So, QAnon....

[CJD]

(07-19-2020, 12:11 AM)samhain Wrote: It's strange, but to me it seems like things like flat-earth theory start out as jokes.  Eventually, however, certain people begin to join the "team" that aren't quite stable or are just plain dumb, and it becomes less funny.  

All of this shit used to be really entertaining to me personally.  I watched Alex Jones go on about Bohemian Grove and political cabals on public access in the early aughts.  He was funny and seemed too absurd to be taken seriously.  Now "repesctable" people that have kids and real jobs look to him as a source of information.  He's talked to the friggin' POTUS for Christ's sake.  

I went on a business trip to Dallas last year with a manager from work that I always respected and loved working for.  He's no simpleton at all.  I made a joke about chemtrails as we watched planes taking off at DFW before we left and he proceeded to launch into a 45 minute diatribe about what chemtrails are, who's behind them, and why.  I laughed my ass off and made snide remarks until I realized he was dead serious.  It made me genuinely sad.

I think that's how a majority of the crazy communities online start. For example, the subreddit The_Donald used to be a sub meant to mock the absurdity of Trump as a candidate. But, as it went on, Trump supporters just flocked to it and turned it into one of the most repugnant subreddits ever.

Same with the subreddit Gamers Rise Up. It started out making fun of the negative associations with gamers (like being anti social and obsessed with edgy anti-heroes like the Joker), and then eventually it just became unironically racist and anti-social.

I think /b/ on 4Chan was similar.

All of these "Let's pretend we believe something absurd because the idea that these people exist is hilarious to us" communities eventually become an unironic testament to those people's existence. It should be a law of the internet by this point, similar to Godwin's Law or Poe's Law. In fact, Poe's Law is a pretty apt description of it...

Quote:"Without a clear indicator of the author's intent, parodies of extreme views will be mistaken by some readers or viewers as sincere expressions of the parodied views."

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if Stephen Colbert had a certain sect of his fans that actually thought he was being serious on The Colbert Report.