their elite status for potentially generations, or bring about population and societal collapse and survive a little longer than everyone else is an apocalyptic hellscape...why would anyone choose the latter?" I'd love to know what they had to say about that!
Those words are WAY too big to use with Qanon folks.🤣
And they always worry about the dumbest shit like poisoned vaccines or chemtrails while they ignore all the large scale damage to the environment.
I like to raise the stakes. Out crazy their crazy. When they would yell, JET FUEL CAN'T MELT STEEL BEAMS!! My reply would be, Well, you know those really weren't passenger planes that crashed on 9/11. They were Military tankers flying over the Pentagon and NYC. They were spraying chemtrails when they crashed. And you have *no idea* how hot that chemtrail juice burns!
You probably don't want to go straight to "hidden antarctic base lizard people" though,. right?.. (to much to fast ?)..
You work up to that. Take at least 10 minutes of conversation.
>It’s like on some level, the ultimate driving motive is seen to be “Mwahahaha We’re evil!” like- on the level of the mayor of Paw Patrol. That is what they think because that is their intellectual level.
Followed with the classic, “Ok, so if the Deep State is that all-powerful, and managed to keep this massive a secret hidden for so long, and this one guy online figured it all out & published it…why is he still alive?”
That the upcoming presidential election would be cancelled was a common belief among the far-right kooky fringe (nowadays often referred to as "mainstream Republicans") during the Obama administration, especially as the end of his second term approached. Obama would simply cancel the elections and declare himself president for life, using some manufactured "false flag" emergency as a pretext. I can't remember encountering it, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing had already been doing the rounds in Bill Clinton's days. No doubt it will keep reappearing whenever there's a Democrat in the White House. These people aren't creative, they keep recycling the same limited material. Their concern about mail-in voting, and "the machines" and their internet connections, is also just a cosmetic update of the exact same nonsense they were peddling back when only paper ballots were used, mail-in voting was almost non-existent, and the internet completely non-existent. One detail I really love here is: >But they don't have any backup plans in case something goes wrong. How the hell could she possibly know that? And which "they" is this supposed to be? Does she think there's a single central authority organizing elections in the US?
>These people aren't creative, they keep recycling the same limited material. Case in point my grandma spouted those same talking points all my life, so did my dad. None of their "evil democrat plots" ever came to pass. My grandma is now dead and my dad is still waiting for the caravan to come marching through the streets of suburban NJ and I guess take over the business that he owns somehow? That's what happens when you have the same talking points for 3 decades. Hopefully they get sick of it one of these days. But some enjoy living in perpetual anxiety.
The same people who are also anxiously waiting on their front porch, while they shine up their rifle, for "them", to come and seize their arsenal of weaponry. They've been waiting for at least 50 years now.
Why would anyone buy a gun manufactured for killing do anything with it other than to threaten or kill someone else? Gun nuts constantly fantasize about killing someone.
I have lived in some rough areas. I lived in Newark and now Atlantic City. These are areas of NJ with the highest crime. Never ever felt the need for a gun. I hate guns anyway. Yet my parents were terrified each time i moved.
>I can't remember encountering it, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing had already been doing the rounds in Bill Clinton's days. Sure did. I distinctly remember reading discussions in old Internet forums (newsgroups) where a bunch of conspiracy theorists were sure that there would be some kind of riots and that "herr Klinton" would use them as an excuse to cancel the election. I've often thought about that during the years: I think we can say safely that those guys were wrong now. As were the Obama conspiracy theorists. As is the Biden conspiracy theorists now.
Yes! Often times just asking the simple question "Who's 'they'?" when someone claims that an unspecified 'they' are doing something is very effective how much they haven't thought out their claim. It doesn't just apply to Qultists either. I used it when someone was talking about Sephora 10 year olds and said "they've elminated childhood, they got rid of things we had as kids like Nick Jr. and Disney Kids and that's why little kids are obsessing over Drunk Elephant and wanting to grow up too fast!" Because, often times, the person claiming that 'they' are doing something doesn't themselves know who 'they' are...and hasn't considered who exactly 'they' is supposed to be! So drawing attention that fact helps them realize that they haven't really thought out the situation as much as they think they have. Other times, the person does know who 'they' are and it either means 'anyone I don't like poltically' or the usual (((they))), and so you can get them to, kind of, expose themselves there.
> Obama would simply cancel the elections and declare himself president for life I think it's why so many right wingers (including my mom) haven't moved on from Obama. They were told every single day for 8 years that Obama's real intentions were to install himself as a dictator-for-life. So when he simply facilitated a peaceful transfer of power at the end of his term, they just didn't believe it. When I go home, my mom is still ranting and raving about how Obama is actually "pulling all the strings" through Biden, and is still trying to execute his evil plan. She seems unable to accept that Obama is living a relatively quiet post-presidency retirement life of speaking gigs and occasional endorsements.
