During the few days we got to know each other, this friend would very casually introduce into the conversation subtle little hints that some things going on in the world, may not be as they seem. At the time these little stories seemed amusing, but one stopped me in my tracks. Apparently, some people believe Barack Obama is gay and Michelle is a transvestite. I had heard the conspiracy theory (spurred on by Donald Trump) that Obama was ineligible to be President of the United States because he was not a natural-born citizen. But this one came right out of left field. I wish no offence to gays and transvestites, but this last one struck me as pure, unvarnished crap. I told my friend what I thought, only I used more colorful Australian language to make sure he understood me.
We parted good friends, but it was only when I got home to Canberra and I saw someone post something about conspiracy theories, that I reflected on the ones I had just heard about. In the space of about 4 days my friend had introduced me to the following:
- * Thousands of children are abducted each year in US national parks and sacrificed by satanists
* Planned parenthood traffics babies and body parts
* Aliens have given us lots of technology and the US Gov. is covering it up
* The Jesuits and Masons control the world
* Fluoride is put in water to keep the population docile
* The US gov orchestrated 9/11 in order to justify invading Iraq.
* Aircraft vapour trails are chemtrails the Gov is spraying us with to make us docile
* Sandy Hook never happened. The parents are involved in an Obama-supported hoax to get at gun laws
* Vaccines cause autism
* The science behind global warming has been invented or distorted for ideological or financial reasons
* And of course Barack Obama is gay and Michelle is a transvestite
That's a pretty impressive list, and there are probably one or two I have forgotten. I am still surprised that I hadn’t fully absorbed what my friend had been telling me at the time.
A few months later in Australia, which has had its hottest and driest year on record, we witnessed the most catastrophic bushfires the country has ever faced. These types of fires were predicted, to the year, over 15 years ago by Australian climate scientists. My friend then became a conduit for US-led conspiracy theories about fires in MY backyard. I was exposed to one lie after another. The fires were lit by arsonists - LIE (>99% caused by dry lightning); the fires were bad because the Greenies blocked back-burning - LIE (you would need to back-burn every year but that kills the forest), the fires were more damaging in other years - LIE (by far the biggest burn of our wet eastern forests), the drought is because of illegal damming of rivers - LIE (droughts are due to less rain).
Over the next month my friend and I corresponded. After a few weeks he admitted that there had been some inaccuracies in the fire reporting, and that he was starting to accept global warming may be true (not sure about human-induced), but at the same time he kept directing me to amateurish youtube clips that evidently revealed how the world really operated. After a few weeks I started growing tired of all this stuff. Then about a week ago I saw a New York Times article about QAnon and its links to Trump.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/us/p ... bS9D7zcn9o
I forwarded this article to my new friend, not knowing that this would hit THE button.
In my email I said:
A disturbing article. I think the US is going through a very strange phase, encouraged by the Conspirator in Chief. I hope we can come out of this before it does serious damage to the US and beyond.
I can't see the attraction of conspiracy theories (CTs). What hope do they offer the world? If we all subscribed to CTs the world would just descend into complete chaos.
I just don't have the stamina to believe people are that evil. Yes plenty are incompetent, they stuff things up, and a small proportion are criminal bastards, but most people are basically good. I'm happy to live in a country where most of the people I meet are decent folk. CTs offer me nothing but despair.
This is the response I received. Strap yourselves in.
Simon,
"I just don't have the stamina to believe people are that evil. Yes plenty are incompetent, they stuff things up, and a small proportion are criminal bastards, but most people are basically good. I'm happy to live in a country where most of the people I meet are decent folk. CTs offer me nothing but despair."
I hear what you are saying, but most unfortunately, you are living in a PollyAnna bubble with see-no-evil blinders affixed to your face.
Seriously.
The depth of your cluelessness about what is happening under your nose on Planet Earth will shock the living hell out of you ... whenever it is that you ingest the proverbial Red Pill (referencing the famous movie The Matrix) and wake yourself up. Please watch the clip before continuing reading. The clip is about YOU, Simon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE7PKRjrid4
The NYT has become a propaganda machine, along with most mainstream media outlets. The Q-bashing article you linked is standard fare for the NYT, Washington Post, CNN, etc. If you want some now-hard-to-find real print journalism, the Epoch Times still reports facts, not crowd control (social engineering) BS.
