# What happens to the QAnon movement now-- do they mutate & move the goalposts, or die out? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 22, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211 "2021-01-22T13:55:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chelonaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9a140/32.png) [@Chelonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chelonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/41 "2021-01-23T00:25:21Z")
I wonder if the perpetual prediction/disappointment /new prediction cycle is part of the appeal to the Qanon followers. Sort of an externally imposed bipolar disorder? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/42 "2021-01-23T01:38:40Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Is it sane to think you can figure out a secret political plot by counting flags behind a podium and interpreting speech patterns and hand movements? That’s not real. Even if the supposed secret plot is not as wacky and the central figure not as incompetent as Q’s. > > I’ve heard it said that humans like to look for patterns when they don’t understand things. I guess it really is like a religion because that’s the only other similar thing that some sane people truly believe in. > > Even throwing all the other ridiculous Q beliefs aside, it makes NO sense that there could be a huge cabal of criminals that are so secret that even after they are tried and executed it’s not made public and sci fi surgical procedures have to be used to keep it quiet. At this point all I can do is point you at the articles I’ve read that talk about how the development of QAnon addiction works. I found these illuminating: > **[A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon](https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5)** > > Playing with reality > **[Qanon is an Enormous Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Run by Malevolent...](https://registrarproject17.medium.com/qanon-is-an-enormous-alternate-reality-game-arg-run-by-malevolent-puppetmasters-27e6b098ce9b)** > > The cast of characters includes Chanel Rion, a racist pig farmer named Jim Watkins aka ‘Q’, and yes, the Russians ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/43 "2021-01-23T02:11:13Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Why March 4-- is that some significant date in government affairs, or to QAnon believers? Is that the day that the true patriots “march forth” and take back the government? It will be the day of the Q d’état. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/44 "2021-01-23T02:12:48Z")
Even if, as some suggest upthread, QAnon is indelibly Trump-centric and therefore falls by the wayside as El Trumpo finishes imploding, the botnet still exists waiting for a new thought leader and leading website to feed it new crap. As has been discussed in umpteen threads over the years and umpteen learned psychological articles, CT-susceptibility is itself a state of mind. Once in that state of mind someone is easy prey for any and every new CT to come along. The QAnon replacement may have nothing Trumply, no pedphiles, and still be massively attractive to the QAnon followers of 1/5/2021. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/45 "2021-01-23T05:06:36Z")
If only they could get addicted to some relatively harmless CT like Flat Earth or even stupider, the Time Cube. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/46 "2021-01-23T05:20:08Z")
They need something better to have as a bee in their _ **botnet** _. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/47 "2021-01-23T06:54:12Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The spelling errors in trump’s tweets are actually a secret code used to convey messages to them…? Ooohhhkay Covfefe! March 4! Covfefe! (If you don’t understand it, that just illustrates that you’re not in the know. ) Covfefe! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/48 "2021-01-23T08:02:52Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > They will effortlessly move the goalposts. I would note that Qanon is, itself, just the latest mutation of some fundamental conspiracy-related commonalities going back centuries. Powerful malicious people with evil motives that are unspoken and unknown to the general public (but obvious if you know how/where to look), underdog forces trying to expose them, and Jews in the mix, always Jews. This conspiracy cult ebbs and flows, wearing different faces and going by different names, but it’s been around forever. Qanon may not be _called_ Qanon in thirty years, but its successor will operate according to the same basic structural ideas. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/49 "2021-01-23T14:42:18Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > It will be the day of the Q d’état. > [@GIGObuster](#): > > They need something better to have as a bee in their _ **botnet** _ . I do like a good pun, so I want to thank you guys for Q-operating in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/50 "2021-01-23T14:46:03Z")
Interesting NBC article on what’s next for Q folks: > **['We all just got played': Some QAnon followers lose hope as dreams of a...](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/some-qanon-followers-struggle-inauguration-day-n1255002)** > > "I don't think this is supposed to happen," one QAnon follower posted as Joe Biden was sworn in. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/51 "2021-01-23T14:50:41Z")
By the way: what does “WWGIWGA” stand for in Q-speak? Anyone know? I see it from time to time in news photos of Q-folk. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/52 "2021-01-23T14:51:56Z")
