Thread by @dappergander

There's been a little bit of chatter about how burnt-out people who watch, cover & report on conspiracy and extremist groups have gotten recently.

I feel it myself.

And the worst part is that (for me at least) it comes from a place of deep disappointment.

For me, and for some others, it was impossible not to have a spark of hope that this would actually *end* at some point.

Surely, I thought in 2018, someone with the ability to act will start taking this seriously.

Surely, I thought in 2019, now that people are committing crimes in the name of Q, we're going to see a real shift in the halls of power because someone will realize how dangerous it is.

I never expected Trump to come out against it, but I dunno-- I kinda expected *something*.

Surely, I thought in spring 2020, everyone can see that the lockdown has driven millions of people into the arms of a lunatic cult.

Surely, I thought in November, with this election loss people will start to abandon this belief system.

Surely, I thought in January, now that they're attacking the Capitol it'll be over because no one will be able to deny the danger.

But, nope. Again and again I've been as disappointed as Q believers.

And if you know, if you read my tweets, I never really expected some sort of POOF moment. But I fully admit I hoped for one. I hoped that when people started killing other people over conspiracies that we'd start to see a shift.

But instead we've still got Tucker going on the teevee and saying 'oh those libs are blaming Patriots again' and I sit there just emotionally busted up about it.

I see 'well it's only 10 million people' and I want to punch someone in the face.

This is the exhausting part. All of this.

Wanting to hope that people would be better than this, and just time and again watching a media organization harm its viewers for clicks instead. Watching a political party shamelessly pick power over truth over and over.

And still I have a spark of hope: I keep thinking there's going to be a point where someone with some real power stands up and has their "at long last, have you no decency, sir" moment.

I still want to think that can happen.

Anyway I can't speak for everyone else, but that's the part that gets more and more challenging as days and weeks and months pass.

But luckily (for me anyway), that despair turns to anger and then, more often than not, anger melts away into equal parts motivation and comedy.

So, am I surprised that QAnon isn't going away?

No, not really.

But I am deeply disappointed.