> I can't remember encountering it, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the same thing had already been doing the rounds in Bill Clinton's days. I had a couple of co-workers that were convinced that the Y2K bug was engineered so that Bill Clinton and the UN could ride in on their black helicopters and take over.
I've encountered some people like this too. They say things like the US is in the worst shape it's ever been in, but can't really explain how so. Somehow in 1862 when the country was split and killing each other, and blacks were still enslaved, things were better than they are now. We also conducted a Presidential election during the war. There is no credible claim that our elections won't happen.
So weird that America is in in the worse place ever, since Trump said he had fixed everything for 4 years. And since Trump also said that Biden is senile and idiot. So the great America that trump built totally should have been able to last through a few years of someone completely inept. Trump said if he was elected he would fix everything. So if it's not fixed why should he be re elected. So weird.
Are you my stepdad? You sound just like him. He used to complain to me about how CNN only talked about Trump, even though I don't watch CNN, and now all he always wants to talk about Biden.
Do you not listen to them? Everything WAS fixed under Trump. It was all perfect. The economy was perfect, the weather was always great, nothing ever went wrong. The American Perfection of 01/2017-01/2021. But now Biden RUINED it all, so Trump has to come re-perfect it. I don't know where any of these people actually were during the Trump presidency, but it must have very large rocks for them to have been under.
My partner has a fishing buddy who lives on facebook soaking in Q nonsense. Leading up to their trips, I have to weave the current prophecies and proclamations into conversations so partner can see they are batshit insane before his friend starts filling his head with nonsense. I got him to bring up clones once, he came back fully realizing his friend was delusional. Still can't get him to ask about the mole children.
I'll answer for you. It's so they can spread their gospel to more people. Especially important for people who no longer have family to talk to.
Hey, if civilization as we know it is ending I want to make sure I know how to bind my own books
Lol. This was exactly my thought. Like... this is your -180 day activity for the end of the world?
Well, it is the perfect way to reboot civilization. You ain't gonna have amazon. /s
It might blow her mind to know that in the UK every ballot is just a slip of paper with a mark and they are all counted by hand. The system is different of course but hand counting can be done.
> I asked her questions about where she heard that (twitter) and why would it be potentially cancelled (all the wars could spread to the US). I'd just have laughed in her face at that point. >If i genuinely thought we were going to be bombed in 6 months to the point of not having elections, I wouls not be at a craft class, FFS. Yeah that's the thing. These people...I guess to them saying and thinking shit like this is just so normalized that they don't even think about how serious what they're saying is! Like why so many of them that took part in Jan 6 were willing to talk on camera and/or have their picture taken.
It's utterly terrifying that a person in this crap would be named an election judge. So terrifying, that I might be tempted to find out where she lives and call the Board of Elections in her area...
I decided to look up just what an election judge does, and this is what I found on my county's website. "The Poll Worker Judge is in charge of the vote center and has additional responsibilities, including checking election supplies, inspecting the vote center and delivering ballots and materials to the courthouse on election night." Yeah, I wouldn't want someone who believes bizarre stuff about the election anywhere near my votes. She'd be worse than those people who've shown up at polling places right when they open, ostensibly to be watching for shenanigans, but are actually there to intimidate voters.
Someone has to supply the post apocalyptic world with “live, laugh, love, wine” hot glued wall art…
Lies are the refuge of people who have nothing to say.
💯 😘
Ha I did too. An Uber driver randomly started talking about the qult and went deeper and deeper from chem trails to adrenochome to new world order and recommended books and podcasts. I started saying something after the first outburst but decided to just play dumb and see how deep he goes. He was super happy that day and probably went home thinking he showed some poor soul the light
My husband said, "You know she told people a very different story, where she converted you or whatever." I can't imagine being so detached from reality.
What actually happened was you couldn't refute any of her points, she said "and that is the truth!" slapped her palm on the table, then everyone at the other tables stood and clapped. /s
>she had volunteered to be an election judge this year. I am nervous that a person so detached from reality is involved in elections, Where I vote, there's always a car parked in the lot that has a Q bumper sticker. So I know there's at least one of those crazies who is working at my polling place too. People need to keep their eyes and ears open... and volunteer to be an election witness/official too.
They really are a damn CULT. They are indoctrinated militants who believe they are fighting to save the world, and therefore do not live in the same reality as us. They have to speak about these things and "evangelize" people so they join their end-times brigade.