Friend is now full on Trump-supporting, QAnon-believing conspiracy theorist

[Offskki]

I just can't believe it and I'm a bit gutted to be honest. Any advice on how to deal with this?

In finding this technique of 'you've completely outclassed me so Im going to stop responding to you so as not to make it worse and pretend its because you were nasty to me' hilarious.

A 'digital non person'? I dont have twitter, am I a 'digital non person'? absurd.

I don't have twitter either user and I am not on social media at all, and never have been. I am very happy being a digital non person, but some people have built whole careers and lives from social media, so I am not measuring the value on my own personal situation, but I can see the value it carries in other people's lives, and of course the younger generation are much more connected than we are - and the value will only increase I suspect.

Unless we see a backlash of such proportions that these platforms are deserted all together. Not impossible.

From one of CFSKate's links (my bolding).

NB Apophenia is : “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things (such as objects or ideas)”

A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon
medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5

When I saw QAnon, I knew exactly what it was and what it was doing. I had seen it before.
[...]
In most ARG-like games apophenia is the plague of designers and players, sometimes leading participants to wander further and further away from the plot and causing designers to scramble to get them back
[...]
This happens because in real games there are actual solutions to actual puzzles and a real plot created by the designers. It’s easy to get off track because there is a track.
[...]
QAnon is a mirror reflection of this dynamic. Here apophenia is the point of everything. There are no scripted plots. There are no puzzles to solve created by game designers. There are no solutions.

QAnon grows on the wild misinterpretation of random data, presented in a suggestive fashion in a milieu designed to help the users come to the intended misunderstanding. Maybe “guided apophenia” is a better phrase. Guided because the puppet masters are directly involved in hinting about the desired conclusions. They have pre-seeded the conclusions. They are constantly getting the player lost by pointing out unrelated random events and creating a meaning for them that fits the propaganda message Q is delivering.

There is no reality here. No actual solution in the real world. Instead, this is a breadcrumb trail AWAY from reality.

Icanseegreenshoots I hate to break it to you, but MN is social media.

Yes I know thanks Pointy, I mean as in messaging via twitter, having instagram etc etc. A forum is not quite the same - I don't mind contributing on forums but I am not plastering photos of my kids and I all over the world, or screaming blue murder about the planet/tories etc on twitter.

It's also important to remember that Twitter et al haven't banned Trump as a punishment or because someone disagrees with him. (They'd have banned him long ago if it were that.)

They've banned him because there is every probability that he will continue to incite mass violence.

Even Twitter no longer wishes to enable this.

Look forward to all you mail readers tying yourself in (I wont say intellectual) knots defending the next bakery that refuses to serve a gay couple.

I love social media. I’m always looking at mn and YouTube, I love Instagram for travel and I can honestly say that my life is enhanced by it.
Unfortunately, for many, it’s caused harm to their wellbeing and I think it’s been very harmful to society as a whole.
We’ve seen now that self regulation doesn’t really work. I think it’s time to admit that we do need some legislation and accountability to how they’re run.
If we can’t be responsible as a society as a whole to keep people safe, then maybe we need some guidance and parameters to ensure we do.

@user1471565182

In finding this technique of 'you've completely outclassed me so Im going to stop responding to you so as not to make it worse and pretend its because you were nasty to me' hilarious.

Thats fine you can find it funny. My online behaboir is the same as offline. I don't continue to speak to people who make unfounded accusations at me. If you want to speak with me and ask me something that be polite, if your going to call me a Trump supporter, when I say I am not and tell me I'm a liar, then no I just don't want to continue the conversation.

Its not about outclassing someone. Just like if someone gets aggressive or swears at me, I will step away.

ohhh you're a bit like Gandhi wouldnt you say?

You stopped replying because you couldnt give us a name. You know it and we know it.

@user1471565182

You stopped replying because you couldnt give us a name. You know it and we know it.

No its clear I haven't stopped replying, since I've replied to other people. I made it clear I won't answer you question because you continue to speak to me in a way that is not acceptable. Calling me a liar, a Trump supporter, and you rather than speak to me without doing those thing you carry on.

The comment about me being like Ghandi is unnecessary. Why are you continuing to make assumptions about me?

On other social media platforms I don't engage with anyone who ends up being a troll or goads me on a personal level.
I dont think I'm grandiose, I just prefer not to speak to people who make personal attacks. I think many people would and do the same as me, so does that make everyone wanting to be like ghandi?

Its not that I can't name them its just I am not going to whole you continue to make personal attacks. Its quite simple really.

Carry on but I'm no longer going to respond to you as your getting personal.

cyclingmad several of us, myself included, did ask you politely and without calling you names to give us some examples of far left major political leaders who had used Twitter or other platforms to incite violence. Obviously there's not likely to be a really clear parallel to Trump, but a national leader with major power must surely be possible?

