This JFK Jr. thing that happened in Dallas is spooking me.

[LuckyCharms]

I'm obviously not a very eloquent writer, but I'll try to convey my point.

We all know that there are a lot of whack jobs out there. But when you see actual examples, it brings the thought of these whack jobs to a different level.

I think there were several hundred people waiting for JFK Jr. to show up in Dallas? This tells me that there are most likely millions of others, maybe tens of millions, who didn't make the trip to Dallas, and who believe that JFK Jr. is still alive, and is going to make an announcement that tfg is a king.

This leads to the notion that literally anyone can type some words on a social media platform, be consistent and relentless about it, and if those words confirm enough people's biases, then those false statements will most likely go viral, and the next thing you know, a third of the country swears to God that they saw Harry Truman and Elvis having coffee together.

I posted before that despite a bit of shame in doing so, I lurk a local businessman's social media page under someone else's account (with permission). I do this because I have done business with this guy before I knew he was insane.

I have inherited my departed mother's sense of sussing out people and deciding if they are "good" or "bad" within 30 seconds of meeting them. Well, when I first met this guy, I disliked him immediately. He's one of those assholes who tries to break your hand during a handshake. I seethe with rage when someone does this to me. I have a very strong grip, so what ended up happening with this guy during our initial handshake was both of us standing there, staring each other down, trying to break each other's hand. I knew immediately that this guy was an asshole. I won't go into the reasons why I had to do business with him, but I will say that I pretty much did not have a choice.

This guy has been in my home. We have communicated via telephone and email.

A few years after our transaction, I went to one of his social media pages, just for the hell of it.

Turns out he's a Trumper and Q guy. I don't want to bring the stuff he posts into DU, but suffice to say that it is the most bizarre, insane, fucked up shit that I have ever seen in my life. It's the type of stuff that makes you feel dirty and ashamed just by reading it.

Now, you might think that it's no big deal because it is just one guy doing this. But his bullshit gets HUNDREDS of likes, and dozens of affirmative responses. From people who live within 10 miles of me. I know some of these people. Hundreds of likes locally, and I live in a a relatively small town, in a blue state.

My point is as follows. This disinformation, or lack of knowledge, or detachment from reality, or whatever you want to call it...is a big ass problem, bigger than I ever realized.

If I knew how to fix this, I wouldn't be just some schmuck typing on DU. Instead, I would be fixing the problem. But I kind of feel that the cat has been let out of the bag, and it's too late. The problem got ahead of us, and now it's going to take decades to address properly.

I think some kind of commission, or a task force with some legal teeth, needs to be set-up to figure out how to handle this.

This stuff can't be shrugged off.

[NewHendoLib]

1. You've defined propaganda. it works.

[Johnny2X2X]

13. And it works on everyone

Some of it sounds so stupid, but experts in propaganda says one of the most powerful aspects of it is that it works regardless of intelligence. It always has. So we should not be laughing at this anymore, propaganda is powerful and not all of these people are idiots. It's getting more intense and I feel like we just have a media that ridicules this which has the effect of minimizing the actual threat.

This is a threat to our way of life, and a threat to the existence of our Democracy, we need to understand what is going on so we can start combatting it.

[NewHendoLib]

34. Exactly. Those who do more and better propaganda will win voters

Sadly

[KS Toronado]

37. This country could sure use some "propaganda vs truth" messaging

Qrump basically was calling all of our messaging propaganda by calling it "fake news"
Should we fight back calling their BS "fake news propaganda"?

[ananda]

50. This is true. I have a very intelligent friend who succumbed..

to all the Covid/anti-science conspiracy theories.

It was weird talking to her. It's like I didn't know her.

[Johnny2X2X]

70. Brilliant aerospace engineer I know...

Have a friend who's literally a genius, and a great people leader too, he's also spewing this Covid nonsense like it's just fact. He's a coworker and in a company meeting about our vaccine mandate he was saying things like, "Well, if someone dies from the vaccine, can we sue the company for making us take it." "And, what about natural immunity???"

People are dying from Covid at a very high rate, the number of people worldwide who died from reactions to the vaccine is miniscule. Yet, here is this brilliant mathematician and engineer spewing the vaccines are dangerous nonsense to a group of his peers. he believes it enough to make a fool of himself in front of a large group.

And what you'll notice too in people like this is there's a tone to what they say and how they say it that they just assume that everyone is with them. They act like it's a small minority of people who want the vaccine when 80% of US adults have gotten vaccinated now with at least 1 shot. They were asking about people leaving the company rather than get vaccinated and they seemed to be under the impression that a massive % will leave, when we're only likely to lose a hand full of our 1200 on site workers. That's the propaganda at work, that the position is held by the majority when it's not.