There exist a multitude of "alt news" websites and channels out there. Mainstream media has become a joke for people who have awakened from the public brainwash ... not yet including Simon Southerton, most unfortunately.
I have been following Q since the inception back in October 2017. You'll choke on this, but Jordan Sather is very knowledgable about Q and gives an excellent presentation for newbies. If you really would like to burst the goddammed bubble and learn some facts, I will send you a link to a Jordan talk at an event in Hawaii last year. Just ignore Jordan's belief in the healing powers of "bleach" and consider learning what Q is about instead of swallowing NYT brainwash rubbish.
Simon, I want you to slap yourself and wake yourself up and stop shooting messengers when they say something you don't agree with. Lemme give you a clue about Life. There's no such thing as ONE STOP SHOPPING for virtually anything.
Why is that?
All humans are flawed and imperfect. Even the most enlightened among us do not have a 100% lock on truth.
One of my personal maxims: 80% of what I know for sure is probably BS.
Your personal maxim on this topic seems to be: If Simon Southerton doesn't believe it already, it's BS.
Q is not a theory. It is a behind-the-scenes intelligence operation ... a small group of unnamed, mostly military people (a.k.a. White Hats) who have a proven connection to Trump ... based upon dozens and dozens of what are called "Q-proofs". Jordan's regularly gives good examples of Q-proofs when they happen. There are several other alt-news sites who devour and analyze every "Q-drop" and offer interpretations to their audiences. Many alt-news sites are censored from coming up on google searches. (Yep.... another CT: Google and YouTube are actively suppressing truth-tellers ... and it's getting worse as time marches and more truth is seeing the light of day.)
Simon, for god's sake ... eat a piece of humble pie and stop embarrassing yourself with your cluelessness. You won't like to hear what I am about to write, but I'm dead serious:
With respect to what is now happening ... and what has been happening for centuries on Planet Earth ... behind the scenes away from public view ... never reported in the mainstream media ... you are NO LESS CLUELESS THAN A TBM WHO THINKS THE CHURCH IS TRUE.
Your equivalent "faith transition" regarding the dark and evil underbelly of Life on Earth is still ahead of you. Of course, you don't wanna believe any of the f***ing conspiracy theories! Who can blame you?
" I can't see the attraction of conspiracy theories (CTs). What hope do they offer the world? If we all subscribed to CTs the world would just descend into complete chaos."
"... would descend?" Sorry ... too late. It descended long before any of us were born. You just don't know about any of it.
The hope CTs offer the world is to shine a light on worse, unspeakable evil than you can possibly imagine right now, Simon. There is human trafficking, sex slavery, Satan worship and even child and baby sacrifice happening right now ... as we speak ... with no shortage of rich and famous individuals participating in secret. Jeffrey Epstein was the barest tip of the iceberg of what is going on all over the planet.
Simon, it is true that most humans are decent people who love their children and treat animals well. Keyword = "most." Thank God for that!
I want this email to make you lose sleep, Simon. You and I crossed paths for a reason, and the reason was not for me to put blinders back on and go back to sleep ... because Simon Southern thinks I'm full of s**t.
Here is your Achilles Heel. I will spell it out for you. It's good old fashioned intellectual arrogance and faux ego superiority. You are a very smart, intelligent and accomplished man, Simon, in your field of expertise. You are accustomed to believing that your personal conclusions are accurate and reflect truth and reality.
Sober up and realize that SIMON SOUTHERTON USED TO BELIEVE WITH ALL SINCERITY THAT THE Mormon CHURCH IS TRUE.
This is the same kind of sincerity with which you NOW believe the world cannot possibly be as broken as many conspiracy theories would have us believe. Right. And the CES Letter and ... what else ... Losing a Lost Tribe ... are all anti-Mormon lies.
