Hate speech is not protected by the right to free speech and the issue is does Jones reach the level of hate speech. I think yes, as the famous line about pornography, "...you know it when you see it".
22
I'm sorry, but Mr. Syches completely misses the point. If media had been doing its job the the likes of Mr. Jones wouldn't be possible. When institutions fail, the fire starters thrive.
40
Know nothing of US TV but for those ‘leftists fringers’ Charles J. Sykes fears don’t miss today’s: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/opinion/sunday/sanders-corbyn-socials...
Youth is joining the edge it does appear.
Youth is joining the edge it does appear.
4
We are susceptible to the likes of Hannity and Jones because we are a nation with far too many uneducated and gullible simpletons.
I interpret the successes of Jones and Hannity and Limbaugh and ... Trump as an indictment of our educational system, our ability to think critically, and our willingness to believe in an intrinsic value of money, fame and power.
I interpret the successes of Jones and Hannity and Limbaugh and ... Trump as an indictment of our educational system, our ability to think critically, and our willingness to believe in an intrinsic value of money, fame and power.
82
Mr. Buckley's excommunication of the John Birch Society seems to have led to their ideology metasasizing with help from right-wing billionaires into the Tea Party, Alex Jones, and a whole menagerie of angry, unhinged characters who are convinced the gummint (especially when headed by a Democract) is out to crush them and, most importantly, take their assault weapons, thus preventing them from wreaking havoc on the supposed traitors, as well as the wave of criminal immmigrants, African-Americans, and more recently Asians who are trying to 'take their country' from them. SAD. and dangerous to us all and to the future of democracy.
I have a confession to make. I am guilty. I never listen to Fox - oh, Shep sometimes when I feel really like being "liberal" and listening to the other side, but I restrict my diet of Rush and Sean and F&F's to those clips I can stand to watch aired by CNN or MSNBC - edited, I know, but actually said.
The people like me, who never listen to Alex Jones, hear his diatribes on Maher or Colbert, none of which he has said are falsified or "fake news".
His attack on Megyn that everybody thinks is scathing, I thought was toothless. She told him she was going to be asking about his conspiracy theories - widely and publicly disseminated to his financial gain - and she did.
There were no new surprises. no unexpected witnesses, no hidden under cover reporters. Nothing he could not have anticipated.
She just asked him about what he should have expected, and she warned him about - his publicly and widely disseminated conspiracy theories and disclaimers of national tragedies. How is that a surprise assault?
It's what he has raked in millions of dollars for saying, yet he claims media virginity about when a woman questions him? Coward!
The people like me, who never listen to Alex Jones, hear his diatribes on Maher or Colbert, none of which he has said are falsified or "fake news".
His attack on Megyn that everybody thinks is scathing, I thought was toothless. She told him she was going to be asking about his conspiracy theories - widely and publicly disseminated to his financial gain - and she did.
There were no new surprises. no unexpected witnesses, no hidden under cover reporters. Nothing he could not have anticipated.
She just asked him about what he should have expected, and she warned him about - his publicly and widely disseminated conspiracy theories and disclaimers of national tragedies. How is that a surprise assault?
It's what he has raked in millions of dollars for saying, yet he claims media virginity about when a woman questions him? Coward!
24
At what point does encouraging followers to "rid us of this meddlesome pizza parlor child sex shop" equal shouting fire in a crowded theater?
2
I first heard of Alex Jones around the time of 9/11 conspiracy theories and "Loose Change" - he seemed like a guy who was tailor cut for dissafected youth with too much time and too little sense. Even though I was in my teens or young 20s I knew this was a guy who to detested and ignored. Before the age of the internet he definitely would have been.
Now he has White House press credentials and the president's ear. There is no clearer sign of how far we have fallen as a country. Republicans can deny scientific consensus on global warming, the president can ignore intelligence consensus on the Russian attack due to his "beliefs", I guess Alex Jones fits the norm of what the Republican party is now.
Now he has White House press credentials and the president's ear. There is no clearer sign of how far we have fallen as a country. Republicans can deny scientific consensus on global warming, the president can ignore intelligence consensus on the Russian attack due to his "beliefs", I guess Alex Jones fits the norm of what the Republican party is now.
34
This is an interesting point. The challenge is to pay attention without inadvertently legitimizing nonsense like InFAUXwars. I deliberately avoid what I consider to be fake news. If it's covered here, I'm more apt to check it out. Several years ago I visited that paranoid website for the first and last time, probably around the time that I blocked Faux Snooze from my TV stations. I don't watch Megyn K either, she is a large part of the problem as I see it. Has A Jones ever admitted to being wrong about the made-up Jade Helm bologna? I've tried to define the difference between news and fake news and, other than professionalism which is a dubious criteria, the necessarily difference seems to be the mechanism for correcting and/or retracting incorrect information. Real news media ensures that bad information is corrected while fake news thrives on bogus stories. Preferring to be informed, and that I don't reward fake news with clicks or traffic to help their advertisers, I think I'll pass on the show tonight. I'm considering blocking NBC from my lineup as long as Megyn Kelly is there. Maybe I'll see what Dan Rather is writing instead. He, at least, admits when a mistake is made.
16
The trouble with Alex Jones and many like him is that there have indeed been "meddling" into our daily lives by the "government within the Government" (George Schultz, Sec. of State @Iran Contra hearings summation). We have consistently been barraged with one misstep after another by well intentioned persons throughout our history. We forget that Ike's "Military Industrial(and Congressional was edited out) Complex wasn't or isn't some conspiracy theory. Rather no one really denies it because it in fact exists. In the post World War II which continues even today as evidenced by the particular participants that emerged. They are still causing pain and suffering. Nationalism is again on the menu with the military and militants violence as the main appetizers, entrees, and desserts. People everywhere seem justified in rattling every cage, for the fun of doing so in existential relief.
Alex Jones?! He plays his part as the radical Town Crier. Now days we've seen conspiracy as an essential tool being wielded in furtherance of Government power.
Alex Jones?! He plays his part as the radical Town Crier. Now days we've seen conspiracy as an essential tool being wielded in furtherance of Government power.
10
Yes. Of course. No Great Conspiracy exists. People that question the facts and question the motives behind a propagated narrative should be "exposed as viciously dishonest". What the...? There are intelligent people in this country that have some serious questions that someone will have to answer. Could a great conspiracy against individualism, democratic representative government and the free mind of mankind exist? Is there an effort to establish a undemocratic corporate world government? Do the power elite use the media companies they own to protect their special interest and forward their own agendas? Do these same "internationalists", these political donors, really care about furthering the interests of the average US citizen and protecting the nation's sovereignty?
Part 2. Socialism is an ideological threat to Individualism. That's not a question. There is, indeed, a conspiracy. It's not the rantings from some fringe paranoid patch of the political universe.
Part 2. Socialism is an ideological threat to Individualism. That's not a question. There is, indeed, a conspiracy. It's not the rantings from some fringe paranoid patch of the political universe.
9
Sunshine is the best disinfectant. He won't last a week in the sunshine. Expose him fully, let his notions be held up for the public in general to view. Let there be consensus.
10
Alex Jones and his multifarious ilk use fear, resentment, anger and suspicion, not fact.
We especially need to fear fear with great fear.
I want to say that the average Trump voter is over sixty. As am I, raised by the WWII generation, who were less informed than they were blindly patriotic. If Tom Brokaw wants to relentlessly call that greatness, good for him. My Polish father was in that war, and dear as he was, his geopolitical profundity went just so far. He was racist to a degree, and bigoted against gender differences and somewhat anti-Semetic as well. This was generational. I am very much less so, my thirty-year-old son even less.
The WWII generation swallowed the doctrine of "exceptionalism" and "shining city"—stolen from St. Augustine. They let their self-aggrandizement run free, to the detriment of foreign relations and global understanding. So they supported wars of imperialism like Vietnam and Iraq, and forgave their avuncular host of Twenty Mule Team Borax for illegal arms sales and the further impoverishment of Guatemala.
Alex Jones is the two-headed love child of Reagan propaganda and the main founder- funder of The John Birch Society and his unbelievably immoral, avaricious, angry, power-mongering, descendants.
The only reason to highlight people like him and Glen Beck is ratings. Keep promoting them, and we will not have media, we will only have Barnum & Bailey promoted by financial bullies.
We especially need to fear fear with great fear.
I want to say that the average Trump voter is over sixty. As am I, raised by the WWII generation, who were less informed than they were blindly patriotic. If Tom Brokaw wants to relentlessly call that greatness, good for him. My Polish father was in that war, and dear as he was, his geopolitical profundity went just so far. He was racist to a degree, and bigoted against gender differences and somewhat anti-Semetic as well. This was generational. I am very much less so, my thirty-year-old son even less.
The WWII generation swallowed the doctrine of "exceptionalism" and "shining city"—stolen from St. Augustine. They let their self-aggrandizement run free, to the detriment of foreign relations and global understanding. So they supported wars of imperialism like Vietnam and Iraq, and forgave their avuncular host of Twenty Mule Team Borax for illegal arms sales and the further impoverishment of Guatemala.
Alex Jones is the two-headed love child of Reagan propaganda and the main founder- funder of The John Birch Society and his unbelievably immoral, avaricious, angry, power-mongering, descendants.
The only reason to highlight people like him and Glen Beck is ratings. Keep promoting them, and we will not have media, we will only have Barnum & Bailey promoted by financial bullies.
24
Sometimes I wonder if we care too much about politics in the United States.
4
Agree! It took me actually listening and watching Jones and those like him to finally get-it! Listening to others comment on his/others conspiracy theories (CT) didn't make it real enough, sounded like so much media hype.
Im not crazy that airing such rhetoric is going to attract more to them...but the reverse only instills apathy in those who are unwilling to understand the extents these sorts go in their absolute hate of the USA and our systems. One has to understand what these guys truly think and religiously believe about the institutions in the US.
They just dont think that sometimes the govt misleads us, but rather everything they do is part of some scheme to eventually round us all up and put us in camps. Its not that the media sometimes gets things wrong, or is too partisan - but every utterance, every video, every printed word is also part of that grand scheme. Its all lies, all the time.
Its absolutely fascinating, scary and disgusting how far they go with their CT's. And nothing is exempt from being corralled into their theories. From our drinking water (fluoride; mind control) to the asphalt used on highways (embedded with tracking devices) to the types of bulbs used in streetlights, (emitting hypnotic wave lengths).
There is simply no end to the CT's. Plus, millions of people eat this stuff up like free samples at Wall-mart.
The threat to the Republic isnt ISIL, al Qaeda, or immigrants, or even an unbridled Wall St - its domestic bred angry white guys.
Im not crazy that airing such rhetoric is going to attract more to them...but the reverse only instills apathy in those who are unwilling to understand the extents these sorts go in their absolute hate of the USA and our systems. One has to understand what these guys truly think and religiously believe about the institutions in the US.
They just dont think that sometimes the govt misleads us, but rather everything they do is part of some scheme to eventually round us all up and put us in camps. Its not that the media sometimes gets things wrong, or is too partisan - but every utterance, every video, every printed word is also part of that grand scheme. Its all lies, all the time.
Its absolutely fascinating, scary and disgusting how far they go with their CT's. And nothing is exempt from being corralled into their theories. From our drinking water (fluoride; mind control) to the asphalt used on highways (embedded with tracking devices) to the types of bulbs used in streetlights, (emitting hypnotic wave lengths).
There is simply no end to the CT's. Plus, millions of people eat this stuff up like free samples at Wall-mart.
The threat to the Republic isnt ISIL, al Qaeda, or immigrants, or even an unbridled Wall St - its domestic bred angry white guys.
15
I'd suggest a more accurate opening sentence would be "Alex Jones, performance artist and conspiracy trafficker who runs the website Infowars..."
Jones, via his child custody case attorney, explains "..that his antics are irrelevant to his fitness as a parent, because he is a performance artist whose public behavior is part of his fictional character".
We should take Jones at his word and accept that everything he says in his public voice is for entertainment only.
Jones, via his child custody case attorney, explains "..that his antics are irrelevant to his fitness as a parent, because he is a performance artist whose public behavior is part of his fictional character".
We should take Jones at his word and accept that everything he says in his public voice is for entertainment only.
15
Is the New York Times becoming the victim of the illegitimate "president" in the Oval Office? Are the editors worried about being "too liberal" in the age of Trump? If so, I am canceling my subscription.
7
OK, then. Sure, next it will be accptable to give a forum to Holocaust deniers. UGH!
12
Hi neighbor! Acceptable isn't the word I would use. Ugh is right!
But yes, unpleasant as it is dealing with mental filth like this, I still believe that cleaning up, taking out the trash and disinfecting with truth works. But as I commented earlier, I am tired of playing nice. Let's have the holocaust deniers speak..like..hmm. I don't know how about in Israel, to a 100 percent Jewish group? Let's put in on live tv and let whatever happens happen.Or how about in Germany, in public town halls and let them make their point to a nation that regrets those shameful days.
I do not want to live in the gutter with the GOP, but we progressives need to remember how to mix it up or we will continue to lose elections and wonder why.
I believe we are in a new world now, one where we have to understand that 30% of ALL people are fact free because they want to be. That's it. They won't change.
We need to not try to comprehend the mentality of the enemy, rather we need to adjust our tactics.
Oh and don't worry neighbor..it's a dry heat:) (Arizona joke)
But yes, unpleasant as it is dealing with mental filth like this, I still believe that cleaning up, taking out the trash and disinfecting with truth works. But as I commented earlier, I am tired of playing nice. Let's have the holocaust deniers speak..like..hmm. I don't know how about in Israel, to a 100 percent Jewish group? Let's put in on live tv and let whatever happens happen.Or how about in Germany, in public town halls and let them make their point to a nation that regrets those shameful days.
I do not want to live in the gutter with the GOP, but we progressives need to remember how to mix it up or we will continue to lose elections and wonder why.
I believe we are in a new world now, one where we have to understand that 30% of ALL people are fact free because they want to be. That's it. They won't change.
We need to not try to comprehend the mentality of the enemy, rather we need to adjust our tactics.
Oh and don't worry neighbor..it's a dry heat:) (Arizona joke)
7
In the recent US Senate's Armed Services Committee session on "Cyber-enabled Information Operations", March 20, 2017, Infowars was flagged as a "false amplifier" of news stories crafted by Russian Intelligence, and infiltrated into US media by 127 identified, unique, web sites.
Analysis (NSA and British Intelligence) of Internet web traffic logs showed appearance of "fake stories" almost simultaneously (within seconds) at Infowars and official Russian news cites, indicating that Infowars servers were set up to repeat stories from certain (Russian) sources.
Analysis (NSA and British Intelligence) of Internet web traffic logs showed appearance of "fake stories" almost simultaneously (within seconds) at Infowars and official Russian news cites, indicating that Infowars servers were set up to repeat stories from certain (Russian) sources.
I don't mind allowing these guys to speak. We live in a democracy. It's up to you how much credibility you give a nutjob like this.
7
Living in a democracy does not give liars an automatic national platform.
14
"Alex Jones, the conspiracy trafficker who runs the website Infowars, believes that Sept. 11 was an 'inside job'."
Does he really? Or does he simply understand that there is money to be made off saying that's what he believes?
Since Mr. Sykes has no way of knowing what Jones does/does not believe, that sentence should read read "Alex Jones ... SAYS he believes..."
Does he really? Or does he simply understand that there is money to be made off saying that's what he believes?
Since Mr. Sykes has no way of knowing what Jones does/does not believe, that sentence should read read "Alex Jones ... SAYS he believes..."
1
The real danger is ignoring the Koch brothers. When is Kelly going to interview them? And when is the NYT going to publish "The Danger of Ignoring there Koch Brothers"?
22
Alex Jones is merely a symptom. Donald Trump is the cancer.
13
Alex Jones' views on Sandy Hook and 9/11 are the height of sanity compared to what he has to say about Obama, Clinton, sulphur, flies and Satan http://boingboing.net/2016/10/10/hillary-clinton-and-barack-oba.html
If Megyn Kelly et al want to expose Jones I suggest they spend 2 minutes on that topic, so that the US can laugh, or pity, and move on.
If Megyn Kelly et al want to expose Jones I suggest they spend 2 minutes on that topic, so that the US can laugh, or pity, and move on.
12
Alex Jones and the rest of the Right's Talk Radio have contempt for their audiences. Listen to the ads that support their programs: get rich quick schemes, magic supplements that "aren't indended to treat disease", identity theft services, debt consolidation, high return "diskless" investments, guns, survival rations and gold. Alex, Michael, Rush, Mike, Anne, and Laura have stumbled on one hell of a business model.
half is what we always do, puff huff puff huff
why not look at the contrarians?
a huff and a puff, and i blow your house down
why not look at the contrarians?
a huff and a puff, and i blow your house down
1
"Alex Jones, the conspiracy trafficker who runs the website Infowars, believes that Sept. 11 was an “inside job” and that the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was faked".
Why does the NYTimes say Alex Jones 'believes' this? Yes, he promotes these concepts strongly through his web site, but you have no idea what he actually believes. What he is doing is making money, and big money, by putting forth garbage concepts that enough people will believe, and enough advertisers will pay for, that he can make a good living. He is an unscrupulous, amoral person who has learned how to make a good living off the unregulated Wild West of the internet, and interviews on NBC just allow him to raise his rates.
Why does the NYTimes say Alex Jones 'believes' this? Yes, he promotes these concepts strongly through his web site, but you have no idea what he actually believes. What he is doing is making money, and big money, by putting forth garbage concepts that enough people will believe, and enough advertisers will pay for, that he can make a good living. He is an unscrupulous, amoral person who has learned how to make a good living off the unregulated Wild West of the internet, and interviews on NBC just allow him to raise his rates.
9
A sick society sure turns out lots of life-hating people.
9
I hope Megyn Kelly is prepared to put him in his place.
2
This op-ed just seems like a weak justification for why the corporate press has dropped the guise of objectivity and is now overtly legitimizing the most disgusting hate-mongers in our country. Let him stew on his 21st century ham radio; but then, the corporate press wouldn't be able to make a buck off him and the reaction he'll engender. I wonder though, if he peddled in Holocaust denial instead of filth about American liberals and people of color, if the corporate press would give him the legitimacy of a network platform to "debate" his garbage? (It's likely, just SAYING Holocaust denial, and posing that question, will mean this post won't appear.)
3
Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1
Why is Alex Jones symbolic of the "fringe right"?
I find him no less obnoxious than Rev. Al Sharpton, of what? the "fringe left"?
Both are conspiracists, both are morons, both have the capacity to lie, cheat and divide us. (Don't ever forget the Tawana Brawley hoax that brought NYC to the brink of riots).
There are so many examples on the Left and Right.
The best medicine is to do what Megan Kelly is doing, painful as it is.
Laugh them from the public square. Ridicule them. Keep them on the margins as a warning for us of what lies on the edges of the human experience.
In fact, if we did that with Putin's meddling in our politics, if Dems and Repubs united to laugh him out of our politics-it might work as well as endless "committee investigations."
I find him no less obnoxious than Rev. Al Sharpton, of what? the "fringe left"?
Both are conspiracists, both are morons, both have the capacity to lie, cheat and divide us. (Don't ever forget the Tawana Brawley hoax that brought NYC to the brink of riots).
There are so many examples on the Left and Right.
The best medicine is to do what Megan Kelly is doing, painful as it is.
Laugh them from the public square. Ridicule them. Keep them on the margins as a warning for us of what lies on the edges of the human experience.
In fact, if we did that with Putin's meddling in our politics, if Dems and Repubs united to laugh him out of our politics-it might work as well as endless "committee investigations."
8
Like the little whiners at Evergreen, the ignorant and intolerant left has opened this Pandora's box and now you can live with it's contents. After declaring war for decades now you're shocked we've agreed to your terms. This garden of eden is of your making; we sure hope you enjoy the fruit.
2
The biggest conspiracy theory of all time, the biggest lie, the biggest Fake News story was promoted 100 times/day right here on this web site: "TRUMP CAN'T WIN".
But he did. NY "Trump has a 9% chance" Times readers have been brainwashed for decades by MSM.
Wake up people and join reality.
But he did. NY "Trump has a 9% chance" Times readers have been brainwashed for decades by MSM.
Wake up people and join reality.
3
we have learned to love slime mold.
7
"Alex Jones, the conspiracy trafficker who runs the website Infowars, believes that Sept. 11 was an “inside job” and that the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was faked."
Believes? Or claims? Because that's how he survives, by claiming the absurd and hurtful.
Believes? Or claims? Because that's how he survives, by claiming the absurd and hurtful.
35
Interesting that the Republicans demanding a toning-down of political rhetoric while embracing the likes of Jones. That's a hypocrisy of the rankest order.
Accordingly, Jones's shrieking about Sandy Hook likely has caused at least some of the parents to receive heinous threats. If evidence could be documented as such, couldn't he be sued for slander?
Accordingly, Jones's shrieking about Sandy Hook likely has caused at least some of the parents to receive heinous threats. If evidence could be documented as such, couldn't he be sued for slander?
10
Yes, Jones should be reported on and exposed. Megan Kelly's interview is not the way to do that. She's "no saint" either.
8
I have no problem with Alex Jones being interviewed on television; I just wish he was questioned by a first-rate interviewer, not one known to go so lightly on those in power. Her interviews with post-debate-I-don't-know-where-she's-bleeding-from Trump and Putin show her to be weak, not following up and obviously cowed by power. Were she any good at this part of her job, she wouldn't be losing in the ratings to reruns of "60 Minutes."
13
The thing that frightens me the most is not Alex Jones himself, but his millions of followers who believe every thing he says.
The President of the United States is a fan - think about that.
Not only frightening, but surreal.
The President of the United States is a fan - think about that.
Not only frightening, but surreal.
21
Who gets to decide which crackpots have a free speech right to have the media help spread their ideas? Do all Americans have a right to have the media publish their ideas? Do you go to the head of the line if you're really outrageous? The media spent so much time "exposing" Trump's crazy notions that he got elected.
9
Providing this youtube clown with a national platform is a bad idea. He may well take the opportunity before a national television audience to make his most outrageous, damaging and dangerous statement to date on who knows what issue?
And it won't make a lick of difference to him -- or his followers -- if it's true or not. Nor will it make any difference if Kelly challenges him with actual facts -- or attempts to break down his oh so crazy beliefs. Alex Jones doesn't dwell in a world of evidence and provable facts -- and a mainstream journalist taking him to task only reinforces the misdirected beliefs -- and efforts -- of him and his kooky flock. It's up to the TV networks to decide if they are going to place ratings above responsible journalism. He has every right to get on a soapbox and spew lies but NBC didn't have to provide him the platform. We all know cable TV is kickin' your teeth in, but this was still an irresponsible decision.
And it won't make a lick of difference to him -- or his followers -- if it's true or not. Nor will it make any difference if Kelly challenges him with actual facts -- or attempts to break down his oh so crazy beliefs. Alex Jones doesn't dwell in a world of evidence and provable facts -- and a mainstream journalist taking him to task only reinforces the misdirected beliefs -- and efforts -- of him and his kooky flock. It's up to the TV networks to decide if they are going to place ratings above responsible journalism. He has every right to get on a soapbox and spew lies but NBC didn't have to provide him the platform. We all know cable TV is kickin' your teeth in, but this was still an irresponsible decision.
10
President G. W. Bush declared to the United Nations on November 10, 2001 :
"We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate outrageous
conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th;
malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists,
themselves, away from the guilty. To inflame ethnic hatred is to advance
the cause of terror." After all, was that not why the US went to war? Is Alex Jones saying the terrorists were the government themselves? What crazy nonsense!
"We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate outrageous
conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th;
malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists,
themselves, away from the guilty. To inflame ethnic hatred is to advance
the cause of terror." After all, was that not why the US went to war? Is Alex Jones saying the terrorists were the government themselves? What crazy nonsense!
7
A few weeks ago I finally got around to watching the film "Denial", about Holocaust-denier David Irving and the libel trial against scholar Deborah Lipstadt. (Full disclosure: for several years, I sat in the row behind Prof. Lipstadt at synagogue.) The film teased at the place where free speech meets lying fabrications, and the calling-out of lying fabrications. It is a dangerous time in our society when lying fabrications have seeped so deeply into media that they slither up to the level of "believable," by any significant segment of the population. Some things are actually true. They happened. The fact that Alex Jones is able to parlay his lying fabrications into celebrity, with a celebrity following, is not good for any of us.
8
Due to its size, circulation and money, the New York Times among other such media enjoys an outsize influence over American and indeed worldwide citizenry. Is it right for such a powerful tool to criticize others for their lesser though opposing albeit crazy voice? Indeed is it proper for such as NYT to oppose Citizens United when it is a clear conflict of interest of viewpoints for those such as N Y Times? It could be accused of attempting to silence other voices via pretense. Personally I think Citizens United is an abomination and Mr. Jones a financial opportunist. But this is America, isnt it?
2
I'd rate him as a 1. Maybe a 2, if drinking. Isn't THAT how it works, bros????
If you have lost a child, and you are trying every minute of every day to cope with inconsolable grief, and to endure the unendurable, you are the one with the right. The right to insist Alex jones doesn't get to say your dead child didn't die. You have the right to boycott and protest and smother his evil, rancid voice. How dare people tell these parents what they
"should" do?
"should" do?
9
The right wing crazies couldn't sell the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Illuminati or the Rothschilds as the subverters of America so now it is the "Deep State". Same song, different tune.
Were have you gone , Mr. Buckley. A nation turns its lonely eyes to you!
Sorry, Paul.
Were have you gone , Mr. Buckley. A nation turns its lonely eyes to you!
Sorry, Paul.
6
Legitimizing this hack is like interviewing Fred Phelps back in the days when the press wanted a reliable freak show. They sought out Madelyn Murray O'Hair when I was a kid.
That this man is still blabbing his lies about Sandy Hook and picking at the souls of the parents for cash is a form of abuse. He should be shouting into his mashed potatoes not having the ear of our nut job POTUS and being offered the chance to get rich off the deaths of these kids. This is a man with no conscience.
Consumers need media labeling. Consider the Source.
That this man is still blabbing his lies about Sandy Hook and picking at the souls of the parents for cash is a form of abuse. He should be shouting into his mashed potatoes not having the ear of our nut job POTUS and being offered the chance to get rich off the deaths of these kids. This is a man with no conscience.
Consumers need media labeling. Consider the Source.
13
Oh please. All anyone has to do is read the first sentence of this pointless essay. I am just tired of this kind of lunacy being normalized by academic(ish) dissection and exposition. I don't need anyone telling me how important it is to "face" all these pudgy, pink-faced blowhards like Jones who shirk personal challenge and responsibility and instead direct their unresolved anger issues toward conspiracy theories or bogeymen instead of toward the mirror. I don't need Mr. Sykes to lecture me on what, for lack of a better term, the right social-spiritual attitude is. It's this simple: I know the difference between rain and a warm amber stream running down my leg, and Jones ain't rain. I listen to sane, knowledgeable, reasonable people. So, I'm moving on. Next?
"...At the center of the paranoid worldview..." is a lesson not learned, that the world belongs to us, not only to me or you.
The mainstream media, NYT included, having made such a poor job at debunking the Bush administration concerning the weapons of mass destruction In IRAK, the supposed collusion between Al-Qaeda and Saddam HUSSEIN, etc, no wonder people look and listen to outlets like Info-Wars.
2
Alex Jones and his ilk are dangerous. But the real danger is in the near right and near left that masquerade neutral journalism hosted by mainstream media. Paul Krugman and Charles Krauthammer on a good day take their partisanship to extreme levels with the endorsement of their "legitimate" hosts. While later to the game, the Nytimes has fully embraced partisanship of late. I yearn for the days of Walter Cronkite. The closest we have today are the PBS News Hour and NPR. While center left, they strive for neutrality. The media has lost its way in search for rates, they are the problem and not the solution. The criticism of Alex Jones rings hollow when dispensed by members of the same rating grubbing intregrity lacking journalists regardless of politcal persuasion
2
Wacko shoots Republican congressman and others at a baseball practice session. Comedian laughingly holds up " severed head " resembling Trump. Respected drama company " assassinates " Trump during performance of " Julius Caesar " ... And Alex Jones is the source and pervayor of the toxicity of today's decadent culture?
3
he's one more.
4
The "paranoid right" -- couldn't have stated it better myself, except with this caveat: the "paranoid ignorant right."
7
How did so many Americans become enamored with conspiracy theories?
Considering the popularity of tin foil hats, perhaps it is time to buy stock in Alcoa.
Considering the popularity of tin foil hats, perhaps it is time to buy stock in Alcoa.
Regarding the apocalyptic, Charles, you need to take a look at the fringe Christian elements in the conservative movement.
7
My impression from reading this article and the 176 comments to date is that the author and commenters have little to no familiarity with Mr. Jones and Infowars, nor have any desire or curiosity to do so. He has simply been labelled a Boogeyman, with no evidence. Much that is being said about him is false. The Meghan Kelly interview is unlikely to reveal much. You simply have to watch Infowars, if you can stomach it. Until you do so, you have no credibility regarding Alex Jones. Alex refers to NYT as fake news. NYT considers Infowars fake news. There are indeed competing narratives. Adults capable of critical thinking can take in news from a wide array of sources and decide for themselves the cosmology of what is going on in the world.
The media did not ignore Donald Trump. How did that work out ?????
3
"If you're operating on the level of the law, you're operating way below where you should be." ~ Eleanor Ann Lawry
The issues at hand, particularly in this country, have to do with the fact that that's no real consensus on what is proper conduct, on what people should, and should not, do.
In the political real, the Republican party has decided that only winning counts, that winning is a self-justifying end -- that to the end, anything goes (unless you get caught, in which case you might be slapped on the wrist). Their star architect and proponent of this way of thinking and acting is, right now, Trump. But McConnell, Ryan, Newt the Grinch, and many other celebrated Republican luminaries have distinguished themselves and their party in lowering the bar, and in standing idly by (and salivating) while others helped mightily, as well. Somebody needs to write a judiciously fair-minded, non-polemical account of how the country's leadership led it straight into circles of hell, where now we're effectively frozen.
The issues at hand, particularly in this country, have to do with the fact that that's no real consensus on what is proper conduct, on what people should, and should not, do.
In the political real, the Republican party has decided that only winning counts, that winning is a self-justifying end -- that to the end, anything goes (unless you get caught, in which case you might be slapped on the wrist). Their star architect and proponent of this way of thinking and acting is, right now, Trump. But McConnell, Ryan, Newt the Grinch, and many other celebrated Republican luminaries have distinguished themselves and their party in lowering the bar, and in standing idly by (and salivating) while others helped mightily, as well. Somebody needs to write a judiciously fair-minded, non-polemical account of how the country's leadership led it straight into circles of hell, where now we're effectively frozen.
2
Alex Jones sounds just like one of those leakers that the New York Times likes to quote.
1
I know almost nothing about Alex Jones beyond what’s written in this opinion piece. I am not interested in him or his quack ideas. It does appear, however, that Mr. Jones has just successfully trolled the NY Times. No doubt he is doing his happy dance at this mainstream coverage.
5
I completely disagree. Providing a forum to hate mongers, conspiracy delusionists and the forces of the radical right foments terrorism, violence, treason and sedition. It is a real, not existential threat to freedom. I wish the Nazis and Stalinists had NOT been given forums to espouse their views. When a fascist wants to take over a country the first thing they seize is mass communication facilities so they can spread lies, demonize their opponents and call for the murder, assassination and mass incarceration of the voices for freedom. This is what right wing Republican spokesman are doing to America. This is what the hate mongers of the Republican right like Alex Jones, Laura Ingram and Anne Coulter are all about. Providing them a mass platform to espouse their views plays directly into the hands of those seeking to eliminate freedom and Democracy in America. Alex Jones is not "near" the alt-right, he is not just "lumped in" with white supremacists, he is an out and out xenophobic right wing fanatic, a "Christian" fundamentalist terrorist. If an Imam from Iran was in America saying half of what Alex Jones was saying the Republicans would be calling for his arrest if not outright assassination. That Alex Jones can be made to sound reasonable means nothing - it only mainstreams his hate speech. Hitler was by all accounts a magnetic speaker, an inspirational leader and a master of manipulating the formerly free press of Germany; why let it happen here?
8
What happened to my lengthy reply to "Jones Defines Fake News"?
Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong. We do NOT need to be exposed to this vile creature, any more than we need to be exposed to Ebola. We need trusted sane people to experience these sorts of beasts and offer us suggestions of what to do with them - deport them to North Korea maybe?
Alas there is no one in DC who qualifies as "trusted sane people." We'd better start looking.
Alas there is no one in DC who qualifies as "trusted sane people." We'd better start looking.
5
Not a fan/follower of Mr Jones so lets keep him to the side for a minute. Its obvious Mr Sykes has been drinking the same mass-media driven Kool-Aid when its comes to 9-11. By now Its almost blasphemous to question or critically examine the actual collapse of the 3 towers (did you just go "but there were two towers ? ) as something other than caused by the planes crashing to the buildings.
Search online for the video aired by Colorado Public TV , an excellent segment where they interviewed clinical psychologist and other experts that talk about how the public opinion was shaped surrounding those events and how critical thinking was suppressed ! Not even going to mention the efforts by scores of AMERICAN scientists, physicist, engineers and the list goes on, who have proved based on the same video evidence that was flashed across the country on that fateful day, that the towers didn't just collapse from the crashing/fire/heat etc etc. Youtube is your friend !
Search online for the video aired by Colorado Public TV , an excellent segment where they interviewed clinical psychologist and other experts that talk about how the public opinion was shaped surrounding those events and how critical thinking was suppressed ! Not even going to mention the efforts by scores of AMERICAN scientists, physicist, engineers and the list goes on, who have proved based on the same video evidence that was flashed across the country on that fateful day, that the towers didn't just collapse from the crashing/fire/heat etc etc. Youtube is your friend !