Well after seeing the footage this afternoon I think we shall be very lucky if the inauguration takes place peacefully without all out civil war. I am not sure Trump IS directing the calls for arms happening across America. I think some are giving him far too much credit for the movement that is taking place. No one, not even him would wish to see the states in all out civil war - but I guess there are many that have had enough of things as they currently stand. The tech companies will not stop this in my view just by muting a few accounts.

It is worrying.

Cyclingmad has talked him/herself into a hole. Whoever they are, I hope they will go and have a think about why they really feel Trump should be allowed to remain on Twitter. Most people wouldn’t be happy for an ISIS member to be inciting violence unchecked on Twitter and this situation is absolutely no different.

**he

No one, not even him would wish to see the states in all out civil war - but I guess there are many that have had enough of things as they currently stand.

He doesn’t care about America. He never has. His only interest is his own glorification. What on Earth do you mean ‘had enough’ - as though this is justifiable?

The inauguration of Biden will go ahead with heavily stepped up security and I hope anyone who has violent intent is arrested.

Apparently businesses not having to serve people they don't want to only applies to bakeries not wanting to make a cake for gay people.

@cyclingmad

Please could you name a far left major political leader who has used Twitter / Facebook / Instagram or other social media platforms to incite violence? I always want to have as much information as possible as I don't like to live in an echo chamber, so would really appreciate you sharing an example.

I am not sure Trump IS directing the calls for arms happening across America.

So much sophistry.

Trump is PARTICIPATING in the calls to arms. Very actively, churning out lie after lie to keep the mob on the boil, and telling them he loves them.

Well, he was till Twitter removed his account. He'll have to use his other media channels now.

The issue as far as I can see is not Washington per se, they will obviously have that full water tight, I think there are fears it will spread to many other cities sugar which is why the NG are getting involved.

I am not sure I buy into Trump wanting an all out civil war personally. I am sure he wanted his departure to be noted, but I just don't think he wants to the country to descend into utter chaos. Least of all his own self interest and investments would go up in smoke, and that is ultimately important to him.

If you were saying Trump is a post-turtle, I'd agree with that. (Turtle on a post: he doesn't know why he's up there; and he didn't put himself there.)

Other people chose him as their front man because he's a narcissistic, amoral crowd-pleaser who craves adulation.

But yes, rightwing billionaires like the Mercers bankrolled the 2016 campaign and dictated who some of the staff would be. They understood the usefulness of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, because Robert Mercer is a techie himself.

Putin also had a crack at getting Trump in. How much effect Russian interventions in the 2016 election had is debated, but the fact of their intervention isn't (well, not by anyone who's seen the evidence at the hearings).

It would be very strange indeed if those players had simply gone home after 2016. Clearly white supremacist groups existed before 2016, too, and we've seen them come out to play. The disruption of US democracy very obviously benefits hostile states, so it would be surprising if they weren't having a good stir wherever they can.

Trump is not a one man band. He would be nothing without the people who see him as a convenient front man.

He can't even pull toilet paper off his own shoe.

I have the receipts for this shit, by the way.

This is Andy Wigmore of Leave.EU talking to Carole Cadwalladr back in Feb 2017, but our understanding of who's been working with whom, how, has come a very long way since then.

Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media
With links to Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and Nigel Farage, the rightwing US computer scientist is at the heart of a multimillion-dollar propaganda network
www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage

“Because Nigel is a good friend of the Mercers. And Robert Mercer introduced them to us. He said, ‘Here’s this company we think may be useful to you.’ What they were trying to do in the US and what we were trying to do had massive parallels. We shared a lot of information. Why wouldn’t you?” Behind Trump’s campaign and Cambridge Analytica, he said, were “the same people. It’s the same family.”

Also:

New Evidence Emerges of Steve Bannon and Cambridge Analytica’s Role in Brexit
www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/new-evidence-emerges-of-steve-bannon-and-cambridge-analyticas-role-in-brexit
The firm initially worked for Ted Cruz’s Presidential campaign. But, when Trump won the Republican nomination, the Mercer family, which had financially supported Trump’s Presidential bid, insisted that Trump put Bannon in charge of the campaign and bring in Cambridge Analytica, in which the family was heavily invested, as well.

READ: Senate Intelligence Report On Russian Interference In The 2016 Election
www.npr.org/2019/07/25/745351734/read-senate-intelligence-report-on-russian-interference-in-the-2016-election?t=1610463872801

That one focuses to a considerable attempt on technical attacks on voting.

This one's about social engineering attacks via social media:

www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf
^I. (U) INTRODUCTION
[redacted] In 2016, Russian operatives associated with the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) used social media to conduct an information warfare campaign designed to spread disinformation and societal division in the United States. [redacted] Masquerading as Americans, these operatives used targeted advertisements, intentionally falsified news articles, self-generated content, and social media platform tools to interact with and attempt to deceive tens of millions of social media users in the United States. This campaign sought to polarize Americans on the basis of societal, ideological, and racial differences, provoked real world events, and was part of a foreign government's covert support of Russia's favored candidate in the U.S. presidential election.^