Alex Jones Under Fire

Alex Jones/Info Wars

As always, I like to be very up front on where I stand on things, so full disclosure... I am not a fan of Alex Jones or Info Wars, nor do I believe the Sandy Hook shooting - or any of the others - was staged. The whole crisis actor, mass shooting staging conspiracy theory thing has already been covered here, so you may have already known that. Conspiracy theory just isn't my thing. 

After I posted the linked article above, I got a lot of email from readers who were beside themselves that I believed actual evidence and didn't ignore it to push a conspiracy theory. And I'm sure I'll get a lot of love for this article, too. But here we go!

My first thought was that the lawsuit was insane. No, I don't like conspiracy theories, and most of them are really easy to debunk, even if the people who want to believe them don't care. But I do support free speech unflinchingly, so I was prepared to defend his right to spew this crap, whether I agree with him or not. Then I spent a little more time looking into the lawsuits because it began to grow.

​Originally, it was two families. Now there are six more joining the suit. The article spends a lot of time painting a picture of Alex Jones that may or may not be true. I don't give him much of my time, so how much of what they are telling us he has said is true I just don't know. I tried to give Alex Jones some time years ago, but I couldn't swallow his pills, so I stopped paying him much time. 

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The complaints from all eight families allege that Jones used his internet and radio platforms to push the conspiracy theory that the shooting, in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at the school in Newtown, Connecticut, was a staged event. The lawsuits claim that Jones’ false narratives have brought him attention and money, while the families have suffered deep personal pain as well as abuse from fans of Jones.

“Jones’s actions subjected the families and survivors of the Sandy Hook shooting to physical confrontations and harassment, death threats and personal attacks on social media,” the families’ attorney said in a statement provided to NBC News. “Alex Jones and his co-conspirators engineered and maintained this campaign for a simple reason: greed.”

​Source

The article goes on to list the craziest things Jones has ever said, and closes by letting us know that Trump has said positive things to and about Jones, which, of course, is their way of reminding everyone that Trump and his supporters are all Alex Jones conspiracy theorists who obviously believe all of this horse manure, because we're all exactly alike, right? Something else that only applies to the right and not the left. 

Anyway, where my desire to defend Alex Jones' free speech stopped was at the threats. Now...

If the families have evidence - which I assume they do - that they received threats from his supporters, they may have a case. It's still going to be a fight because I would assume they would have to prove that Alex Jones encouraged the threats or something, but I'm not sure. I'm not a lawyer (yet). As previously stated, I have been on the receiving end of hate from conspiracy theorists. About 99% of the time it is just a bunch of laughable name calling and telling me I'm not woke or something; pretty harmless stuff. But there's always that 1% who decides that if you don't believe Obama is a reptilian than you should be killed publicly as an example to others. Or at the very least you should be forced to drink the water that'sturning those frogs gay. 

​Believing conspiracy theories is one thing. Attacking families because you have decided their kids didn't actually exist and that they're actors is a whole other. And it takes a whole lot of dead brain cells to get to that level. I saw some of those theories, pictures of these apparent actors at other shootings and all. First off, why would they chance using the same people at multiple scenes? Second, why would they use their real names? They obviously did if you were able to find them to make the threats. 

I do, however, wonder if anyone is going to go after those making the actual threats. I understand the desire to go after Alex Jones. But what about the idiots who were making the actual threats? Like I said, most of these people are harmless. And while Alex Jones probably harped on the point, I can't imagine he told his followers to make threats or scare these people. They made the decision to do that on their own. And even if you take Alex Jones all the way down to the gutter, those people will carry on. They don't need Alex Jones to thrive. And they will believe what they do no matter what evidence is provided - without providing any additional evidence once all the original stuff was debunked - and go after anyone who doesn't believe as they do. That type - which, again, isn't all of them - are very much like militant SJWs in that right. 

So yeah, I am sort of interested in seeing where this goes. What effect is this going to have on Info Wars? Is anything going to happen to those who made the threats? Or is Alex Jones going to be treated like a cult leader where the craziest among his followers are deemed to not be at fault? I'll keep an eye on it and try to keep you updated.