3
Jones found a way of exploiting idiots who will believe anything that is thrown at them. Seems to be lucrative; he is still in business.
7
If CNN is Fox News for your angry uncle, Infowars is for the neighborhood paranoids who think Limbaugh is too moderate. In a way, his show is a satire of the "hair on fire" mainstream tabloid press, but on second thought, he's the ultimate role model for the mumbling homeless drunk on the corner or a wanna-be shooter with an AK-47. He needs to disappear, permanently.
6
Not every crackpot deserves a public forum to spread their ideas.
8
Next, maybe Megyn Kelly can interview the editor of the National Inquirer. This way she can give honest journalism two black eyes.
6
The threat posed by those like Alex Jones is that, whether we ignore them or pay attention to them, we always straddle the thin line between opposing and enabling. They know this and realize it makes their long con possible. A substantial portion of humanity (shifting in size and intensity) suffers from social paranoia and the separate, but often commingled, desire to believe the insanely improbable because reality can be so horrible.
While true for humanity as a whole, this tendency is deeply embedded in American history. Perhaps, the flaw in Hofstader's essay is an error of the political, rather than the social, historian. He places too much emphasis and blame on the politicians who appeal to the paranoid and too little on the American people who welcome the appeal.
Hofstader points out that the prevalence of the style has waxed and waned on both left and right, although always at least just below the surface of movements that represent that other odd commingling, the populist and the authoritarian urges of the populace. It has been with us since the beginning. About 60 years before the sui generis Salem Witch Trials, New England gave itself over to a series of events showing how people on all sides are capable of irrationality: the suppression of Merry Mount, of Roger Williams and his followers, and of Anne Hutchinson and hers in the Antinomian Crisis. Having studied my ancestors' involvement on all sides of these events, I understand our innate propensity to crazy.
While true for humanity as a whole, this tendency is deeply embedded in American history. Perhaps, the flaw in Hofstader's essay is an error of the political, rather than the social, historian. He places too much emphasis and blame on the politicians who appeal to the paranoid and too little on the American people who welcome the appeal.
Hofstader points out that the prevalence of the style has waxed and waned on both left and right, although always at least just below the surface of movements that represent that other odd commingling, the populist and the authoritarian urges of the populace. It has been with us since the beginning. About 60 years before the sui generis Salem Witch Trials, New England gave itself over to a series of events showing how people on all sides are capable of irrationality: the suppression of Merry Mount, of Roger Williams and his followers, and of Anne Hutchinson and hers in the Antinomian Crisis. Having studied my ancestors' involvement on all sides of these events, I understand our innate propensity to crazy.
3
Well a large part of the problem is overall American narratives. The Mythologies that despite the evidence to the contrary, are still taught and religiously believed by many people...especially those most attracted to these Conspiracy Theories (CT)
The Myth of all one need do is work hard, eat hot-dogs and hamburgers and drink domestic (no longer) beers like Budweiser. Maybe drive a truck and certainly stock up on guns - and all will be hunky-dory in ones life. That performing rituals, they willbe protected and cared for, by The Man...who will provide them good-paying, dead-end, mind-numbing, back-breaking jobs...so they can go home watch TV, eat processed foods (which wont make them sick) and maybe watch their obese kids play sports, poorly.
That whites with little education, no skills - and a will to work hard will be granted a comfy, non-debt, safe life. Protected from immigrants (with more ambition) protected from technologies that put them out of work ("just let me hand stamp those parts,and inhale noxious fumes") and avoiding adult education..."because I left learn'n altogether when I gradi-ated High School..."
I poke fun of course...but like all such cliche based jokes, they are written with facts to support them.
Its really a form of neo-welfare these Americans are asking for. Far too many Americans want comfort and protections - when they are the first to scream about others they believe are being coddled.
The Myth of all one need do is work hard, eat hot-dogs and hamburgers and drink domestic (no longer) beers like Budweiser. Maybe drive a truck and certainly stock up on guns - and all will be hunky-dory in ones life. That performing rituals, they willbe protected and cared for, by The Man...who will provide them good-paying, dead-end, mind-numbing, back-breaking jobs...so they can go home watch TV, eat processed foods (which wont make them sick) and maybe watch their obese kids play sports, poorly.
That whites with little education, no skills - and a will to work hard will be granted a comfy, non-debt, safe life. Protected from immigrants (with more ambition) protected from technologies that put them out of work ("just let me hand stamp those parts,and inhale noxious fumes") and avoiding adult education..."because I left learn'n altogether when I gradi-ated High School..."
I poke fun of course...but like all such cliche based jokes, they are written with facts to support them.
Its really a form of neo-welfare these Americans are asking for. Far too many Americans want comfort and protections - when they are the first to scream about others they believe are being coddled.
2
Alex Jones derives a lot of his appeal from the perceived dishonesty of the major media and the DC political class. I don't think people necessarily believe his performance art, but they derive a flipping-off kind of satisfaction from his over- the-top counter-narratives to the ones officially approved for them to believe by the media orthodoxy.
2
Oh no...they believe it. Religiously. CTer's are religious in their beliefs. Trust me...I know them...have them in my clan, and the discussions (rather arguments) are the same as with religious zealots.
3
We've been here before with Father Coughlin. What's different now and worse is the cynicism of so called conservatives who cite Alex but don't believe him and who think the whole thing is an amusing bandarilla to goad both his duped supporters and those who believe there are limits to political contests. Alex has hubris and it will eventually bring him down.
5
Mr. Sykes sounds paranoid.
2
Sykes has reached a new low in the NYT's never-ended quest for false equivalency: "While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left." This is not a left/right thing. There are people living in reality and facts, and then there are people just making up stuff.
75
Disagree. This is very much a Left/Right thing. As is those who lean Right, that mostly believe these CT's. Not all, but the bulk.
And its the Right that most prophets and capitalizes on them.
The Left has their CT's, they usually involve the environment, minorities and the general downtrodden...and sometimes crossover with the Right in their beliefs about the US banking conglomerate...but the Left is hard pressed to find real voices to get them out there, to large audiences. AS the Left trends towards being like cats...in that its hard to herd them...and those who would identity as liberal who believe this stuff tend not to vote at all.
But the Right is the main benefactor of these Conspiracy Theories/ists and their audiences.
And its the Right that most prophets and capitalizes on them.
The Left has their CT's, they usually involve the environment, minorities and the general downtrodden...and sometimes crossover with the Right in their beliefs about the US banking conglomerate...but the Left is hard pressed to find real voices to get them out there, to large audiences. AS the Left trends towards being like cats...in that its hard to herd them...and those who would identity as liberal who believe this stuff tend not to vote at all.
But the Right is the main benefactor of these Conspiracy Theories/ists and their audiences.
My major complaint about this editorial, and I have others, is that The NY Times seems to have learned nothing from the election of Donald Trump. In the very first paragraph, you use the word "falsehood." I cannot understand why you are so afraid of calling a lie a "lie." Do you not understand the rules by which these people are playing? Please stop tiptoeing around this behavior and state clearly what it is, for the sake of all of us!
I miss William F. Buckley Jr.
37
He might have been even more dangerous because he seemed so civilized and cultured. He supported Jim Crow and opposed anti-lynching laws.
4
Mr. Jones traffics in lies, half-truths and innuendo, all designed to garner him attention and undermine our political process. He epitomizes yellow journalism, and it is primarily up to the journalists, including Megyn Kelly, to expose him at every turn.
OMG Charles
So what is the danger of ignoring Alex Joes again ? Not sure you made a point. You said this " If we had done more to expose his lies things may have turned out differently " Assume you mean exposed therefore stopped his antics from continuing. Pfft ok so why didn't you ? Alex gets on my nerves sometimes because he will go farther than he needs to and steps on what is already brain overload of dishonest, Amoral. evil nuts ruining our country but we need people like him to give patriots a outlet . You did nail one thing in this article so I will give you that . “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion" So true
“America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion"
So what is the danger of ignoring Alex Joes again ? Not sure you made a point. You said this " If we had done more to expose his lies things may have turned out differently " Assume you mean exposed therefore stopped his antics from continuing. Pfft ok so why didn't you ? Alex gets on my nerves sometimes because he will go farther than he needs to and steps on what is already brain overload of dishonest, Amoral. evil nuts ruining our country but we need people like him to give patriots a outlet . You did nail one thing in this article so I will give you that . “America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion" So true
“America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion"
4
"We can’t keep ignoring the fringe. We have to expose it."
And what exactly have you exposed that we don't already know, Mr Sykes?
Please tell us how you have de-venomed or propose to de-venom this snake.
Looks like you merely helped publicized Mr Jones. And we know there's no such thing as BAD publicity.
And what exactly have you exposed that we don't already know, Mr Sykes?
Please tell us how you have de-venomed or propose to de-venom this snake.
Looks like you merely helped publicized Mr Jones. And we know there's no such thing as BAD publicity.
8
Mr. Sykes writes, “We can’t keep ignoring the fringe. We have to expose it.” Stop right there. The fringe is already exposed—well exposed. The far-right Alex Jones has been interviewed on BBC and on the Piers Morgan show, he’s trended at the very top on Twitter, and now here he is, in the Times, getting exposure with the chattering class.
The problem isn’t that by having Mr. Jones on her show Ms. Kelly “normalizes” or “validates” him—although yes, that's a problem. The real problem is that Alex Jones may very well emerge from the interview a winner. Like it or not, this vile man possesses smarts and charisma, and though most of Ms. Kelly’s audience will undoubtedly find their initial negative opinions about him confirmed, you can bet your bottom dollar that this interview will land him additional followers.
Finally, Mr. Sykes neglects to address that Megyn Kelly's quizzical smiles and seeming grasp of the issues are no match for a man like Jones. At bottom, she's a terribly weak journalist incapable of handling people like Trump, Putin or Jones, all of whom know how to use their wily charms, such as they are, to one-up her.
The problem isn’t that by having Mr. Jones on her show Ms. Kelly “normalizes” or “validates” him—although yes, that's a problem. The real problem is that Alex Jones may very well emerge from the interview a winner. Like it or not, this vile man possesses smarts and charisma, and though most of Ms. Kelly’s audience will undoubtedly find their initial negative opinions about him confirmed, you can bet your bottom dollar that this interview will land him additional followers.
Finally, Mr. Sykes neglects to address that Megyn Kelly's quizzical smiles and seeming grasp of the issues are no match for a man like Jones. At bottom, she's a terribly weak journalist incapable of handling people like Trump, Putin or Jones, all of whom know how to use their wily charms, such as they are, to one-up her.
12
Wait until someone decides that Paul Joseph Watson ought to get a TV show.
"Who?"
Never mind.
"Who?"
Never mind.
1
Megyn Kelly is not a journalist. She is a former Fox host promoted way above her ability level by NBC. The two are mutually exclusive. Her interview of Putin showed how easily he played her and just how shallow her reporting abilities are. Now she's going to sit down with Jones--who has played both her and NBC even before the show airs. Those viewers who are Jones fans are very often uninformed, biased, racist and paranoid. I can't imagine that Kelly will be skilled enough or wise enough in her questioning to shine a light on Jones paranoia and conspiracies. If a light gets shined on anything, it will be the weakness of NBC news and the network heads who hired her. It's called bait and switch boys--you took Kelly's bait and she switched up on you. Rough times ahead...
10
This is not about journalism, this is not about free speech. This is about money and rating, pure and simple. How disgusting that NBC and the rest of the prurient public that will tune in to this garbage will ignore the pain and suffering of the families who lost their loved ones at the World Trade Center on 9/11 and at Sandy Hook elementary school. Shameless profiteering. I hope that many, like me, will boycott any company that sponsors this trash.
The media was 'so in love' with DT when he announced his candidacy, it seemed they couldn't get enough of him. He filled the airways with his demeaning rhetoric and basically knocked everyone else off the page. During the campaign, he pushed Hillary off the airways as well as off message.
Maybe if the media hadn't been so quick to cover his every utterance, we might have had a difference outcome. Giving credence to every nutcase and conspiracy theorist gives them more importance than they deserve. Kelly, by having him as a guest, broadens his audience and gives him credibility. Maybe it's time for the media to become more selective in whom they profile- regardless of the article's headline.
Maybe if the media hadn't been so quick to cover his every utterance, we might have had a difference outcome. Giving credence to every nutcase and conspiracy theorist gives them more importance than they deserve. Kelly, by having him as a guest, broadens his audience and gives him credibility. Maybe it's time for the media to become more selective in whom they profile- regardless of the article's headline.
I completely disagree. This editorial has already introduced Alex Jones to thousands of NYT readers who've never heard of him before.More publicly will expose millions of TV viewers to this nonsense who will start following , and believing, the garbage he is spewing.
After all it's the"uneducated" , many of them Infowars fans ,who made it possible for Trump to get elected.
After all it's the"uneducated" , many of them Infowars fans ,who made it possible for Trump to get elected.
7
What I find interesting is that when children are murdered it's a liberal hoax, but when Republicans are gunned down, it's the liberal's fault, not a hoax. The second amendment guarantees our right to be armed, not to own weapons of war. It's time the manufacturers stopped selling these murder machines to our citizens, the bloodshed needs to end.
8
I strongly support the decision of WVIT, Connecticut's NBC affiliate, NOT to air the Alex Jones/Megan Kelly interview.
Mr. Sykes wants us to believe that further airing of Jones' many lies will somehow undermine his vitriol. But would we say the same -- and afford the same type of platform -- to Nazi anti-Semitism or white supremacist racism? The heartbreak of 2012 is very real here in Connecticut, and I cannot imagine how anyone -- Alex Jones, Megan Kelly, or the executives at NBC - want to deepen that pain or provide a forum for such grotesque incivility.
Mr. Sykes wants us to believe that further airing of Jones' many lies will somehow undermine his vitriol. But would we say the same -- and afford the same type of platform -- to Nazi anti-Semitism or white supremacist racism? The heartbreak of 2012 is very real here in Connecticut, and I cannot imagine how anyone -- Alex Jones, Megan Kelly, or the executives at NBC - want to deepen that pain or provide a forum for such grotesque incivility.
8
"Tonight on Cesspool..."
Self-serving showboating all in the name of ratings.
The only real hoax here is Alex Jones himself.
Instead of Megyn Kelly, they should let the parents of the Sandy Hook children interview him. Now that I would watch.
Self-serving showboating all in the name of ratings.
The only real hoax here is Alex Jones himself.
Instead of Megyn Kelly, they should let the parents of the Sandy Hook children interview him. Now that I would watch.
15
This article is hypocritical in the extreme. The NYT's recently quoted Alex Jones commenting on Bill Maher's racial slur, referring to him as a conservative blogger (or something along those lines).
Given his reprehensible behavior, and easily refuted conspiracy theories, responsible media should refrain from giving him any oxygen.
Given his reprehensible behavior, and easily refuted conspiracy theories, responsible media should refrain from giving him any oxygen.
3
Definitely not worth confronting.You cannot bring attention to a complete fake.
Calling him a conspirator is too accomplished for him.
He is not radical....he is a "professional wrestler"!
Calling him a conspirator is too accomplished for him.
He is not radical....he is a "professional wrestler"!
3
Aren't/weren't you and your radio show somehow complicit in all this? Not with "weapons grade nut-jobbery" (brilliant, btw) of Jones, et al, but ....along that vein?
Surely the unwitting architects of current sad state of affairs have to be Newt Ging-gers and his Contract on/with America 25 years ago. It seems HE is where a lot of this hopeless rancor of which you write originates.
Surely the unwitting architects of current sad state of affairs have to be Newt Ging-gers and his Contract on/with America 25 years ago. It seems HE is where a lot of this hopeless rancor of which you write originates.
4
Infowars is a misinformation program disseminated by an unconventional enemy, the Entertainment and Fight the Power network. The Trump campaign used the same formula.
"Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down." - Donald Trump, speaking to Alex Jones, 12/2/15.
"Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down." - Donald Trump, speaking to Alex Jones, 12/2/15.
5
Oh hogwash! I'm an old woman who has lived through all of the discrimination and hatred and struggles of the last 50 years, and I don't NEED to hear the voices of the PIGS who want to take us back to the time before we won civil rights and equal opportunity. I don't need to hear it....I know its out there....I continue to experience discrimination based on age! Its there. Don't give it a mainstream media voice. Keep it in the gutter where it belongs.
Ageism, Racism, Sexism,,,,for Pete's sakes....its coming back in spades and it needs to STOP right now!!!!!
Ageism, Racism, Sexism,,,,for Pete's sakes....its coming back in spades and it needs to STOP right now!!!!!
12
I don't see any comments here that suggest it is dangerous to give this man a podium and add to his credibility (save for the comment to round up all the crazies in Times Square, and grant them equal time).
This is bizarre. I agree, that Monday may see a rise in InfoWars' subscription base, and Megyn Kelly and the network are playing right into his hands, (as mentioned, just for the ratings).
This is bizarre. I agree, that Monday may see a rise in InfoWars' subscription base, and Megyn Kelly and the network are playing right into his hands, (as mentioned, just for the ratings).
2
We all have ears, we all have brains, we all have the right to decide what we believe! Some of us are naive, some of us are ignorant, some of us are stupid and too many educated and wise people, just don't care! The more differences that are added to equation, the more seperated we will become. Close the borders, expel the illegals and allow us to become what we were meant to be, a unique Nation of unique individuals that ALL, call ourselves American!
1
By the way do you know the name of the boat that brought your relatives to these shores? Unless your Native American your not an American but rather just a....
2
Infowars an the Drudge report are prime examples of the fringe right. But good old Newt Gingrich had to blame the fringe left for that awful attack on Republican congress members in VA. Did he ever comment on the pizzeria shooting that occurred in NYC because the deranged gunman thought that there was a Hillary Clinton led pedophile ring located there? Charles Sykes is a rational conservative, but when we have 'mainstream' conservatives like Gingrich who are completely partisan and irrational, I wonder who will win out in the end. And Trump reads Inforwars and Drudge!
2
Perhaps it's hard to give up a lifetime of being a right-wing commentator who imagines that when "your" side is accused, you must at the least try to deflect attention to the other side:
" We can’t know exactly what drove a man to open fire last week at a field where Republican members of Congress were prepping for a charity baseball game, but in the aftermath of that shocking event, we can trace the shooter’s online presence to the fringe world on the left he inhabited where he railed that “It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
There is no equivalence here, and it is a form of gaslighting to write that paragraph and follow it with this: "While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left."
Alex Jones is a celebrated blowhard and widely cited conspiracist, welcome in many Republican circles. He is in that sense not on the fringe. But the man who shot up the baseball game had no such status, and the 'fringe world on the left" you mention is likely nothing more than social media--unless you know otherwise and can't bring yourself to mention it.
Yet you persist in equivalence mongering:
"Mr. Jones, of course, didn’t create that culture, which has lain dormant on the political fringes of both the left and the right for years, but he has given it greater power."
If I were your editor, I'd try to make you stick to your subject.
" We can’t know exactly what drove a man to open fire last week at a field where Republican members of Congress were prepping for a charity baseball game, but in the aftermath of that shocking event, we can trace the shooter’s online presence to the fringe world on the left he inhabited where he railed that “It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
There is no equivalence here, and it is a form of gaslighting to write that paragraph and follow it with this: "While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left."
Alex Jones is a celebrated blowhard and widely cited conspiracist, welcome in many Republican circles. He is in that sense not on the fringe. But the man who shot up the baseball game had no such status, and the 'fringe world on the left" you mention is likely nothing more than social media--unless you know otherwise and can't bring yourself to mention it.
Yet you persist in equivalence mongering:
"Mr. Jones, of course, didn’t create that culture, which has lain dormant on the political fringes of both the left and the right for years, but he has given it greater power."
If I were your editor, I'd try to make you stick to your subject.
Howard Stern exploits a mentally & physically disabled collection of guests he coined the "wack pack" for cheap laughs. Stern makes $100M per year and hobnobs in the Hamptons with all the liberal media elites. The Bachelor and Kardashian shows are bottom-feeding filth watched by tens of millions of Americans each time they're on. Miley Cyrus has been the biggest act in teen music for 10 years. Every rap song on the charts is laced with lyrics promoting murder, selling and consuming narcotics, and treating women like garbage.
I just think it's a bit hypocritical to go after some goofy water filter merchant in Austin, Texas while ignoring all the other degeneracy we steep in.
I just think it's a bit hypocritical to go after some goofy water filter merchant in Austin, Texas while ignoring all the other degeneracy we steep in.
3
The interview NBC is set to Airbus not unmasking a liar, it's a puff piece given someone who has caused grieving parents tremendous grief. This is not journalism, it's sensationalism.
4
Why did C. Sykes bring the left into this? The shooter of the people at the baseball practice was an atypical aberration. Why not write strictly about Alex Jones and crazy Donald Trump and Trump followers?
2
Among the many tools available for fighting extremist demagoguery, fake news and hate news, Sleeping Giants is leading the way in draining ad dollars out of certain media sites, for example Breitbart and Info Wars.
Even thought it's illegal to yell FIRE in a crowded theater, it is still dangerously legal to mislead a portion of voters into to thinking that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton, or that HRC was running a pedophilia ring in a pizza shop or that a large gang of parents in a tiny town conspired to make their children disappear - all to foist a stunt on behalf of Pres. Obama - and they supposedly did it after staging a monstrously bloody spectacle in a school and buying out the town coroner as well.
When or if Americans can buy this mind-boggling garbage, we have problems in the American psyche that go much deeper than what Sykes is recommending as remedy. We should try his measures, yes, but we need more power tools.
And that brings us to draining this particular swamp of its advertising revenues. DO tell advertisers of all types what you do not tolerate their financial support of Info Wars, etc.
As for Megyn Kelly's efforts - who knows how that will matter. She's complicit ("Santa's white, kids that's that" - a full blown lie.) Her show should not appear anytime near the anniversary of the slaughter at Sandy Hook, nor anywhere near Father's Day, not unless she features the victims of Alex Jones first and foremost.
Even thought it's illegal to yell FIRE in a crowded theater, it is still dangerously legal to mislead a portion of voters into to thinking that millions of illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton, or that HRC was running a pedophilia ring in a pizza shop or that a large gang of parents in a tiny town conspired to make their children disappear - all to foist a stunt on behalf of Pres. Obama - and they supposedly did it after staging a monstrously bloody spectacle in a school and buying out the town coroner as well.
When or if Americans can buy this mind-boggling garbage, we have problems in the American psyche that go much deeper than what Sykes is recommending as remedy. We should try his measures, yes, but we need more power tools.
And that brings us to draining this particular swamp of its advertising revenues. DO tell advertisers of all types what you do not tolerate their financial support of Info Wars, etc.
As for Megyn Kelly's efforts - who knows how that will matter. She's complicit ("Santa's white, kids that's that" - a full blown lie.) Her show should not appear anytime near the anniversary of the slaughter at Sandy Hook, nor anywhere near Father's Day, not unless she features the victims of Alex Jones first and foremost.
4
I am sure that we can track and maintain awareness of Alex Jones without giving him time on a major television network. An additional option is to demote NBC from the list of major TV networks. In hiring the racial demagogue Megyn Kelly, they have earned the reduction.
3
The media, public and most politicians (except for Donald Trump) rightfully condemn the ”nut-job” Alex Jones who traffics in wild conspiracy theories like Sandy Hook, 911 and faked moon landings. However 72% of Left, Right & Center “mainstream” Americans still believe that President John F. Kennedy was also killed by a dastardly conspiracy with the primary suspects being in the “Military Industrial Complex.” It was, after all, "sinister operatives" within the US Government who plotted, killed and to this very day (nearly 54 years later), still cover up the assignation of our 35th President. On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, who earlier that year (April 10, 1963) attempted to assassinate Major General Edwin Walker, fired 3 shots from his 6.5 Mannlicher Carcano (serial # C2766) from the Southeast corner of the 6th floor window of the Texas School Book Depository. One shot (the 1st) missed, the 2nd hit Kennedy in the back passed through him and struck Governor Connolly. The 3rd was the fatal head shot. There is here a heavy dose of cognitive dissonance going on today in the public’s consciousness. Alex Jones’ crazy theories are rightly ridiculed but the equally crazy President Kennedy assignation theories are roundly debated, investigated, written about (over 1000 books and growing) and even made into a major motion picture (JFK) by another conspiracy “nut-job” Oliver Stone.
"Stephen Colbert" is recognized as a character distinct from Stephen Colbert?
Yet, people want to believe the hustle of people like Alex Jones.
Religion based on golden tablets only one person could see (LDS), a virgin birth (Christianity), stones inscribed by a god(Judaism) and some guy from Iraq named Abraham(Islam, Christian, Jew) demonstrate human capacity to put faith in anything.
Yet, people want to believe the hustle of people like Alex Jones.
Religion based on golden tablets only one person could see (LDS), a virgin birth (Christianity), stones inscribed by a god(Judaism) and some guy from Iraq named Abraham(Islam, Christian, Jew) demonstrate human capacity to put faith in anything.
4
Megyn Kelly " interviewing " Jones. You can take the woman out of FOX, but can't take the FOX out of the woman. Just saying.
During a recent custody case, Jones' lawyers argued that Infowars is merely "performance art", recognising that a person who holds such bizarre beliefs in unfit to be the guardian of children. He then, in an act of blinding hypocrisy, asked the press to respect his privacy. This is "mimophant" behaviour at its finest - the thick-skinned stomping over the feelings of others like a rogue elephant, but folding like a mimosa at the slightest touch of personal criticism. Don't let him get away with it.
4
I think a LOT of these guys have just seen how much money Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, Coulter etc have made and then position themselves at just a slightly different spot of fear mongering.......and voile!!
2
For many people, The New York Times op-ed columnists (Blow, etc) and the NYT at large are the analogue to the left of Alex Jones and Info Wars. The NYT is far more righteous than Alex Jones, and this column is no exception.
I voted Democrat for Congress and Trump for President and I love Alex Jones, and especially Paul Joseph Watson of Info Wars whom I find the most brilliant journalist at work today (see his YouTube videos).
I voted Democrat for Congress and Trump for President and I love Alex Jones, and especially Paul Joseph Watson of Info Wars whom I find the most brilliant journalist at work today (see his YouTube videos).
2
Alex Jones says 9/11 was an inside job? It does not get any crazier than that.
4
Jones? Wasn't he the guy who killed all his followers with the poisoned kool-aid?
I just can't seem to keep up. Good thing I've got Megyn at Fox to help me out.
I just can't seem to keep up. Good thing I've got Megyn at Fox to help me out.
2
By all means let's expose Alex Jones's evil pathology (no, it's not "all in fun"). But I fear Megyn Kelly will be channeling Barbara Walters and not Edward R Murrow.
1
Alex Jones in "Waking Life":
“Start challenging this corporate slave state! The 21st Century is gonna be a new century, not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance, and classism and statist and all the rest of the modes of control! It's gonna be the age of humankind…standing up for something pure and something right! “
“Start challenging this corporate slave state! The 21st Century is gonna be a new century, not the century of slavery, not the century of lies and issues of no significance, and classism and statist and all the rest of the modes of control! It's gonna be the age of humankind…standing up for something pure and something right! “
William F. Buckley kept the extremist far right John Birch Society out of the conservative movement, but make no mistake they are alive and well. They just changed their name to the "Tea Party" and most recently to the "freedom caucus" and they are running the Republican Party with Koch money. Far right fringe groups have made a game out of relabeling themselves. The "Alt Right" is not much more than a restatement of the KKK.
3
We have trump because of mass ignorance and mass insanity. An idiot like Jones has a place on the airways for the same reason.
These people, the leaders and the followers don't care about truth, they simply reject what they don't want to believe and accept what they do want. There is nothing you can do about such people. Most will never change.
Sane people have to keep putting out to the best of their ability the truth and progressive positions & policies, with supporting facts, reason and logic.
When a majority share the same values, the kooks will be marginalized appropriately. Unfortunately, life has proven we don't know when that will occur.
These people, the leaders and the followers don't care about truth, they simply reject what they don't want to believe and accept what they do want. There is nothing you can do about such people. Most will never change.
Sane people have to keep putting out to the best of their ability the truth and progressive positions & policies, with supporting facts, reason and logic.
When a majority share the same values, the kooks will be marginalized appropriately. Unfortunately, life has proven we don't know when that will occur.
1
"The paranoid spokesman, he wrote, saw the world “in apocalyptic terms — he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point.”
This person also directly advises the president on an almost daily basis. His name is Steve Bannon. Watch "Bannon's War," on Frontline / PBS.
This person also directly advises the president on an almost daily basis. His name is Steve Bannon. Watch "Bannon's War," on Frontline / PBS.
1
I simply cannot listen to Jones, Limbaugh, Beck, et al, because the sound of their hysterical, whining, moaning, hateful voices and sight of their red, bloated, greasy, sweating faces makes me want to punch things.
I'm a 50's white, USMC vet, gun owning, truck driving rural guy and every time one of these grotesqueries claim to speak for me, I want to vomit.
I'm a 50's white, USMC vet, gun owning, truck driving rural guy and every time one of these grotesqueries claim to speak for me, I want to vomit.
5
We need more literacy and rational thinking. I just wanna see how his followers gonna survive when robots/automation takes over their job. I am guessing Trump 2.0. Still you cant stop progress. They are gangrenous infection, who only gonna grow. Today's for profit media, will assure this illiteracy and ignorance will continue spreading.
1
I can't believe the gullibility of people that listen to this man. Maybe they should try reading science fiction books. Some of them are alot more plausible than the nonsense this guy spews.
1
On the other hand, it's narcissistic egomaniacs like this that show us where the zombies are. Satan is standing right there tempting with power, with avarice, saying, "All this can be yours if you follow me." It's a 2000 year old lure. Our national response should be a collective "Begone Satan." I mean, if you call yourself a Christian, a Buddhist, a Muslim, or a non-believer, do not be fearful. Use wisdom, exercise good judgment. Be an example to your children and grandchildren that your family will still talk about in 2217.
Megyn Kelly is a true journalist. Her controversy is a lesson in cutting an edge. Her career is a lesson in to be careful what you ask for, by her drooling Fox Friends. No country on earth could have produced and promoted such a cunning maverick. And anyway she bucked her Jabba The Hut weird patron. So there's that.
We now have a sitting President who perpetrated one of the largest, and may turn out to be one of the most consequential hoaxes in our history---where President Obama was born. We are becoming in Bill Maher's words the United States of Stupid.
2
In a week where a left-wing activist tried (and failed) to kill members of congress it seems a diversion to discuss the 'dangers' of Jones.
2
How sad it is that Alex Jones and his kind can get money and fame from dividing the country and spewing hate.
What exactly did NBC think they'd be getting from a long serving, FOX "News" alumna, high quality, professional and relevant journalism??
Pfft! Of course this creature is going run back to the type of material that she's most familiar and comfortable with at first opportunity.
Pfft! Of course this creature is going run back to the type of material that she's most familiar and comfortable with at first opportunity.
1
You really are right about Mr. Jones. But you're much crazier, more evil, and generally worse than him as is more or less everyone at the New York Times.
You don't need to confront Mr. Jones. You need to abandon evil yourself and start writing the occasional honest article, that actually bears some relationshp to the reality of the event reported on.
You don't need to confront Mr. Jones. You need to abandon evil yourself and start writing the occasional honest article, that actually bears some relationshp to the reality of the event reported on.
1
Why wouldn't we give some coverage to someone like Jones. After all we give it to Donny everyday do we not
My neighbor in Florida is one of those people who believe the earth is only 10,000 years old, He and his wife home school their daughter because, he told me, he didn't want her exposed to the "dangers" out there in the world. Yet they slap Infowars bumperstickers on their trucks and plant Trump signs in their yard, exposing her to a different set of dangerous ideas.
Maybe as they gather round the TV to watch their hero Alex, Megan Kelly will do her job and expose him for what he is. Maybe their daughter will hear an opposing view and it will start her down a road of questioning what she has been exposed to. She will become a paragon of critical thinking, a seeker of facts instead of just another member of the next generation of low information voters.
Maybe pigs will fly.
Maybe as they gather round the TV to watch their hero Alex, Megan Kelly will do her job and expose him for what he is. Maybe their daughter will hear an opposing view and it will start her down a road of questioning what she has been exposed to. She will become a paragon of critical thinking, a seeker of facts instead of just another member of the next generation of low information voters.
Maybe pigs will fly.
3
"Had we done more to expose the viciously dishonest hoaxes, might things have turned out differently?" ...... what a question! A question that has haunted humanity from time immemorial. What I am going to say may cause some anguish but, think about: a 20c bullet in 1927 could save 60 million fatalities. And all the indictions were on the wall! How many times after a nut goes ahead with some mayhem these days, the silent experts say that they "saw the signals", then .... why nobody "preempted" it?
The human brain is 70%water, super complex, ultra fragile. And in spite of all that we jump on a commercial jet flown by such a brain holder. Who knows what he drunk before, if had a home fight, is emotionally compromised. Still, we "blindly trust" that THINGS WE'LL BE OK! Don't worry be happy!
More than 20 years ago i drova back home from work listening the Nuts Jones almost throwing up, things don't change....maybe he'll become the next POTUS?
The human brain is 70%water, super complex, ultra fragile. And in spite of all that we jump on a commercial jet flown by such a brain holder. Who knows what he drunk before, if had a home fight, is emotionally compromised. Still, we "blindly trust" that THINGS WE'LL BE OK! Don't worry be happy!
More than 20 years ago i drova back home from work listening the Nuts Jones almost throwing up, things don't change....maybe he'll become the next POTUS?
“Righteous,” an erroneous choice of words, has no place in within a mile of this guy. Fiendish, deceitful, wicked describe his screeds. Fancy writing is out-of- place unless it is accurate.
Its worrying enough that nut-jobs like Stone and Jones exist in the USA, but whats worse is that main stream politicians and media give them credibility rather than exposing and ridiculing them. The sad fact however is that these nut-jobs have fellow nut-jobs supporting them who are either voters or supporters of main stream politicians and parties, and therefore have some influence, or they are unhinged looneys with guns, threatening to go feral, and therefore intimidating main stream politicians and parties.
