Noah Fence said
The "media" haven't even talked about Qanon. Like at all, as far as I know. 

I've seen the memes and had to unfollow people on social apps because they went full fox news with the Qanon stuff. 

Also it's important to note that "it's not about republicans or democrats" is a clear lie. The conspiracy theory is spreading in right wing circles and specifically targets mainstream Democratic people and institutions. It is carry over from the same lies that led to a Republican going into a pizza place and shooting people. There is also documented evidence which shows that the best way to keep people in line with an authoritarian leader like trump is to create fears of something big and looming. It's also a great way to make people vote Republican. It's manipulation through misinformation which is a tool trump team and the ultra right are experts in.

Notice how there are absolutely no specifics? Notice how it specifically ties Trump to the battle against this impending threat? Notice the alarming language? The way it literally says the information (which is not given) will seem unbelievable but to believe it anyway? Why? To scare you.

And it's working. Look up the qanon hashtag on any social media platform and you'll see numerous posts that are tagged MAGA and TRUMP.

Some specifically talk about how Hillary and Podesta are involved in the "deep state" threat.

It's ridiculous paranoia and it makes absolute sense that you and your super genius wife would be into it. It hits all of your important markers.  

Yes. That is exactly what I was saying. That info is NOT from Q. That is from people posting about Q. Q is the one that said it is not about Republicans vs Democrats. It is the right-wing tin-foil hat wearing people who want it to be against democrats.

I will say that the majority of the Q-folks are close minded diehard "Trump-icans" (I probably fall into this category to some extent, as people have pointed out here) but I know from personal experience with some of them, they are not all. Quite a few Bernie supporters, more than I would have expected. A few self-proclaimed Democrats too, though not many. The central message is about corrpution and while the right-wing side of Q followers want to intentionally ignore it, Q has called out many Republicans. Politics, as I am sure many on here will agree, breed corruption. Doesn't matter the party affiliations, power always has an open door to corruption. Some politicians choose to go through that door, some choose to try to close it. Some probably, in a misguided sense, think they have to use corruption to "fight fire with fire". As Q says, "All who play are fair game. No one gets a free pass" and not all those targeted by Q are politicians. Many are corporate execs.

The media that has reported on Q has not been cable news but a quick google shows the many news sources that explain the "Q conspiracy" from a point of view of someone who has no clue how to correctly navigate and filter through the Chans. Most attribute it all to 4Chan (1/2 chan) but the main channel is really on 8Chan. They incorrectly report that the followers are vile racists but if you looks at the UIDs of the "racists" you will see an interesting trend. A person will reply to a racist post and attack the "racist", giving very valid points against racism, then later spew the exact same type of racism only to be replied to by the original poster attacking the other poster's "racist" stance. They are usually in teams of 4 to 5 UIDs and all reply and attack each other, switching stances back and forth. The technique is called "Coordinated Sliding" and is one of many techniques used on Chans. Some say they are just trolls who like to disrupt. Some say they are paid shills who want to provide "proof" to the media of the vile nature of the Chans. Others say they are there to "scare away the normies." I don't know for certain which is more true. I think there are aspects of all those. It is not a new phenomenon. This is how Chans, and Reddits to a lesser extent, have been for years. I have no issue with it since I have grown acustomed to spotting these people and I quickly filter them out of all future posts that I read, especially when I am "Q-ing".

...

So ... Looks like I have become guilty of the "Slide" here in this topic. I took it farther than it needed to go in an art discussion. I tend to get long winded sometimes.  Back to the topic at hand ...

@noah-fence , You seem to be the most "artistic" from an academic point of view so this is directed at you mostly but anyone who has input on this is welcome to chime in. My daughter is into art. It is her main focus. What direction, academically, would you suggest she explores to round out her education and experience in the arts? While she may not go down the collegiate route (that is completely up to her), she can still explore those avenues herself in her own way. I realise the question is probably dependent on her type of art so it may be easier to just say what avenues you have explored, both academically and personally.