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Alex Jones/InfoWars: "BREAKING: Democrats Plan To Launch Civil War On July 4th"
- Thread starter xbhaskarx
- Start date
his vehicle for selling snake oil is conspiracy theories that tend to encourage right-wing extremist violence.
Outside of the innate shock-value of the rhetoric, and Alex Jone's role as popular culture figure, why are either infowars or Alex Jones-stuff still ok to post?
Is it because it veers so outside of news-reporting that it's essentially entertainment?
And, if it is entertainment, is it really entertaining?
My opinion comes from someone outside the US, but this inbetween status that Alex Jones - and similar charlatans - have hewed out for themselves has never sat well with me.
I guess there's some value in pointing and laughing at preposterous opinions, but given the current political climate of the US, is there really a need to feel community over outlandish opinions, given the fact that what used to be the outlandish fringe is now actually in power?
The need for "the progressive"/"left" side to still signal-boost stuff from Alex Jones and his ilk has always bothered me - even 10, 15 years ago - but it feels particularly gross given the actual problems that are present in both the US, and many european countries.
Like, can't we bond over something more interesting, if that's the function posting Alex Jones-shit ostensibly fulfills?
Sorry to be a bit of a party-pooper.
Cheers.
Is it because it veers so outside of news-reporting that it's essentially entertainment?
And, if it is entertainment, is it really entertaining?
My opinion comes from someone outside the US, but this inbetween status that Alex Jones - and similar charlatans - have hewed out for themselves has never sat well with me.
I guess there's some value in pointing and laughing at preposterous opinions, but given the current political climate of the US, is there really a need to feel community over outlandish opinions, given the fact that what used to be the outlandish fringe is now actually in power?
The need for "the progressive"/"left" side to still signal-boost stuff from Alex Jones and his ilk has always bothered me - even 10, 15 years ago - but it feels particularly gross given the actual problems that are present in both the US, and many european countries.
Like, can't we bond over something more interesting, if that's the function posting Alex Jones-shit ostensibly fulfills?
Sorry to be a bit of a party-pooper.
Cheers.
I'd be surprised if it's not already tbqh
Gotta dull the pain somehow
We'll just use trucks and cars. I'm told they're equally as deadly.
They'll say they intimidated us into not going through with it and claim victory for an imaginary battle that was never going to happen, just like when they thought there was going to an antifa uprising on November 4th
These people thrive on stupid, I mean it wouldn't go any other way.
why do we need guns when we have Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
She will take your guns and redistribute them.
At a certain point, you feel the need to embrace the pain. If we don't laugh we'll cry. His crazy ass shit loses some of its power if we say "sure, so what?"
Obviously stuff like Sandy Hook falls outside of that. But if he becomes a joke (he is) then he becomes taboo.
I'm an atheist and a katana is an amazon click away. They don't want to test my godless steel.
I blame Bernie.
Because it's fashionable to blame Bernie for everything. So hot right now.
Bernie how could you betray us?! Revolution ruined.
God is looking down on us right now and saying, "ALRIGHT KIDS IF YOU DONT START BEHAVING BY THE TIME I COUNT TO TEN, CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED!"
Under his eye.
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I hope one of his followers turns on him and puts a bullet in his head. The man is irredeemable scum
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I hope one of his followers turns on him and puts a bullet in his head. The man is irredeemable scum
Four pages, not one,
for shame to a lot of you.
While you were out partying with gifs I was stockpiling satanic bibles. And now you have the Alex Jones to ask me for help?
People who read my posts know that I am extremely anti-Trump/Republicans. I'm left speechless and aghast every day at the orange bag of shitpus in office. But I'll be putting the flag outside because for me the flag means the goodness, not the rotten. And no amount of nazis in the white house can take that away.
Apologies, I would've been here sooner, but I was indeed out partying, but with ramen. :*(
I saw it flipped upside down on a pole at our Keep Families Together march and I thought that was an appropriate demonstration of patriotism. Totally fine with that brand of iconography right now.
I understand the authority - despite what he's saying - he actually still has, and the very real damage he can do by directly or indirectly encouraging acts of violence.
I also understand that - because of this - what he says shouldn't be dismissed as complete nonsense, the same way you would a random fringe-person on youtube. There is a legitimate fear that what he says will encourage someone to act out some kind of violence (which also makes his whole routine less funny, even if seen through a kind of hate-watch lens).
Still, I do think there is a part of the progressive side that still feels a need to do the whole "omg what did he say now!?!" routine, that isn't useful to anyone, and could ultimately dissuade people from engaging by signal-boosting the actions of garbage people, rather than signal-boosting all the beautiful work that people (who are better than me, by any metric) do.
I guess I'm ultimately very tired of bad actors constantly being in the spot-light, and the left/progressive-inability to tackle it by any other way than trying to shame those that fundamentally don't have the capacity to feel shame.
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I think the upside down flag is supposed to be a sign of distress. Depending on your point of view that's very fitting.
He is dangerous. If he hasn't yet, he will cause harm and violence. But we have to live here, and we already live among red hat nazis. We need to get used to mocking and confronting them if we want their way of life to die.
Alex Jones is such a dumb fuck charlatan that avoiding mocking him is impossible. I don't know what else to tell you. Hopefully he is prosecuted someday.
Bingo.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to trivialise his rhetoric or anything
yes it's fair to think it's hilarious that he sells doomsday chow and whatever the hell those muscle supplements are :p
I (think) I know where you're coming from. I'm just questioning the impulse to give a professional troll your attention, that could be directed elsewhere.
People like Alex Jones are - intentionally or otherwise - meant to dissuade people from caring about politics, on a macro level, and honest exchange with strangers, on a micro level.
Zapping people's already limited interest in engaging with the unknown is a very successful strategy from the right.
I agree that it's a difficult question to find where the line between enabling garbage people, and exhausting good people, actually lies.
Is Alex Jones actually good at dissuading people from voting though? Dems are crushing special elections and the polling looks great right now. I think Jones is just a snake oil salesman that has latched his suction cup head onto the far right and is profiting off of its insanity. Jones does not appeal to moderates because it is so easy to prove that he is fucking crazy.
People that racist will never vote for the left unless it compromises minorities, so that is not of group of votes we should concern ourselves with.
"45 minutes passed out in a lawn chair out back without sunscreen later"
Edit. Oh the picture didn't show :/
