QAnon - consider yourself influenced

[_Gunnar]

It's like I said in a previous post. Some people are more strongly predisposed to become unreasonably certain and fanatical about what they choose to believe than others. It is often easier to convert many of these fanatical types from one brand of fanaticism to another than to cure them of being unreasonable fanatics. My favorite illustration of that notion remains the electric monk character from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, by Douglas Adams, who also authored The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of novels. Some of us humans behave too much like the "electric monk." Too many of these types infest the internet.

[_Simon Southerton]

This reinforces the view I expressed in my post that Mormons and exmormons are very susceptible to being drawn in by QAnon.

Actually, the “Q” followers are world-wide and not even remotely associated with Mormonism. Back when the research group was on 8chn, people from many countries posted their research in support.

It's definitely not a Mormon thing. I'm sure there are Mormons who are following "Q" though.

Please stop misquoting me. Of course it is not a Mormon thing. I said Mormons and exmormons are very susceptible to being drawn into it. There is a big difference.

I think Physics Guy nailed it.

When I was following ex-Scientology boards I noticed some ex-Scns were also into transparently kooky theories of various kinds. Some people can get out of a cult but not get the cult out of themselves.

A big part of it seemed to me to be that they needed the excitement of being one of the righteous few, whose righteousness consisted in having the correct beliefs.

Every Mormon youth has had it regularly drummed into them that they are the most elect generation God has sent to earth. Twelve-year-old boys are told they have more priesthood authority than the Pope. Many believe their “chosen” status began even before coming to earth.

It's easy to see how QAnon has particular appeal to minds washed with these delusions. Both Mormons and QAnon claim special insider knowledge about how things really are.

[_Madison54]

Please stop misquoting me.

I didn't quote you. I was just giving my own personal observations in response to many of the comments here.

But, here is the quote from you regarding the connection to "Q" and Mormonism that caused many to include references to it in their comments:

I suspect that exmormons are particularly susceptible to this type of thinking given the enormous breach of trust that many feel, having been deceived by the church for so many years of their lives. I’m also convinced that many ultra-right wing Mormons are already wading around in this swamp and some visit this group from time to time.

[_honorentheos]

Anecdotally, early in my participation in online Mormon-themed forums I noted a correlation between a person's political views and their position as a disillusioned member in relation to the LDS church. It seemed the average conservative view lined up with a person leaning into a form of NOM ism where they treated the church's authority claims as dubious and the history problematic, but it remained a good place to raise a family. I assumed this was likely due to a typical conservative sharing similar moral views regarding modern society. OTOH, those with more liberal views seemed much more likely to move on and leave the church behind and identify as no longer wanting to affiliate with the church. Again, this was anecdotal but it had reasonable predictive power when I was getting to know people on the few forums where I participated including here.

I bring that up because it it seems the Q CT is associated with a form of right-wing politics that has turned a clear perpetrator of sexual assault into a clandestine hero overthrowing the moral bankruptcy of the elite classes in Hollywood and Washington...kinda like how Joseph Smith and his legacy is viewed by LDS faithful as a moral beacon where the truth couldn't be further from this view.

So it begs the question - among the complex web of human behaviors that make the Q CT attractive to some people while being apparent as a hoax to others , does the fact the LDS faith has a similar issue with the central figure in its history being a sexual predator held up to be a saint influence whether someone with conservative leanings might be wired to see in Trump a champion bringing down extreme conspiracies around deviant, horrific sexual behavior?

[_EAllusion]

Every Mormon youth has had it regularly drummed into them that they are the most elect generation God has sent to earth. Twelve-year-old boys are told they have more priesthood authority than the Pope. Many believe their “chosen” status began even before coming to earth.

It's easy to see how QAnon has particular appeal to minds washed with these delusions. Both Mormons and QAnon claim special insider knowledge about how things really are.

LDS long have had a subculture of far-right Bircher types. There's a lot of cultural linkage between that and what QAnon has become. You'd expect an increased correlation between LDS and QAnon on that ground alone before you thought about epistemological attitudes.

[_Maksutov]

Apophenia.