Its very informative of the state of America that there are American citizens who can get taken in by these all these nut-jobs.
Its very alarming that a Presidential candidate, let alone a sitting President can believe and endorse these nut-jobs.
But then again that nut-job ran his own Birther conspiracy theory.
Its very informative of the state of America that there are American citizens who can get taken in by these all these nut-jobs.
Its very alarming that a Presidential candidate, let alone a sitting President can believe and endorse these nut-jobs.
But then again that nut-job ran his own Birther conspiracy theory.
1
After WWII it became necessary in Germany to outlaw Holocaust denials and speech that minimized the murders or denied the truth. Germany knew they had to take a stand or they could never move forward with credibility and integrity.
We need to do the same with fake news and hoaxsters like Jones who knowingly and falsely perpetuate lies that hurt real people like the Sandy Hook families and the Comic PingPong Pizzeria.
It is not free speech or opinion to lie about the murders a Sandy Hook. It is immoral, unethical, untrue and it should be illegal. There is no doubt what happened, who did it or how it occurred. It is criminal to say otherwise.
We need to do the same with fake news and hoaxsters like Jones who knowingly and falsely perpetuate lies that hurt real people like the Sandy Hook families and the Comic PingPong Pizzeria.
It is not free speech or opinion to lie about the murders a Sandy Hook. It is immoral, unethical, untrue and it should be illegal. There is no doubt what happened, who did it or how it occurred. It is criminal to say otherwise.
5
Your main point is important: but please don't forget that Bill Buckley was good friends with Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn (himself a friend and mentor of our own Dear Leader), and had very ugly things to say about HIV-positive gay men at the beginnings of the AIDS crisis. To mention Buckley -- and his right-wing legacy -- in the same column, and with a certain authority -- as Richard Hofstadter, is to grant the former an honor best left not granted, because it never -- not remotely -- was earned.
1
I recommend visiting the Alex Jones website, to know what the lunatic fringe gone mainstream believe. It used to be called 'prison planet,' which might show how long its been since I read the 'articles' of the day presented by Jones. The prime Jones directive was distrust your government, money is collapsing, the economy is collapsing, so buy gold and silver, dig a bunker, buy lots of dehydrated food, the government is evil, deep state, black helicopters.
If you tried to have a conversation to explain that the concept that we attacked ourselves on 9/11 was totally dis-proven, you were considered a dupe. When you explained that the number of people who would have had to be in on the false story of 9/11being an inside job was in the thousands, and considering someone is constantly looking for their 15 minutes of fame, and no one to this day has come forward? Another conspiracy theory, the witnesses were all killed, silenced. This once fringe group of loons, has expanded to become the core constituency of Donald Trump, so its logical that Trump would call Alex Jones to thank him for helping him get elected. Has anyone thought to ask the press secretary if Trump believes we attacked ourselves on 9/11? And how is that here in Portland, Maine we have pictures of the hijackers boarding the plane that crashed into one of the towers? Who were traced to Saudi Arabia, where Trump just got back from after doing some freaky smiling sword dance with the royalty?
If you tried to have a conversation to explain that the concept that we attacked ourselves on 9/11 was totally dis-proven, you were considered a dupe. When you explained that the number of people who would have had to be in on the false story of 9/11being an inside job was in the thousands, and considering someone is constantly looking for their 15 minutes of fame, and no one to this day has come forward? Another conspiracy theory, the witnesses were all killed, silenced. This once fringe group of loons, has expanded to become the core constituency of Donald Trump, so its logical that Trump would call Alex Jones to thank him for helping him get elected. Has anyone thought to ask the press secretary if Trump believes we attacked ourselves on 9/11? And how is that here in Portland, Maine we have pictures of the hijackers boarding the plane that crashed into one of the towers? Who were traced to Saudi Arabia, where Trump just got back from after doing some freaky smiling sword dance with the royalty?
3
There are no leftist conspiracy theorists? Sykes should check out the Romero Institute, successor to the Christic Institute, which claims that 9/11 was an inside job, that the Pentagon and the NSA have been working with extraterrestrials for decades, and other fantasies. Here is some reporting with actual data; the conclusion is that conspiracy thinking is about as prevalent on the left as it is on the right. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/08/21/conspiracy...
1
I don't think he really believes most of the garbage he spews. He's in the "shock" business to sell books and get clicks so he can get ad revenue.
I still come down on the side to ignore. Let watchdog groups keep an eye on his rhetoric and report to authorities when he openly incites his troglodyte followers.
I still come down on the side to ignore. Let watchdog groups keep an eye on his rhetoric and report to authorities when he openly incites his troglodyte followers.
1
And we should also be clear that Mr. Sykes freely ridiculed Michelle Obama as 'mooch' on his radio show. Of course, he could have told us that himself, but we must wait for someone to interview him instead ?
1
Alex Jones and his ilk exist because
1
I'm an old-fashioned "good government," market-oriented Republican who's never, not once, watched Fox News nor seen/heard/read anything emitted by Mr. Jones. But I also realize that the "paranoid style" is omnipresent in US politics. It's not merely on the extreme right, but clearly present on the left as well. Anyone who thinks the Koch brothers or the American Legislative Council is secretly writing an agenda for America is clearly paranoid. Face up to it: the presence of idiots IS symmetrical.
1
Whether it's cognitive dissonance - pure ignorance - racism -xenophobia or mental illness OR a combo of these /psychodefective emotional preludes to identifying and believing this sick con man demagogue:
There are tens of millions of americans who nead mental help -YESTERDAY
OH and they all have guns!
There are tens of millions of americans who nead mental help -YESTERDAY
OH and they all have guns!
1
If I see a rodent, I avoid it. They once carried the plague, some still do. There is NOTHING I can learn from this charlatan other than how low something can stoop for money.
2
Alex Jones is no more a conspiracy theorist than progressives who insist that Donald Trump is a "Manchurian Candidate" who was elected in collusion with the Russians.
2
I apologize for saying this, but there is not a more worthless human being that has walked the planet than Alex Jones.
2
It is not journalism to give prime time interviews to so-called spokesmen for crazy hateful trash-talking con men. It is wrong to give them a soap-box from which their audience can expand to fools taken in by this kind of snake-oil salesmen. There are of course, people who will believe anything in spite of all facts to the contrary (oh yes, we learned from the White House there are "alternative facts"). Kelly and NBC are providing a disservice, but thanks to the many channel alternatives we don't need to waste time and promote ratings for hate. The results of this work are all too often in the NBC news in hate crimes reporting, now apparently encouraged by NBC to come full circle.
Stop calling behaviors ,left and right.
Call it humane or inhumane,ignorant or intelligent,self serving or helpful to all.
Honest or dishonest,sick or healthy.legitimate anger or ranting over nothing.
This left right insult gets us off subject.
Call it humane or inhumane,ignorant or intelligent,self serving or helpful to all.
Honest or dishonest,sick or healthy.legitimate anger or ranting over nothing.
This left right insult gets us off subject.
1
Mr. Sykes, you present a most credible argument for NBC to go ahead with the broadcast of Megyn Kelly' interview with Alex Jones. If you are going to look at Alex Jones through the lens of 1964, you will not notice how our world has changed. Jones is praised by Drudge, lauded by Trump, and details of his divorce creep out on Yahoo!News. oh, Alex Jones is no sideline crackpot of 1964, sending letters to his local paper and bothering the local broadcast network. Rather, Jones is a well-known quantity even to those who don't regularly follow InfoWars. Think of it this way: Trump has been able to mimic the proletariat through his Tweets and, during the campaign, through his continual call-ins to TV shows (also free air time.) Jones, on the other hand, has been playing the role of news brand with his guerilla broadcasts and InfoWars merch. He even has a seat in the White House press corps. Now ask yourself: would even your most intelligent 1964 crackpot ever have a seat in the White House Press Corps? Doubtful to be sure.
Alex Jones and his terrifying falsehoods have already been legitimized. The proletariat see him as some kind of newsman, when he really isn't in any way. They say "well, he's got his own show" Doesn't matter if he's in his basement. Alex Jones is already legit, already a known quantity. He doesn't need the seal of (dis) approval from Megyn Kelly and NBC.
Alex Jones and his terrifying falsehoods have already been legitimized. The proletariat see him as some kind of newsman, when he really isn't in any way. They say "well, he's got his own show" Doesn't matter if he's in his basement. Alex Jones is already legit, already a known quantity. He doesn't need the seal of (dis) approval from Megyn Kelly and NBC.
2
Twenty years ago, a young man I volunteered with at the radio station pulled me aside and began explaining the world to me "the way it really was." He listened via shortwave radio to a man named Bill Cooper, who broadcast a show called "The Hour of the TIme." Convinced the world was really ruled by a shadowy cabal called The Bilderberg Group, this young man kept a loaded sawed-off shotgun in his closet for use against the troops of darkness whenever "they" showed up to disarm the patriotic American citizenry.
That was 20 years ago. Bill Cooper died resisting arrest at the hands of ATF agents when he refused to pay his taxes. I wonder if he still has his loaded shotgun and still peers anxiously through the curtains of life in the placid small town we grew up in. What a waste of life, to be so suspicious...for nothing.
That was 20 years ago. Bill Cooper died resisting arrest at the hands of ATF agents when he refused to pay his taxes. I wonder if he still has his loaded shotgun and still peers anxiously through the curtains of life in the placid small town we grew up in. What a waste of life, to be so suspicious...for nothing.
3
No we shouldn't. Enough tears shed!
1
The problem with having an interview with Alex Jones on mainstream TV isn't Alex Jones; it's Megyn Kelly and her boss, Andrew Lack. They want ratings and revenue. Neither are William Buckley or Edward Murrow. We already know this isn't going to be a challenging, issues focused interview, it's going to be Alex Jones-the dad next door. Unfortunately, instead of showing Alex Jones and Infowars for what they are. Instead, this will be an opportunity to spotlight his product as another brand available for media consumption.
6
People here are willing to defend someone who traffics in falsehoods and passes them off as truth. Apparently now 50% of the country wants to believe such rediculous nonsense. Look at Fox News - a totally fake station -for the most part- everything is opinionated, false or exagerated. I am really sick of America. We used to have an agreement that people had to actually tell the truth - now this guy - who I think is really a paranoid schizophrenic - has a huge following. Great.
3
Sykes’ explanation for the rise in popularity of fringe voices like Alex Jones is overly simplistic and conveniently omits the important role that Americans’ declining trust in mainstream media, of which he is a part, has played in this development.
It’s true that influential conservatives of the past would have been more vociferous in their repudiation of an Alex Jones, but why is it that these gatekeepers on the right are less intent on shutting down more extreme views within their own ranks? It isn’t simply a lack of courage, as Sykes insinuates, but rather a response to the American public’s decreasing faith in mainstream news narratives which are perceived as disconnected from the everyday reality of many citizens.
Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi has offered a cogent explanation for this phenomenon by noting that the field of journalism in past decades was more like a skilled trade, with many journalists having worked their way up from the mail room. This instilled more of a blue-collar culture in the newsroom that bred a distrust, even resentment, of the rich and powerful among those who wrote about them.
The majority of mainstream journalists today no longer just write about the elite, they are the elite, residing largely in the country's major metropolitan areas and often holding multiple university degrees. The rich and powerful are largely fawned over in mainstream news coverage now, leading many to turn away towards fringe voices like Jones.
It’s true that influential conservatives of the past would have been more vociferous in their repudiation of an Alex Jones, but why is it that these gatekeepers on the right are less intent on shutting down more extreme views within their own ranks? It isn’t simply a lack of courage, as Sykes insinuates, but rather a response to the American public’s decreasing faith in mainstream news narratives which are perceived as disconnected from the everyday reality of many citizens.
Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi has offered a cogent explanation for this phenomenon by noting that the field of journalism in past decades was more like a skilled trade, with many journalists having worked their way up from the mail room. This instilled more of a blue-collar culture in the newsroom that bred a distrust, even resentment, of the rich and powerful among those who wrote about them.
The majority of mainstream journalists today no longer just write about the elite, they are the elite, residing largely in the country's major metropolitan areas and often holding multiple university degrees. The rich and powerful are largely fawned over in mainstream news coverage now, leading many to turn away towards fringe voices like Jones.
4
It's always been about money. First the Falwell gang and then in '89 national syndication of Limbaugh. Enough said. That's where the brainwashing began. And because of the brainwashed $40 million a year from all those local stations. You don't think these guys all want a piece of that? There's nothing crazy about all this. It's all about $$$$$$$$.
60
Bringing the lies and wacky conspiracy theories into the sunlight is the only way to get to the truth. In the end the truth will win out. I believe that most people who listen to this guy do it for entertainment value. This guy speaks to them even if it is at a higher volume than they might ever go personally. But at the end of the day most people will treat it as entertainment and most people that listen to this guy don't have the time or the energy to innovate solutions to real problems. Alex Jones does not offer solutions to real problems; he offers entertainment and conspiracy theories and fake solutions for a price.
1
This is strikingly insightful. Thank you. (And I loved the balance.)
2
I doubt Megyn Kelly will bring up the birther movement, the moon landing or Sandy Hook. This pandering for ratings, pure and simple.
5
Never read anything this guy has written but have watched him on YouTube, he's a nut job and will fade away into obscurity when the light of day is shined on him. But let's not forget the democrat who was so incensed by the daily political hate culture in our media that he acted out in a deadly manner by trying to assassinate congressional republicans, this is real and has happened. We also must look at our news media and rebuke them for their 24/7 hate culture which legitimizes violence on the left. So far the violence has come exclusively from the left, town halls that become screaming matches, violent protest by left wing extremists, Hollywood using hate speech to promote violence, the depiction of the severed head of our president. Free speech doesn't mean irresponsible speech and irresponsible speech is not hidden in artistic license it is hate speech nonetheless and it must be called out.
1
No need to "sweat" ignoring Alex Jones; apparently 62 million people didn't and voted for his buddy Donald Trump.
Rational and balanced thought has vacated both our houses of Congress while one party reaps the benefits of fear mongering, hatred and xenophobia.
The problem, as I see it, is that daily inner city youths can gun themselves down or be gunned down by police, estranged, abusive husbands gun down their spouses and children and hundreds of depressed individuals monthly shoot themselves with guns that are all too easily available.
Yet when a Congressman is threatened or shot, all the media starts prattling about "divisive politics" and the beginning of the next Civil War. Let me clue you in, the war has already started and trying to "understand" rabble rousers like Mr. Jones is a little too little and very, very late.
History tells me one of the "death knells" of democracy is that silly "freedom of speech" thing which can be used in ALL directions. Without it, we certainly don't have democracy but with it, we spawn creatures like Mr. Jones and Ms. Kelly, his so-called "interviewer/publicity at all cost" personality.
I suggest everyone go to Mr. Jones "infoWars" website, as I have, then tell me how on earth one can even talk to people who believe nuggets like Ms. Clinton is not only a "child trafficker" but a murderer to boot? And, yes, Mr. Obama is setting up a "deep state" in his new, spare time.
Sorry, the country is broken and we seem out of glue.
Rational and balanced thought has vacated both our houses of Congress while one party reaps the benefits of fear mongering, hatred and xenophobia.
The problem, as I see it, is that daily inner city youths can gun themselves down or be gunned down by police, estranged, abusive husbands gun down their spouses and children and hundreds of depressed individuals monthly shoot themselves with guns that are all too easily available.
Yet when a Congressman is threatened or shot, all the media starts prattling about "divisive politics" and the beginning of the next Civil War. Let me clue you in, the war has already started and trying to "understand" rabble rousers like Mr. Jones is a little too little and very, very late.
History tells me one of the "death knells" of democracy is that silly "freedom of speech" thing which can be used in ALL directions. Without it, we certainly don't have democracy but with it, we spawn creatures like Mr. Jones and Ms. Kelly, his so-called "interviewer/publicity at all cost" personality.
I suggest everyone go to Mr. Jones "infoWars" website, as I have, then tell me how on earth one can even talk to people who believe nuggets like Ms. Clinton is not only a "child trafficker" but a murderer to boot? And, yes, Mr. Obama is setting up a "deep state" in his new, spare time.
Sorry, the country is broken and we seem out of glue.
3
The noble press of the First Amendment is now a giant global media-entertainment conglomerate. The people who get coverage are the most entertaining. Donald and Alex and Milo and Ann Coulter -- even Kellyanne -- know how to make a splash.
Even Bill Maher bombs once in a while. But mostly we just laugh.
Even Bill Maher bombs once in a while. But mostly we just laugh.
1
Yes, we must listen to Alex Jones, if only because he is us at our worst, and so we can recognize when our partisanship slips into frightened, hateful fantasy.
How do you wipe out a contagion? When Ebola takes root, and it travels unchecked from person to person, how do you destroy the scourge? How do you contain polio without vaccines?
The fringe apocalyptic paranoia starts with a single infection and spreads. First a village, then the countryside and eventually an epidemic. We are not even trying to inoculate people to stop the spread.
Airing Jones and his - what word describes it? - hateful tinfoil hat ideas, without giving people a real demonstration of how false his ideas are does a disservice. Megyn Kelly can carefully debunk the worst of his claims, but the likelihood is that he will just rant right over her, wiping out the advantage of accuracy and sanity with his rebel yell. As with Bill Nye debating Ken Ham, science, fact, truth and accuracy fall victim to the style of the other side of the debate. Ham was all reasonableness as he spouted nonsense; Jones takes the opposite approach. But both are more memorable than the poor suckers who have to defend boring old fact.
Exposing the fringe only works if it can be exposed in a way to make people want to grasp for the truth, and to walk away from fantasy. Is there any evidence that Megyn Kelly can pull that off?
The fringe apocalyptic paranoia starts with a single infection and spreads. First a village, then the countryside and eventually an epidemic. We are not even trying to inoculate people to stop the spread.
Airing Jones and his - what word describes it? - hateful tinfoil hat ideas, without giving people a real demonstration of how false his ideas are does a disservice. Megyn Kelly can carefully debunk the worst of his claims, but the likelihood is that he will just rant right over her, wiping out the advantage of accuracy and sanity with his rebel yell. As with Bill Nye debating Ken Ham, science, fact, truth and accuracy fall victim to the style of the other side of the debate. Ham was all reasonableness as he spouted nonsense; Jones takes the opposite approach. But both are more memorable than the poor suckers who have to defend boring old fact.
Exposing the fringe only works if it can be exposed in a way to make people want to grasp for the truth, and to walk away from fantasy. Is there any evidence that Megyn Kelly can pull that off?
1
If the parents of the Sandy Hook children say no to the airing of this interview, then the interview should not be aired. End of discussion.
5
In the aftermath of every momentous event there have been, or are, at least several individuals claiming either they never happened or they were the result of some deep conspiracy of unknown size and membership. Moon landing never happened, Holocaust never happened, Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy, etc. Shadows have always fascinated and attribution to unseen forces permits wild speculation impugning the motives of anyone involved who may be on the opposite side of either some underlying issue. Whatever the case they must be exposed for the falsehoods they are and not simply dismissed as the ravings of some lunatic fringe. And this process of exposure requires and openness that his the very antithesis of the darkness of conspiracy -- to matter how unpalatable this exposure might be.
"You raise up your head and you ask, "Is this where it is?"
And somebody points to you and says, "It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?" and somebody else says, "Well, what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God, am I here all alone?"
But something is happening and you don't know what it is.
Do you, Mr. Jones?"
--Bob Dylan
And somebody points to you and says, "It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?" and somebody else says, "Well, what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God, am I here all alone?"
But something is happening and you don't know what it is.
Do you, Mr. Jones?"
--Bob Dylan
1
Man, Alex Jones is difficult to watch though. His vibe is like a weird, belligerent version of Rush Limbaugh mixed with Sam Kinison. But crazier.
1
Mr. Sykes:
This is another example of Paul Krugman's "false equivalence" of ideas -- that a "balanced" discussion necessarily will give equal weight to thought that is squarely within the Judeo-Christian tradition and hateful rants from diseased minds.
Nonsense. This guy belongs on the fringes, and deserves to be ignored.
What you're suggesting is to effectively legitimize him.
Our political discourse is degraded enough.
This guy is a distraction is all, the mental equivalent of picking a scab.
Just because Trump is an imbecile and a cretin, and listens to this guy, doesn't mean that he's legit, or that I have to listen to him.
I absolutely refuse to engage with this guy on any level.
This is another example of Paul Krugman's "false equivalence" of ideas -- that a "balanced" discussion necessarily will give equal weight to thought that is squarely within the Judeo-Christian tradition and hateful rants from diseased minds.
Nonsense. This guy belongs on the fringes, and deserves to be ignored.
What you're suggesting is to effectively legitimize him.
Our political discourse is degraded enough.
This guy is a distraction is all, the mental equivalent of picking a scab.
Just because Trump is an imbecile and a cretin, and listens to this guy, doesn't mean that he's legit, or that I have to listen to him.
I absolutely refuse to engage with this guy on any level.
1
Two weeks/years/days from now Alex will start screaming in tongues about the virus Hillary spread to all her supporters(look at her stumble to the limo). The only solution, some sort of cleansing. Sykes/Beck will write "reasonable" treatises noting the gravity and genius of the first amendment and how it's such a good fit with the second. Don't worry Trumps personal health plan will catch up with him.
Mass hysteria.
Read the article abt the Sheriff in St Augustine. That guy and his minions also control the voting machines. Count on it.
Mass hysteria.
Read the article abt the Sheriff in St Augustine. That guy and his minions also control the voting machines. Count on it.
Well, it is probably too easy to dismiss the crackpots of this world and then they pop up again. We shun the 'same-old-same-old' for more intriguing sensationalism. Hitler was once viewed as a crackpot, only to become the greatest moral blight in contemporary history.
To the honest, I have never heard of Alex Jones. It sounds as if he has a following and that he is keeping some of us on edge, while not falling into the rank of cult figure, and will have to work harder to be awarded the label of controversial.
There was a preacher in some State who wanted to burn The Koran. Gail Collins brought him to our attention for a twenty-four hour span. It was just the right amount of time and length of exposure to remind us to beware of crackpots. An African friend and I, both with a love for America, discussed this figure who was the cause of inciting hatred.
In the meantime, this administration is not getting off the ground, and it is all about Trump. Credit should be given to Megyn Kelly for having the brass to take on Mr. Jones. This is not the same as 'The Devil and Mrs. Jones', a low-budget porn movie which was quite successful. The cast of characters surrounding the president appears to be shoddy, salacious and scabby.
A shrinking presidency, impacting on us in ways that we may not realize, is running out of steam. I know because a staunch Republican who voted for Trump told me earlier that it would require a 'Bipartisan' effort to bring us back America.
To the honest, I have never heard of Alex Jones. It sounds as if he has a following and that he is keeping some of us on edge, while not falling into the rank of cult figure, and will have to work harder to be awarded the label of controversial.
There was a preacher in some State who wanted to burn The Koran. Gail Collins brought him to our attention for a twenty-four hour span. It was just the right amount of time and length of exposure to remind us to beware of crackpots. An African friend and I, both with a love for America, discussed this figure who was the cause of inciting hatred.
In the meantime, this administration is not getting off the ground, and it is all about Trump. Credit should be given to Megyn Kelly for having the brass to take on Mr. Jones. This is not the same as 'The Devil and Mrs. Jones', a low-budget porn movie which was quite successful. The cast of characters surrounding the president appears to be shoddy, salacious and scabby.
A shrinking presidency, impacting on us in ways that we may not realize, is running out of steam. I know because a staunch Republican who voted for Trump told me earlier that it would require a 'Bipartisan' effort to bring us back America.
It's too bad that it wasn't 60 minutes taking Alex Jones down for what he is, instead of what is probably going to be a puff piece giving the guy greater credibility and audience. In the preview that I saw it looks like she just throws softballs at this guy who co-opted the simple minded and got rich off of it.
3
Are we really that stupid? In reality we are. We listen to others voices instead of our own. We have delegated our rationality to others who twist factual to suit what we want to hear and that becomes our rational. Nonsense becomes sense.
So how did this happen? The culprit in all of this is Rupert Murdock, an Australian who had been peddling nonsense disguised as conservative thought. He was deft enough to exploit changes in the American society that many could not reconcile with and resented. Abortion, the women's movement, the rise of the LGBT constituency and the climate debate. These were just unpalatable to a whole lot of folks who did not seem to have someone speaking to them. The conservatives were stuck in the taxophobic realm. Murdock's Fox was a messiah. Here was Rush Limbaugh trolling the women's movement as feminazis, Sean Hannity doing the countdown to the ending of Obama's term and a host of others peddling doom and gloom and the end of western civilization. It was only natural that apocalyptic thought would establish itself. Unreality would become reality and we would have Alex Jones and his Infowars and to legitimize him a patron in the White House.
So how did this happen? The culprit in all of this is Rupert Murdock, an Australian who had been peddling nonsense disguised as conservative thought. He was deft enough to exploit changes in the American society that many could not reconcile with and resented. Abortion, the women's movement, the rise of the LGBT constituency and the climate debate. These were just unpalatable to a whole lot of folks who did not seem to have someone speaking to them. The conservatives were stuck in the taxophobic realm. Murdock's Fox was a messiah. Here was Rush Limbaugh trolling the women's movement as feminazis, Sean Hannity doing the countdown to the ending of Obama's term and a host of others peddling doom and gloom and the end of western civilization. It was only natural that apocalyptic thought would establish itself. Unreality would become reality and we would have Alex Jones and his Infowars and to legitimize him a patron in the White House.
3
To do an in-depth report on Alex Jones is to inform us and put him in context. That's responsible journalism.
To interview the man himself in real-time is to allow him a forum to infect our information stream with propaganda. That sensation-seeking, rumor-mongering irresponsibility.
To interview the man himself in real-time is to allow him a forum to infect our information stream with propaganda. That sensation-seeking, rumor-mongering irresponsibility.
4
Deep down, Alex Jones's audience doesn't believe that Sandy Hook was faked or much of the other garbage this man spouts. They will never admit it, of course.
But it doesn't matter to them. His audience of deeply disaffected, small minded victims who have gotten squeezed by the very policies that their favorite far-right politicians espouse, are happy to accept this cudgel, no matter how far fetched, and cheer Mr. Jones on...
... as he uses it to beat the daylights out of those liberal elitists, who, you know, would actually make the lives of his audience better, if they had control of government.
And Mr. Sykes is right. Because, is it really so far fetched that the number wacko's who listen Mr. Jones will grow and grow, and together with those social conservatives who don't buy into what Mr. Jones spews, but support the far right social agenda, will form a majority coalition in the popular vote, not just the electoral college?
Then what? We can't all move to Canada.
But it doesn't matter to them. His audience of deeply disaffected, small minded victims who have gotten squeezed by the very policies that their favorite far-right politicians espouse, are happy to accept this cudgel, no matter how far fetched, and cheer Mr. Jones on...
... as he uses it to beat the daylights out of those liberal elitists, who, you know, would actually make the lives of his audience better, if they had control of government.
And Mr. Sykes is right. Because, is it really so far fetched that the number wacko's who listen Mr. Jones will grow and grow, and together with those social conservatives who don't buy into what Mr. Jones spews, but support the far right social agenda, will form a majority coalition in the popular vote, not just the electoral college?
Then what? We can't all move to Canada.
As my dad said many years ago, "the average american is so dumb!"
I have no problem letting this wacko expose himself outside his cult bubble - I have a big problem that Megyn Kelly is conducting the inquiry. She's a terrible interviewer who lets subjects push her around and take over the narrative. This isn't in-depth journalism - this is cynically ginning up ratings, and NBC is obviously going to go down that rat hole.
When, in 1968, my college invited George Lincoln Rockwell, the famous neo-Nazi to give his stump speech to the student body, it was not because ours was a hotbed of antisemitic hate. Far from it. Like many liberal arts colleges, the students and faculty had a liberal leaning. That said, listening CAREFULLY to hm was both important and instructive. We saw what a true demagogue was like and how he could rope in a large following among those without training in logic and critical thinking. Although not a class for credit, the critical thinking I honed there was vital then and throughout my personal and professional life.
I fear our race to the bottom in education with teaching to the test will create graduates who may know facts or multiplication tables but who will be unable to sift and winnow information.
Although he is a one-trick pony, Mr. Jones can poison enough of the poorly trained minds in our country to cause real trouble. So, if you wish, listen to him but listen CAREFULLY.
I fear our race to the bottom in education with teaching to the test will create graduates who may know facts or multiplication tables but who will be unable to sift and winnow information.
Although he is a one-trick pony, Mr. Jones can poison enough of the poorly trained minds in our country to cause real trouble. So, if you wish, listen to him but listen CAREFULLY.
2
In his Pizzagate conspiracy rants, Jones provided fodder for the Trump campaign who vigorously pushed the story even after an unhinged follower shot up the pizzeria. It seems Jones and Trump are joined at the hip.
4
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left ..."
Are you kidding? This kind of kooky conspiracy-theory started on the left.
You never heard of Mae Brussell or Dave Emory? Some of Alex Jones' material certainly can be traced back to Mae Brussell by way of William Cooper.
Are you kidding? This kind of kooky conspiracy-theory started on the left.
You never heard of Mae Brussell or Dave Emory? Some of Alex Jones' material certainly can be traced back to Mae Brussell by way of William Cooper.
1
No, most of us have never heard of those you-had-to-look-up-on-Google names. Which proves the authors point.
2
I totally disagree!!!! You know, we used to be able to ignore 'tabloid' reporting at the supermarket, now the mainstream media is carrying this stuff! NBC becoming like FOX?
3
What is the proper attitude to take toward hateful fringe ideas? On one hand we want to stand up for the virtue of free speech and dialogue, but at what point do you say, no, I’m not going to have a public dialogue with a cult member? At what point do we realize that the person is saying crazy things just to get attention (looking at you Milo) and see how people react? Can we shine a light and "expose" every wacko in the world? Should we do so only when they reach a certain threshold of popularity? It’s not even so much that it’s dangerous for crazy people to have an audience, but, rather, that it’s a total of waste of time. Why spend public time debating whether a pink elephant lives behind the moon, or whether the Sandyhook shooting or the holocaust really happened? How could we not get bogged down in debating endlessly every nonsensical idea that some perverse human being somewhere would want to expound? At a certain point, we might actually want to use some of our public forums for dialogues that genuinely advance knowledge, rather than just demonstrating the scope of our commitment to free speech.
1
To think that Jones is even believed by anyone i proof positive of how crazy the right has become and how low this nation has fallen. Just when you think the bottom has been scraped along comes Jones..
1
Megyn Kelly is criticized because she did a soft interview on Alex Jones.
She didn't expose him, she humanized him
She didn't expose him, she humanized him
1
Took the times, oh, about 2 years to the day since trump announced his presidential campaign to mention richard hofstadter and the paranoid style that is all the rage in these present times. Thanks for being on the cutting edge guys and gals.
The only thing that matters to Trump is that Alex Jones' tripe is serving Trump.
If the interview were aired completely commercial and ad free then I'd believe this was done for altruistic reasons. It doesn't matter if the media "exposes" his lies you are profiting from them and are just as disgusting as the man himself.
William F. Buckley's descendant, George Will tried to take on the lunatic fringe of the Right Wing and what happened? We don't hear from him much any more.
1
For repeatedly ranting that the Sandy Hook
massacre was staged, Jones lowered himself to something far below primordial ooze. The tragic thing about him is that somewhere in some grimy basements, there are Alex Jones wannabes who will see that outrage as a goal to surpass.
massacre was staged, Jones lowered himself to something far below primordial ooze. The tragic thing about him is that somewhere in some grimy basements, there are Alex Jones wannabes who will see that outrage as a goal to surpass.
3
Attempting to suppress fake news and outlandish views is obviously foolish, but that doesn't mean you should respond to it. Nonsense---even when aimed at yourself---is best treated impersonally, either by ignoring it or by suing for libel. You'll be much better off, as Kipling said, "If you can keep your head when all about you / Are losing theirs and blaming it on you."
3
Ignoring Mr. Jones would be the best outcome. Enough of his violent "performance art." It's like giving national recognition and a platform to the editor of a vicious, prank, high school zine.
Tough questions, but expose what?
First, there is no such thing as a moderate republican. Every republican elected official got there by actively courting, and benefiting from, the lunatic right wing hate machine and hate church. McCain bravely tried to repudiate them, and they slapped some sense into him quickly.
Second, Alex Jones is a preacher, not that different from right wing hate church that has the south and rural America in an intellectual choke hold and has without apology, and with intense success, advocated for every evil including slavery. Elected Republican (clergy) will not revolt against the grand friars and the chief inquisitors (modern day Torquemadas such as Jones, Savage, Limbaugh, Nugent, and Alex Jones).
The right has no soul, and has lost its mind, but it is in power everywhere, and doing damage.
Democrats think they need a better message of hope and promise to convert those who have imbibed the right wing Kool Aid peddled by the likes of Jones.
That moment has passed.
Democrats must now harness the power of fear and loathing. They must know that the American electorate is disinterested in becoming Jesus. They want to be Torquemada, blow stuff up, control, manipulate, ban, deport, imprison. Democrats must scare the indifferent segments of Millennials and centrists that do not vote, and get them to line up outside the ballot box.
Can they? Will they? Because there is no other way of fighting off the right wing Torquemadas.
Kalidan
First, there is no such thing as a moderate republican. Every republican elected official got there by actively courting, and benefiting from, the lunatic right wing hate machine and hate church. McCain bravely tried to repudiate them, and they slapped some sense into him quickly.
Second, Alex Jones is a preacher, not that different from right wing hate church that has the south and rural America in an intellectual choke hold and has without apology, and with intense success, advocated for every evil including slavery. Elected Republican (clergy) will not revolt against the grand friars and the chief inquisitors (modern day Torquemadas such as Jones, Savage, Limbaugh, Nugent, and Alex Jones).
