Countless people think the moon landing is fake, musicians intentionally put satanic messages backwards in music, and believe in this Qanon thing that is happing now. That is all truly truly crazy stuff. Now, just because a lot of people have come to the same conclusion about something, doesn’t mean it’s correct. You say analysis isn’t bound by the intent of the author, but I don’t really get how you can say that. If I tell you something is red and you go “it’s not red, it’s blue.” Now, you may have come the conclusion that it’s blue, but that still doesn’t mean you’re right.