So here's why this JFK Jr. meet-up is so weird, even by Q standards.
Most QAnon followers take its ostensible prophet, Q, at his word. They share and cite Q's 8kun posts like scripture, citing things like "Drop #1082."
Q has explicitly told his followers JFK Jr. is not alive.
The fact that people believe JFK Jr. is alive is, of course, Q's fault.
Here's the post that kicked off speculation JFK Jr. would reappear and become Trump's runningmate.
Q was referring to an assassination plot, but his followers think messianically.
Insert Zombie VP JFK Jr.
One day in December 2018, Q was clearly sick of how stupid and literal his followers were taking his intentionally vague, apocalyptic posts.
So Q point blank shut down a few conspiracy theories: No flat earth, no zombie JFK, Seth Rich is dead.
Also, elections are safe! Whoops!
Followers didn't believe him because no zombie JFK Jr. is no fun. Q was supposed to make all of their dreams come true.
So since then, there's been a split, a lot like most religions. Q literalism vs. Q contextualism.
Q literalism is bigger, but Q contextualism is growing.
The people who just take Q to mean "anything's possible! Trump is literally the messiah!" are just dudes with names like "Negative48" and "Whiplash347" on Telegram.
They've recently grown to rival and feud with name-brand, real-name Q influencers.
Anyway, it's all deeply stupid. It's not over. I thought it would have dwindled by now. It hasn't. It's just gotten dumber. It is going to continue this way until these people can access hope that isn't dreaming of the ritual slaughter of their political enemies.
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It’s hard to explain just how radicalized ivermectin and antivax Facebook groups have become in the last few weeks.
They’re now telling people who get COVID to avoid the ICU and treat themselves, often by nebulizing hydrogen peroxide.
So, how did we get here?
Facebook bans explicit antivaxx groups, but they don't ban groups for quack "cures" that antivaxxers push instead.
So in the last couple of months, Ivermectin groups have become the new hubs for antivaxx messaging.
But there's a problem: Ivermectin, by itself, isn’t working.
The number of people in these ivermectin groups have exploded.
So has the number of people in the groups who have contracted COVID, since the groups are largely filled with unvaccinated people seeking "alternative therapies."
Here's the deal about this much hyped Saturday's "Justice for January 6" rally.
Users on the extremist forums that hyped the rally-turned-riot on January 6 are not so hot on this one.
They're telling each other not to go, fearing it's a honeypot from the feds.
In the days before January 6th, sites like TheDonald and 4chan were littered with pictures of people boarding planes, posting pictures of guns, their hotel rooms, even maps of the tunnels beneath the Capitol.
They're calling 9/18 an "FBI rally." You mostly see posts like this:
Pro-Trump extremist boards have basically conspiracy theory'd themselves into inactivity.
Everything is "glowing," their word for a setup. Everything's a "false flag" or "honeypot."
They realize now their own rhetoric has put them in a bit of a bind.
Can't stress how wild the ivermectin Facebook groups have become. So many people insisting to each other to never go to an ER, in part because they might not get ivermectin, but sometimes because they fear nurses are killing them on purpose "for the insurance money."
The ivermectin Facebook groups are becoming fully anti-western medicine spaces, replete with the concept that ERs are killing you, maybe intentionally.
It's just a constant stream of DIY vitamin therapies and new, seemingly random antiviral drugs every day — but not the vaccine.
The ivermectin Facebook groups also offer a window into how pervasive antivaxx COVID "treatment" videos are on TikTok.
The groups serve as a de facto aggregator for antivaxx TikTok, a space that is enormous but inherently unquantifiable to researchers.
Here's part of an intake form for a doctor on SpeakWithAnMD, the site partnering with America's Frontline Doctors that antivaxxers swear by to get ivermectin.
"Which medication do you prefer?" it asks.
The options:
Ivermectin
Hydroxychloroquine
Not Sure