<story><title>FBI Says QAnon, Internet Conspiracy Theorists Are National Security Threats</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4e8n/fbi-says-qanon-internet-conspiracy-theorists-are-national-security-threats</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ColanR</author><text>The article lists specifically 5 conspiracy theories: QAnon, Pizzagate, some kind of “Zionist Occupation Government” theory, Sandy Hook &amp;quot;Crisis Actor&amp;quot;, and New World Order theory. Some of these I&amp;#x27;ve never heard of.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m concerned what this will do to squash legitimate criticisms and questions.  Recall, Pizzagate accused Epstein and his associates of pedophilia (and described his airplane as well).  If the FBI considers accusing epstien and his associates of pedophilia a national security threat, we are in trouble.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>api</author><text>If anything this stuff helps real crooks like Epstein by muddying the water and making the whole subject area look silly. I sometimes wonder if some of it is intentional. Seems like a great way to cover things up in an age where actually keeping secrets is hard.&lt;p&gt;I know if I were running a human trafficking, prostitution, and blackmail operation and wanted to cover it up I&amp;#x27;d start by spreading wild theories and false accusations about elite Satanic cartoon villain cults doing exactly what I&amp;#x27;m doing. That way the whole topic would get an aura of crankiness and reputable media would stay away.&lt;p&gt;Disinformation is like radar chaff. You just blow out a lot of noise and nobody knows where the signal is. The real secrets might leak but it doesn&amp;#x27;t matter because they just merge and blend in with all the bullshit.&lt;p&gt;A grassroots explanation for this stuff is more likely of course, if only for Ockham&amp;#x27;s razor reasons. My point is that no good is accomplished by spreading nonsense.</text></comment>
<story><title>FBI Says QAnon, Internet Conspiracy Theorists Are National Security Threats</title><url>https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4e8n/fbi-says-qanon-internet-conspiracy-theorists-are-national-security-threats</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ColanR</author><text>The article lists specifically 5 conspiracy theories: QAnon, Pizzagate, some kind of “Zionist Occupation Government” theory, Sandy Hook &amp;quot;Crisis Actor&amp;quot;, and New World Order theory. Some of these I&amp;#x27;ve never heard of.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m concerned what this will do to squash legitimate criticisms and questions.  Recall, Pizzagate accused Epstein and his associates of pedophilia (and described his airplane as well).  If the FBI considers accusing epstien and his associates of pedophilia a national security threat, we are in trouble.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>MiddleEndian</author><text>Epstein wasn&amp;#x27;t much of a secret, he was convicted (and got a ridiculously favorable plea deal) back in 2008.</text></comment>