[ananda]

77. I know. Also,

after my friend finally figured out that my arguments
were fact based and thus I would never agree with
her, said: We both just want people to be happy and
healthy.

I couldn't go any further. At that moment, I realized
she was hopeless.

[LymphocyteLover]

101. Yes, I have seen this mentality in seemingly smart people. It's truly bizarre.

[wnylib]

62. It works because it appeals to people's emotions

and not to their reason.

Look at the emotional message in each one of the insane Q ideas or off the wall political statements and slogans of the fascist right in order to understand how .crazy themes succeed. Understanding the appeal of the message is a clue to countering it.

So they believed that JFK Jr. would appear as a Trump supporter. That tells us that the Q message was aimed at older people, current or former Dems, who idealize JFK Sr, and then Jr. as an extension of his father. A lot of Americans see JFK Sr as a martyr, and as the ultimate American hero who stood up to Communists in Cuba and the USSR. That includes not only my generation, but people who came after us and learned about the assassonation in school.

The Q message is saying that the great American martyr's son is ready to pick up the torch from his father and "lead people to the light." This is a conspiracy theorist's dream since there are already numerous CT's about .JFK Sr's death. JFK Jr becomes a CT magnet for people who like CT's.

Why do they believe it? Because they WANT to. Tbey mistrust government and politicians, but they do not mistrust the martyred president and his son. They seek a savior. Q supplies them with one who is so iconic and admired that they desperately want to believe that he (and anyone associated with him) will be a modern day cavalry saving the nation.

The Q message fuses an iconic American hero with Trump in people's minds. It tells them that if JfK Sr or Jr were here today, they would support Trumpism. It gives them something to hope for and believe in, a return to the pre 1963 America, and the hope that JR did not die and will show himself some day.

[Dustlawyer]

60. Propaganda is one of the two root causes of most of our country's problems.

The other is campaign finance (legalized bribery).

We will not get better until and unless all of us focus on these two issues. The rich and powerful own our politicians and are the big advertisers in media. They use this leverage to get what they want at our expense. The media rarely talks about this because they are the recipients of all of the money and benefit in other ways from the current system.

They benefit from the polarization in our country and are able to deflect the blame of our situation on others such as minorities, immigrants, our social safety net…

We fight the symptoms such as gun control, criminal justice reform, climate change and many others with little to no hope of making a real difference. We do not fight the underlying cause of these problems so they never get fixed.

We need leadership to organize and focus on these two root causes if we have any hope of ever getting the country back on track.

[Hortensis]

110. Various personality traits especially dispose some to conspiracism

and self delusion. That's why intelligence and rational cognition don't necessarily dominate -- personality gets in ahead and trumps. It's sounding like personality may come to trump all the time, or at least in some areas of life. I'm thinking of someone who's politically determinedly dishonest and deluded politically, determinedly ignorant as two bags of rocks, who turned out to be startlingly intelligent and fact-oriented in business matters related to her work, like two different people.

Something that must apply to this subect is that one of the big personality types tends to send input for emotional processing before cognitive analysis. It's likely the latter might be skipped altogether on subjects where emotional reaction jibes with what is "known" to be "known." Obviously, a strong disposition that way would be a huge built-in vulnerability.

And equally obviously, people have widely varying degrees of susceptibility.

A few minutes ago our daughter told us a childhood friend we've known since she was a toddler is a deep Q-nut; she was always too conservative for them to be close as they grew up, but her on-line activities show she's now become estranged from all her old friends and has all new ones on line where our daughter has seen what's happened to her.

[Irish_Dem]

2. We can assume this is a large scale effort, well funded to create chaos and division in the US?

I think you are right, this recent episode of insanity indicates the rot is more widespread than we realize.

[Walleye]

7. Yes the sane, intelligent people do under estimate the damage. Much of it is Russian propaganda

[Irish_Dem]

16. I firmly believe that much of this stuff is KGB psy-ops.

Putin has been able to do immense damage to the US for a relatively small price tag and no push back.

[Walleye]

22. I agree completely. Too many people who weren't alive during the Cold War don't know what's going on

[Irish_Dem]

32. GOP welcomes Russian assistance. They have T-shirts saying they would rather be Russian than Dem.

[Walleye]

35. They love Putin, and it's well documented how much he hates the United States

[Irish_Dem]

41. The GOP works hand in hand with a dangerous enemy and few seem to care.

Truly unbelievable.

[Walleye]

42. Sounds like something out of a political novel.

[Irish_Dem]

45. No one would have believed a work of fiction depicting our current reality.

[Walleye]

75. Well I wouldn't have, that's for sure. It still seems unreal

[Irish_Dem]

76. Many of us are in shock. We cannot believe a white supremacist autocracy is going to take over.

[Hortensis]

111. That's for sure. Some dystopian sorts would have predicted that the internet

would be turned into a weapon of mass destruction, used by various enemies with more than one way of destroying. But the people I read were full of excited anticipation of all the good it would make possible -- and it has!