The right has no soul, and has lost its mind, but it is in power everywhere, and doing damage.
Democrats think they need a better message of hope and promise to convert those who have imbibed the right wing Kool Aid peddled by the likes of Jones.
That moment has passed.
Democrats must now harness the power of fear and loathing. They must know that the American electorate is disinterested in becoming Jesus. They want to be Torquemada, blow stuff up, control, manipulate, ban, deport, imprison. Democrats must scare the indifferent segments of Millennials and centrists that do not vote, and get them to line up outside the ballot box.
Can they? Will they? Because there is no other way of fighting off the right wing Torquemadas.
Kalidan
2
Can anyone imagine the horror, the absolute devastation, that comes from losing a child such as the parents of the Sandy Hook children, and then this disgrace of a human claims the whole thing was a hoax and worse there are people that believe this complete drivel that go on to threaten you and attack you on the internet?!!
Now compound that with the knowledge that the President of the United States has publicly praised the man inflicting such pain upon you.
I am crying for these parents as I write this.
Now compound that with the knowledge that the President of the United States has publicly praised the man inflicting such pain upon you.
I am crying for these parents as I write this.
5
Jones, Trump and Kelly all used and continue to use the always gullible and often sensationalized media to advance their careers. This is more of the same. This right wing author thinks we should endure such self serving influence in media areas we once regarded as decent. The right answer here is not to suffer these wackos in mainstream media but to remove the offensive NBC from our homes. What's next bring the lessons of Kim Jong Um, Duterte and Baghdadi onto Wednesday night TV?? NBC better get real.
1
Our President gets information and ideas from Jones. Enough said.
3
What about the danger of paying attention to Alex Jones? Isn't Sykes doing just what zoos ask us NOT to do: Don't feed the animals?
My fear is that inviting people like Jones on to Megyn Kelly's show will only spark more copycats. Alex Jones has used cruel falsehoods to obtain 15 minutes in the national spotlight. Blame our corrupt media culture for the charlatans and crackpots who are fawned over.
I am a card-carrying libertarian Republican and I had never heard of Alex Jones until last week. I don't see what is conservative or libertarian about believing that Sept. 11 was an inside job or the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was a fake. Sykes says that Alex Jones "has no exact analogue on the left". Maybe so, but he doesn't have any exact analogue on the right either. He is a nutter pure and simple.
It is the left that has a weakness for conspiracy theories. JFK's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was part of right wing plot. LBJ lied the US into the war in Vietnam. George W. Bush lied about Saddam's WMDs in order to start the Iraq war. Wall Street's business model is fraud (Bernie Sanders). Corporations rule America. The Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election. Is there any lie that is too stupid or gross for the left to swallow it?
Sykes has plenty of more lucrative targets if he wants to help his country rather than sponge off borrowed notoriety.
My fear is that inviting people like Jones on to Megyn Kelly's show will only spark more copycats. Alex Jones has used cruel falsehoods to obtain 15 minutes in the national spotlight. Blame our corrupt media culture for the charlatans and crackpots who are fawned over.
I am a card-carrying libertarian Republican and I had never heard of Alex Jones until last week. I don't see what is conservative or libertarian about believing that Sept. 11 was an inside job or the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was a fake. Sykes says that Alex Jones "has no exact analogue on the left". Maybe so, but he doesn't have any exact analogue on the right either. He is a nutter pure and simple.
It is the left that has a weakness for conspiracy theories. JFK's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was part of right wing plot. LBJ lied the US into the war in Vietnam. George W. Bush lied about Saddam's WMDs in order to start the Iraq war. Wall Street's business model is fraud (Bernie Sanders). Corporations rule America. The Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election. Is there any lie that is too stupid or gross for the left to swallow it?
Sykes has plenty of more lucrative targets if he wants to help his country rather than sponge off borrowed notoriety.
5
What about the danger of paying attention to Alex Jones? Isn't Sykes doing just what zoos ask us NOT to do: Don't feed the animals?
My fear is that inviting people like Jones on to Megyn Kelly's show will only spark more copycats. Alex Jones has used cruel falsehoods to obtain 15 minutes in the national spotlight. Blame our corrupt media culture for the charlatans and crackpots who are fawned over.
I am a card-carrying libertarian Republican and I had never heard of Alex Jones until last week. I don't see what is conservative or libertarian about believing that Sept. 11 was an inside job or the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was a fake. Sykes says that Alex Jones "has no exact analogue on the left". Maybe so, but he doesn't have any exact analogue on the right either. He is a nutter pure and simple.
It is the left that has a weakness for conspiracy theories. JFK's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was part of right wing plot. LBJ lied the US into the war in Vietnam. George W. Bush lied about Saddam's WMDs in order to start the Iraq war. Wall Street's business model is fraud (Bernie Sanders). Corporations rule America. The Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election. Is there any lie that is too stupid or gross for the left to swallow it? Sykes has plenty of more lucrative targets if he wants to help his country rather than sponge off borrowed notoriety.
My fear is that inviting people like Jones on to Megyn Kelly's show will only spark more copycats. Alex Jones has used cruel falsehoods to obtain 15 minutes in the national spotlight. Blame our corrupt media culture for the charlatans and crackpots who are fawned over.
I am a card-carrying libertarian Republican and I had never heard of Alex Jones until last week. I don't see what is conservative or libertarian about believing that Sept. 11 was an inside job or the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was a fake. Sykes says that Alex Jones "has no exact analogue on the left". Maybe so, but he doesn't have any exact analogue on the right either. He is a nutter pure and simple.
It is the left that has a weakness for conspiracy theories. JFK's assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was part of right wing plot. LBJ lied the US into the war in Vietnam. George W. Bush lied about Saddam's WMDs in order to start the Iraq war. Wall Street's business model is fraud (Bernie Sanders). Corporations rule America. The Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election. Is there any lie that is too stupid or gross for the left to swallow it? Sykes has plenty of more lucrative targets if he wants to help his country rather than sponge off borrowed notoriety.
4
OK, monitor the conspiracy theorists such as Jones, but don't give them free airtime to spread their hate. He has a radio show -- listen to that if you get tired of real life.
2
We should totally boycott any station that hosts him and any advertisers who support such programming.
I don't mind that Jones has a platform to speak. But, I would like to see a full-on assault against the nut-jobbery being inflicted by the right to debase facts and objective truth. A more compelling program might be Alex Jones in a room with the mothers and fathers of the Sandy Hook victims. Or Jones in a room with the families of 9/11 victims. Functional crazies will always appeal to the darker side of our intellectual and educational misfortunes, and to those whose desperation is manifest in the ghosts of long-lost times and jobs, as their anger goes looking for scapegoats. Should they be shuddered and not allowed to speak? On the contrary, bring them on....this is a war and it needs to be fought. And both sides are "all in." Megyn Kelly is merely facilitating the battle.
If Mr Jones believes what he is peddling, then he's a certified nut job. If he doesn't then he is a scheming charlatan. Either way, he's dangerous. When facts don't matter, that is truly scary.
Thankfully, up here in the Great White North, the equivalent to him, a guy named Ezra Levant, has been a total failure. Our countries are very close in terms of history and geography, why is the response so different? There is something in the mindset in your country that permits Alex Jones to prosper. I'm beginning to think that we are slowly, psychologically separating ourselves from the US. That's not good for both our countries.
Thankfully, up here in the Great White North, the equivalent to him, a guy named Ezra Levant, has been a total failure. Our countries are very close in terms of history and geography, why is the response so different? There is something in the mindset in your country that permits Alex Jones to prosper. I'm beginning to think that we are slowly, psychologically separating ourselves from the US. That's not good for both our countries.
When the President himself regularly endorses conspiracy theories, yet wants his own bona fine intelligence briefings to be a single page, it is indeed critical that the outlandish conspiracy frauds be exposed and challenged by the press.
2
There seems to be an absence of critical thinking among a big chunk of the populace. Something I've noticed typical among RW talkers is their frequent proclamations that they are the ONLY one telling the truth. Whenever I hear that, I know they are attempting to mislead me in some way. but then I've studied logical fallacies and analysis of rhetoric in college and can spot the tactics. Most people haven't. We need to teach children how to think so they are inoculated against this sort of persuasion.
2
I agree that people the likes of Alex Jones need to be exposed. However, the vehicle does not need to be a prime time NBC segment. Ms. Kelly is also not the right person to conduct the interview. Being a Republican herself, and given what she said on audio tape, it is clear that she will not push him to the level he needs to be pushed. Additionally, people who believe what he says will become even more emboldened to say and do whatever they want. They will think that being on NBC legitimizes his views and will only serve to elevate the disgusting views and opinions that he spews.
Better to have an interview that is in a magazine that will expose him as the white supremacist, bigot, xenophobe, misogynist that he is. But then again, The Groper also has been legitimized, so I guess it really doesn't matter. I for one will not be watching the show, and I hope that Meghan Kelly gets dismissed categorically as a good fit for NBC. She does not deserve to be on that station, given what she participated in when she was at FOXNews. Hopefully, both characters in this charade will be exposed.
Better to have an interview that is in a magazine that will expose him as the white supremacist, bigot, xenophobe, misogynist that he is. But then again, The Groper also has been legitimized, so I guess it really doesn't matter. I for one will not be watching the show, and I hope that Meghan Kelly gets dismissed categorically as a good fit for NBC. She does not deserve to be on that station, given what she participated in when she was at FOXNews. Hopefully, both characters in this charade will be exposed.
3
To answer your question "Where could he possibly have gotten such an idea": Newt Gingrich.
Charlie Sykes warns us of the danger of Alex Jones. Can't let people hear both sides and come to their own conclusions, that might cause emotional upset, and Charlie cares so much for our psychological well-being that he will just tell us what to do.
I worked inside the intelligence community and have personal knowledge of the evil that men do. This is not a theory. Charlie is wrong, Alex is right.
Most people have a hard time believing that 9/11 was an inside job because they would never dream of doing something like that, so they can`t imagine anyone else being that evil. Once you realize that there are people that evil, then the mental handcuffs come off and you start to see things as they really are.
Some believe the official story that the same jet fuel that was consumed in a giant fireball on 9/11 was the same jet fuel that separated into tidy little units, went to each support column, and burned through it, even though kerosene is nowhere near hot enough to melt the steel, so that all the columns failed at exactly the same time, even though the plane hit just one side of the building.
Meanwhile, Grenfell tower, engulfed in a massive inferno for 12 hours, is still standing.
Those who take this nonsense are considered urbane and sophisticated, the type who drink wine at the Met. Those who are skeptical are derided as wing nuts, crazies, and that wonderful chestnut, conspiracy theorists.
I invite you to jump the fence.
I worked inside the intelligence community and have personal knowledge of the evil that men do. This is not a theory. Charlie is wrong, Alex is right.
Most people have a hard time believing that 9/11 was an inside job because they would never dream of doing something like that, so they can`t imagine anyone else being that evil. Once you realize that there are people that evil, then the mental handcuffs come off and you start to see things as they really are.
Some believe the official story that the same jet fuel that was consumed in a giant fireball on 9/11 was the same jet fuel that separated into tidy little units, went to each support column, and burned through it, even though kerosene is nowhere near hot enough to melt the steel, so that all the columns failed at exactly the same time, even though the plane hit just one side of the building.
Meanwhile, Grenfell tower, engulfed in a massive inferno for 12 hours, is still standing.
Those who take this nonsense are considered urbane and sophisticated, the type who drink wine at the Met. Those who are skeptical are derided as wing nuts, crazies, and that wonderful chestnut, conspiracy theorists.
I invite you to jump the fence.
Charlie Sykes, the never-Trump quote machine for MSNBC, warns us of the danger of Alex Jones. Can't let people hear both sides and come to their own conclusions, that might cause emotional upset, and Charlie cares so much for our psychological well-being that he will just tell us what to do.
I worked inside the intelligence community and have personal knowledge of the evil that men do. This is not a theory. Charlie is wrong, Alex is right.
Most people have a hard time believing that 9/11 was an inside job because they would never dream of doing something like that, so they can`t imagine anyone else being that evil. Once you realize that there are people that evil, then the mental handcuffs come off and you start to see things as they really are.
Some believe the official story that the same jet fuel that was consumed in a giant fireball on 9/11 was the same jet fuel that separated into tidy little units, went to each support column, and burned through it, even though kerosene is nowhere near hot enough to melt the steel, so that all the columns failed at exactly the same time, even though the plane hit just one side of the building?
Meanwhile, Grenfell tower, engulfed in a massive inferno for 12 hours, is still standing.
Those who take this nonsense are considered sophisticated, the type who drink wine at the Met. Those who are skeptical are derided as wing nuts, crazies, and that wonderful chestnut, conspiracy theorist.
I invite you to jump the fence.
I worked inside the intelligence community and have personal knowledge of the evil that men do. This is not a theory. Charlie is wrong, Alex is right.
Most people have a hard time believing that 9/11 was an inside job because they would never dream of doing something like that, so they can`t imagine anyone else being that evil. Once you realize that there are people that evil, then the mental handcuffs come off and you start to see things as they really are.
Some believe the official story that the same jet fuel that was consumed in a giant fireball on 9/11 was the same jet fuel that separated into tidy little units, went to each support column, and burned through it, even though kerosene is nowhere near hot enough to melt the steel, so that all the columns failed at exactly the same time, even though the plane hit just one side of the building?
Meanwhile, Grenfell tower, engulfed in a massive inferno for 12 hours, is still standing.
Those who take this nonsense are considered sophisticated, the type who drink wine at the Met. Those who are skeptical are derided as wing nuts, crazies, and that wonderful chestnut, conspiracy theorist.
I invite you to jump the fence.
1
Bill, When you say or repeat something often enough you start to believe it , so keep telling yourself that. I'm sure you also believe pizzagate too! You are right about one thing though , the evil that men do often does live after them . Your argument about the TWC and Grenfell is comparing apples and oranges 100 plus floors as opposed to 27 are a big difference .
2
Lousy logic. One must earn the right to speak to public through knowledge, intelligence, capacity to argue and comprehend. There is no excuse whatsoever to help violent, ignorant, dangerous individuals get a national prominence.
3
A society, and a democracy gets in trouble when the stupidity of the public allows for professional liars like Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and pretty much the whole of Fox News to flourish unopposed. Without a fairness doctrine in place, which Ronald Reagan obliterated, these charlatans take hold, and work on the biases, prejudices and racism of the lazy minded public. You couple this with the destruction of the educational system by the Republicans, and we're primed for the destruction of our democracy. We, as a society, are being very careless with our precious democracy.
I am of the opinion that he really doesn't believe these things but it's a good way to get rich.
6
Jones wants attention. Let's not give it to him.
4
Rational thought, fact based decision making, who need them? Science, math, physics, empirical evidence, how boring. We can make up the reality we want, pretend it's real and castigate anyone that disagrees. What's wrong is there's some large number of us so disgusted with our lives we accept this remake of reality. It's empowering for those who feel deserted, marginalized and invisible. Ignoring them is what got us Trump and they're not going away. yes, it flabbergasting, but it is their country too, like it or not. This isn't to say we must operate at the lowest common denominator, far from it. We must somehow make folks comfortable again with the notion of experts and professionals, and allow that those who aren't are still important members of our society, the salt of the earth so to speak. This would require a relaxing of the concentration of wealth, among other tectonic paradigm shifts.
I'm not sure when we became so fractured and factionalized, but it's been building for a very long time. We've lost a large measure of humility, and thus humanity. Trump is the logical extension of that trend, fulfilling Mencken's prophecy about a moron in the presidency. Maybe it all needs to be broken so we can rebuild, fix it. let's hope he doesn't manage to burn it all to ashes first.
I'm not sure when we became so fractured and factionalized, but it's been building for a very long time. We've lost a large measure of humility, and thus humanity. Trump is the logical extension of that trend, fulfilling Mencken's prophecy about a moron in the presidency. Maybe it all needs to be broken so we can rebuild, fix it. let's hope he doesn't manage to burn it all to ashes first.
3
It would be easy to dismiss Alex Jones for being the lunatic that he is. You cannot simply call him extremist - the world view he espouses is patently insane, not to mention loathsome and reprehensible. Unfortunately Donald Trump seems to take him seriously and is not afraid to publicly give credence to this filth. We need to listen to Alex Jones not just because we need to be aware of the fringe elements in our society. Alex Jones provides a scary insight into the mind of Donald Trump.
How about you watch and come back and tell me about the hard hitting critical journalism performed by Megan Kelly - or not... I refuse to add to the ratings for this woman/tv personality and station.
2
The West, and especially some elements of the Media, have at times assisted in the normalization of some bad actors, from Stalin in the 1930's to Arafat in the 1990's. Providing more oxygen to these cancers facilitates their rise to power and influence, and we continue to pay for these errors of judgment. We once supported Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran, and his regime was unconsciously evil. I call them cancers because giving them oxygen supports their growth.
1
Sometimes..the most obvious solution is ignored by all. Other times, when the answer appears, we feel foolish for not seeing it easily. On this issuse I feel ashamed of my faith, my liberal party and I am especially ashamed of our bright stars at the collegiate level. I do not posses a degree from a university but as die hard believer in few speech, there isn't a person on this planet who's words I fear. Furthermore I know, that I am fully capable of listening to nonsense and offering rebuttal.
I am not afraid of this shock jock. I am fearful that some people are so unsure of themselves that they cannot even bear to hear him speak. The positions these "dangerous " speakers supposedly present are a joke.
Not refuting Alex and his kind is enabling thrm. Refusing to let him rant I cannot abide, he has the right. Refusing dialogue with him and his platform, shows weakness in ones beliefs.
For example. Racism is huge with me. When I run across blatant racism I am sad. But when I get a chance to engage a blatant racist, I am happy inside. There is no defense for racism, the more a person tries to defend their views, the more they make my case.
I have raised my kids to be able to make a clear judgement when presented logical evidence. Sure, sometimes we are wrong, but Sandy Hook Conspiracy? Fake moon landing?
These positions are so.. readily dismissed, even by a middle school kid with a phone, that I wonder about my liberal party these days.
NYT...you nailed it.
I am not afraid of this shock jock. I am fearful that some people are so unsure of themselves that they cannot even bear to hear him speak. The positions these "dangerous " speakers supposedly present are a joke.
Not refuting Alex and his kind is enabling thrm. Refusing to let him rant I cannot abide, he has the right. Refusing dialogue with him and his platform, shows weakness in ones beliefs.
For example. Racism is huge with me. When I run across blatant racism I am sad. But when I get a chance to engage a blatant racist, I am happy inside. There is no defense for racism, the more a person tries to defend their views, the more they make my case.
I have raised my kids to be able to make a clear judgement when presented logical evidence. Sure, sometimes we are wrong, but Sandy Hook Conspiracy? Fake moon landing?
These positions are so.. readily dismissed, even by a middle school kid with a phone, that I wonder about my liberal party these days.
NYT...you nailed it.
To validate a mentally ill paranoid with the label "conspiracy theorist" pushes us into dangerous territory. What Mr. Jones spews is akin to the babbling of an unmedicated psychotic person on the 2 train in New York City and I can't remember the last time that person was afforded a spot on prime time television. He is delusional and quite dangerous. Should he be called out? Yes. Should a bright light be shone on the Right's embrace of this deranged man? Yes. Should he be given air time on NBC to babble? No.
2
I would dearly love to see a BBC News reporter have an extended go at Alex Jones. They would have to use a shovel to scrape Jones' remains off the studio floor.
2
I also tire of the false equating media makes between the beyond-alt-right rightist, right-off-the-earth RIGHT with people who carefully investigate facts and host actual journalists like Rachel Maddow. I actually heard someone mention them in the same breath on NPR as if they were alike somehow. It's easy, NPR and NYT. One appeals to the worst devils of our nature—discrimination, sexism, hate, fear, and the other one appeals to facts. I still cannot believe CNN gave a show to Glen Beck's wild carnival. I haven't watched that network for years.
If you want to do something, do an exposé, as has been suggested here, not a forum. Point out what truth there is not in their theories; don't just put the theories out there and "Leave it there." You spread the damage. We all know the genuine hate speech. People like Limbaugh who take your break away with spins and takes and twists so vile they make your ears bleed. No one should treat people who rely on smears, insults and ad hominem attacks as if they were journalists. The day Megan Kelly interviews a genuine progressive is the day that network does something courageous. It's progressives that really scare the MSM.
If you want to do something, do an exposé, as has been suggested here, not a forum. Point out what truth there is not in their theories; don't just put the theories out there and "Leave it there." You spread the damage. We all know the genuine hate speech. People like Limbaugh who take your break away with spins and takes and twists so vile they make your ears bleed. No one should treat people who rely on smears, insults and ad hominem attacks as if they were journalists. The day Megan Kelly interviews a genuine progressive is the day that network does something courageous. It's progressives that really scare the MSM.
3
Ok Free Speech. I support that right. So who is doing the exposing? So who exactly is confronting Alex Jones regarding his hateful 'theory' about the Sandy Hook Massacre?
Everybody tip toes around this shouting bully. Megan Kelly will ask him sweet nothings. Who is going to confront him at the graves of the children? Would he be man enough to go there in the first place?
I have not seen one person on air "confronting" Alex Jones in any significant way. How long has he been on air?
Go ahead modern day William Buckley's I'm waiting. And I am also ignoring this mean hateful Alex Jones.
Everybody tip toes around this shouting bully. Megan Kelly will ask him sweet nothings. Who is going to confront him at the graves of the children? Would he be man enough to go there in the first place?
I have not seen one person on air "confronting" Alex Jones in any significant way. How long has he been on air?
Go ahead modern day William Buckley's I'm waiting. And I am also ignoring this mean hateful Alex Jones.
2
"What's Going On" - Marvin Gaye.. Wouldn't it be good if each network news program ended with playing WGO. I mean really what is happening to the shining city on a hill?
In his recent custody battle, Alex Jones' attorney asserted that, "He's playing a character. He is a performance artist."
In 1938, many people thought the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast was real. In 1984, some people thought "This is Spinal Tap" was a movie about a real rock band.
I guess you really can fool some of the people all of the time.
In 1938, many people thought the "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast was real. In 1984, some people thought "This is Spinal Tap" was a movie about a real rock band.
I guess you really can fool some of the people all of the time.
4
Just because Alex Jones may be extreme does not mean that all "conspiracies" should be dismissed. Watergate was a "conspiracy theory," as was the My Lai massacre and the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. If Monica Lewinsky had not kept that stained dress, she would have been relegated to history's trash bin. It has often served governments to dismiss "conspiracies" in order to hide misdeeds. There are still many unanswered questions as to what transpired on 9/11 and to dismiss all doubters is a grave disservice to the American people.
I just dont know what to say to a person who should be taking psych drugs. What can I say to them? What should be my objective? Right now they are not on my radar.
1
"For years, we imagined that we could simply ignore the crackpots because they were postcards from the fringe".
Yet, it seems that we now have a crackpot at the helm of the government. SAD!
Yet, it seems that we now have a crackpot at the helm of the government. SAD!
2
Alex Jones ought not be ignored, a vile liar and conspiracy theorist intent in defrauding people for personal gain. But not by giving him yet another vehicle to spread his 'poison' via Megyn Kelly's interview. Enough harm already. The Trump 'crisis' demands we start thinking for ourselves, an awful demagogue trying to lead us to the slaughterhouse by our noses, not unlike unscrupulous Alex Jones.
I'd love to hear what Tom Brokaw thinks of this. For myself, I suspect Megyn Kelly will be "fair and balanced" in the faux Roger Ailes sense, and I will not be watching.
3
The problem is the government has failed to determine the truth with so many significant events (the Kennedy assassination among the biggest), it has provided room for people like Alex Jones to then thrive at the margins. When various blue-ribbon investigatory/explanatory "commissions" and congressional investigations are outmatched by criminals and treasonous figures, as we saw happen with the Warren Commission and then House Select Committee on Assassinations, the government itself ultimately encourages the likes of Alex Jones.
In later years, we learned Warren Commission member & House Majority leader Hale Boggs had this to say re J. Edgar Hoover's appearance before the Warren Commission: "He lied his eyes out." We learned later that the G.H.W. Bush CIA led an illegal domestic counter-op vs. Congress and the House Select Committee on Assassinations to prevent Congress from doing its job (George Joannides, etc). Subpoenaed witnesses died in strange accidents, suicides, etc., one right after another. And still the NY Times and politicians like Bush, Jr and Obama trot out the usual Warren Commission nonsense. If you want to stop Alex Jones, representatives of the government & corporate media have to get real from the top down & acknowledge the obvious, starting with the fact the government & its institutions failed mightily in discovering and sharing the truth around the JFK assassination.
In later years, we learned Warren Commission member & House Majority leader Hale Boggs had this to say re J. Edgar Hoover's appearance before the Warren Commission: "He lied his eyes out." We learned later that the G.H.W. Bush CIA led an illegal domestic counter-op vs. Congress and the House Select Committee on Assassinations to prevent Congress from doing its job (George Joannides, etc). Subpoenaed witnesses died in strange accidents, suicides, etc., one right after another. And still the NY Times and politicians like Bush, Jr and Obama trot out the usual Warren Commission nonsense. If you want to stop Alex Jones, representatives of the government & corporate media have to get real from the top down & acknowledge the obvious, starting with the fact the government & its institutions failed mightily in discovering and sharing the truth around the JFK assassination.
1
So all news should become Fox News. Is that what NBC is searching for in hiring Megyn Kelly? How about we just fight to bring back control of media where falsehoods are not allowed to pervade the air waves? How much suffering must the Sandy Hook parents endure so that Jones has a broader stage. Surely there is a better way to show what slime he and his ideas are without giving him center stage. I'm sure Ted Koppel and David Brinkley would have found a better way to expose the lies and distortions without the sensationalism. One has to question Megyn Kelly and NBC's ethics?
1
" If you know your enemy and know yourself you need not fear the result of a hundred battles . If you know yourself but not the enemy for every victory gained you will suffer a defeat . If you know neither yourself nor the enemy you will succumb in every battle " Sun Tzu ; " The Art of War "
Wisdom bothmthe left , many centrists and the politically correct desperately need .
Wisdom bothmthe left , many centrists and the politically correct desperately need .
Mr.Sykes, who once had his own radio show but now retired, writes the way he used to talk on his show, in an imperious overbearing manner as if his every word were the gospel truth, which it is not. Alex Jones said that 9/1l was a conspiracy. Maybe it wasn't, but can Sykes prove it? Recall in the wake of the regicide in Dallas that lone assassination theory was promulgated as absolute truth, and that was purpose of the Warren Commission. Warren himself had doubts, served as commission head but reluctantly There was the Church Senate Committee, Maria Lorenz's testimony about travelling from Miami to Dallas weeks before 22 November with Cuban exiles such as Frank Fiorini(aka Frank Burgess, )Emilio Veciana , Bill Novo, whom I later also interviewed,with their scopes and rifles and checking into a motel. Conspiracy theorists, Hugh Mcdonald, Bernard Fensterwald, whom I worked for, Barker and an OAS operative, JR Souetre also present in Dallas, did they make the conspiracy to kill JFK up? What were their motives? When I interviewed Veciana among others in Miami in 1987, he told me he had he same minder in the CIA as Lee Harvey Oswald, David Phillips. Why would he say that if it were not true?Recall that Cuban exiles hated JFK because he had reneged on providing air support during Bay of Pigs invasion:"They wanted to get back to Cuba so we dumped them there," declared JFK. Give Alex Jones benefit of doubt until you, Mr. Sykes, can prove otherwise.
1
Alex Jones is a disgrace, but where was this outrage when the 9/11 Truthers were promulgating their conspiracy theories?
1
No, no, no, and no, never. People like Jones deserve no publicity at all. Crackpots and hate-mongers can have their opinions, but they should never have an opportunity to have them publicized beyond their own word-of-mouth acquaintances. The damage that this man has done to the souls of the nation is already unforgivable. Those poor children....don't compound their tragedy.
Joness and his ilk seek chaos. They want destruction for the sake of it. They are the people that Conrad warned us about. You don't ignore the guy with the gun or the match.
We ignored the 'Lost Causers', and look what that got us.
Alex Jones - if for no other reason than the harm he has done to the victims of Sandy Hook - is a disgraceful human being.
1
I believe 110% in Alex Jones speaking on national television. Free speech all the way. Megan Kelly should ask fair questions in a respectful manner & let Jones speak for himself.
After the interview, a panel of rational people should excoriate his views & expose him for the dangerous clown he is.
This is like Milo & Coulter at Berkeley. Let them speak! But then use their foolish, harmful words against them.
After the interview, a panel of rational people should excoriate his views & expose him for the dangerous clown he is.
This is like Milo & Coulter at Berkeley. Let them speak! But then use their foolish, harmful words against them.
Created by the Communications Act of 1934, the Federal Communications Commission granted licenses for the use of public airways in order to broadcast "in the public interest." In 1949, the FCC introduced The Fairness Doctrine, further requiring broadcasters to devote a small portion of their airtime to the discussion of controversial issues of public interest — AND to also air contrasting views on those issues. Thanks to Ronald Reagan ("The Great Communicator"), it was eliminated by his FCC in 1987, thus paving the way for the rise of right-wing ("hate") radio — and a landscape littered with highly-partisan broadcasting in general.
Though author of the screenplay for the scathingly brilliant 1976 black comedy masterpiece "Network," even Paddy Chayefsky would be appalled by the degree to which broadcasting has devolved in the United States.
Providing Jones (and his ilk) with broadcasting's powerful megaphone is aiding and abetting a lunatic — and goes further even than denying the Holocaust to falsely shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. To call this "irresponsible" would be a gross and obscene understatement.
Though author of the screenplay for the scathingly brilliant 1976 black comedy masterpiece "Network," even Paddy Chayefsky would be appalled by the degree to which broadcasting has devolved in the United States.
Providing Jones (and his ilk) with broadcasting's powerful megaphone is aiding and abetting a lunatic — and goes further even than denying the Holocaust to falsely shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. To call this "irresponsible" would be a gross and obscene understatement.
1
Why would you interview Alex Jones, a certified raving lunatic, as opposed to doing a takedown? You might if you just paid your new star millions and needed to big ratings. Just as Trump was great for the media, Jones is a controversial, divisive figure who millions love or hate. The Kelly-Jones chat might bring in a big haul for NBC.
The big networks once dominated TV news and commanded respect. Those days are long gone. NBC saw what worked for Fox, and decided to give it a try. A smart, attractive, leggy blond in high heels was poached from the unfair and unbalanced network. This isn't journalism, it's entertainment.
NBC sold its soul to the devil, and now it's interviewing him.
The big networks once dominated TV news and commanded respect. Those days are long gone. NBC saw what worked for Fox, and decided to give it a try. A smart, attractive, leggy blond in high heels was poached from the unfair and unbalanced network. This isn't journalism, it's entertainment.
NBC sold its soul to the devil, and now it's interviewing him.
The author seems to suggest that the NYT should take a more active stance in "discrediting" Alex Jones. This shows a profound misunderstanding of the paranoid style in American politics, how deep it has gotten in the absence of any figure like Buckley or Reagan to cast out right-wing lunatics, and of how Jones operates in general.
He's "real" in the sense that he absolutely believes everything he says, except for the quack health remedies he hocks. Taking a more aggressive stance on him would help to boost his message about the mainstream media further, and would have no other effect.
In truth, he's one of the most-watched political shows there is. His viewership is not far from Fox, about tied with CNN and MSNBC, ahead of NPR, and well ahead of the NYT readership. Nobody is more surprised about this than he is, as he says all the time. His viewership was crucial in bringing Trump over the top. Trump did a great job of messaging to conspiracy theorists that he wasn't "supposed to happen", and that the "New World Order" opposes him.
This is a group that had formerly never really voted, thinking the whole thing was a sham. He brought them out in force both in the primaries and in the general. And Trump did (does?) regularly speak with Jones on his show.
The way this may defuse itself is that Jones is likely to come to the realization that Trump sold out to the "NWO", if Trump is still basically executing the mainstream GOP agenda. But I don't think the NYT can help here.
He's "real" in the sense that he absolutely believes everything he says, except for the quack health remedies he hocks. Taking a more aggressive stance on him would help to boost his message about the mainstream media further, and would have no other effect.
In truth, he's one of the most-watched political shows there is. His viewership is not far from Fox, about tied with CNN and MSNBC, ahead of NPR, and well ahead of the NYT readership. Nobody is more surprised about this than he is, as he says all the time. His viewership was crucial in bringing Trump over the top. Trump did a great job of messaging to conspiracy theorists that he wasn't "supposed to happen", and that the "New World Order" opposes him.
This is a group that had formerly never really voted, thinking the whole thing was a sham. He brought them out in force both in the primaries and in the general. And Trump did (does?) regularly speak with Jones on his show.
The way this may defuse itself is that Jones is likely to come to the realization that Trump sold out to the "NWO", if Trump is still basically executing the mainstream GOP agenda. But I don't think the NYT can help here.
Mr Sykes, the sad part of Jones is the Gop is in peril each election if it does not bow to the consumers of Jones, Breitbart, Drudge and Fox. They pressure the GOP to get into the swamp of lies with them. Otherwise, you lose your job. We need Buckley now who rid your party once of these types. They're back!
Poor Charlie Sykes. Trying to write an even-handed article about political hate mongering.
Seriously:
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left."
No, we need stop electing anyone from the party of crazy until such time as the few sane ones who still are aligned with the party of crazy refuse to "work" with the filth now occupying center stage. Is Mitch McConnell more or less of a threat to this nation than Trump or Alex Jones? He has been loudly braying about the ACA being "rammed through" in only a year of deliberations public meetings and many amendments, and now he has taken the Senate from an open deliberative body to a secret cult so he can strip 10's of millions of Americans of their health care so a few very wealthy people have fatten bank accounts with no debate, and no access to the bill until an hour before the vote..
