I've long thought that the fact that many Q-oriented don't believe the full pizzagate-level conspiracy, but are just looking for an excuse to 'confirm' vague feelings about a deep state, was a good sign. But it turns out I think that actually makes this harder to combat.

Reporting and polls showed a lot ppl just kinda associated their Q-ness with a belief Trump was being undermined from within. Over time, it actually got difficult to get Q'ers to even explain what it is they believed. Yet instead of causing it to fade, it actually reinforced it.

One, clear, insane belief in, and propagation of, an elaborate theory is more easily tracked and screened for. Yes, it's insane and deadly. But the ability to compartmentalize the strains of online extreme belief was, strategically, a benefit. But that was a mirage.

The reality is that Q is an excuse, and so malleable that you don't need a coherent opinion of what it even is in order to join. It's an umbrella conspiracy boiled down to: "I smell a rat."

This is going to make it much harder for the Right to contain and isolate it. In effect, it's a mindset, not a belief. It's in the air. A mindset can't be screened for by a hashtag or appealed to by a former member. There's no members, as we understand the term. It's in the air.

Which means it'll change, and the disposition of its adherents--which isn't the correct term but is how we think about it--will change. The ppl comparing Q to al Qaeda have lost the plot. This is a societal fault line expanding like a crack in the windshield.

Anyway thanks for coming to my depressing TED Talk "Someday We'll All Wish Q Was About Pizzagate." Everyone enjoy your Tuesday Arby's.

Update: Honestly this by Graeme Wood says it better than I ever could, and (bonus!) makes the case for a (very) guarded optimism https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/trumpism-not-terrorism/617703/

What Graeme Wood suggests could be an effective way stitch society back up. But it requires giving up revenge fantasies and building coalitions instead--he's more optimistic than I am that there's enough of a market for that.