But since tRump appeared on the scene I've been feeling exactly as if we were part of a ridiculous story no one could possibly believe if it were a novel, toss it away as trash, but so far it's only become more dark and dystopian. In the past I often wished I could skip to the end for reassurance, ...

[Irish_Dem]

113. Dark and dystopian is the correct description.

America has taken profound and significant shift, and it is not good.

[mahina]

59. Academi/Blackwater is helping

Sadly

[JanMichael]

95. FSB not KGB. The Soviet Union is no longer in existence.

It was a good counter balance to US/UK World Military Economic hegemony but the KGB is gone. Putin is not a Communist. Russia is a Kleptocracy which is what the Q/Trump people want us to become.

[Irish_Dem]

96. Yes FSB is the reincarnated Russian spy agency, KGB.

But most people don't know that, so KGB is my lazy shorthand for Putin's current intelligence service.

Yes Russia is not a country in the typical sense, but land ruled by mobsters.
Putin is said to be the richest man in the world will ill gotten gains.
And also, yes: The GOP wishes to model itself and the US on Putin's model.

[NJCher]

28. Well funded

Large scale, but is largely traced to the Mercers. In other words, only a few rich people are financing it.

Source is NPR.

[kiri]

61. fear and insecurity

The Center for Inquiry publishes The Skeptical Inquirer, which has been debunking the paranormal, psychics, bigfoot, flat earthers, et al., for decades. I highly recommend it.

https://skepticalinquirer.org/

[mrsadm]

86. This site has a Qanon presentation

I see you can watch it for free, it is titled "The Storm Is Upon Us -
How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything"

[Hortensis]

112. Thanks, Kiri.

[The Magistrate]

3. You Underrate Yourself As A Writer, Sir

Well said. I share your concerns.

[LuckyCharms]

9. Thank you, The Magistrate...

for your kind words.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

31. I agree with both of you. . . . nt

[jaxexpat]

43. Clarify which Dallas trip and JFK attendance he's talking about right up front.

Believe it or not, everyone's not apace with the latest Q-anon stupidity. JFK and JFK Jr. are both dead and have been for decades. One famously went to Dallas in 1963, the other, apparently, not so famously and not surprisingly, didn't go to Dallas yesterday.

That there were people waiting for the JFK Jr. to show is, however, quite revealing. Some people just don't get out much.

[Claustrum]

4. The whack jobs have always existed long before Internet and social media.

But mainstream politicians (both democrats and republicans) mostly stayed away from them realizing the nut jobs that they are. Trump somehow made them cool and mainstream in republican circles. I, too, don’t know how to combat it or Trumpism, as otherwise normal and nice people around me still support Trump. They aren’t as crazy as the person you describe but they don’t see how damaging trump was/is for the nation.

[Probatim]

54. Jim Jeffries tells a joke about idiots/social deviants and social media.

Something along the lines of - it used to be that if you had sex with a goat, you lived with the shame and tried to avoid having sex with the goat in the future.

Now, with social media, you have sex with a goat, post about your experience, and find you have 30,000 "friends" who "like" your post and share their own experiences. All of a sudden, having sex with a goat is "mainstream" and there's no shame in it.

I think he's 100% correct in his observation. Normalizing this deviant behavior is going to cause lots of long term damage as we are all dragged to the bottom by these idiots.

[Claustrum]

55. While I understand the analogy, I don't completely agree with it.

You need that one celebrity with high profile that can reach millions of people and telling them that what these 30,000 people did is cool. And then the masses believe it too. These 30,000 people existed long before the Internet and they always found their special place to group among themselves. Trump is that agent that brought it out and made it mainstream.

[Wingus Dingus]

69. Yep, that's a pretty brilliant observation--

I miss his show on Comedy Central.

[Walleye]

5. People will believe anything. It makes him feel better

When you think about the reality of human existence, it’s really miserable. Human beings will always try to escape from reality somehow. Believing these fantasies somehow equates to inside knowledge, which is a very heady thing. Don’t forget Heaven’s Gate, don’t forget Jonestown. I have no idea what we can do about it.

[PoliticAverse]

6. "The Internet is like a big room where all the crazy people meet". - caller to Rush Limbaugh.

Was this JFK thing a 4chan troll?

[LiberalArkie]

21. Nope.. Pretty much mainstream

https://www.kark.com/news/national-news/qanon-supporters-meet-in-dallas-expecting-return-of-jfk-jr-from-the-dead/

[PoliticAverse]

25. "That's some crazy shit." n/t

[LiberalArkie]

26. go on Google or Bing and do a search for "jfk jr." for a real surprise.