I am getting right square in your face on this, Simon. I am going to the bother because I like you, and even love you. When you love someone, you eventually find the right time and place to help them WAKE THEMSELVES UP when it's as clear as the nose on your face that your new friend is seriously asleep with one very important facet of his life... I mean understanding what is happening on Planet Earth.
Caveat: Remember I wrote that there is NO ONE-STOP SHOPPING? Well, it applies to everything, including conspiracy theories. Some are BS.
Another caveat: A messenger who speaks 80% truth worth listening to ... may be speaking 20% BS to be avoided. Do not reject the 80% because the messenger is a human being ... and not a perfect source of pristine truth.
Another caveat: Some people who believe in conspiracy theories that expose real truth are whack jobs and look (or are) crazy f***ed up. If you reread the NYT article, please watch yourself being LED BY THE NOSE to point and laugh with the writer at screwy humans who believe in Q and to do nutzoid behaviors. You took the bait, Simon. You took the bait and allowed your perception of Q to be brainwashed into your brain: See these crazy lunatics? They believe the QCT. Ergo. Only loonies think Q is legit. Do you wanna be a lunatic who thinks Q is worthwhile?
Simon, after you are hopefully awake, you would rather wipe your butt with pages from the Book of Mormon than a piece of paper ripped from the New York Times. (Sorry for that unnecessary outburst.)
Well ... the ball's in your court now. I have been waiting for the right time to hit you hard with this WAKE UP CALL. Your sending me the NYT link lit my fuse ... and you just read the detonation explosion.
I like you, Simon. I will get mushy and even say I love you. And I love you enough to risk our valuable friendship by telling you the truth as I see it. I also freely admit that some of what I believe is very likely BS or otherwise flawed information. I am not, however, mistaken about the sordid underbelly of human society that lives in the shadows and involves more people in high places than any of us wanna believe. Hollywood is a cesspool of humanity, and not the only cancerous tumor on the planet. The Halls of Power are rife with monster predators masquerading as normal folks in polite society.
And ... let's also acknowledge ... lots of people in Hollywood, NGOs and government are honest and decent.
How could human beings do crap like that? Ever heard of psychopathy?
What if these kinds of folks are "who's really controlling the planet?"
Simon, you are a trusted influencer in the view of lots of people who respect your opinions. If we succeed in awakening YOU, you will not be able to stop yourself from "paying it forward" and helping to awaken others.
Take this to the bank: When (not if) a critical mass of us human beings WAKE UP and focus our attention and intentions on the darkness among us, healing will happen and our beautiful planet will fulfill its potential and bless everyone and everything that calls My Earth Planet their home.
All the Best!”
At that point I had to end the correspondence.
I am happily married, love my wife and kids and have plenty of good friends. All of these people respect me. I like to think I rose to lead the forestry genetics research in CSIRO because people trusted my judgement and I had a track record of high quality, careful research. Why would I throw that all away chasing the shadowy ideas of anonymous, unqualified, conspiracists claiming to know the inner workings of some deep state?
It became abundantly clear that this friend was trying to gradually entice me into this cesspit of misinformation and half truths. Milk before meat. Why was he working so hard on me? Because he thinks I’m a potential “influencer”. Now that’s a role I am happy to play, but in the other direction.
I am sharing this correspondence because I believe QAnon is a serious problem and is rapidly getting worse, particularly in the US. In fact, it appears to be a largely US phenomenon. Once people have gone down this rabbit hole they almost never come out of it. I suspect that exmormons are particularly susceptible to this type of thinking given the enormous breach of trust that many feel, having been deceived by the church for so many years of their lives. I’m also convinced that many ultra-right wing Mormons are already wading around in this swamp and some visit this group from time to time.
Evidently the emergence of conspiracy theories is a common thing looking back through human history. They appear during periods of uncertainty when people feel they are losing control and start to fear what’s happening in the world. The thought that you know hidden secrets about how the world really operates is also incredibly seductive. Just like that feeling I sometimes had as a TBM missionary tracting the streets of Melbourne.