Mr. Sykes personally demonstrates some of the best traits of a traditional Midwestern Republican--but he is still, apparently, operating under the misinformation and misdirection curse that has made Republican politicians into zombies.This is not a "both sides do it" problem.
Seriously:
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left."
No, we need stop electing anyone from the party of crazy until such time as the few sane ones who still are aligned with the party of crazy refuse to "work" with the filth now occupying center stage. Is Mitch McConnell more or less of a threat to this nation than Trump or Alex Jones? He has been loudly braying about the ACA being "rammed through" in only a year of deliberations public meetings and many amendments, and now he has taken the Senate from an open deliberative body to a secret cult so he can strip 10's of millions of Americans of their health care so a few very wealthy people have fatten bank accounts with no debate, and no access to the bill until an hour before the vote..
Mr. Sykes personally demonstrates some of the best traits of a traditional Midwestern Republican--but he is still, apparently, operating under the misinformation and misdirection curse that has made Republican politicians into zombies.This is not a "both sides do it" problem.
I really wish that more had been done to publicly call out 45 on his slanderous lies about President Obama's birth certificate. If that had occured, perhaps our nation would be in a better place now. Something has to be done about these people who spew hatred and lies, and those that promote them. It seems fitting that now 45 is parinoid about a "witch hunt". What goes around...
Mr. Sykes assumes that Jones actually believes his inflammatory theories about 9/11 and Sandy Hook. Of course he doesn't. It's his business, it's how he makes a profit. Which makes him all the more cynical and hateful.
73
All the more reason for the leaders of his conservative side to publically and forcefully call him out on it.
1
The modern day carney barker. Everybody loves a show. Some can tell it's all in fun and profit...some cannot.
3
Far from it. Mr. Jones' rants are easily accessible on Facebook.
Once you get past the horrible spelling of his mostly illiterate followers, you have the satisfaction of inserting a huge laughing sticker on his posts.
I'm afraid discredit will come harder to him. There are some dedicated (soft word) supporters whose minds you just will not change. And only an open mind and open society (dare I say open heart ?) can accommodate these fellow countrymen of ours.
But I recommend that you try, until you get too stressed or depressed to.
Once you get past the horrible spelling of his mostly illiterate followers, you have the satisfaction of inserting a huge laughing sticker on his posts.
I'm afraid discredit will come harder to him. There are some dedicated (soft word) supporters whose minds you just will not change. And only an open mind and open society (dare I say open heart ?) can accommodate these fellow countrymen of ours.
But I recommend that you try, until you get too stressed or depressed to.
2
Unfortunately, the media are giving Alex Jones exactly what he seeks: immediate fame and exposure. A goal easily achieved because most all of the Earth is over-populated with "information dispensers" which are not always truthful nor intelligent. I fear the fear-mongers will always be with us as "page-fillers" if nothing else......
We made such a stink over Bill Cosby's alleged sexual violation of women. That, is abhorrent to society apparently (and if true rightly so). Yet we allow this man to speak through the media, reaching millions of ignorant and malleable minds, claiming that the tragic violent death of over two dozen small children is an elaborate hoax. To me, that is as vulgar and ghastly as the act itself. Where is the stink over this? There should be mandatory jail time plus mandatory therapeutic treatment (not unlike anger management) for men like this. Alex Jones is a criminal in my opinion and a danger to society.
2
While I sympathize greatly with the families of the slain Newtown children, I disagree with them that Jones should not be interviewed. The more people like him are exposed, and their ludicrous views made public, the better.
2
Alex Jones may well be full of nonsense, but look at what he's competing with, the other half of the same coin.
1
This article assumes that "exposing" hucksters like Alex Jones will somehow fix the problem. Not likely.
The people who follow Alex Jones, and take his rhetoric literally, don't much care what The New York Times or any other critics say about him. They're convinced he's right, and any criticism hurled his way won't change their minds one iota.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jones' critics don't need any more evidence that he's he's either a nutjob or a con man, or both. Again, nothing will change.
Better to ignore him.
The people who follow Alex Jones, and take his rhetoric literally, don't much care what The New York Times or any other critics say about him. They're convinced he's right, and any criticism hurled his way won't change their minds one iota.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jones' critics don't need any more evidence that he's he's either a nutjob or a con man, or both. Again, nothing will change.
Better to ignore him.
2
Tolerating differences of opinion can go too far. Our society (and our Constitution) assume a level of integrity in its participants that is slipping away. Without that integrity, our society will fail.
Imagine a football team that decided their approach to winning games would be to grievously injure or kill opposing players. Do you say "they have a different approach to football"? Do you settle for penalizing them after the fact?
No, you recognize they are not playing football. You exclude them from games. If they say they are there to play football, that is a lie and a ruse. Playing football means adhering to its underlying principles. Those principles are not on the tips of our tongues. But if we sat down and thought about it, just as our founders did, they would be "self-evident."
So in this sense, you are NOT entitled to your own opinion.
Imagine a football team that decided their approach to winning games would be to grievously injure or kill opposing players. Do you say "they have a different approach to football"? Do you settle for penalizing them after the fact?
No, you recognize they are not playing football. You exclude them from games. If they say they are there to play football, that is a lie and a ruse. Playing football means adhering to its underlying principles. Those principles are not on the tips of our tongues. But if we sat down and thought about it, just as our founders did, they would be "self-evident."
So in this sense, you are NOT entitled to your own opinion.
1
If it were anyone other than a longstanding Fox News pundit conducting this interview I would be less concerned. To the best of my knowledge the only detour from her former employer's gratingly partisan "news" casts was the question that she asked trump about his attitude toward women in an early debate. It was a good question and his response, like most of his other comments, should have ended his pursuit of the presidency. Then, Kelly backed up Gretchen Carlson's report on Roger Ailes' sexual predation. At the time, I wondered if she had seen that she had become less important to Fox than donald trump if he became president. I do not feel at all assured that she will do a tough interview of Jones and he should not appear on network television unless his interviewer is on par with the toughest of "60Minues" toughest journalists.
1
The humiliation and embarrassment I feel for our country, a country that elected this utter twit, is overwhelming.
Our neighbors and allies are "planning life without America". Seems absurd yet the popularity of evil-doers like Alex Jones and the daily news/tweets out of the White House make it more and more likely every day.
Can our Constitution survive? Not without the GOP deciding that enough is enough. And if they never do? Three more years of this "president" will destroy our future for decades - it's not impossible to think of a world in which nations must consider accepting refugees from the USA.
Our neighbors and allies are "planning life without America". Seems absurd yet the popularity of evil-doers like Alex Jones and the daily news/tweets out of the White House make it more and more likely every day.
Can our Constitution survive? Not without the GOP deciding that enough is enough. And if they never do? Three more years of this "president" will destroy our future for decades - it's not impossible to think of a world in which nations must consider accepting refugees from the USA.
5
Alex Jones and his colleagues on the conservative fringe are dangerous because so many ordinary people believe what they say absolutely. Suggesting that items published on Infowars and other sites like it may not be factual is seen only as evidence that the person making the suggestion is a gullible tool of the left-wing liberal media. Critiques of those sites and their purveyors by true Conservative minds like George Will are brushed off as elite, intellectual snobbery. Somewhere along the way, it seems large numbers of people in this country have lost the ability to think and reason logically.
1
What is it that makes so many people susceptible to these lies and conspiracy theories? Is it wishful thinking? Delusional?
Trump himself said he likes ignorant people. Maybe this is the answer.
Trump himself said he likes ignorant people. Maybe this is the answer.
2
Wrong. He should be ignored. Only then will he go away. nbc and megan are fools to give him a platform.
2
I disagree completely. If you give air time to people who speak lies, you legitimize their lies, you give a platform on which to disseminate those lies. I remember working years ago on a television program about Creationists teaching their "science" in the public school, showing "fossil footsteps of humans and dinosaurs walking the earth together". No matter how many facts presented to refute their claims, the "other side" have their "opinions" presented in a science program and the people who want to believe will ignore what they don't want to hear. We need to report the news, the facts and ignore the fantasies of people who are not interested in hearing the truth. They want to make money from the fears of the public and Kelly and NBC are profiting from those fears. Shame on you and shame on anyone who calls themselves a journalist. Do not repeat lies in order to refute, just keep presenting the facts, ignore the leeches. I will never watch Kelly ever if NBC airs the Jones piece.
5
Alex Jones does believe people died at Newtown, but he thinks there are strange facts that raise questions. The great majority of media today is controlled by a few corporations, and a lot of what the mainstream media reports is managed. We used to have many more opinions within mainstream media, there's no denying that. There's also no denying that building 7 of the WTC came down in it's own footprint, as if it was rigged with explosives, and it was not struck by an airplane. President Trump has talked about reopening the 911 investigation, and one day we will know the truth. I'm an actuary and I was working with several foreign born actuaries on the day the towers were struck. They thought something was weird about how the towers collapsed. I thought they were nuts, frankly.
But people who have lived in war-torn regions know what damaged results from missiles and plane strikes, and it's not a total collapse at free-speed into the building's footprint. It's just not.
But people who have lived in war-torn regions know what damaged results from missiles and plane strikes, and it's not a total collapse at free-speed into the building's footprint. It's just not.
1
Giving the Scam artist Alex Jones just another soap box, serves no practical purpose the time Alex Jones could have been stopped was 2005-8 I tried but no one cared back then I predicted and watched this happen.
People need to understand how damaging these con men and their Supporters can be, but it needs to be done without giving them added exposure!
People need to understand how damaging these con men and their Supporters can be, but it needs to be done without giving them added exposure!
1
"perhaps not even Donald Trump would have deigned to be associated with him"? I beg to differ. There are no depths too low for Trump; this relationship is proof of it. It is a scourge on this country to have such an utterly disgusting person as president...a person who will stop at nothing if he thinks it will bring him fame, fortune and power. How shamefully ignorant we have become as a nation to allow this to happen. We have to fight Jones, Trump and their ilk in every way if we are to survive as a civilization.
1
Alex Jones, like Trump is an awful human being and the press should shun rather than validate them.
2
I have no confidence that Megyn Kelly will expose Alex Jones for what he is. Rather she will give him a platform and appear to be asking hardball questions that really aren't. Airing his vile views on television is not educational and helps no one, but it gives an air of credibility, authenticity, and respectability to a man whose behavior has been vile beyond words. After all, Megyn Kelly thinks he's fascinating. He must have something going for him. Right?
2
I'm not sure that interviewing Mr. Jones on NCB "exposes" him. Let's face it, after this event, there won't be anyone in the US who doesn't know who Megyn Kelly is and that she works for NBC. This is the goal of the event. We all know this. Whether Mr. Jones will be "exposed" for what he is, the modern equivalent of a carnival freak show barker, is much less certain. An expose of the man would involve some analysis of what he does, how it is false but why it is effective with some people. I heard a Sandy Hook parent whose child was killed in the mass shooting interviewed on NPR about how she, her husband and now 12-year-old son have to personally deal with the effect of Alex Jones - people who come up to them, call them and email them with hate male and their bizarre denial rhetoric. That is the beginning of true exposure.
I don't plan on watching this, but Ms. Kelly is an accomplished interviewer and probably more liberal (or at the least slightly left of the middle) than most people assume. I'm sure she'll be more than able to hold her own and I doubt Mr. Jones will get few, if any converts from his twisted views.
I believe the dis-information industry is bigger than Alex Jones. The people who are targeted listeners of info wars have paid posters on Breibart and elsewhere that make them feel supported and validated. They have an imaginary forum that is fabricated on line for them. The Sinclair Group, the one that will own 74% of ALL broadcast stations in the US has mandatory right wing commentary for all of its stations, and those stations include CBS stations, Fox, and NBC.
Think of it as a propaganda machine. The mission statement of the news operations of the Sinclair group states:"We produce compelling, engaging, informative newscasts.Our stations hold public officials accountable, asking the tough questions that our viewers would ask.Our newscasts have stories that make a difference.The key to our success is content choices.
Our goal is simple: We alert, protect and empower our audience on all platforms." Don't you think Alex Jones InfoWars and others do the same thing?
Think of it as a propaganda machine. The mission statement of the news operations of the Sinclair group states:"We produce compelling, engaging, informative newscasts.Our stations hold public officials accountable, asking the tough questions that our viewers would ask.Our newscasts have stories that make a difference.The key to our success is content choices.
Our goal is simple: We alert, protect and empower our audience on all platforms." Don't you think Alex Jones InfoWars and others do the same thing?
Great piece!!!!!!
For the first time I am forced to think about the possibility that it may be necessary to limit free speech, and by this I mean beyond what we have always done via liable and slander laws. With the advent of the internet people have access to a HUGE ability to be heard, in ways never even imagined by our elders as recently as say 1980, a mere 47 years ago. Someone (me for example) can sit at my keyboard and state anything I want as absolute truth incontrovertible. That is a huge amount of power, power not equaled by anyone who tries to argue the wrongness of my position. Scary as this might sound, and the more it rolls around in my feebler brain, it sounds more and more scary, it might be necessary for limitations on free speech on the internet. I have no idea how we might go about doing that, but I will leave that to my betters. This does not apply to free speech face to face where a debate can occur and the opposition has almost equal power of thought.
For the first time I am forced to think about the possibility that it may be necessary to limit free speech, and by this I mean beyond what we have always done via liable and slander laws. With the advent of the internet people have access to a HUGE ability to be heard, in ways never even imagined by our elders as recently as say 1980, a mere 47 years ago. Someone (me for example) can sit at my keyboard and state anything I want as absolute truth incontrovertible. That is a huge amount of power, power not equaled by anyone who tries to argue the wrongness of my position. Scary as this might sound, and the more it rolls around in my feebler brain, it sounds more and more scary, it might be necessary for limitations on free speech on the internet. I have no idea how we might go about doing that, but I will leave that to my betters. This does not apply to free speech face to face where a debate can occur and the opposition has almost equal power of thought.
Hunter S. Thompson said: “If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up.”
-- We need to stop paying A. Jones so he can go where he belongs.
Ms. Kelly isn't helping matters.
-- We need to stop paying A. Jones so he can go where he belongs.
Ms. Kelly isn't helping matters.
2
The pizza man cometh. And eventually, go-eth. I'm amazed that THIS guy is NOT on Donald's press team. Seriously.
We allow Alex Jones to speak through the media, reaching millions of ignorant and malleable minds, claiming that the tragic violent death of over two dozen small children is an elaborate hoax. To me, that is as vulgar and ghastly as the act itself. Where is the stink over this? There should be mandatory jail time plus mandatory therapeutic treatment (not unlike anger management) for men like this. Alex Jones is a criminal in my opinion and a danger to society.
This needed to be said. Bed bugs such as Jones may be noticed in a dim light but they cannot survive a full light. Thanks.
1
It's time for news agencies such as the Times to stop their non-partisan bias. That is, they try to moderate their reporting so as to not appear partisan, even if that means not accurately reporting the truth. The far-right is cancerous and conspiratorial. Take the gloves off, say it like it is (as the so-called conservatives like it). Alex Jones and the Trump Internet are FAKE NEWS!
"William F. Buckley Jr. famously used his immense authority to cast out the John Birch Society. "
He got a lot of mileage out of this publicity stunt, yet still adhered to its basic "principles," using the standard coded words and phrases.
He got a lot of mileage out of this publicity stunt, yet still adhered to its basic "principles," using the standard coded words and phrases.
1
"But I’m haunted by this question: Had we done more to expose the viciously dishonest hoaxes, might things have turned out differently?"
No kidding. And when do you start doing this? Now would be a good time to start calling out lies. And don't stop.
No kidding. And when do you start doing this? Now would be a good time to start calling out lies. And don't stop.
1
I suppose those unaware of Jones might benefit from such a expose, but I won't watch because I already know of his perverse beliefs.
1
There is Alex Jones and Infowars. There was Donald Trump the Birthers. Trump got the White House and Infowars got a press pass. The Donald Trump that appeared in the debates is not discernibly different than The Republican President sitting in the White House.
Your comment, "We can’t keep ignoring the fringe. We have to expose it.", is wrong in two obvious ways. We are not ignoring the fringe. We are tuned in to the fringe. We don't have to believe Alex Jones's message to co-opt his followers. The notion putting Alex Jones on Fox on Sunday night will expose his cruel lies ignore reality. Those lies have already been exposed. Donald Trump's appearance in the debates has proved that the prime time TV appearances merely propagate the lies and pander to the liars.
What we need to do is to condemn and then ignore the liars.
Your comment, "We can’t keep ignoring the fringe. We have to expose it.", is wrong in two obvious ways. We are not ignoring the fringe. We are tuned in to the fringe. We don't have to believe Alex Jones's message to co-opt his followers. The notion putting Alex Jones on Fox on Sunday night will expose his cruel lies ignore reality. Those lies have already been exposed. Donald Trump's appearance in the debates has proved that the prime time TV appearances merely propagate the lies and pander to the liars.
What we need to do is to condemn and then ignore the liars.
Alex Jones has grown fat and rich by serving up "weapons-grade nut-jobbery" but so have many other conservative propagandists. This is nothing new. For the last three decades, Republicans have carefully nurtured their base with hatred, fear and alternative facts, 24/7, all courtesy of a sophisticated right-wing propaganda network. After you swallow the garbage on Fox News and conservative talk-radio, it's just a short step to feasting on Jones' swill.
And when a candidate comes along offering hatred, fear and racism, the Republican base responds exactly as they have been trained. They vote for him.
In my opinion, America would be better served by exposing the entire conservative noise machine. Who finances them? Who are their sugar daddies? Who are the politicians that encourage this behavior? Who are their corporate sponsors? Who owns the stations that broadcast their disinformation? How many stations do they own in each market?
Oh, and re-instating the fairness doctrine would help discourage this nonsense.
And when a candidate comes along offering hatred, fear and racism, the Republican base responds exactly as they have been trained. They vote for him.
In my opinion, America would be better served by exposing the entire conservative noise machine. Who finances them? Who are their sugar daddies? Who are the politicians that encourage this behavior? Who are their corporate sponsors? Who owns the stations that broadcast their disinformation? How many stations do they own in each market?
Oh, and re-instating the fairness doctrine would help discourage this nonsense.
If the interview turns out to be a 60 Minutes-type expose, then it will be a good thing. But I have my doubts with Megan Kelly and with NBC, as well - I don't see them as motivated by "shining a light" as they are by increasing viewership and profits. Megan Kelly is no Lesley Stahl, that's for sure, and I fear her lack of skill will only give this lunatic a platform that will legitimize him.
Sometimes I don't even recognize my country any more. InfoWars is what the National Enquirer was when I was growing up. I come from a very working class background - the "uneducated" Trump professes to love - but everyone knew the National Enquirer was fake news. Why don't people see fake news now?
Sometimes I don't even recognize my country any more. InfoWars is what the National Enquirer was when I was growing up. I come from a very working class background - the "uneducated" Trump professes to love - but everyone knew the National Enquirer was fake news. Why don't people see fake news now?
1
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left"
Exactly. So please stop knitting a false equivalence with the baseball massacre. The Left demonizes its enemies but doesn't have thought leaders who are so insane--or so cynical--as to insist publicly that a godawful tragedy is a hoax, and to tacitly condone the persecution of those most closely affected.
Assuming Ms. Kelly brings her substantial intelligence, perseverance and willingness to ask impolite questions to this interview, Jones could easily wind up humiliated and defeated in the eyes of all but his most ardent fans. (Including, unfortunately, the current POTUS).
Exactly. So please stop knitting a false equivalence with the baseball massacre. The Left demonizes its enemies but doesn't have thought leaders who are so insane--or so cynical--as to insist publicly that a godawful tragedy is a hoax, and to tacitly condone the persecution of those most closely affected.
Assuming Ms. Kelly brings her substantial intelligence, perseverance and willingness to ask impolite questions to this interview, Jones could easily wind up humiliated and defeated in the eyes of all but his most ardent fans. (Including, unfortunately, the current POTUS).
1
after sandy hook I came across an outrageous conspiracy thread, offence in the extreme. one portion included the hysterics of gene rosen, interviewed on cnn, about the kids being brought to his house, and the idiotic conspiracy theorist asking all sorts of insensitive questions like why the kids were brought there in the first place, and more, but rosen continued about parents calling him asking whether the kids were safe and his checking the list ... the video stopped and provided the info that no such list was available or published at that point! suddenly it cracked wide open and I realized it was fake, it was all fake, and the lack of ambulances, survivors, the unlikely protagonist sharp shooter, all fake. I hate alex jones and what he stands for. but he's right that sandy hook was fake. the most objectionable people pepper their machinations with facts - facts like the Nixon administration perpetuated the Vietnam war or that 9-11 was an inside job- and it bestows these objectionable people with an aura as if finally someone is telling the truth.
1
I just went on Alex Jones' site and there are truly insane followers who believe the most 'creative' conspiracy theories of Jones, and more. It actually made me feel scared that people like that exist.
Hang on Charles;
"Believes that (...)"and "(...)cruel falsehoods"(...)
No: Mr. Jones states a different narrative and brings arguments to support his argument. Don't talk about 'believing' or promoting 'falsehoods': It's called debating and engaging in a dialogue and the 'let's look at the facts' attitude. One might differ in opinion but that doesn't mean one is right or one is wrong. There is no wrong or right. No left or right. No blue or red: We left the Cold War a long time ago. The world is a tapestry now. Guerilla warfare in western cities and the front line is shifting continuously: There is not 1 answer to this problem: Talk and debate. What is the best way forward for all involved?
Feeding this machine of innuendo and hearsay (DTrump twittering from @ realdonaldtrump for instance: who knows who types?) however is one way of avoiding a steady course of the ship, even if the Captain has a fever.
So steer clear of these re-action actions and look ahead and be pro-active. Don't let the tweet of the day determine your course.
I can remember the headline: "Suspect arrested". Versus now: "The suspect was killed". And so on. Do we execute suspects now? Or do we:
Uphold the law, seperate Chruch from State, Uphold the Constitution, free press, free speech; you know; human rights and all...
Final: If Manhattan had the attacks London had in the past few weeks: Just imagine what would have happened. You have about 6 months to room 101.
"Believes that (...)"and "(...)cruel falsehoods"(...)
No: Mr. Jones states a different narrative and brings arguments to support his argument. Don't talk about 'believing' or promoting 'falsehoods': It's called debating and engaging in a dialogue and the 'let's look at the facts' attitude. One might differ in opinion but that doesn't mean one is right or one is wrong. There is no wrong or right. No left or right. No blue or red: We left the Cold War a long time ago. The world is a tapestry now. Guerilla warfare in western cities and the front line is shifting continuously: There is not 1 answer to this problem: Talk and debate. What is the best way forward for all involved?
Feeding this machine of innuendo and hearsay (DTrump twittering from @ realdonaldtrump for instance: who knows who types?) however is one way of avoiding a steady course of the ship, even if the Captain has a fever.
So steer clear of these re-action actions and look ahead and be pro-active. Don't let the tweet of the day determine your course.
I can remember the headline: "Suspect arrested". Versus now: "The suspect was killed". And so on. Do we execute suspects now? Or do we:
Uphold the law, seperate Chruch from State, Uphold the Constitution, free press, free speech; you know; human rights and all...
Final: If Manhattan had the attacks London had in the past few weeks: Just imagine what would have happened. You have about 6 months to room 101.
1
What do Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, and Glen Beck have in common other than having big mouths? They don't have college degrees. They dropped out. They probably spent too much time talking and not enough time listening. Isn't that what know-it-alls do? Talk, talk, talk.
It's hard to fathom that Megyn Kelly would go so low as to interview someone so inherently cruel as Alex Jones, especially after what she went through with the FOX clowns. Good for Connecticut.
It's hard to fathom that Megyn Kelly would go so low as to interview someone so inherently cruel as Alex Jones, especially after what she went through with the FOX clowns. Good for Connecticut.
1
I believe Megyn Kelly should interview him, just like how we should allow people like Ann Coulter to speak at the university campuses. Don't get me wrong, I detest both Jones and Coulter. But think about it, denying them the right to speak is not only unconstitutional, it plays right into their hands and their complaints that the left are "special snowflakes" or "oppressive" etc. What people should do, regardless of political leaning, is to let these people have their piece, then politely but firmly refute all their nonsensical ranting with evidence. Show others that these people are only spouting nonsense and falsehoods for the sake of their own personal gain, with no regard for the actual truth, instead of screaming at them. Show their fanbase that they're being led by the nose by racists and liars, who are only concerned with reveling in their self-adulation.
2
Sunlight need not be administered on Father's Day when the father's of Sandy Hook children are coping with ongoing loss. I guess Alex Jones is the worst of the trio of Jones, NBC and Megyn Kelly but the latter two are very far from blameless. Perhaps Frontline or a news program would be the best place to expose the cynical and opportunistic Alex Jones, a human cancer in the body politic.
We have free speech in this country, but is blatantly illegal to shout 'FIRE' in a crowded theater.
Isn't this what Mr. Jones is doing? Did he not instigate the gullible, deluded fool who shot up the 'Pizzagate' restaurant (who now faces extended jail time)? Is he an accessory to assault with a dangerous weapon?
Inquiring minds want to know, Mr. Jones.
Dan Kravitz
Isn't this what Mr. Jones is doing? Did he not instigate the gullible, deluded fool who shot up the 'Pizzagate' restaurant (who now faces extended jail time)? Is he an accessory to assault with a dangerous weapon?
Inquiring minds want to know, Mr. Jones.
Dan Kravitz
It isn't about ignoring (or not) Alex Jones.
It's about ignoring the issues of the everyday person, and then calling them deplorable.
You miss the point of why he resonates. Again, he's not perfect, but he'll talk about things that Big Media won't. And most of his reporting is just as good if not better than CNN or gasp, the NYT.
That's the real news here, not the fake nonsense about his personal views of certain events. And Democrats heads are in the sand, yet again, ignoring what is plainly obvious to everyone else.
It's about ignoring the issues of the everyday person, and then calling them deplorable.
You miss the point of why he resonates. Again, he's not perfect, but he'll talk about things that Big Media won't. And most of his reporting is just as good if not better than CNN or gasp, the NYT.
That's the real news here, not the fake nonsense about his personal views of certain events. And Democrats heads are in the sand, yet again, ignoring what is plainly obvious to everyone else.
4
"Since the situation is so dire and the stakes so high, the paranoid spokesman is not interested in half-measures. 'He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician,' Hofstadter wrote."
This could have been written about President Bannon.
This could have been written about President Bannon.
. I was taken by Mr. Sykes's language about how dangerous it is to ignore Alex Jones, and people like him. Mr. Sykes should know, as he spent twenty years in the same hate radio genre in Wisconsin that Mr. Jones is in now.
5
Is there confusion between extreme views and mental illness? On a daily basis, things happen that anyone, right or left can spin into a conspiricy. These are things that cannot be proven untrue. For example, let's say there is a conspricy to take away all the guns. Obviously there isn't, but no one can say it could never happen. This type of "what if" thinking is normal ranting and spin.
But when you say someone who has died is actually alive, this is factually not so. Only someone who is mentally ill would make such claims. So, should we give a soap box to someone who is delusional? I'd say yes, but only with a disclaimer.
But when you say someone who has died is actually alive, this is factually not so. Only someone who is mentally ill would make such claims. So, should we give a soap box to someone who is delusional? I'd say yes, but only with a disclaimer.
The only interview of Mr. Jones should originate from a prison cell. He has abetted the death threats and harassment suffered by parents of Sandy Hook victims with his lies. I agree Jones needs to be exposed, but I seriously doubt this interview will fully illustrate what a loathsome and evil waste of oxygen he is.
1
trump*s birtherism is simply a slightly less energetic version of this fruitcake. And yet, we elected the man...the most psychologically damaged and incompetent person ever to set foot in the White House. It's over. Train left the station. Horse out of the barn.. Broken means never not-broken again. Keep our eye on Jones? Fine. It's a hobby, but it won't solve or even head off the gathering storm of American fiasco.
1
The guy has a website. He gets coverage. His freedom of speech is in no way abridged.
So why should a responsible media outlet like NBCUniversal give this man and his outlandish ideas additional, unmerited publicity except to steal viewers from 60 Minutes and garner ratings for their new offering and its overpriced host?
So why should a responsible media outlet like NBCUniversal give this man and his outlandish ideas additional, unmerited publicity except to steal viewers from 60 Minutes and garner ratings for their new offering and its overpriced host?
1
In 1965, Harry and Banaro Overstreet wrote a book titled "The Strange Tactics of Extremism" in which they examined the thinking and tactics of the extreme Right and Left, of the people on both ends of the political spectrum who see only and predict only what the Overstreets called "A Doom Shaped World" in which everything points to and drives toward the Abyss, everything is engineered by forces who work toward the destruction of all values, all institutions, all reason.
Just as Richard Rorty warned that at some point the under educated, left out Americans would look for a "strongman" to vote for who would, when elected, free them from having their manners dictated by colllege graduates the Overstreets foresaw the rise of the "Doom Shaped" conspiratorial theorists who today see and forecast nothing but disaster ahead based on their lies about events around us?
What do we do with these "mad dogs" of the public forum?
I don't know.
I do know what we do with the true "mad dogs" of the canine family. But surely, that is not something we would suggest for the homo sapiens species.
Surely.
Just as Richard Rorty warned that at some point the under educated, left out Americans would look for a "strongman" to vote for who would, when elected, free them from having their manners dictated by colllege graduates the Overstreets foresaw the rise of the "Doom Shaped" conspiratorial theorists who today see and forecast nothing but disaster ahead based on their lies about events around us?
What do we do with these "mad dogs" of the public forum?
I don't know.
I do know what we do with the true "mad dogs" of the canine family. But surely, that is not something we would suggest for the homo sapiens species.
Surely.
Stupidity is not in short supply. We don't need more of it. Why encourage it with media exposure?
America has become too immature, too fragile a democracy to handle the awesome responsibility that comes with free speech (imho).
Mr. Sykes, you are a voice in the wilderness of the right....you waited too, too long and have yourself become the "fringe right".
Mr. Sykes, you are a voice in the wilderness of the right....you waited too, too long and have yourself become the "fringe right".
This conspiratorial thinking has indeed "lain dormant on the political fringes of both the left and the right for years". It was on the margin because we refused it light. "Exposing" it, giving it light, actually only helps it flourish. The media has abandoned its role as the moral conscience of society and we are much worse for it. Let him and his ilk rot in the dark. No sunlight. Forshame.
This is NOT entertainment. Jones lies bring PAIN. Where is the humanity?? NBC hear this: use your good fortunes for good and not EVIL.
WE will NOT be watching this garbage.
WE will NOT be watching this garbage.
45
Standing on a soapbox and shouting the end is near is nothing new. Growing up in an Evangelical Church I listened to the pastor predict Armageddon almost weekly. The fuel is anger and the spark is fear and hatred. I have to hand it to the Republicans, they've learned to stoke anger better than anyone. It really is the best way to motivate people. Give a man a hundred dollar bill and he'll remember you for a week, slap him in the face and he'll curse you on his Deathbed. If anyone can find a way to reason with people for whom reason has no place you will do the world a huge favor. It's impossible. Just like the evangelicos who expect Jesus to float down from a cloud tomorrow and smite their enemies, they cannot be dissuaded. The end is always near.
54
Bill Maher let Milo Yiannopoulos reveal himself to be a deeply troubled, desperately needy person more to be pitied than reviled.
Letting Alex Jones reveal himself to be likewise is a good thing. Excerpts already published from the upcoming interview show how uncomfortable he was with being pinned down by his own words. He seems to be becoming more agitated as the broadcast date looms.
Letting people hang themselves in public with their own words is an excellent way of disposing of them.
Letting Alex Jones reveal himself to be likewise is a good thing. Excerpts already published from the upcoming interview show how uncomfortable he was with being pinned down by his own words. He seems to be becoming more agitated as the broadcast date looms.
Letting people hang themselves in public with their own words is an excellent way of disposing of them.
Not giving a liar a platform from which to speak is not limiting his free speech. It is merely limiting his venue.
Alex Jones has every right to stand on almost any street corner in any American city he chooses and declaim whatever he wants. He does not have the right to demand air time on major television networks.
Alex Jones has every right to stand on almost any street corner in any American city he chooses and declaim whatever he wants. He does not have the right to demand air time on major television networks.
1
What if the liar's friends and beneficiaries win the majority of House, Senate, Governorships, Local representations, and the White House?
While it is easy to ridicule the alt-right they have, in large measure, successfully taken over the US. On the progressive left we wait for demographics to win back sanity. After all, millennials the world over favor liberal politicians. My concern is in the meantime we indulge in false equivalencies. In order to promote our unbiased logic we routinely suggest that their is a problem on both fringes. We suggest that extremism, alt fact and anti-logic exist on a continuum where moving either right or left of center is problematic. This is nonsense. The right has used this tendency and traditional reporting to move absurdly right knowing the whole spectrum lurches with them to a certain extent. I have no other explanation for the strangle hold of the country by the GUINELY EXTREME GOP
1
let's not forget that other likeable character glenn beck....yet another productive member of society.
no, forget them we musn't, however what shall we do stop them when they have figured out their path to their wealth lies with those who give them their stature to begin with? this is a significant part of the u.s. population.... and that is what is scary.
how does one combat the lunacy, idiocy, hatred, divisiveness, and outright lying by the likes of beck, jones, limbaugh (and even the current president), et al? it is truly heartbreaking to see so many taken in by these charlatans. people by and large have little curiosity beyond their own perceptions, little capacity for critical thinking, and little time or concern for anyone other than themselves... hence we have these talking heads in our midst.
no, forget them we musn't, however what shall we do stop them when they have figured out their path to their wealth lies with those who give them their stature to begin with? this is a significant part of the u.s. population.... and that is what is scary.
how does one combat the lunacy, idiocy, hatred, divisiveness, and outright lying by the likes of beck, jones, limbaugh (and even the current president), et al? it is truly heartbreaking to see so many taken in by these charlatans. people by and large have little curiosity beyond their own perceptions, little capacity for critical thinking, and little time or concern for anyone other than themselves... hence we have these talking heads in our midst.