[spanone]

8. K&R

[bucolic_frolic]

10. I think we need to look back in history and study past periods of insanity

I don't have anything specific in mind, but the Black Death prompted religious paranoia and illogical explanations, Martin Luther divided Europe with 95 Theses, there are also market manias - Tulip, South Sea, even the Age of Exploration produced wanton optimism, greed, outsized dominance and privilege, so Let them eat cake and cut off their heads.

Humanity can be irrational for long periods of time. The idea we're running along logically, sanely is not true. We run along with inconsequential insanities - Beanie Baby prices, sex and drugs and rock 'n roll, a shift in consumer taste from cars to SUVs or coffee to latte. Currently it's a mania, a mass delusion, a thing with no reality behind it. But it's real in their minds. Which might be the place to start - if asked what is real, what would they say? I mean real. Provable, tangible.

[niyad]

18. One of the more insane periods was The Burning Times. There isn't a lot of

psychological difference between the insane mass hysteria of that time and now.

[NJCher]

30. Should be an op

Societies go through crazy times, too.

[Wednesdays]

65. I'd say the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution

40,000 went to the guillotine, including many of the leaders of the revolution!

[AncientOfDays]

66. A book that might relate

Years ago, I read a book about such things: Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

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

[CTyankee]

68. I study and write about art and have learned that the Italian Renaissance happened as a result of

the Black Plague. When I first read that I thought "what the hell..." but it is true,l as is the fact that the one interesting result of the Plague was the invention of modern banking (developed in Florence, Italy) and invented by the Medici family.

[waddirum]

91. Sex drugs and rock n roll

don’t belong on that list.

[SweetieD]

99. King James edited the Bible which most of us use today and he also wrote a Discovery of Witches

Which was an insane treatise on how to tell if someone is a witch and how to punish them. That led to hundreds of witch trials and innocent being killed.... Anyway yeah there are so many surreal times in history.

[Omnipresent]

11. Yes, i know that same kind of guy, where i live.

He is trump supporter that gets into so many road rage fights while driving, that now if he pulls over, and someone wants to brawl with him, he will show his gun to the other driver, by putting it straight down on the dash for him to see.

This trumpster wants to drive and shoot his mouth off, but needs the gun to intimidate, especially if the other driver is bigger than him.

[Ishoutandscream2]

12. Very well written

You express very eloquently my concerns.

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

14. Make no mistake. They are dangerously psychotic.

Qanon is acquired mental illness.

Mad as hatters, thoroughly lost in powerful delusions.

[niyad]

15. You expressed it very well indeed. The crazies have always been amoung us, but,

for the most part, they did not have megaphones, cachet, and power. Now, they are openly, boastful proud of their ignorance, their skewed worldview.

[SheilaAnn]

17. I keep thinking of JFK, Jr.'s sister Caroline. How sad for her to have to put up with this. Ugh.

[Walleye]

24. These assholes never think of the feelings of the families involved. Plus they love hurting people

[Scrivener7]

19. This stuff can't be shrugged off, but it proves they believe

anything when it is presented to them in the right way. There is no reason we can't use that to turn them against their republiQan overlords.

[Bristlecone]

20. Pretty eloquent writing from my view. I'm waiting for accusations of witchcraft to start flying

And actually take hold.

[Ocelot II]

23. It is disturbing. I'm beginning to feel like I'm living in an open-air lunatic asylum.

I was puzzled by why these particular lunatics went to Dealey Plaza in Dallas to see JFK Jr. Shouldn't they have been waiting in boats off the coast of Martha's Vineyard?

But srsly, one must consider a particularly apt and scary comment by Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities."

[FoxNewsSucks]

40. As I said below,

I consider events like this to be trial runs, training exercises or some other part of the fascist plan.

[Mopar151]

103. The DeLaRocha corollary.

"Some of those who work forces, are those who burn crosses!". (Bulls on Parade, Rage Against the Machine)

[Solly Mack]

27. K&R

[Cobalt Violet]

29. Waiting for some Jonestown event to happen.

I don't see how it won't.

[soldierant]

88. The CoViD deaths among anti-vaxxers

could be that Jonestown event in slow motion.

[ancianita]

33. You're right. It absolutely can't be shrugged off. However, we have to strike a balance between

paying attention to a train wreck, and moving forward on our track so that there's no gapers' block keeping folks from seeing the future.

You're shocked, no doubt. But the best antidote for this sickness is to publicly debunk it so that others see its destructiveness and those who fund that destruction.


The other more long term way, imo, is to structure public education so that children really learn reading (creative and content subjects, of course), thinking about others' thinking, writing -- from personal to public to research to analysis and prediction -- and the models we have of the universe, math and science.

Getting there is one thing. Staying there is another, so the longer term goal is to make education a fundamental constitutionally protected right, so that it's got federal funding and jurisdictional power over the dumbass half who keep spreading dumbassery to their descendants.

