Do I have to believe in Q to enjoy the new HBO doc?
Someone is getting fired for the border soon
I installed a doorbell today. I am now a red state voter.
Let’s get to it.
Review of Q: Into The Storm
Q: Into The Storm is a six-part documentary series on HBO Max. The documentarian, Cullen Hoback attempts to track to identity of Q, a mysterious message board poster who has inspired a dedicated following throughout the internet.
There is no doubt that Qanon is a phenomenon. It certainly has dedicated followers. It’s catchphrases (many of which are taken from the lesser-known Ridley Scott survival epic White Squall) have permeated mainstream political discourse.
The movie itself is very compelling at points, specifically when focusing on a trio of core characters: Fredrick Brennan, Jim Watkins and Ron Watkins.
Fred created 8Chan, a message board that took a free speech maximalist approach (read: if it isn’t illegal, it’s fine) like 4Chan but also allowed users to create their own boards like Reddit. He eventually sells his site to Jim Watkins, a man whose made his living on the seedier sides of the internet after hosting and purchasing the Japanese site 2Channel and parlaying that into a porn empire. His son, Ron is a coder and at the point we join our story the current administrator of 8Chan.
To go any further with the set-up is to repeat one of the first sins of the series, delving too far into message board gossip and lore. There are simply some long-form mediums that are almost impossible to summarize in an entertaining manner. Think of every time you’ve tried to explain why the twist in the third book of a book series was so good in under 20 seconds to someone who never read it.
That said: Jim, Ron and Fred are weird. You know all of them are lying to the documentarian at various points, the only question is how much. That’s compelling!
It reminded me of the personalities in the 2007 classic King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.
The underdog, the bully and a cosmically inconsequential prize that only serves to highlight the personalities of both as they risk it all to chase it.
But therein lies my biggest issue with Into The Storm it very much believes that Q is the opposite of inconsequential. In fact, it wants you to believe it is very, very powerful.
It’s not just a whodunit to find out who the mystery man Q is and if the call is indeed coming from inside the house. But rather defining Q as a true cultural force that caused, among other things, the election of politicians and the storming of the capital on January 6th.
I don’t believe those things are true. To give Q the credit for these events is to feed into the narrative that’s allowed a simple shitposter to earn massive press and his own documentary series.
The storming of the capital happened because a very popular candidate who lost the presidency refused to concede and fed a faulty theory that if congress didn’t certify the vote that he might still have a chance to win. The election of “Q candidates” happened in red house districts during a strong year for Republican down ballot nationwide.
There are explanations for these things that don’t require us to agree that there is silent majority of devotees to a deep web ARG that can radically reshape our world.
That being said, the story behind Q and the fans he/she/they attract is certainly good enough for a documentary fodder. It does suffer from a massive epidemic of our modern documentary boom… it’s fatty.
The six hours could very easily have been an electric 2 and a half or three.
Where We Go One, We Run Long.
Fallout from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine pause
Fauci said something interesting today.
So you’re telling me that all of these restrictions (masks, closures, schools) are based on the same principles that paused the JJ vaccine?
While this isn’t news for some it’s interesting that the government is putting it in the same basket.
Meanwhile… it looks like we are going to get resolution on this pause this week, on Friday.
Wait, what? Friday?
Why Friday? What is different on Friday that isn’t true on Monday?
This kind of red tape really erodes faith in the “emergency measures must be taken” attitude that has come part and parcel with the COVID experience. It’s also increasingly made me sure that we would not have a vaccine at the time we under a Democratic president. If we can’t get an expedited review of a vaccine pause now, how slow would the initial testing and approval process go?
How To Read The News: Watching for trail balloons
The border issue will not go away for Joe Biden.
He just backtracked on raising refugee caps. He continues to see unprecendated traffic across the border. His desire to not put kids in cages has led him to put more kids in cages than ever.
Someone is going to have to take the blame and it feels like the first will be Xavier Becerra.
The dissatisfaction with Becerra centers on complaints he’s been slow to take charge of the response since his confirmation on March 18, according to eight current and former government officials and others familiar with the situation. The administration has scrambled to find new shelters and speed the vetting of adults to care for the children as thousands remain in packed detention facilities along the border.
Biden called the issue a crisis this week, might be time for a head to roll to show how series he is about fixing it.
Stories like that are trial balloons, ways for people in power to gauge reaction. Does the media and the public agree that Becerra should be axed? Maybe he’s too small of a fish?
If so, who would need to go further up the chain?
Feedback on Wednesday!
- Justin