I Am Spartacus

It's always struck me was weird that an organ​ization like QAnon exists.  That is has seemingly gotten enough followers to push the Republican Party borders on the near-incomprehensible.  But I guess mass delusion has its power when people are willing to believe anything that supports what they want.

But it's still weird.  After all, the whole point of QAnon is that its leader "Q" is anonymous.  All the followers seem to believe they know what "Q" does for his information.  Except that they have absolutely no idea who he is.  So, the reality is -- and "reality" plays a big part in all this -- that no QAnon follower has the slightest idea if their beloved leader "Q" is a he.  Or a she. Or an adult.  Or the 400-pound guy living in his parents' basement that Trump liked to talk about.  Or a mental patient with computer privileges.  Or if he/she is an American.  Or Mexican.  Or a Nigerian Prince.  Or a Russian troll.  Or Chinese.  Or Turkish.  Or an 8-year-old.  Or Michael Moore screwing with them.  Or George Soros screwing with them.  Or anybody screwing with them.  Vladimir Putin, perhaps.  

Yes, I know that supposedly that are those who claim they do know who "Q" is.  But anyone can claim they know who he/she is.  He's...well, y'know, anonymous. Or she is.  I could claim that I know who "Q" is.  And for all you know, I do know.

And yet, there they all are.  Believing in the word of "Q" and following "Q's" lead.  No matter how lunatic "Q's" conspiracy theories are.  Or even far more to the point, no matter how wrong "Q" has been in many predictions of what will happen.

After all, Trump wasn't elected.  He didn't get sworn in on January 6.  Nor the next day he was supposed to get sworn in on.  And federal agents didn't come storming down the aisles on the Inauguration Day and arrest all the Democrats   None of it, and more.

If you worked for any business that relied on your analysis and were wrong that often just about this one thing, you'd have been fired long ago.  And yet "Q" adherents keep lapping it up, waiting for the next "Actually, what's really going to happen is on this later day..." update gambit.  From someone -- or a group of people -- who are all anonymous and just pulling incorrect fantasy out of one of his/her/their orifices.

Ronald Reagan, long the patron saint of conservatives, famously said his philosophy was "Trust, but verify."  For day's Republican, the whole "verify" part has been erased.  It's all pure trust.  Even when they don't even have the slightest idea who they're trust.

And it's all the more weird because their biggest near-religious hero Trump spent four years lambasting news stories that used anonymous sources.  But while, to the desperately gullible, anonymity is apparently "bad" for a news story, it turns out to be the absolutely best possible credential for being a cult leader.

What I would love is for some known liberal to publicly claim that they're "Q."  And explain in detail all the reasons that prove that's true.  And why they did it, to scam naive conservatives easy to fleece.  (Though honestly, I'd be fine with it being anyone making the claim -- liberal or conservative, young or old, American or foreign, anyone -- because if they're anything other than the background QAnon acolytes believe "Q" to be, and the person will be other than what what the followers believe, since "Q" is not real, then the legs are pulled out from under the delusion.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that this would end QAnon conspiracy theories.  It won't.  If  you're able to convince yourself that Anderson Cooper eats babies and that "Q" knows all despite being wrong all the time, then you're likely to be able to believe "Q" still exists even if "Q" isn't who you believe.  But it sure would put the whole fantasy on shakier ground, most especially for those on the edges.

Or maybe a lot of people could all claim they are "Q."  Sort of the "I am Spartacus" scenario.  All insisting on different conspiracy theories.  O what to believe?  O who to believe?

But then it doesn't matter, because in the end, they've shown that they'll believe quite literally anything.

And if it's anonymous, all the better.

But after all the wondering and all these "I am Spartacus" tricks that could be played, the mystery is actually over, and thanks to Dr. Gregory VanBuskirk, research fellow and chief science officer in charge of of sensitive intelligence for the Home Enterprise Institute, the answer has been in front of all QAnon acolytes wondering from the start who their beloved leader "Q" is.

It's John Cleese.  And he has a contract and video evidence to prove it.

No doubt he planned it all with Desmond Llewelyn two decades ago, just like any good, effective, anonymous mole, waiting for the Internet to take off.

And you can believe him on this.  His word is his bond.