[Glaisne]

36. Stupidity and insanity

is how civilizations die. Ours is currently in the process of dying.

[FoxNewsSucks]

38. It should scare you. All of us.

The puppetmasters, whether KGB, Koch organized or Mercer funded, have been gauging things and testing their limits for years. Since 2009 or so they are close enough to unstoppable that they operate more and more openly.

Remember the crazies they ran in 2010, the teabag movement that hibernated and became the violent MAGAts. Just seeing what they could get away with, how to calibrate the election stealing and how far they could goad their brainwashed stooges.

When I saw the drooling idiots in Dallas, I had no idea what they were doing there because what scared me is wondering what this was a trial run of.

What violent event is being planned, and how many more brainwashed followers are there, waiting to be mobilized into an army among us?

That should give us nightmares, because it's real.

[Pobeka]

39. Even Reagan is turning in his grave, and it largely started with him.

Let me explain my thought.

In my view Reagan was a greedy, selfish, racist uncompassionate SOB only interested in making the rich get richer. But he thought you could do that and still have a stable country.

To that end it was necessary to dumb down the masses, which meant starting the attacks on education.

What Reagan, and all his co-SOBs didn't realize, is when you dumb down the masses, they become highly susceptible to any kind of notions put in front of them, because the masses have really lost the ability to understand basic reality.

What that ultimately means, is eventually some authoriatarian asshole like TFG, or Cruz, or Crawley, or Graham will exploit the sheer stupidity of the masses to gain or maintain power. And there will also be these little spin-off power grabs by QAnon or a similar wacko of the day who needs to feel powerful.

And, that, as we now know, is a direct threat to our democracy itself. As f*cked up as Reagan was, I don't think he'd have ever wanted this. But this is the result of 40 years of right wing assaults on education.

[Maine Abu El Banat]

44. These people have always existed

It's just that the internet and mass media have replaces the Enquirer.

[Ohioboy]

46. It's scary how many actually showed up for this nonsense

We have a real problem in this country.

Unfortunately there are evil people in this world that will benefit from such stupidity. The dumb are ripe for the picking, and become the useful idiots of tyrants and the like.

[Blecht]

47. You are dead wrong about one thing

Your first sentence.

After that, everything is dead on.

[packman]

48. hEY, It worked 2,000 yrs ago so what is the problem?

If it happened once, why not again? These people believe that crap and they have that mind-set - detachment from reality as you said. I would place a large wager that those standing in Dallas waiting for JFK jr. to reappear are Evangelist and Bible thumpers.

Then again, the circus was in town and it provided a few hours of entertainment for the idiots on a nice fall day.

[chia]

49. Your inherited senses know what's happening.

[Tommy Carcetti]

51. That's exactly how I felt about the Trump boat parades and truck parades.

These were actual people who walked and lived among us, so easily susceptible to an absolutely insane cult of personality.

I remember people waiving Trump flags on street corners on random days. As in early 2019, long before the 2020 elections. I had to wonder what sort of person in a non-election year goes to a street corner and waives a flag with a man's name on it (absolutely insane in and of itself) for no reason other than signal fealty?

I mean, I like Biden. I like Obama. I like Clinton. But somehow the idea of putting any of their names on a flag and going out to some random street corner on some random day and wave it at traffic seems absolutely bizarre to me. It seems so beyond the pale in its ridiculousness. And yet I'd see dozens of people do this all the time.

I also remember these weird "Save the Children" corner rallies that popped up a year ago. They were specifically vague as to what children needed "saving" and how, but it was clear this was a covert QAnon inspired activity, as there were reports of these small corner rallies nationwide, all on the same day. And worst was that these adults were bringing their own children and using them as props. It was very creepy and unnerving.

[zaj]

52. You are right, and this is 💯 Bannon/Putin/ doing

It's a Russian propaganda technique called the Firehose of Falsehoods, and it's on steroids when combined with social media and modern marketing.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html

Check out this Teri Kanefield Twitter thread...

Link to tweet

?t=4xaG4atU0VYXQ8qvL1vXlQ

And if you have the time, read Devil's Bargain about Steve Bannon.. and The Plot To Hack America by Malcom Nance.

[Hekate]

79. Interesting

[oldsoftie]

53. First I heard of this idiocy. Wow NT

[Harker]

56. I don't mind legitimately conservative people.

Whacked out, bigoted, intolerant lunatics who shout at others about how the world should meet their ideas for living life as guided by the absurd headlines of scandal rags and internet cults, I do.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

57. There are truly stupid people in the world! The 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

.. written by Carlos Cipolla..his thesis opened my eyes as to how many stupid people there are, which explains the stupidity of people as we have seen unfold these past 5 yrs (seems they've multiplied. ) He emphasizes that they may be the most dangerous group of people.so yes i hear your concerns.