Just follow the money. He enrages/entertains people to make money without regard to the consequences.
1
I knew of Alex Jones and his infamous info-wars as it used to be a media platform for Donald Trump. But I only recently became aware of the nauseating and obscene campaign that he has taken against the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre. This is such a low level of moral and intellectual misery that almost calls for an association with another figure with the same surname, Jim Jones. That said, Megin Kelly is simply doing what is expected from a journalist. If something is a part of the reality in which we live, as Alex and Jim are, then a journalist should help us not only being informed but also understanding our environment. Ms. Kelly does not create Alex Jones. Alex Jones as ugly as he is, is part of our reality. America is a great country. And any country has its darkest spots. We do not need to remind the dark spots of Germany, Russia, Syria, Pakistan etc. etc. But we'd better be aware of our own. People like Alex Jones not only exist. But they have followers and means to attract attention and preach their venom. I really hope that Kelly's interview will be aired. Sane people, who I still think are the majority of us, will become aware of what kind of danger we are running by letting certain "fringes" (strange term for an opinion maker that helped the current US President get elected) go unnoticed and unanswered.
As far as I am concerned Alex Jones has been exposed. In his recent divorce proceedings we learned that, in actuality, he’s a performance artist. So it’s not a radio show with someone sharing firmly held beliefs it’s a guy fighting for ratings like everyone else on the air. I’ll bet he’s as stunned as anyone that he continues along with any sort of following.
Like the old saying goes “you can’t fix stupid.” It seems even more true when it’s a pre-existing condition.
Like the old saying goes “you can’t fix stupid.” It seems even more true when it’s a pre-existing condition.
I strongly disagree with this statement: "The dirty secret of many conservatives is that they never admit to actually reading Mr. Jones’s ranting, but they also never publicly denounce him."
It's no secret at all that the GOP leadership coddles anyone and everyone who trashes the party's opposition in as vile a way as possible. Look at the racist overtones of the tea party movement, death panels to wrongly define the ACA and the birther stories about Obama. Jones is just another GOP acolyte, and as long as he supports gun sales, well, he's O.K. to them.
From Lee Atwater to Karl Rove to Dick Cheney and now Donald Trump, there is no secret at all about who's fomenting discord in our Democracy.
It's no secret at all that the GOP leadership coddles anyone and everyone who trashes the party's opposition in as vile a way as possible. Look at the racist overtones of the tea party movement, death panels to wrongly define the ACA and the birther stories about Obama. Jones is just another GOP acolyte, and as long as he supports gun sales, well, he's O.K. to them.
From Lee Atwater to Karl Rove to Dick Cheney and now Donald Trump, there is no secret at all about who's fomenting discord in our Democracy.
1
I am in theory looking forward to Mr. Jones speaking with Megyn Kelly. He is morally vile and malignantly mentally ill - so disturbed that naming him as mentally ill insults the mentally ill. And Kelly is a good interviewer. If Kelly does a good job of exposing Jones as the irresponsible and I believe hypocritical and consciously exploitative figure he is, kudos. If she does a terrible job calling him to account, she and NBC will deserve to lose viewership.
Alex Jones is very dangerous and if a credible investigative reporter was doing a story about him including giving him an opportunity to speak I would absolutely watch it because knowledge is power. But Meghan Kelly is giving him a platform with kid gloves and he's controlling the narrative. Yes we need to see his ugliness to better understand the way he and his followers think but it needs to be on our terms not his.
Fox news has some responsibility here too. They have a huge platform but ratings matter so they give credit to these crackpots instead of calling them out.
Progressives are going to have to figure out a way to get through that wall or we're going to keep losing this battle over what's real and what's fake. We beat mccarthyism and we can beat this too but we have to find a way to pierce the madness.
Fox news has some responsibility here too. They have a huge platform but ratings matter so they give credit to these crackpots instead of calling them out.
Progressives are going to have to figure out a way to get through that wall or we're going to keep losing this battle over what's real and what's fake. We beat mccarthyism and we can beat this too but we have to find a way to pierce the madness.
1
As a reformed journalist and former executive board member of the society of professional journalists, I am compelled to observe that the media have become a large part of the problem. As the number of outlets has blossomed, the amount of effort expended on editing and material selection, and ethics has plummeted.
To think that complex issues and complex people can simply be described as 'conservative' or 'liberal' is naive at best, and grossly irresponsible. It leads not to an informed electorate, but an inflamed one. And look what it got us!
How we responsibly fix it is a much more difficult problem than was letting it evolve in the first place. The Congress got some 'splainin to do. And a whole lot of work. Right after they figure out how to deal with a president who declared war on them, in his inaugural speech.
To think that complex issues and complex people can simply be described as 'conservative' or 'liberal' is naive at best, and grossly irresponsible. It leads not to an informed electorate, but an inflamed one. And look what it got us!
How we responsibly fix it is a much more difficult problem than was letting it evolve in the first place. The Congress got some 'splainin to do. And a whole lot of work. Right after they figure out how to deal with a president who declared war on them, in his inaugural speech.
1
Charlie Sykes has finally seen the light. However I doubt whether he thinks that his two decades on the air in Milwaukee has had anything to do with the rise of the venomous Right. Like his hero, William F. Buckley, Sykes consistently only suffered straw men and women to dispute his reactionary views whether on his radio or TV show. I seem to recall that in Milwaukee he was a long-time supporter of our own "weapons-grade nut job", County Sherriff David Clarke, who now it appears even the Trump Administration can't run away from fast enough.
1
About 25 years ago I was driving across Texas in the FM dead zone, between Waxahachie and Houston. I tuned the radio until I found an AM station. It announced itself as "Christian Radio." I thought,"I guess I can listen to a few gospel songs." What it turned out to be was talk radio of a variety I had never imagined. A preacher came on & started denouncing the evils of "liberalism." The preacher said horrible things about the government. This was early in the first year or two of the Clinton administration, long before Clinton's personal moral choices became a subject of national gossip. I listened riveted to the words from the airwaves. My heart sank. I thought, "This does not bode well for the future of the United States of America." I wondered how many people were listening to it and believing it. I realized that there were no other stations in that part of the world that people could get on their car radios. Later, whenever I was driving between cities, I tried to listen to what was available on AM "Christian" channels to see how widespread it was. I found either Limbaugh or some other preacher type spewing words of hate against "liberals": in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri, So. Illinois, Indiana...--any place when I drove, I could find radio broadcasting venomous hate. This continued through years to current time, and has led to our present situation. People have been willingly brainwashed and they quote and try to live this hateful gospel.
2
While I personally believe AJ is an utter nutter there is something to be said about the fact that he's flourishing in America. It isn't so much that more and and more people believe in conspiracies, it is that people have lost general trust - and too often rightfully so. It is easy to slip from "no trust" to "the opposite" because what is certain and known - however fabricated - feels safer than what is unknown. Whether it's a good idea to increase this guys' exposure however is to be debated - I suppose that depends on how it is done.
2
"At one time, the responsible gatekeepers of the conservative movement would have excommunicated Mr. Jones. Back in the 1960s, William F. Buckley Jr. famously used his immense authority to cast out the John Birch Society."
So says this column, revealing the essence of the problem as it does so.
The conservative movement used to have responsible gatekeepers. It doesn't have them any more. Who on the right would say that Jones is a charlatan, Rush Limbaugh is a toady to corporate America, and Fox News is fake news?
Nobody, that's who.
So says this column, revealing the essence of the problem as it does so.
The conservative movement used to have responsible gatekeepers. It doesn't have them any more. Who on the right would say that Jones is a charlatan, Rush Limbaugh is a toady to corporate America, and Fox News is fake news?
Nobody, that's who.
1
Sunlight is still a good disinfectant.
This is a time for drawing lines and clear distinctions, and for very careful discernment. I believe that Alex Jones is guilty of sedition. On Facebook, I recently un-friended those of my Facebook friends who have 'liked' his page. I have also done so with those who have 'liked' Donald Trump & his adult family members, Mike Pence, certain Cabinet members, and with all pages for Fox News. You may not agree with what I have done or have some criticisms of it, but I urge you to consider this: we need to marginalize these traitors and make them irrelevant.
1
Mr. Sykes does his best to condemn the insane Alex Jones, but as always the false duality of left and right creeps in. He speaks about the polarization of the country, and of how the political fringes of both the left and the right have lain dormant for years, but the reality is that the left is far more willing to condemn its fringes, while the right remains shockingly and appallingly silent about Jones and Limbaugh and...Trump.
Danger of Ignoring Alex Jones? What have we come to in this country?
Giving this man airtime is not disinfecting him. It is legitimizing him. Even if Megyn Kelly aggressively challenges him, his presence on a once respectable television network is a tacit acknowledgment of legitimacy. In any serious debate or discussion, the very construct of the event supposes that the opposing sides have some validity and the process will sharpen critical capacities and add to civil discourse, no matter how powerfully one may disagree with the other side.
By giving him airtime, the shameless producers are allowing viewers to draw the inference that Jones has a point of view that should be considered, however offensive he may be.
Do you think his Infowars followers will be troubled by anything he says or be persuaded by any rebuttal Megyn Kelly offers? To the contrary, they will revel in the very fact that he is getting national, mainstream exposure.
NBC is pandering in the service of profit and there is nothing redeeming about this disgusting choice.
Giving this man airtime is not disinfecting him. It is legitimizing him. Even if Megyn Kelly aggressively challenges him, his presence on a once respectable television network is a tacit acknowledgment of legitimacy. In any serious debate or discussion, the very construct of the event supposes that the opposing sides have some validity and the process will sharpen critical capacities and add to civil discourse, no matter how powerfully one may disagree with the other side.
By giving him airtime, the shameless producers are allowing viewers to draw the inference that Jones has a point of view that should be considered, however offensive he may be.
Do you think his Infowars followers will be troubled by anything he says or be persuaded by any rebuttal Megyn Kelly offers? To the contrary, they will revel in the very fact that he is getting national, mainstream exposure.
NBC is pandering in the service of profit and there is nothing redeeming about this disgusting choice.
1
When people I know repeat the rantings of Jones, Savage and the somewhat more sane Hannity I cringe knowing these people believe what they are told by these tin-foil hat brigade noise makers regardless of the evidence to the contrary.
It is a sad commentary that many in this country are quick to grasp the nonsense and run with it and use the nonsense to influence their votes and give us the likes of another buffoon, Trump.
It is a sad commentary that many in this country are quick to grasp the nonsense and run with it and use the nonsense to influence their votes and give us the likes of another buffoon, Trump.
1
I am at a loss to figure out how one would "expose" people like Alex Jones. He has all the exposure he craves and his willfully ignorant, TV addled audience gobbles up his rants. His prominence is an indicator of just how dangerous our national situation has become.
Viewership drives ad revenue, which elevates Alex Jones. He is simply a product of that process. His views are so extreme that it causes stress in the rest of us. And he knows this. Which makes him a megalomaniac who likes to stir the pot. The REAL problem is his viewership, specifically why there are so many of them holding those extreme views. Alex Jones isn't the only one to catch blame here, and the genesis happened in '96 with the creation of Faux News. In fact, the entire Republican spin machine, including yourself Mr. Sykes, is responsible.
1
Where is the law in exposing Mr. Jones' lies? Why not hold him accountable, financially and reputationally, for the lies he spreads? To that matter, why not Trump? In failing to reject the true source of "false news", does the Republican Party in essence become the party of paranoid lies, incapable of recognizing or appreciating truth? Liberals take heed too. It is a cautionary tale.
Free speech is free speech. This quack is free to say whatever he wants and the more exposure he gets the better. There is a fringe that pays attention to him. The vast majority doesn't. In fact his quackery maybe exactly his way of getting attention. Like the current occupant of the Oval Office. With 60% disapproval just six months in his tenure and under investigation. Anyone remember Glen Beck and his quackery?
More sunlight please. The only disinfectant.
More sunlight please. The only disinfectant.
2
Alex Jones and his ideas are not to be feared. Some of his ideas - the American people were lied to about the Iraq war - the effect of sanctions on Iraq - though sprung from him have their root in a fundamental distrust of Government that has real and factual roots. Beside, conspiracy theories have been part of the landscape of Americana from UFO's, to the faked moon landing, to the Kennedy's.
Where the danger comes in is where people let their fear of ideas - however ridiculous - lead to censor.
Alex Jones is a charismatic and intelligent guy. Because he was/is suppressed out of fear, he was easy picking for people like Roger Stone and Trump. Don't believe me? Listen to one of his shows.
He voices that there is currently a movement on the left to instigate a civil war. There is a conspiracy to impeach Trump by the likes of Comey, Clinton, Obama, Mueller and "the establishment" media among others. Sound familiar? He makes it seem that under these attacks, the country (his) will inevitably fall into a battle for survival in an apocalyptic scenario. Unless, of course, you buy his products to support the cause.
Where the danger comes in is where people let their fear of ideas - however ridiculous - lead to censor.
Alex Jones is a charismatic and intelligent guy. Because he was/is suppressed out of fear, he was easy picking for people like Roger Stone and Trump. Don't believe me? Listen to one of his shows.
He voices that there is currently a movement on the left to instigate a civil war. There is a conspiracy to impeach Trump by the likes of Comey, Clinton, Obama, Mueller and "the establishment" media among others. Sound familiar? He makes it seem that under these attacks, the country (his) will inevitably fall into a battle for survival in an apocalyptic scenario. Unless, of course, you buy his products to support the cause.
What puzzles me is why anyone believes Mr. Jones' ridiculous fabrications. I suppose, by some, I'm considered an "elite," having graduated from a state college and all. But for heaven's sake! It does not take too much discernment to see what kind of a man Jones is and to see the gaping holes in his "arguments." It is difficult for me not to question the intelligence of anyone who buys this swill.
NO - WE DO NOT HAVE TO WATCH ALEX JONES. Just because we unfortunately have someone in the White House who validates this person and his conspiracy theories, does not mean we have to further validate them by feeling as if we have to watch this sham just because Trump believes in it. It does not become more interesting or more warranted. What it is, is pathetic. I think Trump has lowered the bar enough, we don't have to get in the sewer with him. The most effective way of dealing with Alex Jones is ignoring him and holding Trump accountable for promoting this guy, and I've seen precious little of that.
2
The sad truth is the Jones has been legitimized by the right -- more specifically, by Trump's base. That base itself isn't insignificant...it's probably 35-40% of the voting country. Shockingly, I've seen more than a fair share of Infowars bumper stickers -- many spouting the "Hillary for Prison" slogan -- around my suburban NJ town. So, like it or not, Jones is a real influence and more than a fair share of Americans are buying what he's selling.
Given this reality, it's time to call a spade a spade and expose him for what he is -- a dangerous conspiracy theorist spouting actual fake news and fake theories. These messages must be brought out into the full light, and Jones needs to be exposed as the pariah he is. Sadly, Kelly won't do that...she will treat him in such a way that only further legitimizes him. We need someone like Jon Stewart to really expose his truth.
Given this reality, it's time to call a spade a spade and expose him for what he is -- a dangerous conspiracy theorist spouting actual fake news and fake theories. These messages must be brought out into the full light, and Jones needs to be exposed as the pariah he is. Sadly, Kelly won't do that...she will treat him in such a way that only further legitimizes him. We need someone like Jon Stewart to really expose his truth.
1
Jones and Limbaugh, and others, are an opiate of the masses that have become addicted to to their fear and loathing broadcasts. Like those addicted to nicotine, alcohol, or pain pills, they just have to have their daly dose of conspiracy, innuendo, accusations and just plain lies to get their blood flowing and giving then a reason to get up in the AM.
Listening to Jones and Limbaugh gives these poor addicted souls a shot of adrenalin. Remember " Tune in, turn on and drop out". That's pretty much what we have with Jones and Limbaugh except the hippies were all about love and flower power not rabble rousing.
Listening to Jones and Limbaugh gives these poor addicted souls a shot of adrenalin. Remember " Tune in, turn on and drop out". That's pretty much what we have with Jones and Limbaugh except the hippies were all about love and flower power not rabble rousing.
3
An ideal as lofty as 'free speech' can never be rightfully sustained by ignorance, greed and a malevolent mind all of which Alex Jones and, unfortunately, large portions of the American public seem to stand for. Jones is an empty-headed jerk making lots of money with a mike in his hands; his listeners and supporters, including Donald Trump, are the real problem.
1
"Alex Jones, the conspiracy trafficker who runs the website Infowars, believes that Sept. 11 was an 'inside job' and that the massacre of children at Sandy Hook was faked."
Actually, we don't know what he believes, but we do know what he says, and the difference is relevant. It helps remind us that Jones is neither a politician nor a policy intellectual. He is simply an entertainer who has found a very profitable niche, a very successful acting job as a purveyor of fantasy fiction. He, like Rush Limbaugh, is a cultural phenomenon. However, what needs to be addressed is not Jones and his shtick but, rather, the reasons that many people listen to him, many of whom take him seriously. As with Trump, if Jones suddenly evaporated, the realities that have given them so much power would not evaporate.
Though I strongly supported Clinton, I was quite worried that, after she won, most folks would think "the problem" was solved, go back to sleep, and ignore the grievances, real and fasntasized, of the millions who voted for Trump.
Actually, we don't know what he believes, but we do know what he says, and the difference is relevant. It helps remind us that Jones is neither a politician nor a policy intellectual. He is simply an entertainer who has found a very profitable niche, a very successful acting job as a purveyor of fantasy fiction. He, like Rush Limbaugh, is a cultural phenomenon. However, what needs to be addressed is not Jones and his shtick but, rather, the reasons that many people listen to him, many of whom take him seriously. As with Trump, if Jones suddenly evaporated, the realities that have given them so much power would not evaporate.
Though I strongly supported Clinton, I was quite worried that, after she won, most folks would think "the problem" was solved, go back to sleep, and ignore the grievances, real and fasntasized, of the millions who voted for Trump.
1
Lets go back to 1994 when the R's took over the House side of congress. Who did they have deliver the induction speech to the Republican caucus? None other than Rush Limbaugh. This was the event, or one of many I am sure, that leads us to Alex Jones raging rants and people who believe his drivel.
What has happened to our education system? Of course, What has happened to our political system? Both drowning in the swamp !
What has happened to our education system? Of course, What has happened to our political system? Both drowning in the swamp !
2
As Justice Louis Brandeis said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant."
"Had we done more to expose the viciously dishonest hoaxes, might things have turned out differently?"
probably not, because these dishonest hoaxes are a symptom of another problem. but theses hoaxes are part of a negative feedback loop that we will come to regret.
probably not, because these dishonest hoaxes are a symptom of another problem. but theses hoaxes are part of a negative feedback loop that we will come to regret.
Lie to people long enough they will begin to doubt the speaker....with so many official stories from our gov't that were blatant lies that were found out later, one can only understand the conditions that now bring this situation upon us. Gulf of Tonkin, USS Liberty incident, just to namne a few.
Alex Jones has already received more media attention of his insane rantings than he deserves. There is nothing newsworthy in the views of a clown who denies clear facts, and he does it not for political purpose but to attract attention n the media give him a platform for entertainment value and ratings. The media are complicit in Jones' hoaxes.
So now enters Megyn Kelly to build her audience base by interviewing this relatively worthless person. If she did a job on Jones like Edward R Murrow on Joe McCarthy it would be worthwhile, but seeing her advertising of the show, and her comments that she I nor out to get Jones, there is little reason to think that Jones' interview will do nothing but promote Jones' lunatic views. Sight unseen I doubt it will enhance Ms. Kelly's journalistic reputation.
So now enters Megyn Kelly to build her audience base by interviewing this relatively worthless person. If she did a job on Jones like Edward R Murrow on Joe McCarthy it would be worthwhile, but seeing her advertising of the show, and her comments that she I nor out to get Jones, there is little reason to think that Jones' interview will do nothing but promote Jones' lunatic views. Sight unseen I doubt it will enhance Ms. Kelly's journalistic reputation.
This is about money and ratings and sensationalism plain and simple. There is no need whatsoever to give this man any kind of an audience. The parents of the Sandy Hook children have suffered enough. The utterly hateful Jones will lie and make a false apology of sorts what does that do for anyone. Why in the name of God give this man an audience. Shame on the network.
Lie down with dogs and get bitten by fleas. Should we wonder at all about what passes for leadership in the current administration.
And right wing America does not believe in evolution; their kind has evolved. Extremism becomes an evolutionary dead end. They are so far from the center they are destined to wither. Until then, the fox is in the henhouse and no chicken is safe.
And right wing America does not believe in evolution; their kind has evolved. Extremism becomes an evolutionary dead end. They are so far from the center they are destined to wither. Until then, the fox is in the henhouse and no chicken is safe.
1
An aspect of this increasingly broad acceptance of alternative reality is how it is turning a large percentage of Americans brains into mush. If you buy into Jones et al., then you have abdicated critical thinking (in the traditional sense of that phrase), and are losing your ability to discern fact from fiction. For this reason, I wouldn't hire an apostle of Alex Jones, regardless of their political bent. A great irony of the Make America Great Again campaign is that it is breeding a workforce incapable of higher thinking.
1
You said it all: "While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left,...". Exactly. The number of far-right conspiracy theorists-with-websites is in the hundreds. Breitbart and Infowars are just two of the more well-known such "outlets". Try to find analogues on the left. I don't know of any.
I understand that Ms. Kelly has a reputation for being quite a tough interviewer, and she held her own as a debate moderator, but if he has been successful enough to get the attention and thanks of Trump, Jones must seem legitimate to many people. If you could interview him, or have him debate someone from the far left (and crazy), his craziness might be more obvious.
The parents and relatives of children and adults who died horrific deaths at Sandy Hook have mobilized and put pressure on NBC not to give Jones a microphone. I agree with them. The number of gullible people willing to believe something as idiotic as "Sandy Hook was a performance by actors, no one really died" is scary. Allowing Jones to be interviewed by a mainstream media outlet (NBC) just adds to the ranks of 9/11 and Sandy Hook deniers. Jones does not deserve an interview of any kind. A documentary about him and other "deniers" is what NBC should be undertaking, not an interview.
I understand that Ms. Kelly has a reputation for being quite a tough interviewer, and she held her own as a debate moderator, but if he has been successful enough to get the attention and thanks of Trump, Jones must seem legitimate to many people. If you could interview him, or have him debate someone from the far left (and crazy), his craziness might be more obvious.
The parents and relatives of children and adults who died horrific deaths at Sandy Hook have mobilized and put pressure on NBC not to give Jones a microphone. I agree with them. The number of gullible people willing to believe something as idiotic as "Sandy Hook was a performance by actors, no one really died" is scary. Allowing Jones to be interviewed by a mainstream media outlet (NBC) just adds to the ranks of 9/11 and Sandy Hook deniers. Jones does not deserve an interview of any kind. A documentary about him and other "deniers" is what NBC should be undertaking, not an interview.
NO! If we watch it, the network will just program more of the same trash. DO NOT WATCH!
Jones and his ilk deserve the modern digital version of being run our of town on a rail. Tar and feathers are also merited. The notion that, to satisfy some feelings of guilt harbored by Charlie Sykes, I should hear Alex Jones, is rubbish, I've listened to hate speech from the 1930s archives, on contemporary radio (Ian Paisley), and on present day TV (Boehner, Gingrich, Norquist, King and King, Trump, McConnell, and Gowdy! I've seen and heard enough excerpts of Alex Jones's rants to know what he is. People like Sykes need to stop treating us like fools. We are not a jury to be sent back by a chagrined judge to check and argue the evidence again.
2
So if he's going to be given an opportunity to address a network audience, how about putting a real journalist on the job? Megyn Kelly will treat him like a celebrity.
President Obama once said that even if his guy didn't get in as president he didn't fear for the republic. I fear for the Republic for we may never recover from Trump.
1
Extremists are detrimental to society. The President of the United States has bought into Alex Jones' extremist rhetoric legitimizing bigotry, stupidity and hate. Alex Jones has a voice because people with philosophies similar to Donald Trump believe him to be speaking on their behalf. It is all sick, unpatriotic and bad for America. Thank you for calling them out.
35
I'll be very honest. I had never even heard of Alex Jones until he started to receive all of this constant media coverage. The media is partly responsible for promoting these people. If they would not give them air time and print coverage maybe they would go away. I will not be watching the interview on NBC tomorrow night as I have heard more then I care to.
The chasm between what passes for conservatism in this country and "the left" today is the extraordinary degree to which they differ on the use of facts versus fallacies to justify their ideologies.
38
By all means, let Mssr. Jones speak.
When everyone hears what he has to say, in an open forum, most will realize that his suit is empty, and that he is a farce.
However, denying him the right to speak amplifies his voice.
It's not good for the right or the left to deny speech.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
When everyone hears what he has to say, in an open forum, most will realize that his suit is empty, and that he is a farce.
However, denying him the right to speak amplifies his voice.
It's not good for the right or the left to deny speech.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left."
There have been radicals on the left.
People who did bombings during the Vietnam era, etc.
People with conspiratorial bent.
The man who shot at Republicans.
But the Right has to own its current "bombers" on their flank. And until, trusted, reputable voices of the more mainstream Right decry the Alex Jones types with complete condemnation and revulsion AND shame their party's leader - Trump - the same way, then impressionable people may be lost to the madness.
We all know the anti-terror saying:
See something?
Say something.
See Trump call Alex Jones to thank him?
You better let everyone know why that stinks.
There have been radicals on the left.
People who did bombings during the Vietnam era, etc.
People with conspiratorial bent.
The man who shot at Republicans.
But the Right has to own its current "bombers" on their flank. And until, trusted, reputable voices of the more mainstream Right decry the Alex Jones types with complete condemnation and revulsion AND shame their party's leader - Trump - the same way, then impressionable people may be lost to the madness.
We all know the anti-terror saying:
See something?
Say something.
See Trump call Alex Jones to thank him?
You better let everyone know why that stinks.
We will never stomp out the likes of Alex Jones by keeping him in the closet to talk his nonsense to a select audience. His "thoughts" need to be exposed to the light of day. Alex Jones's thinking gains credence when we hide from it. His news is truly fake news. He needs to be taken down in public by reasonable people asking reasoned question about his obviously flawed thinking. Hiding his voice and persona has not destroyed his words and the harm they do. Maybe derision will.
Reading Hofstader as a college student in the 1960s made me realize that a lot of what transpires in politics--whatever the period of time, whatever the issue, and whatever the political ideology--is driven by paranoia glazed with fear.
I would like to think that the venomous wound we know as Alex Jones and his brand of paranoia will self-destruct, eventually. But bringing that about requires transparency and then knowledge before rationality emerges. This is where Ms. Kelly perform what I think is the civic duty required of everyone with the power to expose Jones' paranoia.
Rational minds cannot know what specifically to object to if they do not take the time to pinpoint the errors on his paranoia feeds. It mystifies me that some people with good instincts and fine intentions object to even seeing his idiocy exposed to a broad audience on the grounds that the idiot speaks idiocy and we need known nothing more of that. As trite as the analogy may sound to some, it is fundamental that, in any competition, including the competition to advance ideas and foster reason, you can't beat your opponent on the pitch if you don't watch your opponent play and listen to what the opponent says about the game he intends to play against you. This long, Socratic debate that results in democracy demands we pay attention and play the game against the most vicious and paranoia of opponents.
I would like to think that the venomous wound we know as Alex Jones and his brand of paranoia will self-destruct, eventually. But bringing that about requires transparency and then knowledge before rationality emerges. This is where Ms. Kelly perform what I think is the civic duty required of everyone with the power to expose Jones' paranoia.
Rational minds cannot know what specifically to object to if they do not take the time to pinpoint the errors on his paranoia feeds. It mystifies me that some people with good instincts and fine intentions object to even seeing his idiocy exposed to a broad audience on the grounds that the idiot speaks idiocy and we need known nothing more of that. As trite as the analogy may sound to some, it is fundamental that, in any competition, including the competition to advance ideas and foster reason, you can't beat your opponent on the pitch if you don't watch your opponent play and listen to what the opponent says about the game he intends to play against you. This long, Socratic debate that results in democracy demands we pay attention and play the game against the most vicious and paranoia of opponents.
Mr. Jones is another of the rather tiresome group of folks who live for attention. They take ridiculous positions -- either because they are not intellectually capable or because they have a pathological need for attention or because they derive some financial benefit from their exposure -- and then use their positions to garner public attention. This apparently fills in some need for verification, a need reflective of weak egos and poor social skills. Also, let's not forget the financial gains that propagating outrageous lies can produce.
Inflicting this man's nonsense on the parents of children who suffered the trauma of having a child murdered is completely without journalistic merit. To the extent that NBC or any other public venue afford time and attention to those with pathetic needs encourages those folks to make up more and more outrageous lies. NBC should be ashamed.
Inflicting this man's nonsense on the parents of children who suffered the trauma of having a child murdered is completely without journalistic merit. To the extent that NBC or any other public venue afford time and attention to those with pathetic needs encourages those folks to make up more and more outrageous lies. NBC should be ashamed.
Mr. Sykes may be correct about the importance of the interview, but it's naive to believe that discrediting Alex Jones is the primary goal of anyone involved in it.
Megyn Kelly wants ratings above all, and controversy is a ratings magnet. Vladimir Putin, her first interview on her NBC program, was clearly chosen more for his notoriety than for his value as a target for verbal dissection in the style that Ms Kelly practiced as a Fox interviewer. The interview was most notable for the opportunities she missed to pin Putin down.
Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox summed up the concern succinctly:
"There is no question that a sit-down with Putin ... is a get for Kelly in her big debut. But getting the U.S.’s biggest antagonist is meaningless if you simply go through the motions once he’s there."
If Ms Kelly takes the same approach with Mr. Jones, then all he has to do is seem reasonable in order to enhance his image with his followers--much as Donald Trump did with his address to Congress. If this is what happens, then Ms Kelly's interview will only have provided oxygen and credibility to Mr. Jones and his views, and that would be a disservice.
Megyn Kelly wants ratings above all, and controversy is a ratings magnet. Vladimir Putin, her first interview on her NBC program, was clearly chosen more for his notoriety than for his value as a target for verbal dissection in the style that Ms Kelly practiced as a Fox interviewer. The interview was most notable for the opportunities she missed to pin Putin down.
Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox summed up the concern succinctly:
"There is no question that a sit-down with Putin ... is a get for Kelly in her big debut. But getting the U.S.’s biggest antagonist is meaningless if you simply go through the motions once he’s there."
If Ms Kelly takes the same approach with Mr. Jones, then all he has to do is seem reasonable in order to enhance his image with his followers--much as Donald Trump did with his address to Congress. If this is what happens, then Ms Kelly's interview will only have provided oxygen and credibility to Mr. Jones and his views, and that would be a disservice.
1
Alex is one of those guys who never considers he should be careful of what he wishes for... because he just might get it. It's like people who daydream how great it would be to win the lottery. Then they win the lottery and they discover that even though the old problems are now settled they now have a whole lot of new - and much more expensive - problems.
The more we "allow" him to express his point of view, he exposes himself. The result will be a quick demise on the public stage. Go for it Mr. Jones....
You know, it strikes me that this polarisation is unique to the US (at least among mature democracies). For instance, in the recent UK election, there was a clear return to the main two parties, following some flirting with marginal parties on the right (UKIP), left (Green) and even centre (LibDem). There are strong feelings on all sides about the direction the UK should take, and on various key policy areas such as the NHS, education, housing and Brexit.
But in all the vox pops I've seen, and commentary/comments in various forums, I never get a sense that Tory supporters think Labour supporters are morally corrupt, evil, or vice versa. There are few people who are not exposed to both sides of the argument, because there is a fairness doctrine in place.
There just is not a sense that people are supporting the "other" party because they are bad, immoral or destructive. They may well be seen as stupid, but that isn't a moral matter.
And of course the UK's gun laws are tight which makes it less likely there'll be a massacre by someone who takes exception to someone else's policies.
I think this is because there is no fairness rule in the US, so that you can get all your news from a totally biased source if you want to. Do others agree or is there more to why the US is unique in this regard?
But in all the vox pops I've seen, and commentary/comments in various forums, I never get a sense that Tory supporters think Labour supporters are morally corrupt, evil, or vice versa. There are few people who are not exposed to both sides of the argument, because there is a fairness doctrine in place.
There just is not a sense that people are supporting the "other" party because they are bad, immoral or destructive. They may well be seen as stupid, but that isn't a moral matter.
And of course the UK's gun laws are tight which makes it less likely there'll be a massacre by someone who takes exception to someone else's policies.
I think this is because there is no fairness rule in the US, so that you can get all your news from a totally biased source if you want to. Do others agree or is there more to why the US is unique in this regard?
1
The First Amendment is still valid law in the US. It guarantees Jones the right to be heard and NBC the right to give him the soap box. If the prospect of watching the Jones interview bothers anyone then those people should not watch.
Pretty simple really.
Pretty simple really.
I have listened to several of Jones' shows with an open mind. I came away with this - Anything that comes out of his mouth that sounds remotely rational it's purely by accident.
1
The writer may be correct about the importance of the interview, but it's naive to believe that discrediting Alex Jones is the primary goal of anyone involved in it.
Megyn Kelly wants ratings above all, and controversy is a ratings magnet. Vladimir Putin, her first interview on her NBC program, was clearly chosen more for his notoriety than for his value as a target for verbal dissection in the style that Ms Kelly practiced as a Fox interviewer. The interview was most notable for the opportunities she missed to pin Putin down.
Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox summed up the concern succinctly:
"There is no question that a sit-down with Putin ... is a get for Kelly in her big debut. But getting the U.S.’s biggest antagonist is meaningless if you simply go through the motions once he’s there."