Where we go one, we go all. WWG1WGA. It’s a quote from the movie White Squall, of all fuckin things. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/53 "2021-01-23T15:16:35Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Moreover, their parasocial relationship with Trump will take a serious hit because of how he disavowed the Capitol rioters, failed to overturn the election, and abruptly disappeared like a chastened schoolboy. Also, he didn’t pardon a single one of them but he DID pardon Steve Bannon, the guy who set up a fake charity and pocketed all the money he conned them into donating. I’m thinking those two things, specifically the former, might have been the tipping point for a lot of people to jump off the trump train. Finally realizing what others have been saying for 4+ years. Regardless of anything he says or does, he’s not on your side, he’s playing for a team of 1 and he’ll leave you behind the very second he doesn’t need you anymore. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/54 "2021-01-23T15:16:44Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Where we go one, we go all. WWG1WGA. It always struck me as a very grammatically awkward saying. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/55 "2021-01-23T15:39:13Z")
It seems like a stupid mangling of “all for one and one for all.” Or maybe there’s some other similar saying that I’m not thinking of? How do “_we_ go _one_” exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/56 "2021-01-23T15:44:11Z")
As noted, it’s a quote from a movie. And the movie shows the quote as being engraved on a ship’s bell, as I recall. Maybe it’s traditional or something. But that’s where it comes from. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/57 "2021-01-23T15:55:07Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > [Qanon is an Enormous Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Run by Malevolent Puppetmasters | by Jim Stewartson | Medium](https://medium.com/@registrarproject17/qanon-is-an-enormous-alternate-reality-game-arg-run-by-malevolent-puppetmasters-27e6b098ce9b) I just wanted to bump this link and add another and encourage everyone that’s interested in this subject to read them both, and follow some of the embedded links inside the stories. It’s fascinating. While QANON draws largely from the classical conspiracy theories of shadowy cabals and global domination, these pieces tell the story of how it was weaponized by Russian disinformation sources, and it outlines the involvement of characters like Mike Flynn and OANN’s Chanel Rion. Here’s the companion piece. It is also linked to in the article @begbert2 posted, but it’s worth a link of its own. > **[JIM WATKINS IS Q AND THE RUSSIANS ARE HELPING HIM](https://registrarproject17.medium.com/jim-watkins-is-q-the-russians-are-helping-him-and-other-adventures-b457848e210b)** > > The man behind Qanon is a vile hate-merchant coordinating with OANN, Flynn and Russian intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/58 "2021-01-23T15:57:39Z")
Well, either the movie people or somebody else had to come up with the mangled phrase at some point. Mangled it is, and it figures that Q people would glom onto it and attach significance to it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/59 "2021-01-23T16:05:52Z")
Didn’t half the crew die in that film due to the captain’s incompetence? Sounds a little too on point. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211/60 "2021-01-23T17:10:25Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > > [@begbert2](#): > > > > [Qanon is an Enormous Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Run by Malevolent Puppetmasters | by Jim Stewartson | Medium](https://medium.com/@registrarproject17/qanon-is-an-enormous-alternate-reality-game-arg-run-by-malevolent-puppetmasters-27e6b098ce9b) > > I just wanted to bump this link and add another and encourage everyone that’s interested in this subject to read them both, and follow some of the embedded links inside the stories. It’s fascinating. While QANON draws largely from the classical conspiracy theories of shadowy cabals and global domination, these pieces tell the story of how it was weaponized by Russian disinformation sources, and it outlines the involvement of characters like Mike Flynn and OANN’s Chanel Rion. > > Here’s the companion piece. It is also linked to in the article @begbert2 posted, but it’s worth a link of its own. > > [JIM WATKINS IS Q AND THE RUSSIANS ARE HELPING HIM | by Jim Stewartson | Medium](https://medium.com/@registrarproject17/jim-watkins-is-q-the-russians-are-helping-him-and-other-adventures-b457848e210b) I think you may have been the one who turned me on to these articles, back in another thread. (Credit where credit’s due.) Fascinating stuff, and it helps explain just where the hell all these people suddenly came from. I mean, yes, there have always been stupid people. But trumpism isn’t founded on stupidity, it’s founded on _insanity_ - the literal rejection of reality and rational thought. And while 50% of people are of below-average intelligence, that shouldn’t mean that 50% of people are bugfucking lunatics. The fact that there’s an actual, reasonable explanation for how people got turned into Qnatics is actually _reassuring_, in a sort of conspiracy-theoristish way - it’s scary when crazy horrible things happen randomly, and in this case there _was_ a deliberate conspiracy to manufacture all these crazy people that are wrecking things. Unfortunately, like I said, that also means that there are people who have put a significant amount of time, money, and effort into making QAnon and its mob of crazies into a useful tool for their use. They’ll do whatever it takes to keep that tool in play. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-the-qanon-movement-now-do-they-mutate-move-the-goalposts-or-die-out/931211.md?page=4)