He identifies 4 groups: helpless, intelligent, bandits and stupid people. Here is short video .select animated nous seems to be the most recent presentation given that it shows odious-racist-con#45 in the stupid category. I do however disagree with the use of the word stupid to identify group ..more appropriate would be--the evil vile sinister people group. By saying 'stupid' it conotates a naiivete, an innocence in the behavior almost childlike. Great post..one other thing and to me it stood out when we engage with stupid people .outcome is never good..I see this not only in political outcomes but on a personal level.

https://www.google.com/search?q=basic+laws+of+human+stupidity+video&oq=basic+laws+of+human+stupidity+video&aqs=chrome..69i57.10492j0j9&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#

[Wingus Dingus]

58. It's worrying for sure. It's one thing to laugh and shake your head

at MAGA and Q nuts in the news, it's another when you find members of your community and even your family who were bitten by the zombies. My brother has started watching Hannity, refuses to get vaccinated or allow his kids to be vaccinated, even the teenagers. He was apolitical all his life, rarely paid attention to the news, rarely voted, just an average blue-collar guy with a high school diploma who didn't concern himself with most issues--now he's like a sleeper cell that got switched on. Mostly due to his Facebook buddies sending him shit.

[Turbineguy]

63. There are millions

of these people who also deny being influenced by propaganda.

If you believe it's the truth, how can it be propaganda? Everywhere they go they get confirmation they are right. And if they do venture where there is no confirmation, they know they are in the wrong place and leave.

In the early days of the Cold War, Russian propaganda was still easy to spot. Those days are gone. Because of our freedoms, we are vulnerable. Our concept of freedom is changing as well. Freedom is now the freedom to do harm. The freedom to control others. The freedom to make others sick.

[Initech]

64. Well, as one former president put it, these are some bad hombres.

And as much as we look down on them and mock them for how stupid they are, they are a dangerous kind of stupid. Not funny ha ha stupid. When you get that many like minded people together in a group, we saw how dangerous they can be on January 6th.

I personally didn't see January 6th as "riots" or an "attempted insurrection". It was an act of war. It's time for the Dems to start treating it like such. And if we don't stop it, we can expect more of this. Cults are dangerous. And one wants to take over the government. God help us if they succeed.

[BannonsLiver]

67. Why are we always so easily spooked?

[Wingus Dingus]

71. You don't think it's spooky to see people you know, people

you grew up with, people you don't consider dumb or crazy, people who raise kids and pay bills...suddenly wearing MAGA hats, and believing untrue things, and refusing to wear masks or get vaccinated in a pandemic? Maybe you don't know anyone like this, but I do. I'm watching formerly sane people in my family and my husband's family getting sucked in.

[BannonsLiver]

72. No.

[Wingus Dingus]

73. OK. I think it's kind of horrifying, myself.

[Hortensis]

114. Tragic for sure. This is devastating, breaking millions of families and lives.

And that's horrifying, even without wondering if people could possibly one day need to flee for their lives.

[Hortensis]

115. Duplicate.

[Gore1FL]

98. I don't have any in my family. A lot of people I once respected certainly joined the Trump cult.

Are they this deep? Maybe. I suspect some percentage can apply enough religiosity to the whole Trump thing to be like the Dealey Plaza pilgrims of 11/2/21. Fortunately, I haven't seen them in person since long before Trump.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

74. After I visited an evangelical church with my sister...

... years ago, witnessing people "speaking in tongues" and their bodies trembling as they reached skyward, I accepted that some people are just plain nuts.

Yet that kind of behavior is generally accepted because it's been around much longer.

Trumpism is a religion too -- i.e., no evidence required.

[hamsterjill]

78. No, this cannot be shrugged off.

I'm in Texas and this shit is rampant.

The idiots that went after the Biden bus last year? They are QAnons, and they weren't worried about getting a little nasty on the roadways. Why? Because they had police scanners and were listening to the fact that some of the police were laughing about it.

Even those that aren't quite on the far end of the spectrum (like perhaps the police) realize that the ones who do believe that JFK, Jr. can return - those people - can be fully exploited and manipulated. And the smarter ones will use that to their advantage.

This shit is DEADLY serious, and it cannot be pushed aside as irrelevant.

[Sogo]

80. What Q is:

How QAnon Works like a Video Game to Hook People

https://www.axios.com/qanon-video-game-cbbacb1e-969c-4f07-93cd-69e41bc6feeb.html


QAnon: A Game That Plays People

https://think.kera.org/2021/01/21/qanon-a-game-that-plays-people/


QAnon Is Like a Game—a Most Dangerous Game

https://www.wired.com/story/qanon-most-dangerous-multiplatform-game/

[Mr.Bill]

81. They want us to fear them.

They are the people who throw a firecracker into a crowd of people at a July 4th gathering. They also like to be so unpredictable and difficult to comprehend that we just can't understand them. They want us to fear them, and the unknwn and unbelievable are things that generate fear.

