National security officials are used to shaking off absurd conspiracy theories, but the latest rumor that’s gripped MAGA world just hits different.
The claims by Fox News and far-right influencers that pop star Taylor Swift is part of a Pentagon “psychological operation” to get President Joe Biden reelected, and somehow rig the Super Bowl to benefit Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and Swift’s boyfriend) Travis Kelce, has been met with forehead slaps in the national security world.
“The absurdity of it all boggles the mind,” said one senior administration official, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the matter. “It feels like one of those ‘tell me you are a MAGA conspiracy theorist, without telling me you are a MAGA conspiracy theorist’ memes.”
This feels like one of those things /b/ started as a joke, and a few echo chambers took it seriously, and the media assumed or “assumed” it was far more widespread than it was. At least, I hope so
At work I have a regular that comes into the office and she spouts conspiracies like these and started talking about Taylor Swift vaccines and the deep state in the last week or so, so there are definitely a few true believers.
These will never work. She’s just too infectious.
You just gotta shake it off. (Yes, I hate myself)
That pun. I knew you were trouble when you walked in.
Oh no doubt, no matter how insane sounding there will be believers. It’s almost always related to undiagnosed or unmedicated mental disorders with delusions as a symptom. It’s really sad that we don’t prioritize mental health more in this country.
This woman is like 75 years old, lives in a van from '89, gets healthcare from her father being in the military or something based on what she says. She definitely has undiagnosed schizophrenia based on the way she acts and the bits of past she gives out. I feel bad for her, but she comes in, destroys our bathrooms to take a shower, then when she gets barred from using our restrooms, gets upset claiming she has no memory of causing the mess and tells us she will have to inform her doctors if that’s the case. It seems all the more tragic that she lives this way but has access to the things that could help her, but chooses not to. She says she lives in the van to save money, but she has a full retirement account. There’s a military base with her father’s name on it.
Everyday, someone new is out to get her. Government, vaccines, Democrats, CNN, George Soros. The right has effectively weaponized mental illness on a national scale.
Damn Taylor. TIL
The entire alt right movement was exactly that. It was a joke on b that did this.
Like I used to think that enders game was stupid when it came to the weird internet forum starting a movement and influencing politics but that has literally happened in real life lol
Except that in Ender’s Game they used weird internet forums to actually improve public discourse and awareness.
Reality turns out to be much dumber than fiction sometimes. I’d say often but there’s a lot of porn.
Sure but what’s your point? I’m saying it was weird to me that the author thought that was realistic or possible. And it happened in real life, proving that it was possible lol
Oh, I read Enders Game in high school and took the opposite view from you. I believed that the Internet would raise public discourse by elevating intelligence and empathy over our baser instincts. Then we all, including me, proved that wrong.
Optimist, I guess. Not sure what to do with that side of me now.
Right? I remember when the_Donald started on reddit, I thought it was hilarious and just people making fun of Trump and behaving like over the top cultists. And in the beginning it obviously was only just a joke. And then it got real and people really thought what was written there was the truth. People for banned and an echo chamber formed.
Was it the same on /b/? Did anyone experience the same as me back then? I really wanna know if all of this came from dumb internet humour…
I know people used to post the updates for Q on there. That’s why its called Qanon. Because the were from 4chan and the posts were anonymous.
You took the words right out of my neurolink embedded keyboard…
This really is one of the most amusing panics they’ve had in recent years.
Until someone shoots up a concert again
Well sure if you want to take morbid reality into account. Yet they wonder why people call for gun laws when nutcases pull things like that.
“They are trying to take away our right to shoot up a concert!” -Q cultists probably
There have always been sports fans who think that when their team loses, it’s because the ref is on the take. Now you have legalized sports gambling everywhere, with non-stop ads, and official NFL partnerships. Combine that with dozens of hyper slo-mo cameras covering every angle when a ref misses a call, and the conspiracy that the NFL is rigged has become more common the last two years.
Without getting into how absolutely stupid that is, it’s only a few more leaps in logic to get to where they seem to be: they keep showing Swift during games, because her fans tune in to see her, ergo, they’ll want her to be on screen during the biggest have of the year! The NFL wants the Chiefs to go to the super bowl. (I bartend, and I’ve had non-maga people saying this to me.) Add in the paranoia that comes with facism, and boom, a new MAGA grand conspiracy is born.
It doesn’t help that this has actually happened though like with the NBA in the late 90s/early aughts.
Listen, I’m a lifelong football player, coach and fan. If you’re trying to tell me the game isn’t rigged for the Chiefs to be in the Superbowl I’m telling you you’re the conspiracy Nutter!
Signed Your biggest Baltimore Ravens fan.
Woof. I felt so bad for Flowers on 1/28. They kept zooming in on him when he was rattled and you could see how bad it was getting to him.
He made rookie mistakes after not playing like a rookie all season. The offense shit the bed the second half, wasn’t just one guy Flowers doesn’t deserve as much hate as he’s getting. Deserves a good share though.
There actually is a confirmed government plot to keep the Bills from winning the Super Bowl, though. It was confirmed in that documentary from the 90s, “The X-Files”.
Oh fuck watching that FG go wide right the other week gave me flash backs to nam.
I feel like this is how a lot of stuff starts these days. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a “psy op” (possibly created by actual children).
Trump’s massive inferiority complex and narcissism is also driving it