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Tuesday, August 13, 2019

My Advice For A Xtian Fundamentalist Friend Who Has Become A QAnon-Trump Cultist

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Does it occur to you Karen that your unwavering, incandescent "always on" approval of Donald Trump is not normal behavior?

In any normal human 
relationship, we are aware of the other person's shortcomings. - even our own children and spouses.


This awareness is "Christian Theology 101": We are "fallen," imperfect creatures and we all screw up --- typically dozens of times a day.

The only people who find NO fault with the object of their affections are either infatuated (from the Latin word "fatuous" meaning "foolish"), or they are cultists. 



How Cults Enslave People, And Why It Is So Damn Difficult To Break Free

Using QAnon as a template for Trumpista cultism-and-idolatry here is how people break free of the snap-shut-trap that holds them prisoner just as surely as Moloch and Baal imprisoned the souls, psyches and spirits of so many ancient Jews:

QAnon: Appeal and Disillusionment (Wikipedia)

Within less than a year of existence, QAnon became significantly recognized by the general population. According to an August 2018 Qualtrics poll for The Washington Post, 58% of Floridians are familiar enough with QAnon to have an opinion about it, among whom gave a poor average rating of only 24 (range 0 to 100) of the conspiracy theory.[23][56]Positive feelings toward QAnon were found to be strongly correlated with one's proneness to conspiracy thinking.[56]

Experts have classified the appeal of QAnon as similar to that of religious cults. According to expert in online conspiracy Renee DiResta, the QAnon pattern is similar to enticement into cults in the pre-Internet era, where as the targeted person was led deeper and deeper into the group's secrets, they become more and more isolated from friends and family outside of the cult.[57] In the Internet age, QAnon virtual communities have little "real world" connection with each other, but online, they can number in the tens of thousands.[57] Rachel Bernstein, an expert on cults who specializes in recovery therapy, says that "What a movement such as QAnon has going for it, and why it will catch on like wildfire, is that it makes people feel connected to something important that other people don’t yet know about. ... All cults will provide this feeling of being special." There is no self-correction process within the group, since the self-reinforcing true believers are immune to correction, fact-checking, or counter-speech, which is drowned out in the groupthink of the cult.[57]

Travis View, a researcher who studies QAnon, says of it that it is as addictive as a video game, and offers the "player" the appealing possibility of being involved in something of world-historical importance. According to View, "You can sit at your computer and search for information and then post about what you find, and Q basically promises that through this process, you are going to radically change the country, institute this incredible, almost bloodless revolution, and then be part of this historical movement that will be written about for generations." View compares this to mundane political involvement in which one's efforts might help to get a state legislator elected. QAnon, says View, competes not in the marketplace of ideas, but in the marketplace of realities.[58]

Nonetheless, some QAnon believers have eventually started to realize that they have been isolated from family and loved ones, and suffer loneliness because of it. For some, this is a pathway to slowly beginning the process of divesting themselves of their cultish beliefs, while for others, the isolation reinforces the benefits they get from belonging to the cult. View says that,

People in the QAnon community often talk about alienation from family and friends. ... Though they typically talk about how Q frayed their relationships on private Facebook groups. But they think these issues are temporary and primarily the fault of others. They often comfort themselves by imagining that there will be a moment of vindication sometime in the near future which will prove their beliefs right. They imagine that after this happens, not only will their relationships be restored, but people will turn to them as leaders who understand what's going on better than the rest of us.[59]

Some Q followers break away when they recognize the content of the theories is not self-consistent, or they see that some of the content is directly aimed at getting donations from a specific audience, such as evangelical or conservative Christians. This then "breaks the spell" the conspiracies had over them. Others start watching Q-debunking videos; one former believer says that the videos "saved" her.[59]

Disillusionment can also come from the failure of the theories' predictions. Q had predicted Republican success in the 2018 US midterm elections, and claimed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was involved in secret work for Trump, with apparent tensions between them a cover. When Democrats made significant gains and Trump fired Sessions, there was disillusionment among many in the Q community.[60][61] Further disillusionment came when the predicted December 5 mass arrest and imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay detention camp of enemies of Donald Trump did not occur, nor did the dismissal of charges against Trump's former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn. For some these failures began the process of separation from the QAnon cult, while other urged direct action in the form of an insurrection against the government. Such a response to a failed prophecy is not unusual: apocalyptic cults such as Heaven's Gate, the People's Temple, the Manson Family, and Aum Shinrikyo resorted to mass suicide or mass murder when their expectations for revelations or the fulfillment of their prophecies did not come about. Psychologist Robert Lifton calls it "forcing the end". This phenomenon is being seen among some QAnon believers.[59]

Prominent QAnon follower Liz Crokin, who in 2018 asserted that John F. Kennedy Jr. faked his death and is now Q,[62] stated in February 2019 that she was losing patience in Trump to arrest the supposed members of the child sex ring, suggesting that the time was approaching for "vigilante justice."[63] Other QAnon followers have adopted the Kennedy theory, asserting that a Pittsburgh man named Vincent Fusca is Kennedy in disguise and would be Trump’s 2020 running mate. Some attended 2019 Independence Daycelebrations in Washington expecting Kennedy to appear.[64][65]

The entire Wikipedia entry about "QAnon" is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon

Remember, if Bill Clinton were proven guilty in a court of law, I would eagerly throw him into a (metaphorical) wood chipper.

I also beseech Trump and Barr to indict Hillary Clinton -- which they will never do -- even though their refusal to indict her is a dereliction of duty, and if -- as you say -- there is an abundance of evidence to convict herof felonious behavior many times over, then failing to indict her is a treacherous (if not traitorous) miscarriage of justice which leaves a felon "on the streets" as free as Trump's cabinet secretary Alexander Acosta left Jeffrey Epstein "on the streets" free to prey on girls even though Acosta's own Florida justice department had plenty of evidence to put Epstein behind bars for life. 



Trump Cabinet Member Alexander Acosta Arranged For Epstein's Release Although He Could Have Easily Put Him Behind Bars For Life


Furthermore, I can openly praise Donald Trump.

"I Applaud Donald Trump"

Spot-On Truth-Teller Donald Trump: The Most Important Thing Said At The Republican Debate

You, on the other hand, cannot utter a single word of praise for eaither Hillary or Bill Clinton.

And given your cult captivity, you cannot say anything subtantively critical of Donald Trump.

These self-chosen disabilities that afflict you are well-known behavioral traits of people who have been "captured by" -- and then "psycho-spiritually enchained by" -- cults and cult leaders.
Jesus is not happy Karen.


Functionally -- if not theologically -- you idolize Donald Trump as if he were a deity.


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