It's actually a huge display of weakness and cowardice on their part.

[Ferrets are Cool]

82. You are so correct. The problem is MUCH, MUCH larger than we see/know.

All we see is the tip of the iceberg. The enemy is among us.

[dawn5651]

83. don't you think it is weird that this qanon idiot is always saying the orange asshole is going to be

king.....i am beginning to think that q is someone close to or is the orange asshole,,,,q speaks and the maga idiots all fall all over themselves to do what q is pushing...just like they do the orange asshole.

[BradAllison]

84. It's frightening because in the past....

...total bullshit like this would have drawn a couple dozen weirdos, if that.

[634-5789]

85. If these MAGAt Morans stand with their propaganda, do this:

I always carry a loose $100 bill, and tell them that I'll bet that TFG...whatever...won't be president, won't be in Dallas with JFK, etc.....never NEVER had one of them take the bet. They might spout all that horseshit but will never put their money where Thor mouth is...and this DOES WORK! Of course then I get to call them cowards. Damn few will talk to me anymore, no problem!

[Bluethroughu]

87. I understand completely...I live in a small town in blue state, red county.

I had to leave nextdoor because these people are frighteningly off their rockers, and their porches are close to mine.

I do keep an eye on things from time to time, to know the pulse out there.

[Hortensis]

116. Sounds smart, though any way to maintain a sane, normal presence

in the "neighborhood" without crossing them and their beliefs? Agree that last is sensible until this passes.

Mercifully, both the NextDoor we belong to have been able to keep the occasional nut under control. Last time I looked, a while ago, NexDoor allowed alerts on medical and election misinformation, but nothing on conspiracy nonsense.

[Bluethroughu]

121. I reported an experience I had with the Nextdoor app regarding the BLM protests

And a militia, named as a hate group by SPLC, in my area. Many people were making it clear to me they belonged to it, in a threatening manner.

I did not stay on the app to see if they did anything, but I talk, smile and do for the neighbors even if they don't agree with me. They like me, but hate my views.

Hopefully, if they ever second guess their views, I will have said something that makes a difference, but who knows.

[Hortensis]

123. So you're too well known to be an additional normal percent on line.

Too bad. I don't think most people should waste their time worrying about being attacked, and we do the same as you with neighbors. We only know of one on our road, who is part of an on-line religious army awaiting the signal to fight Satan's forces. Apparently they don't think God is handling it well at all on His own.

But yours are an aggressive, communicating group in your neighborhood with a dangerous group personality. Glad you're aware. Wherever they imagine they'll need to go, most would find the roads blocked before they got there.

Incredibly bizarre. Pretty sure the American Dream's supposed to include things like neighborhood wiffle ball tournaments. Whatever. When this times passes, they'll need new directions and new hobbies. Maybe yours will evolve into a pinochle club that throws an annual neighborhood potluck.

[Bluethroughu]

124. I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Hortensis]

125. Me neither. But they'll need something to do. Sleep well. :)

[Bluethroughu]

126. Thank you, you too.

[Texasgal]

89. My Hairdresser is the same..

She told me last year that JFK Jr, was alive and was going to run with TRUMP!

It's really sad, she is such a nice lady and she has been doing my hair for years. She and her husband have been to my house for dinner and we've gone on a few picnic lake trips over the years.

She doesn't appear to be a nut case, and she certainly isn't a jerk. She just truly believes this stuff. It's kinda sad to me.

[Ford_Prefect]

90. I have said before they are addicts desparate for a fix. It's the same dynamic.

[Nevilledog]

92. I agree with you.

Seems like I'm getting more push back lately for posting about this stuff. These RWNJs should not be ignored.

[AmBlue]

93. There's more of us than there are of them

... so if some messaging genius would distribute a good messaging blueprint out to the sane segment of American society perhaps we each could take a few of the red hat crowd on individually-- starting with our own families and friends. Sort of an Adopt-A-Wingnut initiative if you will.

We need to play to their emotions as much as the Q crowd does and be creative and powerful with what we say. I'm thinking someone like Steve Schmidt might be someone good to enlist.

I dont know... just a thought. If we don't start somewhere, Qanon, Fox and hate radio will continue to blanket our airwaves with poison and there will be little hope of recovering from this very dark period in US history.

[Effete Snob]

94. I'd bet quite a few were there as spectators

If some weird Qanon shit was going down in my town, I might go have a look at them.

[NH Ethylene]

97. A little off topic, but about your handshake.

I noticed recently that 'strong' handshakes are pretty painful for me. I have a bit of arthritis in my hands which I do my best to ignore. But now it really hurts when someone squeezes with some pressure.