If Ms Kelly takes the same approach with Mr. Jones, then all he has to do is seem reasonable in order to enhance his image with his followers--much as Donald Trump did with his address to Congress. If this is what happens, then Ms Kelly's interview will only have provided oxygen and credibility to Mr. Jones and his views, and that would be a shameful thing to do.
Megyn Kelly wants ratings above all, and controversy is a ratings magnet. Vladimir Putin, her first interview on her NBC program, was clearly chosen more for his notoriety than for his value as a target for verbal dissection in the style that Ms Kelly practiced as a Fox interviewer. The interview was most notable for the opportunities she missed to pin Putin down.
Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox summed up the concern succinctly:
"There is no question that a sit-down with Putin ... is a get for Kelly in her big debut. But getting the U.S.’s biggest antagonist is meaningless if you simply go through the motions once he’s there."
If Ms Kelly takes the same approach with Mr. Jones, then all he has to do is seem reasonable in order to enhance his image with his followers--much as Donald Trump did with his address to Congress. If this is what happens, then Ms Kelly's interview will only have provided oxygen and credibility to Mr. Jones and his views, and that would be a shameful thing to do.
I strongly disagree. Giving this mentally-ill, paranoid, narcissist significant air time on a major network only magnifies his reach and influence.
He is undeserving, and the argument he is newsworthy is disingenuous at best. A big misstep for Ms. Kelly. She needs to understand that ignorance at Fox news is expected and applauded. The rest of the country has brains in their heads.
He is undeserving, and the argument he is newsworthy is disingenuous at best. A big misstep for Ms. Kelly. She needs to understand that ignorance at Fox news is expected and applauded. The rest of the country has brains in their heads.
1
Alex Jones is a performance artist much like Donald J. Trump. He has the right to speak his mind but many people who listen to him do not realize it's an act geared to getting reactions.
The danger in listening to Mr. Jones is that he inspires the worst instincts in people and some people may decide to act on his rhetoric to do harm to their fellow citizens. The great thing about democracy and America is our freedom to express our opinions and to have open debate. Lies are lies just because you have the freedom to spout them should not make it acceptable nor in any way normal in a civilized society.
If Megan Kelly is acting as a journalist and not a ratings grabber for NBC as an on air celebrity she then has an obligation to call out Mr. Jones on his lies during her interview or run the risk of just doing it for ratings. I suppose we will see. Originality in network TV programming has never been a strong competency hence I wonder if this is the start of a trend to have "nut jobs" doing interviews with network news stars.
The danger in listening to Mr. Jones is that he inspires the worst instincts in people and some people may decide to act on his rhetoric to do harm to their fellow citizens. The great thing about democracy and America is our freedom to express our opinions and to have open debate. Lies are lies just because you have the freedom to spout them should not make it acceptable nor in any way normal in a civilized society.
If Megan Kelly is acting as a journalist and not a ratings grabber for NBC as an on air celebrity she then has an obligation to call out Mr. Jones on his lies during her interview or run the risk of just doing it for ratings. I suppose we will see. Originality in network TV programming has never been a strong competency hence I wonder if this is the start of a trend to have "nut jobs" doing interviews with network news stars.
I think it was a pretty good idea to expose his rants and raves. This is in the tradition of the early 60 minutes when Mike Wallace was in his prime. I wish them well and maybe a little gotcha journalism will be good for a change.
I agree, BUT, big BUT . . . the questions should be like football tackles. Nothing easy. Every question another fact filled assault.
Do we expose this fringe extremist? In doing so, do we legitimize the alt-right? I say, let's give Mr. Jones the limelight. It comes down to how Ms. Megyn handles the interview. Will she be a broadcast journalist and probe for answers in an unbiased way? Or will she hand over the mic to this ranging lunatic? We shall see.
Also, another development that's unfortunate for our democracy is how advertisers are responding to events such as this. Major corporate sponsors are now pulling their ad dollars from programs/people they feel might have a dangerous influence on the American public. Please let's not let sponsors dictate what is and is not broadcast worthy.
Finally as a proud Democrat, I think it's time we defined "liberal" and "progressive." I am a progressive Democrat, meaning I embrace equal rights for all Americans, believe in climate change and protecting our environment, and strive for a smart government. As a progressive, we are willing to try new things for the betterment of society. A liberal Democrat is a Hilary Democrat who does not want to change any government-subsidized programs, believes in handouts for all, and views all corporations as the enemy.
I really do believe there is an opportunity for progressive Democrats and moderate Republicans to join together to form a new party.
NYT readers - what is a liberal and progressive Democrat? Are they pretty much the same animal or are there stark differences? Perhaps we start here.
Also, another development that's unfortunate for our democracy is how advertisers are responding to events such as this. Major corporate sponsors are now pulling their ad dollars from programs/people they feel might have a dangerous influence on the American public. Please let's not let sponsors dictate what is and is not broadcast worthy.
Finally as a proud Democrat, I think it's time we defined "liberal" and "progressive." I am a progressive Democrat, meaning I embrace equal rights for all Americans, believe in climate change and protecting our environment, and strive for a smart government. As a progressive, we are willing to try new things for the betterment of society. A liberal Democrat is a Hilary Democrat who does not want to change any government-subsidized programs, believes in handouts for all, and views all corporations as the enemy.
I really do believe there is an opportunity for progressive Democrats and moderate Republicans to join together to form a new party.
NYT readers - what is a liberal and progressive Democrat? Are they pretty much the same animal or are there stark differences? Perhaps we start here.
1
The crazies have been around for awhile. Rush Limbaugh being one of my favorites. The problem appears that their numbers are increasing exponentially as well as their audience. Not a good sign for our democracy!
All I can think of is the observation by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis: "Sunlight is the best disinfectant." Bring Jones and his sick and twisted opinions into wider scrutiny so we can see them for what they are.
Pretending that he and his ilk don't exist only makes the problem worse.
Pretending that he and his ilk don't exist only makes the problem worse.
I disagree with the writer.
The way to expose Alex Jones is to do a piece about him, not give him the floor.
It's called "investigative journalism," and it goes way beyond granting interviews to bigoted lunatics.
When his supporters see him on national television, they aren't going to suddenly get that he is crazy. They'll see it as a victory for his delusional rantings. He'll have made the big time.
The decision to have him as a guest was not to tear down an odious hate-monger, but to boost ratings.
Shame on NBC.
The way to expose Alex Jones is to do a piece about him, not give him the floor.
It's called "investigative journalism," and it goes way beyond granting interviews to bigoted lunatics.
When his supporters see him on national television, they aren't going to suddenly get that he is crazy. They'll see it as a victory for his delusional rantings. He'll have made the big time.
The decision to have him as a guest was not to tear down an odious hate-monger, but to boost ratings.
Shame on NBC.
1
I remember back to when Spiro Agnew referred to the left as "nattering nabobs". At the time, Nixon was starting the modern sorting of voters away from the New Deal by getting unionized workers to put on their hard hats and start pounding on students and other radicals in the streets. As a child, my parents were concerned about internal subversion by commies according to the alcohol juiced rantings of Joe McCarthy.
Since the Great Depression, the GOP grated at their seemingly permanent status of minority party. The solution it seemed was to promote anger, fear, suspicion. Even if threats started as external, they took us over like the perfect allegory of the Body Snatchers. You had to be vigilant watching out for pod people. Manning the garrisons, nothing less than civilization was at stake. Our flag was the patriotic talisman to ward off all evil. I am right and true, the keeper of all that is sacred. You are a disease upon the body.
That worked as Reagan then separated the fragile middle class from the government, which no one saw as guaranteeing the existence of that middle class. Now we are besieged by the paranoid rantings of millions of citizens who propelled their own economic fall from grace, but who, addicted to their own adrenaline, know no other way. Stuck in a rut that requires more of the drug. Not knowing how to be healthy citizens once again. All financed by moneyed elites who still get an electoral bang for the buck, not caring about the long-term damage.
Since the Great Depression, the GOP grated at their seemingly permanent status of minority party. The solution it seemed was to promote anger, fear, suspicion. Even if threats started as external, they took us over like the perfect allegory of the Body Snatchers. You had to be vigilant watching out for pod people. Manning the garrisons, nothing less than civilization was at stake. Our flag was the patriotic talisman to ward off all evil. I am right and true, the keeper of all that is sacred. You are a disease upon the body.
That worked as Reagan then separated the fragile middle class from the government, which no one saw as guaranteeing the existence of that middle class. Now we are besieged by the paranoid rantings of millions of citizens who propelled their own economic fall from grace, but who, addicted to their own adrenaline, know no other way. Stuck in a rut that requires more of the drug. Not knowing how to be healthy citizens once again. All financed by moneyed elites who still get an electoral bang for the buck, not caring about the long-term damage.
Yes, Mr. Sykes, Alex Jones needs to be exposed.
But is Megyn Kelly the right tool to do so? She rode a groundswell of support based on the first Republican debate. But that was in a crowd and at a distance. Her fawning one on one interview with Trump subsequently makes me very wary of her courage and integrity.
If she can expose Jones as a dishonest, dangerous man, I would be happy. My fear is that no matter how stupid she makes him look, his followers will again play the whining victim card and disbelieve what they see.
Mr. Sykes, I fear this is neither the right venue, nor the right interlocutor to take Jones down. If Kelly fails at the task, it will only serve to embolden Jones and his deranged followers, including the President.
But is Megyn Kelly the right tool to do so? She rode a groundswell of support based on the first Republican debate. But that was in a crowd and at a distance. Her fawning one on one interview with Trump subsequently makes me very wary of her courage and integrity.
If she can expose Jones as a dishonest, dangerous man, I would be happy. My fear is that no matter how stupid she makes him look, his followers will again play the whining victim card and disbelieve what they see.
Mr. Sykes, I fear this is neither the right venue, nor the right interlocutor to take Jones down. If Kelly fails at the task, it will only serve to embolden Jones and his deranged followers, including the President.
2
There is worry that Ms. Kelly's Alex Jones interview Sunday evening will be too soft.
A lot will have to do with her follow-up questions after she confronts him with his conspiracy lies.
The measure of a true journalist is how they follow-up to their subject's response to their initial tough question. Let's hope Ms. Kelly doesn't let Mr. Jones off the hook like she did Vladimir Putin.
A lot will have to do with her follow-up questions after she confronts him with his conspiracy lies.
The measure of a true journalist is how they follow-up to their subject's response to their initial tough question. Let's hope Ms. Kelly doesn't let Mr. Jones off the hook like she did Vladimir Putin.
Alex Jones is not the disease; he's a symptom. He's not the cause; he's an outcome. People believe what affirms their biases. Jones is a parasite, feeding on the fear, hate and paranoia of the alt-right. He didn't create it, but he validates and foments it.
Is he dangerous? I certainly think so. Is a tv interview going to change anyone's opinion of him? I doubt it. People already either think he's a nut job or a prophet, and that will be confirmed. I don't expect it to win converts to his delusional world--anyone of that ilk already knows him and will celebrate his "acceptance" by the fake media. We who see him for what he is are not going to decide he's wise after all. And those who have never heard of him are unlikely to have their worldview changed by an interview.
From my perspective, there is no viable reason, other than ratings, for NBC to give him airtime. It's only going to aggravate existing animosity. Their transparent rationalizations are contemptible. And on Father's Day? Beyond contemptible.
Is he dangerous? I certainly think so. Is a tv interview going to change anyone's opinion of him? I doubt it. People already either think he's a nut job or a prophet, and that will be confirmed. I don't expect it to win converts to his delusional world--anyone of that ilk already knows him and will celebrate his "acceptance" by the fake media. We who see him for what he is are not going to decide he's wise after all. And those who have never heard of him are unlikely to have their worldview changed by an interview.
From my perspective, there is no viable reason, other than ratings, for NBC to give him airtime. It's only going to aggravate existing animosity. Their transparent rationalizations are contemptible. And on Father's Day? Beyond contemptible.
Sir, I see many cases where those writing articles have a unique talent but their talent is in writing. It is not in ferreting out the truth. That is where others need to enter the fray. In most cases they do but there examples where the truth is lost in the shuffle. This leads us to examples like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, FBI entrapment of innocent people, many attempts to kill Castro, the 2nd Iraq war, Multiple coups to take over central American countries etc.
Then you start your article by referencing the events of 9/11 where multiple experts have looked with disbelief at the events of that day.
As long as the members of the government investigation team have stated that the investigation itself was flawed i have a real problem falling in line to believe the party line. Simply put i have been led astray too many times in the past.
The simple truth is there are many questions about 9/11 that continue to go unanswered. Please tell it as it is.
Then you start your article by referencing the events of 9/11 where multiple experts have looked with disbelief at the events of that day.
As long as the members of the government investigation team have stated that the investigation itself was flawed i have a real problem falling in line to believe the party line. Simply put i have been led astray too many times in the past.
The simple truth is there are many questions about 9/11 that continue to go unanswered. Please tell it as it is.
1
Fair and balanced - it's laughable that Fox used this slogan for so long. Now that they've abandoned it I hope this does one day apply to the mainstream media. Our society's media problem is that too many are only reading alt-right or alt-left viewpoints. Alex Jones disgusts me. It galls me that NBC is looking to make ratings hay by giving him airtime on Sunday night. But it's important that liberals read/listen/understand the views of conservatives, and vice versa.
AJ provides fake news at its finest, foulest, and at the source. Trump demands and promotes the falsity, and when he's wrong will always blame someone else for providing the incorrect information. Jones helps promote a circle of illusions.
1
I respect and admire Charlie Sykes.
However, I am angry with NBC, have lost respect for NBC, and will never watch Megyn Kelly's program...ever.
Since NBC betrayed long-time star Tamron Hall (becoming #nbcsowhite), I have lost faith in that network. I will continue to watch MSNBC as necessary viewing from 7 to 11 nightly (while ignoring MSNBC's earlier evening conservative hires). NBC is making wrong decisions and will lose viewers. At least this one.
NBC owes a huge apology to the entire town of Newtown, CT. It's' not too late to do the right thing, Andy Lack, to show some decency and courage.
However, I am angry with NBC, have lost respect for NBC, and will never watch Megyn Kelly's program...ever.
Since NBC betrayed long-time star Tamron Hall (becoming #nbcsowhite), I have lost faith in that network. I will continue to watch MSNBC as necessary viewing from 7 to 11 nightly (while ignoring MSNBC's earlier evening conservative hires). NBC is making wrong decisions and will lose viewers. At least this one.
NBC owes a huge apology to the entire town of Newtown, CT. It's' not too late to do the right thing, Andy Lack, to show some decency and courage.
Spewing disgusting, hurtful lies seems to be the way to get famous in the age of soical media. These people are a direct challenge to the First Amendment. Like Trump, truth and facts are are beside the point; all they want is attention, positive, negative, it doesn't matter. All eyes on them. Maybe we should have a rating system to distinguish news from entertainment for haters.
No one is discouraging an expose of the crackpot delusions of Alex Jones, nor do I know of anyone who wouldn't welcome an in-depth analysis of the growth and appeal of other conspiracy minded websites that are frequented by the extremes of both the democratic and republican paety (thought let's be honest, mostly it's the political right that flirts with this stuff). The objection is to the actual granting of airtime to Jones himself. No matter how it's framed or contextualized, giving a platform to spew his nonsense serves to legitimize his positions. If one argues that he needs to be heard, on record, saying these crazy things, in order to prove is in fact dangerous, well, there is no shortage of video of him rolling his eyes, sputtering, turning red in the face and stating things that no reasonable person would ever believe. Use that instead. Giving him rebuttal time is a false equivalency.
He's not a person with legitimate political positions, he's a dangerous clown.
He's not a person with legitimate political positions, he's a dangerous clown.
After the '60s and Vietnam, media, print and electronic, began being bought up by wealthy people on the Right. By the time Dan Rather was forced to resign for pressing a story about G.H.W. Bush it was done. Before then, with the eliminating of the Fairness Doctrine Public Media was "fair game." Thus Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and eventually, Alex Jones.
Mr. Sykes using the example of William F. Buckley squashing the John Birch Society is a forlorn echo of a bygone era. We're way past that kind of thing even registering on a mayfly news cycle now. It was just 18 or so months ago that Les Moonves, drooling, declared that Trump, although he perhaps would not be good for America, was very good for CBS. And so it has been.
Charles Koch and his father were members and supporters of the aforementioned John Birch Society. Somebody is supplying the money that pays for InfoWars and Alex Jones. Rupert Murdoch started and long maintained Fox News. This kind of thing doesn't just happen. Somebody is making money off it and profiting from the chaos and evil that it spawns. I don't know if it's now too late to prevent a real disaster for America but it may be.
Mr. Sykes using the example of William F. Buckley squashing the John Birch Society is a forlorn echo of a bygone era. We're way past that kind of thing even registering on a mayfly news cycle now. It was just 18 or so months ago that Les Moonves, drooling, declared that Trump, although he perhaps would not be good for America, was very good for CBS. And so it has been.
Charles Koch and his father were members and supporters of the aforementioned John Birch Society. Somebody is supplying the money that pays for InfoWars and Alex Jones. Rupert Murdoch started and long maintained Fox News. This kind of thing doesn't just happen. Somebody is making money off it and profiting from the chaos and evil that it spawns. I don't know if it's now too late to prevent a real disaster for America but it may be.
I will not watch this. Time is the only thing we cannot recover once it is gone, and life is too short.
3
Charlie- I listened to your radio show semi-regularly. While often intelligent and insightful, it was just as often cruel and misleading, especially post election 2008. You made a name for yourself using many of the same tactics Mr. Jones uses. Vitriol & "war" metaphors (which I heard regularly) sell and made money for you & your former employer.
While I am heartened to see you may have come to realize the damage done by these tactics and the "Danger" of ignoring it, we in WI are still reeling from your perhaps misunderstood rhetoric that pushed many in your core audience into Infowar and the like believers.
The microphone at a 50,000 watt AM radio station is a powerful thing. We must be careful to remember microphone belongs to all of us and should not be abused or used only for profit.
While I am heartened to see you may have come to realize the damage done by these tactics and the "Danger" of ignoring it, we in WI are still reeling from your perhaps misunderstood rhetoric that pushed many in your core audience into Infowar and the like believers.
The microphone at a 50,000 watt AM radio station is a powerful thing. We must be careful to remember microphone belongs to all of us and should not be abused or used only for profit.
"With our thoughts we make the world."--Buddha
Thus, lets spread more higher order thinking, more healing, wisdom, love, acceptance. As Gandhi once stated, "I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet."
Thus, lets spread more higher order thinking, more healing, wisdom, love, acceptance. As Gandhi once stated, "I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet."
2
Exposure of Mr. Jones' thoughts is the best way of having the sunshine dispel them. It is only because Mr. Trump and his conservative colleagues seem to find the Jones' ideas are close to or the same as their own that he gets attention from the Koch controlled media. What is impressive about Mr. Jones' ideas is how fast they are taken to the bosoms of such notable figures as the Trump admirers who are otherwise often considered more or less reasonable when they actually are dyed in the wool Mr. Jones odd types.
Nothing gives me more concern for the future of our democracy than the way these radio charlatans have been able to monetize their hateful creations.
I agree that we need to challenge these guys more directly. I just hope Kelly will do that instead of just giving him more exposure. I'm betting he gets a hard time.
I agree that we need to challenge these guys more directly. I just hope Kelly will do that instead of just giving him more exposure. I'm betting he gets a hard time.
I don't agree with you at all. "Hearing" him in ANY setting will NOT change the opinion of anyone. He already has a forum--let anyone who thinks they "should" find out anything about him, tune in to his program. His supporters will be thrilled and emboldened by seeing him on NBC. His detractors will only be heard by each other.
I think the most important people in this situation -- the parents of the Sandy Hook victims -- are being unconscionably disrespected and in my opinion their wishes are the only ones that should matter. They've been tortured by Alex Jones and his ilk -- shame on everyone who gives him an even wider audience.
As far as his influence on the potus goes--really?
I think the most important people in this situation -- the parents of the Sandy Hook victims -- are being unconscionably disrespected and in my opinion their wishes are the only ones that should matter. They've been tortured by Alex Jones and his ilk -- shame on everyone who gives him an even wider audience.
As far as his influence on the potus goes--really?
2
Watching on mute and copying down the advertisers and then making sure that my friends know not to buy their products. Seems like that is the only way to affect change in America. Through the pocketbook.
1
I'm not sure that giving Alex Jones a platform in order to confront and expose him is going to achieve anything other than affording him the publicity and exposure he needs and craves. People who believe him will continue to believe him, and you will reinforce that. As for people who aren't familiar with him, but are prone to belief in such far-fetched and apocalyptic rhetoric, you might just be adding them to his fan base, thereby increasing his numbers. I'm not even sure Alex Jones really believes what he propounds, which might make him even more dangerous than he is. But if November's election has proved anything at all, it's that large numbers of people are willing to believe the most irrational and implausible things without a jot of evidence. And as we all know, the consequences can be catastrophic. You do not spread a deadly virus in order to fight and contain it.
Agree! Check a CNN Money article with NBC and other network execs. They saw Megan Kelly as a superstar who would be instantly accepted. They did not think she was a cable news host superstar on a controversial cable news network. The interview should happen but with a more credible interviewer. The issue is who should interview Jones. I vote not for the William Hurt character in 'Broadcast News,' but his producer, the Holly Hunter character. Hurt's character was a pretty shell. Hunter's had established credibility. Sandy Hook parents could have waited to watch the interview with trust, not stress. Or maybe it could have been the William Holden character from "Network," but only in the last act.
Giving Jones a platform like a television interview on a network normalizes his vitriol, giving the impression that it has merit.
This is a shameless ratings grab, and it's a despicable move on NBC's and Kelly's part, as well as the corporate sponsors. The ONLY good reason to shine light on roaches like Jones is so they can be skewered with the ridicule they so richly deserve.
This is a shameless ratings grab, and it's a despicable move on NBC's and Kelly's part, as well as the corporate sponsors. The ONLY good reason to shine light on roaches like Jones is so they can be skewered with the ridicule they so richly deserve.
4
I quite agree with Mr. Sykes. This kind of lunacy has the most power when it echoes in the dark and plays with people's fears and prejudices. Exposed to the light and fact, Mr. Jones would be credible only to a small group of deeply disturbed Americans.
The most troubling part of this phenomenon is that the republican party will use whatever tool, and Mr. Jones is a tool, effective to maintain power over democrats without regard to the impact on this country. Duty and loyalty to country first has gone the way of common sense. It has disappeared.
The most troubling part of this phenomenon is that the republican party will use whatever tool, and Mr. Jones is a tool, effective to maintain power over democrats without regard to the impact on this country. Duty and loyalty to country first has gone the way of common sense. It has disappeared.
37
It is imperative to challenge falsehoods. The Remain (in the EU) camp in the UK was so sure that common sense would prevail and the people would see through the lies of Brexit that they did not really fight the Brexit camp hard enough or denounce or call out their lies. So Brexit won - and it will be an economic calamity. That's what happens if you don't stand up and denounce liars.
It really doesn't matter much where Donald Trump gets his conspiracy theories from. What matters is that he traffics in them. Starting with the birther idiocy there is a thread through much of what Mr. Trump is vexed about that is paranoid nonsense, the only purpose of which is to denigrate his perceived enemies. It is not so much a problem that Mr. Jones and his ilk traffic in paranoid fantasies. But that Mr. Trump does is disturbing and dangerous. And that his voters believe these fantasies is even more dangerous.
I actually thought this was going to be a thoughtful (and insightful) piece; instead- we get:
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left." Say what? And what do those words mean?
If Alex Jones was earnestly interested in wanting the world outside of conspiracy mongering and hate-ranting (and yes,there will be others watching) to understand him and his message- he wouldn't have agreed to a sit down on Megyn Kelley's new roll-out . Why not grant an interview to a real journalist- say Ted Koppel? One who won't throw soft-ball questions with tepid followups. This is nothing but an *Event* crafted to boost Kelly in hopes she will be accepted as a credible Journalist and gives Jones more publicity than he could every have dreamed:
NBC has wagered heavily on this, but the dividends (I believe) will be quite sparse.
"While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch him, and also watch out to make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left." Say what? And what do those words mean?
If Alex Jones was earnestly interested in wanting the world outside of conspiracy mongering and hate-ranting (and yes,there will be others watching) to understand him and his message- he wouldn't have agreed to a sit down on Megyn Kelley's new roll-out . Why not grant an interview to a real journalist- say Ted Koppel? One who won't throw soft-ball questions with tepid followups. This is nothing but an *Event* crafted to boost Kelly in hopes she will be accepted as a credible Journalist and gives Jones more publicity than he could every have dreamed:
NBC has wagered heavily on this, but the dividends (I believe) will be quite sparse.
As abhorrent as it may be, Jones' paranoid raving is not the equivalent of "fire-in-a-crowded-theater" and it is thus constitutionally protected. Efforts to prevent Kelly's show from airing have succeeded here in CT, as the local affiliated has capitulated and will not air it. I put this in the same class as censorship on college campuses -- I understand the emotion, but that still doesn't make it right.
Perhaps if critical thinking as a truly essential core competency in and of itself is introduced and developed much earlier in life, individuals would be less apt to be brainwashed (radicalized) by propogandists on the left or the right. It seems that for the vast majority who are radicalized, whatever their culture and background, it is because existential needs and expectations essential to them are not being met. They buy into an ideology as much as they buy anything else, emotionally. Whether a political ideology, a religious ideology, or even the material ideology which our country thrives on, everyone is being sold something and making a decision whether to buy it. There are some fantastic sales people out there that can sell us anything, whether they truly believe in it or not, whether it is a political philosophy, a particular religious ideology, or a car. People buy because they have an unmet need and someone who is expert at emotionally playing on that need sells them their particular solution to that need. Just like buying a car or anything else, unless one is capable of critically thinking it through, and truly has the skills, discipline and emotional demeanor to do so, they may be sold the wrong or even destructive solution, whether by a car saleman or a propogandist.
1
Out of loyalty I will watch 60 Minutes. I can understand NBC wanting to hype the new show, but think about all those on the right who have never heard of Jones? They will love him no matter the shade Kelly throws on him. There is no difference here between airing Jones and his creepy thoughts and yelling fire in a crowded theater.
The clear and persistent reason that "inforwars" even exists is that there is an audience willing to not only tune in but to 'pay' for the privilege in one form or another. But what actually leads to people taking such a large step off the cliff? Isnt it that small steps are being built towards the edge that are semi-reasonable or at least are peddled as such? Isnt it the tone and innuendo with a near dearth of facts so prevalent in some media that are clearly meant to spin and influence rather than to factually inform? Few will jump off the cliff with Alex Jones, but you better understand why so many are standing on the ledge.
Alex Jones is a dangerous person. He is not insane. He knows that what he is saying is false. He is out to make a buck and he has found a gold mine in undisciplined minds. How do we put the Genie back in the bottle? It may be an impossible task.
59
You put it back in the bottle, or under the rock, by standing up to it and calling it out for what it is. Had Trump and other repubs of standing done this to jones, breitbart, etal, this admin might have gotten off in better repute. But instead weve seen dissembling, looking the other way, mealy mouthed excuses from our conservative "leaders".
Not true, actually. He believes exactly what he says - as insane as it is - minus the quack health remedies and survivalist gear he hocks so as to sidestep any attempt to silence him by withdrawing advertisers or anything.
I followed him extensively in 2016, in part to make sure there would be no asymmetric civil war, incited in part by him, following a narrow Clinton victory disputed as fraudulent by Trump - which I believed to be the most likely outcome. Jones is exactly who he says he is, hewing to the same "New World Order" conspiracy theory throughout his career, which predates 9/11. The 9/11 attacks and trutherism were his first step up to some sort of viewership, and he has kept rising since.
He moved into popularity as the paranoid style in American politics took over the right in the last few years. Nobody has been more surprised by his rocketing to millions of viewers - not too far from Fox, on par with CNN, slightly ahead of MSNBC - as he is, as he says repeatedly.
The sincerity of his insanity draws people to him. Trump was able to use Jones' viewership - complete with regular Trump appearances on the show - as a crucial component of his strategy to win the GOP primaries and then the election. Paranoid conspiracy theorists didn't used to vote - but this time, they turned out in force.
What attracts Jones to Trump? Because Trump was clearly "not supposed to happen". The "NWO" clearly did not approve of him. And he has the same paranoid style. 2 peas in a pod...
I followed him extensively in 2016, in part to make sure there would be no asymmetric civil war, incited in part by him, following a narrow Clinton victory disputed as fraudulent by Trump - which I believed to be the most likely outcome. Jones is exactly who he says he is, hewing to the same "New World Order" conspiracy theory throughout his career, which predates 9/11. The 9/11 attacks and trutherism were his first step up to some sort of viewership, and he has kept rising since.
He moved into popularity as the paranoid style in American politics took over the right in the last few years. Nobody has been more surprised by his rocketing to millions of viewers - not too far from Fox, on par with CNN, slightly ahead of MSNBC - as he is, as he says repeatedly.
The sincerity of his insanity draws people to him. Trump was able to use Jones' viewership - complete with regular Trump appearances on the show - as a crucial component of his strategy to win the GOP primaries and then the election. Paranoid conspiracy theorists didn't used to vote - but this time, they turned out in force.
What attracts Jones to Trump? Because Trump was clearly "not supposed to happen". The "NWO" clearly did not approve of him. And he has the same paranoid style. 2 peas in a pod...
Jones has used up plenty of air time, and there are few who don't know of him. It isn't necessary for NBC to run an "awareness" tutorial so that we all may know more. Enough already.
There's a Catch 22 in Megan Kelly interviewing Alex Jones. I have confidence she'lll challenge him on his wildly unsubstantiated conspiracy views, but like Bill O'Reilly, and Rush, their commitment to ideology is based on the audience they've manipulated. As with O'Reilly when he appeared on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, he projected himself to be the voice of reason for the working class. Jones plays to the freakish conspirators, but that's his game. I'm guessing he's going to fair well with Kelly, and indeed, his exposure to the broad public won't hurt or expand his brand.
Charles, by putting Alex Jones up front and center you assume all viewers will be offended by his hateful ignorance, oblivious to those who will have their own fueled by it.
The rants of Alex Jones serve no useful purpose to society. Perhaps denied attention as a child, he now feels society owes it to him. We owe him nothing.
The rants of Alex Jones serve no useful purpose to society. Perhaps denied attention as a child, he now feels society owes it to him. We owe him nothing.
1
It's one thing to ignore Alex Jones. It's another to be like Megan Kelly and promise to go easy on him in the interview, rather than expose him.
If Alex Jones is treated professionally - for example, exposed by a team from Frontlinw - all well and good. Some have suggested that Megan Killy's years as a news babe at Fox, which during her time promoted a variety of conspiracy theories, may not have properly prepared her for this task. I am willing to see
if she will actually do this as a serious journalist should. If she does, great. If she does not, I think there will never be any need to watch her in the future.
if she will actually do this as a serious journalist should. If she does, great. If she does not, I think there will never be any need to watch her in the future.
Louis Brandeis's comment about sunshine seems appropriate. Rather than attract people to his cause, Alex Jones is more likely to make conservative-leaning moderates recoil in loathing. Speculating about Megyn Kelly is pointless; we'll see how she fares tomorrow. While I respect and admire Nelba L. Márquez-Greene's article, and would give anything for grieving families to be spared additional suffering, I believe the best hope for them is for us to confront the liars and maniacs who insult them and assault our values, not to run away and pretend they don't exist.
I agree with Mr. Sykes on that point, however, I don't agree there is a "fringe world on the left." Where is this world? Where are the Left militias? Where are the Left survivalists? The Left prison gangs? The Left standoffs with government agents? Yes, there are plenty of people across the political spectrum infuriated by Trump & Co, but, most of us are acutely aware of the dire ramifications of violence, such as Oskar Eustis brilliantly demonstrates in his Public Theater production of Julius Caesar -- not to mention the ever-present Law of Unintended Consequences. Not only does Alex Jones not have an "exact analogue on the Left" -- he is a useless tool -- but the threat he represents to our democracy has no analogue on the Left. Driving home that fact -- and letting Alex Jones expose and humiliate himself and the trolls who get off on his perversity is a service the mainstream media can provide.
I agree with Mr. Sykes on that point, however, I don't agree there is a "fringe world on the left." Where is this world? Where are the Left militias? Where are the Left survivalists? The Left prison gangs? The Left standoffs with government agents? Yes, there are plenty of people across the political spectrum infuriated by Trump & Co, but, most of us are acutely aware of the dire ramifications of violence, such as Oskar Eustis brilliantly demonstrates in his Public Theater production of Julius Caesar -- not to mention the ever-present Law of Unintended Consequences. Not only does Alex Jones not have an "exact analogue on the Left" -- he is a useless tool -- but the threat he represents to our democracy has no analogue on the Left. Driving home that fact -- and letting Alex Jones expose and humiliate himself and the trolls who get off on his perversity is a service the mainstream media can provide.
No can do. Alex Jones has gotten enough coverage and exposure for his hateful ideas. To continue to give him a platform in today's social and regular media world is to give validation to his dishonesty and despicable behavior.
Some people need to be left in their corner and shunned to show them they are not acceptable in any way as long as they continue to spew this vile stuff.
Some people need to be left in their corner and shunned to show them they are not acceptable in any way as long as they continue to spew this vile stuff.
52
This article, like Megyn Kelly's myopic money grab of an interview, almost completely misses the point, and a prime opportunity to exercise responsible journalism. In Jones' recent trial for the custody of his child, his attorney clarified that Jones' aberrant behavior is an ACT. Alex Jones is a PERFORMER.
This is the story. In fact, this is the ONLY story. If this is true, then Megyn (and the NYT) needs to ASK him so. If he says "no," then his wife is justified in stating that he is volatile and dangerous, and shouldn't have custody of his child.
If he admits that he is playing a character, then his followers should KNOW, as should the rest of the country. He should be put in the position where he needs to choose.
