I’ve had this bouncing around in my head for the longest time. Even before this happened, I’ve had a real hard time trying to stay the course on the subject because on some level, I know the supporters are right and there is a chance – though slight – that their predictions will come to pass. However, at the same time I can’t fully get behind them like I normally do.
Sorry guys, but I’m glad Alex Jones is gone.
I say ‘gone’ pretty loosely though, because he’s not really gone. He still apparently has his website and his apps available (you just have to hunt for them), so it’s not like he was completely thrown off the Internet despite what some would claim. No; he was thrown off several mainstream social media sites though for one reason or another, and the reaction I’ve seen from folks is basically another REEEEEEEEE-fest over free speech.
Jones is a conspiracy theorist. Have you ever met one of these guys? I have and let me tell you, they are not right in the head. I mean the shit they spew is not only cringe-worthy, but to a rational mind it’s often a case of ‘how in the name of all things fuck did you connect those dots?’ I worked with a germaphobe who was also an anti-vaxxer. Every year when the flu shot was offered at work he would go off on a rant about the government and big pharma, and how we were opening ourselves up to their control. Now that I don’t have a spleen I wonder if I could sue his ass if I ever got sick because of a diminished herd immunity.
My point is that his ranting and raving about one conspiracy after another basically invalidated anything and everything he said to me. I could question his credibility on any subject because I knew his thoughts were tainted with unfounded claims and other bullshit. It was almost as bad as religion with him. I’m glad he left the company a few years before I did, largely because I was sick of listening to him every year when we were all trying to not get sick.
Since the banning I’ve seen a lot of people come to his defense…people who, maybe a decade ago, would have been debunking his work tooth and nail. But it’s no longer about facts vs. feelings anymore, is it? No…now it’s a war between free speech absolutism and censorship. Quality of content is no longer an issue, but the content itself is. Apparently now gay frogs and the Sandy Hook ‘cover-up’ are now somehow sacred institutions that we of the centrist bend must now rally to and defend.
Sorry…I can’t.
People like Sargon of Akaad and Computing Forever have railed against companies like YouTube and Facebook for years, both of them becoming deeper and deeper entrenched in their beliefs about them. Yet they seem to think that yelling and screaming about Jones getting banned from both platforms is somehow going to fix it. Really, guys? Both companies did exactly what you figured they would, and now you’re railing against them?
News flash: YouTube, Facebook, and all the other social media companies out there are going to do whatever the hell they’re going to do, and there’s nothing we can do about it. There are some alternatives out there now like Minds, BitChute, GAB, etc. where InfoWars could keep going. Hell, Paul Joseph Watson’s already on Minds…of course he’s been on there for quite some time now. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t been censored from there yet, given the level of WTF bullshit posts I’ve seen on that site.
If Jones was just someone everyone laughed at, then everything would be fine, but the whole Sandy Hook ‘hoax’ thing took it all too far. His outrageous claims that it was all an act and that people didn’t really lose anyone, not to mention the threats the parents got from fans of Jones. That’s crossing the line and I’m sorry; no matter how much you walk that back, you put it out there and you had interviews with others where you double and triple-downed on it. I saw them, and if I didn’t hate you before then, I sure as fuck do now.
The most I’ve heard Cullen and Benjamin say about him is that he’s good meme fuel. So let me get this straight: You want him to stay on the air so that you can have something to laugh about and make stupid images of screen caps so you can show off your mighty photoshop skillz to your fan base…am I right? Pretty thin guys…pretty thin.
The argument that Jones will be the first, but soon the left will come for us all doesn’t wash either. I don’t think InfoWars is the right hill to die on for this because stating it’s our duty to preserve someone’s right to poison minds with outright false claims, to me, seems counter-productive. I would much rather heed a rally call if Jordan Peterson was de-platformed off these media sites because with the exception of his religious bend, I tend to agree with him on a lot of points. He might come off as a bit abrasive, but at least he’s not talking about gay frogs and chem trails.
Look, we’d all like to think that everyone is as ‘woke’ as we all are. We’d like to think that because we’re up here being all rational and skeptical that everyone else is the same, but that’s not the case. The same people who pick up the tabloids in the markets are the same ones who would watch Alex Jones, or Peter Popoff and accept their words as gospel. Sandy Hook was proof that there are people out there who consume InfoWars content and believe it to be true because they’re disenfranchised by mainstream media. Jones knows this and uses that knowledge to grow his audience, push his supplements, and above all spew his vitriol. He knows people out there will eat it up and continue to listen because, like Trump, he’s keyed into the anger of America.
So yeah, while I’m a fan of Sargon, Dave, and especially Tim Pool, on this one I have to disagree. Alex Jones and InfoWars crossed a line with me, and it had consequences that I find unacceptable. I’m glad he’s been banned from these so-called mainstream social media sites. In a world where ‘fake news’ is being found more and more, it’s time we started dealing with it and holding broadcasters’ feet to the fire to make sure they have their shit together. If they proliferate the lie and insist on its veracity in the face of the facts, then it’s time to discard them and move on.