So you might want to consider that with anyone over 60.

[LuckyCharms]

100. I think there is a real art to a handshake.

I do not grip a person's hand hard at all unless they are trying to crush my hand, like this guy was.

There is a perfect amount of pressure to apply when shaking someone's hand. Too hard is bad, too soft feels kind of gross. Also, some people awkwardly just grab your fingers and toss them around a little.

Handshakes can make or break an interview, and they definitely leave either a good or bad first impression.

I think you have to gauge your handshake by the person you are shaking hands with. The right way to do it, in my opinion, is to gently place the web of skin between your thumb and pointer finger into the same web on the other person's hand. Then very gently squeeze, and feel what their hand does in response. If they grip a little tighter, you grip a little tighter, etc.

I know that many people have problems with their hands, as I occasionally do.

The problem is, some men think that a "firm" handshake means putting your hand in a vice-like grip and jerking the hell out of your arm. I don't know why this is. To me, that shows a total lack of respect for the other person. If you try to match your handshake pressure to theirs, you will usually give a good handshake.

I had a young relative that I was coaching for his first job interview. We practiced shaking hands, and it felt like he slapped a dead fish into my palm. So I taught him how to shake hands.

I probably sound obsessive over handshakes, but I think they are important enough to do correctly.

By the way, you mentioned people over 60...at the time, the guy discussed in my OP and I were both around 60 years old.

Edit to add: This is making me think that I have had no handshakes since March 2020 because of Covid. No hugs either, no kisses (except for my wife of course). Sheesh...that's a depressing thought! So much has changed...

[Hortensis]

117. :) Reminds me of tRump's famous techniques. I was so sorry when

ridicule finally forced him to stop trying to yank and wrestle statesmen into seeming submission.

Not before Gorsuch made it obvious that he'd carefully studied how to maintain his justice-to-be dignity when tRump introduced him as his nominee. I'd tuned in specifically to see how he'd handle it.

[LuckyCharms]

120. Yes, and I think both...

Macron and Trudeau knew how to counter McStupidityhead's handshakes as well.

[NH Ethylene]

119. I know just what you mean about the dead fish handshake.

I also find that quite gross.

I am female and have always made a point of having a firm (but not gripping) handshake to show that I am not to be considered passive. But as a woman, I have been spared the 'macho' handshakes that some men think will make them top dog with other men (such as what you have been subjected to).

Yeah, you have thought this through way more than most, I expect, but hey, more power to you!

[Shoonra]

102. This was a serious demonstration ....

.... That substantial numbers of people will believe utter nonsense if it is communicated to them in certain ways.

There have been plenty of examples of this sort of mass craziness throughout history but this - with JFK Jr returning from the dead - was a very conspicuous example, especially since it included people from different walks of life, different locations, different churches, etc.

It also answers the question "How gullible are Trumpers?"

[Aussie105]

105. The little center of the brain that says 'Oh, wait, that ain't right!' is missing.

Combine 'If I concentrate real hard it will come true' and 'Awww, what a shame!' with the above intellectual handicap you get this phenomenon.

Ask yourself what prompted the painting of 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'!

Humphry Bogart, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley(I think) - all gone before their time (cue 'Awww, what a shame!'), followed rapidly by 'They may still be alive . . . If I concentrate real hard it will come true'.

But it takes the terminally demented to think JFK Jr is still hanging around, and willing to participate in the 2024 election.

[electric_blue68]

106. The Q people, the Trumpers etc ARE scary. The JFK Jr Q people...

(I can't remember whether I heard a guest on Rachel, Lawrence, or Chris's show Tues or Weds )

...are a smallish Fringe Group even within the the Q group as a whole.
Keep a bit of an eye on them but it's the others way more to worry about.

[Roy Rolling]

107. Two words

Unfucking believable.

[Roy Rolling]

108. Mister Microphone

Social media makes everyone think they are important and newsworthy.

Important enough to record and broadcast publicly sometimes to the world, simply to get attention and the high of a camera and microphone in their face.

They think their production is “Gone With the Wind”, but really it’s the 2021 version of Mister Microphone.

[NurseJackie]

109. I suspect that these people also believed "bat-boy" stories and the...

... "Hillary adopted an alien baby" stories that we'd often see in the tabloids at the supermarket checkout.

[moondust]

118. How many guns in that JFK Jr. crowd?

Lots of Americans are obviously deranged. People that unstable should not be out in public or even at home endangering their families with guns. Who knows what kind of imaginary threat will suddenly cause them to snap and open fire?

[spanone]

122. We're dealing with insanity on a grand scale. It's shocking.

...and spooky.

[winetourdriver01]

127. lol

[LuckyCharms]

128. What's your issue?

Why did you respond to a terribly old post with "lol"?

Is something funny?

Do you know any bigger words?