Otherwise, the media is covering professional wrestling as if it was the Olympic trials. And you miss the story completely
This is the story. In fact, this is the ONLY story. If this is true, then Megyn (and the NYT) needs to ASK him so. If he says "no," then his wife is justified in stating that he is volatile and dangerous, and shouldn't have custody of his child.
If he admits that he is playing a character, then his followers should KNOW, as should the rest of the country. He should be put in the position where he needs to choose.
Otherwise, the media is covering professional wrestling as if it was the Olympic trials. And you miss the story completely
11
Alex Jones is what you get after the collapse of the liberal class, as Hedges describes, leaves a vacuum, and the working class is left exposed and defenseless to the depradations of the ruling, globalist class. Sacrificed under the iron wheels of capital, these forgotten, discarded Americans, have awakened, and will follow the voices that promise to alleviate their plight. The discredited liberal media will never regain their trust. The fragmented landscape created by the internet will keep opposing groups isolated in their ideological silos. Figures like Alex Jones, Savage, Levin, Limbaugh, et al, will not disappear because they are shunned by the (no longer) mainstream media; their numbers dwarf those of the self-appointed voices of reason. The crisis is real. Can the center hold?
4
If the center follows the principles of journalism, as listed by the American Press Institute, yes it can. If it continues to think it can spew pablum to the serfs, it will not hold, it will crumble into oblivion, and good riddance.
Speaking of principles of journalism, those sneaky Russians noticed how decadent the American press had become, so they inserted Russian Times, RT. None of this was a shady deal in a backroom, it is right out there in the open. They knew that a portion of the audience, unwilling to allow themselves to be turned into sheep, would appreciate someone at least attempting to uphold the principles of journalism. Would I take their word on events in Russia? No. Otherwise, they provide a check on the MSM. For Bernie supporters, search on "Redacted Tonight" and "primaries" for a substantive expose you won't find on MSM. Take your blood pressure medicine before you do.
Speaking of principles of journalism, those sneaky Russians noticed how decadent the American press had become, so they inserted Russian Times, RT. None of this was a shady deal in a backroom, it is right out there in the open. They knew that a portion of the audience, unwilling to allow themselves to be turned into sheep, would appreciate someone at least attempting to uphold the principles of journalism. Would I take their word on events in Russia? No. Otherwise, they provide a check on the MSM. For Bernie supporters, search on "Redacted Tonight" and "primaries" for a substantive expose you won't find on MSM. Take your blood pressure medicine before you do.
1
One can`t justify any morose with freedom of speech, ignoring idiots only leads them to collect themselves and give them a chance to become mainstream ....
2
Ignoring Jones is like ignoring a cavity. It may be unpleasant but keeping it from the light of day may allow it to fester. We now have to do the root canal equivalent to Trump because the case of the Jones he has is poisoning our whole system.
4
"I am increasingly concerned about the partisan grand canyon that is widening in the country. We are frustrated by the triumph of the idiots, they are enraged by a world in accelerated expansion that seems increasingly rigged against them and their way of life. Are those "idiotes" marching us
toward another civil war? After trump executive order allowing deranged folks and "idiotes" to buy bazookas, we sure have all the hardware we need for that..." This is what I wrote on June 12, 2 days before the shooting in response to the NYT paper on the meaning of "idiot". I was actually expecting the fringe right to do something like this, not a Bernie supporter. We can expect some kind of retaliation now and the blame should squarely be on the long standing gang of polarizers: McConnel, Limbaugh, Coulter, Beck, the FakesNews crew and of course the polarizer in chief: Donald J Trump.
toward another civil war? After trump executive order allowing deranged folks and "idiotes" to buy bazookas, we sure have all the hardware we need for that..." This is what I wrote on June 12, 2 days before the shooting in response to the NYT paper on the meaning of "idiot". I was actually expecting the fringe right to do something like this, not a Bernie supporter. We can expect some kind of retaliation now and the blame should squarely be on the long standing gang of polarizers: McConnel, Limbaugh, Coulter, Beck, the FakesNews crew and of course the polarizer in chief: Donald J Trump.
4
Piers Morgan interviewed Alex JOnes 01/17 and the interview was carried on CNN. He appeared to be a definte paranoid schizophrenic in the footage recorded of his fears in New York, as he frequently does on his Youtube site.Does he really need more exposure?
Kelly has promised him she will "normalize" his views of Sandy Hook. I doubt this is what America needs right now.
Kelly has promised him she will "normalize" his views of Sandy Hook. I doubt this is what America needs right now.
11
Nice column, Sykes, but there's no "there" there in any of it that I can see.
Confront Jones? How? As a practical matter.
Condemn him for claiming the Sandy Hook Massacre is a Deep State hoax, joining Bin Laden's September 11 Attack, or for promoting the nonsensical "Pizzagate" conspiracy, as it's now known?
OK. "Jones! I condemn you!". That did a heck of a lot.
Vandalize his car? Burn down his house?
Sue him? For what? What tort might he be guilty of? And how? His lies offend me greatly, but no competent judge would grant me standing to sue on that basis as much as he might agree with me, or be offended himself.
Telephone news producers, executives and presenters like Megyn Kelly to demand, beg, plead with them not to celebritize Jones by showcasing him in prime time? As if they don't already know the evil that will do. As if they will take my phone call in the first place ... .
Perhaps the climactic scene of "Inherit The Wind" is relevant. Atheist defense attorney Henry Drummond puts Bible Thumper Matthew Harrison Brady on the stand hoping to goad him into committing blasphemy so his gullible acolytes will desert him, and his cause.
Jones can spew as much garbage as his gut can process and his mouth can vent. It falls to the mass audience he targets to reject him and his lies. But for that to happen he must first tell them.
So the only person who can unplug Jones is Jones himself, by repelling the very people whom he hopes to attract.
I am repelled already.
Confront Jones? How? As a practical matter.
Condemn him for claiming the Sandy Hook Massacre is a Deep State hoax, joining Bin Laden's September 11 Attack, or for promoting the nonsensical "Pizzagate" conspiracy, as it's now known?
OK. "Jones! I condemn you!". That did a heck of a lot.
Vandalize his car? Burn down his house?
Sue him? For what? What tort might he be guilty of? And how? His lies offend me greatly, but no competent judge would grant me standing to sue on that basis as much as he might agree with me, or be offended himself.
Telephone news producers, executives and presenters like Megyn Kelly to demand, beg, plead with them not to celebritize Jones by showcasing him in prime time? As if they don't already know the evil that will do. As if they will take my phone call in the first place ... .
Perhaps the climactic scene of "Inherit The Wind" is relevant. Atheist defense attorney Henry Drummond puts Bible Thumper Matthew Harrison Brady on the stand hoping to goad him into committing blasphemy so his gullible acolytes will desert him, and his cause.
Jones can spew as much garbage as his gut can process and his mouth can vent. It falls to the mass audience he targets to reject him and his lies. But for that to happen he must first tell them.
So the only person who can unplug Jones is Jones himself, by repelling the very people whom he hopes to attract.
I am repelled already.
6
Megan Kelly is bringing Fox News to channel 9, giving an arena to people like Alexa Jones to spread his trash, and feed his rhetoric to those who take his nonsense at face value, rather than trying to find out factual news on their own.
4
"The dirty secret of many conservatives is that they never admit to actually reading Mr. Jones's ranting, but they also do not publicly denounce him."
So, when Hillary called a sliver of trump's followers "deplorables," the public denouncements were swift. When Jones, Limbaugh and other ranters put forth poisonous theories and opinions it's overlooked. This drives me nuts!
So, when Hillary called a sliver of trump's followers "deplorables," the public denouncements were swift. When Jones, Limbaugh and other ranters put forth poisonous theories and opinions it's overlooked. This drives me nuts!
4
Paranoia, the destroya'
I've heard the ranting on shortwave radio and listened for a few minutes in disbelief then shut it off. The man is really, really, really Out There.
It's really scary.
I've heard the ranting on shortwave radio and listened for a few minutes in disbelief then shut it off. The man is really, really, really Out There.
It's really scary.
2
Mr. Sykes, you represent the future and what Republicans used to be - principled.
I would resist the implication that Alex Jones is the victim of some sort of psychological delusion, e.g. "the paranoid style." While Hofstadter was exactly right, Mr. Jones knows exactly what he is doing. He is also hardly unique. Right-wing talk radio is engaged in a giant race to the bottom. At the bottom are dollars. This cycnical abuse of the First Amendment by self-styled patriots is nothing more than a grotesque game of one-ups-manship in which fringe blowhards compete to come up with the widest conspiracy theory. One of my favorites was when Glen Beck claimed Obaba had set up secret concentration camps on Long Island. The end-game is obvious. Say stupid stuff, attract listeners or clicks and then cash the checks. Lying for dollars. It is also very lucrative. Rush Limbaugh, the college rop-out junkie, has become a billionaire. All you need is a mouth a mic and no self-respect.
The challenge of exposing these idiots is enormous. Let's face it - anybody with any sense would not take these clowns serious in the first place.
Sorry, I just don't think we will see conservatives standing up to this idiot. DId they stand up to Trump when the stakes were higher?
I would resist the implication that Alex Jones is the victim of some sort of psychological delusion, e.g. "the paranoid style." While Hofstadter was exactly right, Mr. Jones knows exactly what he is doing. He is also hardly unique. Right-wing talk radio is engaged in a giant race to the bottom. At the bottom are dollars. This cycnical abuse of the First Amendment by self-styled patriots is nothing more than a grotesque game of one-ups-manship in which fringe blowhards compete to come up with the widest conspiracy theory. One of my favorites was when Glen Beck claimed Obaba had set up secret concentration camps on Long Island. The end-game is obvious. Say stupid stuff, attract listeners or clicks and then cash the checks. Lying for dollars. It is also very lucrative. Rush Limbaugh, the college rop-out junkie, has become a billionaire. All you need is a mouth a mic and no self-respect.
The challenge of exposing these idiots is enormous. Let's face it - anybody with any sense would not take these clowns serious in the first place.
Sorry, I just don't think we will see conservatives standing up to this idiot. DId they stand up to Trump when the stakes were higher?
3
Bill Maher invited Milo Yiannopoulos on his show. This guy, a slithering, caustic, toxic monster on the printed page, was revealed to be an insecure, sycophantic immature teen once he joined a group of normal people on television. I hope the same kind of personality exposure will happen with Alex Jones.
5
There have always been wackjobs like Alex Jones
Until now, there has never been a President who thinks like them.
That's what is scary about all of this.
5
Megyn Kelly's career at "Fake News" was just that. She was a pundit not a journalist. Interviewing Alex Jones is merely a ratings stunt that plays right into his hands and thus a waste of air time. Jones has already been exposed for what he is, an attention seeking slime. NBC is getting "played".
1
Guys like Alex Jones live and multiply in the dark. When brought out into the light we get to see them as they actually are. Back in the shadows the "booga booga" fear mongering plays like ghost stories told in a graveyard at midnight. Under the hot lights of mainstream television, deprived of his props and infantile tantrums, he's a pathetic looking, roly poly man/child. In fact this could be an effective PSA warning, "This is what happens when an irrationally paranoid, hate monger stumbles upon a live microphone. Don't forget to turn off all microphones and cameras in your home and store them in a secure place after use or, you too could have an Alex Jones on your hand. A message from the FCC."
1
Alex Jones is a troll, there is no value in interviewing trolls. Anyone who thought Megyn Kelly was going to somehow hold his feet to the fire and get him to do anything other than lie and deflect and promote himself is a moron. Kelly and Jones used each other for ratings, it's as simple as that. If you were dumb enough to watch then congrats, you played yourself.
3
We need to expose all this Alex Jones' lies. But that doesn't mean giving him a platform with a possibly obsequious interviewer. Watching Maria Bartiromo giggle through the interview of 45 describing the cake he ate while he bombed an airfield in Syria (or was it Iraq?) was horrifying. We need serious reporters to refute and keep questioning every pathetic nonanswer from these jokers. And we need strong rebuttals from truth tellers at every turn.
2
NYmag wrote about Air America the liberal answer to right wing talk radio "Talk radio, for all its purported power to sway the masses, is a blunt instrument with two settings—bombastic and boring. " Air America failed terribly despite the humor of Al Franken and other satirist. Liberal didn't seem to have the following or aptitude for hate that the right wingers attracted. Now after this election and the magnetism that Trump has for rancor who knows what will fill that vacuum. But, hearing Jones may give us a clue as to how to protect our democracy from it.
He makes tons of money from his nutritional supplements he advertises on his show and they seem to be in the family of viagra so that his followers can feel really charged up while spewing the hate. Like Trump it seems to be about the money.
He makes tons of money from his nutritional supplements he advertises on his show and they seem to be in the family of viagra so that his followers can feel really charged up while spewing the hate. Like Trump it seems to be about the money.
2
Distilled hate untethered from any responsibility. The worst kind of parasite.
3
What Sykes doesn't get is that there are many many folks, possibly not his listeners, who can intuit idiots like Jones without having to read their lies or listen to their stupidity
1
There was a time when crazies like Alex Jones were simply dismissed along with the supermarket tabloid accounts of alien abduction and Elvis sightings
Then along came Rush and Fox News and anything that supported the right-wing agenda became acceptable. That is when Alex Jones and his ilk suddenly fell into the circle of respectability--as long as they were supporting Republicans, however crazy their theories.
For the extreme right wing truth means nothing. As long as commentators such as Jones are attacking Democrats, they will accept any ridiculous thing they say.
Mr. Sykes is correct. Alex Jones is a cancer and must be confronted and resisted . Journalists are wedded to false equivalency to the point where their judgement is addled. Once they accept that Alex Jones has even the slightest validity, they cheapen all public information by moving the needle way to the right.
It sickens me that a charlatan like Jones can make money off of the gullibility and the exploitation of the raw prejudices of information-challenged citizens. It is up to the press to accept the responsibility for correcting insane misinformation coming out of the Jones hell-hole when ordinary citizens are too benighted or lazy to discover the truth themselves.
Then along came Rush and Fox News and anything that supported the right-wing agenda became acceptable. That is when Alex Jones and his ilk suddenly fell into the circle of respectability--as long as they were supporting Republicans, however crazy their theories.
For the extreme right wing truth means nothing. As long as commentators such as Jones are attacking Democrats, they will accept any ridiculous thing they say.
Mr. Sykes is correct. Alex Jones is a cancer and must be confronted and resisted . Journalists are wedded to false equivalency to the point where their judgement is addled. Once they accept that Alex Jones has even the slightest validity, they cheapen all public information by moving the needle way to the right.
It sickens me that a charlatan like Jones can make money off of the gullibility and the exploitation of the raw prejudices of information-challenged citizens. It is up to the press to accept the responsibility for correcting insane misinformation coming out of the Jones hell-hole when ordinary citizens are too benighted or lazy to discover the truth themselves.
4
If Kelly's interview of Putin is any indication, and it certainly seems that it will be, she will, as reported, not do a "hit job" on Jones and sunlight on this sociopath will be shaded. I agree that his twisted, fear mongering should be exposed, but not at all sure that Kelly is the one to do so. Also, not sure what game NBC is trying to play with Kelly, which they claim is long. Probably, NBC thinks it can win over her Fox viewers. If so, we are witnessing a level of cynicism that is quite harmful to our country. William F. Buckley would have illuminated Jones' absurdity and dangerous theories. We sill see if Kelly actually cares about the truth or is simply grabbing for more money.
1
Sorry - the key to freedom of speech is that if the speech is ridiculous we don't have to listen. Alex Jones is an offensive clinical idiot who is lucky beyond belief to have one platform; he doesn't need another.
1
Sorry, can't buy it. He's a nobody with a big, stupid hateful mouth. In the age of cable TV and the internet, just about anyone can be a voice. When a legitimate media company like NBC gives him a voice, that legitimizes him - it says that this is just another opinion that deserves to be heard. But it's not just another opinion because there is absolutely no credibility to someone who believes that Sandy Hook didn't happen (or does believe it, but thought it would make great radio to deny it, which is even worse).
When Joe McCarthy preached his hateful ridiculousness, he was a Senator who needed to be taken down. We don't need to take down Alex Jones, we simply need to ignore him because he's not important. He's just one more hateful little man of which there are many. Just because Trump recognized him doesn't make him any more important as Trump is a complete idiot.
I thought Megyn Kelly recognized some of the errors of her ways, but apparently not. She will do anything for ratings and she should be ashamed, as should NBC. Sandy Hook families should make NBC pay dearly for this incredibly bad decision. Can you imagine NBC doing this in the days of
Huntley-Brinkley?
When Joe McCarthy preached his hateful ridiculousness, he was a Senator who needed to be taken down. We don't need to take down Alex Jones, we simply need to ignore him because he's not important. He's just one more hateful little man of which there are many. Just because Trump recognized him doesn't make him any more important as Trump is a complete idiot.
I thought Megyn Kelly recognized some of the errors of her ways, but apparently not. She will do anything for ratings and she should be ashamed, as should NBC. Sandy Hook families should make NBC pay dearly for this incredibly bad decision. Can you imagine NBC doing this in the days of
Huntley-Brinkley?
2
Now run a similar article on Dr. Michael Savage. He's arguably far more influential than Jones and his speech is at least equally as toxic. Trump has been on his radio program and Savage gives himself a lot of credit for Trump's ascendancy.
3
Alex Jones is not a crackpot, he is not a conspiracy theorist. I don't for a second - buy that he really believes any of the things he says. His recent admissions in his child custody case cements that fact.
Like Eazy E and Ann Coulter before him, Mr Jones realized that shock over substance, outrageousness over coherent thought, talent, (and the lack of good looks) can sell product and make one very rich and influential in the zeitgeist.
I'm not capable of a similar modus operandi because I have a conscience. My sincere thoughts to the family of the Sandy Hook victims.
Like Eazy E and Ann Coulter before him, Mr Jones realized that shock over substance, outrageousness over coherent thought, talent, (and the lack of good looks) can sell product and make one very rich and influential in the zeitgeist.
I'm not capable of a similar modus operandi because I have a conscience. My sincere thoughts to the family of the Sandy Hook victims.
7
To the writer: You'd be surprised how many well educated individuals in many of our world's countries, believe that there was something fishy with 9/11. And the investigations afterwards. I talk to people of all generations, friends and family, in Europe for instance, and so many of them quote the question:"But what about Building 7?" There is not only a deep distrust between political alliances within our country, the world at large mistrusts the USA or our allies are at least sometimes very disturbed and uncomfortable with how our governments behave (Abu Ghraib, drones, NSA). Ales Jones is dangerous and a lunatic, no doubt. But he is also a symptom of our discomfort with being deceived and surveiilled by our governments, Democrats and Republicans alike.
2
Thanks Herr for pointing out the reasonable response of people not under the continual psychological drubbing of the MSM. There are serious problems with 9/11 and many other events over the past century, regardless of which color sits in the White House.
You still aren't there yet. Some people like to preface their thoughtful observations with "I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but . . ." You still need to hold on to group-think respectability by throwing in "Ales [sic] Jones is dangerous and a lunatic . . ." AJ is only dangerous to luciferians, and that is a good thing. He is not "dangerous" to your average person, and to assert as much is a sloppy usage of the language. Exactly how is he "dangerous?" Exposing a contrary view is "dangerous?"
As for being a lunatic, when the language has been so compromised by undisciplined usage, where people who disagree with you should be put away in a psych ward, the term "lunatic" has no meaning.
No wonder the MSM is losing customers, their words have no meaning.
You still aren't there yet. Some people like to preface their thoughtful observations with "I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but . . ." You still need to hold on to group-think respectability by throwing in "Ales [sic] Jones is dangerous and a lunatic . . ." AJ is only dangerous to luciferians, and that is a good thing. He is not "dangerous" to your average person, and to assert as much is a sloppy usage of the language. Exactly how is he "dangerous?" Exposing a contrary view is "dangerous?"
As for being a lunatic, when the language has been so compromised by undisciplined usage, where people who disagree with you should be put away in a psych ward, the term "lunatic" has no meaning.
No wonder the MSM is losing customers, their words have no meaning.
2
False equivalency, yet again. There is nothing on the Left that remotely resembles Alex Jones or Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck or Alex Jones, or any of them.
Which is probably why Mr. Sykes doesn't cite any.
Which is probably why Mr. Sykes doesn't cite any.
11
Drudge has been a savior to the folks who follow the news...that's fit to print. It has been widely proven that 95% of the stories on his website are correct, which is why it is so successful. If a story slips onto his website that is false, it's taken down almost immediately. We can't say that about the NYT or any other of all of the MSM, or even the left or right cable darlings. Drudge is here to stay, thank heavens!
3
Giving kooks a platform is how we ended up with trump. It used to be that these hate mongers were isolated, small pockets of vile and venom scattered about. The inventors of the internet, facebook, twitter and other social media tools, never in their wildest dreams thought that their platforms would allow hate mongers and conspiracy theorists and their weak minded followers to flourish. In fact just the opposite. It was thought that with the dissemination of information the world would become more educated, more enlightened and a better place (and many wished more democratic). They failed to take in lessons from economists who learned the hard way that people are not rational decision makers, but rather have all sorts of irrationality that shapes their minds (often shaped on erroneous information and assumptions), hence the rise of behavioral economics. The believers of conspiracies and hate filled diatribes are giving into baser human instincts, the worst instincts that our evolution from wild creatures created and along with irrational thinking they believe, they have faith (which means they need no real proof or evidence). Giving them additional platforms, such as on NBC or the CNN talking heads only spreads the hate further to people who will give into irrationality.
2
Endemic lying is what will subvert our civilization and it has been brewing for decades in all socio economic groups.
2
We are a country of hundreds of millions of people, and again and again we promote only the loony or the wealthy as our voices. Could we really not find better options?
The circle of this madness is this: a crazy showman named Trump gets airtime because he's colorful, so his popularity grows. His popularity grows, so it becomes somehow incumbent on the media (they say) to feed the beast of their own creation. And after giving him all the airtime and getting us that nightmare of a president, we now follow the same logic to give more airtime to the same madmen?!
Not doing a proper interview is not the same as ignoring. When we study the Alex Jones school of non-thought we don't ignore them, but neither do we legitimize them. Why are these people getting a turn at the bullhorn? Did we run out of unique and interesting voices?
The circle of this madness is this: a crazy showman named Trump gets airtime because he's colorful, so his popularity grows. His popularity grows, so it becomes somehow incumbent on the media (they say) to feed the beast of their own creation. And after giving him all the airtime and getting us that nightmare of a president, we now follow the same logic to give more airtime to the same madmen?!
Not doing a proper interview is not the same as ignoring. When we study the Alex Jones school of non-thought we don't ignore them, but neither do we legitimize them. Why are these people getting a turn at the bullhorn? Did we run out of unique and interesting voices?
3
Our political process has become an enterprise. Thanks to the SCOTUS Citizens United decision, billions of dollars are available for the hate industry and they are taking advantage of the situation. Until we get the Koch brothers and others out of the mainstream of our politics things will not get better, and may get worse. Bannon wants to destroy the state, and he has lined up some deep pocketed supporters. All that stands between him and his goal are the institutions of our government, given to us by the founding fathers, and a free press.
2
I heard a program on NPR about Alex Jones. One of the panelists said he makes most of his money selling nutritional supplements. Some of them are very questionable. It makes me wonder about the people who believe what he says and actually spend money on his products. It's a strange juxtaposition of ideas.
1
For his comments on Sandy Hook alone, Alex Jones is a blight upon our society.
I would like to see a lawsuit similar to the one filed by the Yogurt Company in Idaho where he has to apologize publicly -- only this time, he has to look every parent in the eye and do it in front of cameras. Yes, a vile nature such as his should have as much public exposure as possible. Evil can only wither in the face of scrutiny, and his sick sense of 'reality' should be repudiated for what it really is -- an attack on human values and decency.
Better yet, how about community service at an elementary school?
I would like to see a lawsuit similar to the one filed by the Yogurt Company in Idaho where he has to apologize publicly -- only this time, he has to look every parent in the eye and do it in front of cameras. Yes, a vile nature such as his should have as much public exposure as possible. Evil can only wither in the face of scrutiny, and his sick sense of 'reality' should be repudiated for what it really is -- an attack on human values and decency.
Better yet, how about community service at an elementary school?
4
I believe that Alex Jones found a niche and style that allowed him to make a pile of money. He saw a gullible group of people and he exploited them for commercial gain. It happens at every level of media, from the angry local radio personality to the national media conglomerate. They might might say that their speaking for the folks who don't have a voice but they're actually catering to a market of fringe consumers, many who never met a conspiracy theory they didn't like.
2
The "Center" is not holding, Mr. Sykes, because for forty years now, the "Center" has told itself that the country is basically okay. That the stagnating middle class would be revived. That racial conflict was on its way out. That our foreign alliances were strong and underpinned a strong and peaceful world economy. That young people had a future worth looking forward to.
Now that the chickens are coming home to roost, Mr. Sykes, you're the one who seems way out of touch. You laugh at the idea of a "Deep State," but what would you call a democracy in which the wealthy get policies that advance their interests while the people who elect politicians who create these policies do not--which is what our great social science research apparatus--housed at "Center" institutions like Princeton-- keeps telling us. The power of the wealthy is exercised in the dark, outside the light of public accountability. Maybe we ought to call it the Dark State.
Now that the chickens are coming home to roost, Mr. Sykes, you're the one who seems way out of touch. You laugh at the idea of a "Deep State," but what would you call a democracy in which the wealthy get policies that advance their interests while the people who elect politicians who create these policies do not--which is what our great social science research apparatus--housed at "Center" institutions like Princeton-- keeps telling us. The power of the wealthy is exercised in the dark, outside the light of public accountability. Maybe we ought to call it the Dark State.
4
Charlie Sykes, I don't always agree with your conservative positions but I've found I can trust your judgment and therefore have growing respect for you. And I agree with the unstated gist of this piece: sunlight is the best disinfectant.
5
The tone of tonight's interview will be very telling - about Kelly, NBC, and the state of media in this country. I do not believe Jones remotely believes the nonsense he spouts any more than I believe Limbaugh does. If they did, at least they could only be accused of believing in and spouting nonsense. As it is, they are rank opportunists, preying upon the worst instincts of those incapable of reason and discernment either out of ignorance or ideological blindness. And their opportunism, while enriching themselves, is bringing our country to its knees. They are valueless human beings, believing in nothing but personal wealth and fame. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
21
Jones' lawyer made a public statement that the persona of Alex Jones is created. That it's fake. That Alex Jones is a PERFORMER.
If Megyn doesn't ask about this within the first 5 minutes of the interview, the only "tone" that should be discussed in relation to her is what type of blush and lipstick she wears when she covers the next panda bear birth at the zoo.
If Megyn doesn't ask about this within the first 5 minutes of the interview, the only "tone" that should be discussed in relation to her is what type of blush and lipstick she wears when she covers the next panda bear birth at the zoo.
1
My Airbnb guest from Florida cancelled her weeklong reservation when she realized that our home does not have televisions in any of the bedrooms. "I want to cancel." she texted "My sister saw the place and said there was only one TV." Apparently, she needs to watch TV to fall asleep. I can just see it - drifting in and out of consciousness while the crazy rantings of Alex Jones goes on in the background. I cannot imagine how that will help anyone - including her insomnia. But this is where we are now. We learned nothing yet.
5
This is the logical outcome of mainstream media's high-speed chase after social media for its audience. Along the way, truth, values, and civility like smashed cars in the pursuit.
18
It seems that Americans, like their primate cousins, have a natural curiosity for shiny objects of distraction.
1
It is difficult to ignore Alex Jones and his ilk when supposedly mainstream Republican politicians pander to them. In August 2015 Gov Abbot sent the Texas guard to monitor the US special forces Jade Helm exercises because Jones had convinced a large number of my fellow citizens that the federal government was coming to take their guns. Appalling.
43
Apparently, the legs of Gov. Abbott aren't the only things that are disabled.
Agreed! We need to acknowledge what an ignorant, paranoid country we have become and the best way is to carefully examine the seedy underbelly of the beast. The view may be repulsive, but we need to start at the source. Knowledge, however wince-inducing, is ultimately the real power.
32
Yes, as Thoreau said .....the truth is more important than anything else. Without the truth, we cannot keep our democracy. Why were these hatemongers ever allowed to spew out their evil on tv and radio in the first place? Our people have been badly brainwashed, and I'm not sure we can win them back to sanity!
1
Where could he possibly have gotten such an idea?
Indeed. We now know that the Obama admin did wire trap the Trump campaign, and then leaked where they saw potential to discredit the elected president.
Indeed. We now know that the Obama admin did wire trap the Trump campaign, and then leaked where they saw potential to discredit the elected president.
7
Nope, that idea was thoroughly debunked. The Obama administration did no such things. Where did you get that idea?
Actually, Steve, we don't know any such thing. This has been debunked over and over again.
Trump alleged that he himself was wiretapped by Obama, but in reality some of his campaign members were caught in exchanges with Russians who were under some kind of surveillance by intelligence agencies. At some time in 2016 the FBI requested permission to have Trump campaigners surveilled, but until after the firing of Comey, Trump himself was not under investigation, or even surveillance... Now he is, thanks to his own actions and statements.
I agree with the basic tenet of the Op Ed piece. Better to have people like Alex Jones spout off their tripe and misinformation than to allow them to fester in the cesspool of hate mongers. And, the corollary to allowing Jones' garbage-speak to be out there is the equivalent of calling out the stupidity, paranoia, and totally outrageous commentary for what it truly is: Abject, bald-faced lies and shear misinformation designed to sew chaos into a society based on the rule of law and goodwill expectations between people who can disagree with
one another.
Alex Jones, you need to be called out. Interviewers like Megan Kelly are not up to the task of bona fide journalism. Sadly, tracking people like Alex Jones can become a full-time job, but the best way to silence the ugliness and disregard for empathy and decency is financial assaults on Jones' advertisers and sponsors. And should that fail, people like Alex Jones need to be held accountable just like the people who shout out "FIRE!" in a crowded theatre and take glee in seeing so many get trampled.
one another.
Alex Jones, you need to be called out. Interviewers like Megan Kelly are not up to the task of bona fide journalism. Sadly, tracking people like Alex Jones can become a full-time job, but the best way to silence the ugliness and disregard for empathy and decency is financial assaults on Jones' advertisers and sponsors. And should that fail, people like Alex Jones need to be held accountable just like the people who shout out "FIRE!" in a crowded theatre and take glee in seeing so many get trampled.
24
Isn't the word 'paranoid' redundant, when used with the word 'right?'
13
No purpose is served by affording fringe lunatics bigger audiences, especially in the MSM. The platform itself lends them credence and provides bona fides they do not deserve.
This is especially true in today's MSM where programmers are sensitive to turning away one half of their audience by appearing too aggressive in their questioning.
Dan Rather could maybe handle that type of challenge.
Megan Kelly. Never.
This is especially true in today's MSM where programmers are sensitive to turning away one half of their audience by appearing too aggressive in their questioning.
Dan Rather could maybe handle that type of challenge.
Megan Kelly. Never.
21
Yes, but Jones would never agree to sit down with Dan Rather. Too bad because that one I'd watch!
I don't feel as if anything can be accomplished by interviewing a delusional person and "courageously" asking him pointed and confrontational questions while sporting stiletto heels. Reality clearly eludes him.
Rather I believe the time is better spent investigating how these venom-spewing human beings are created. Dig deeply. Get personal.
Moreover, find out how people so lacking in conscience are given ready access to airwaves where they can infect so many?
As I said in response to another column, many of us are deeply disturbed that people so lacking in a basic human conscience are given a platform from which they can spew garbage breathlessly and repetitively. It's not only Alex Jones.
When it gets so bad that not even murdered 1st graders and their grieving parents are off limits, I want to know who and what is behind this and why.
(Megyn might want to begin by looking into the philosophy and hiring practices of her previous employer.)
Rather I believe the time is better spent investigating how these venom-spewing human beings are created. Dig deeply. Get personal.
Moreover, find out how people so lacking in conscience are given ready access to airwaves where they can infect so many?
As I said in response to another column, many of us are deeply disturbed that people so lacking in a basic human conscience are given a platform from which they can spew garbage breathlessly and repetitively. It's not only Alex Jones.
When it gets so bad that not even murdered 1st graders and their grieving parents are off limits, I want to know who and what is behind this and why.
(Megyn might want to begin by looking into the philosophy and hiring practices of her previous employer.)
26
"while sporting stiletto heels. "
Are you implying that if the interviewer was sporting wingtips it would be more acceptable?
While I agree with you that Megan Kelly is not up to the task, your bias is showing.
Are you implying that if the interviewer was sporting wingtips it would be more acceptable?
While I agree with you that Megan Kelly is not up to the task, your bias is showing.
You're right to detect this. I think it derives from my weariness with journalists and pundits (male and female) becoming superstars themselves. It detracts from what they do. I think I want to return to the days when news people were trusted but did not take center stage. I'll be more circumspect in word choice next time.
Dangerous crackpots should be exposed, sued, and publicly held to account if they do not recant. Facts are FACTS. Fake news and conspiracy theories are fun on the X-Files. They have no place in political discourse.
23
There is not too much of a difference between the garbage that Alex Jones expounds on his website and the rhetoric of our President . They are not longer on the fringes but now they are actually in power . There are many people to blame for this terrible turn of events . On one side you have the GOP that caved in front of the Demagogue in Chief . But on the left and on mainstream media you also notice a certain timidity . The media feels it needs to present a " balanced " view . Many politicians are still waiting for Trump to pivot and show himself more presidential . People still have their heads in the sand and refuse to admit that a dangerous man is now our President . I hope we do the right thing and impeach this utterly unqualified man .
24
Don't discount the millions of people in this country and worldwide who attended the womens marches in protest of Trump's inauguration January 20, 2017. We're still here. Our heads were never in the sand.
1
Alex Jones wants attention. Giving it to him in the form of a major network interview is a reward of some kind.
8
Megyn Kelly should interview his wife. She claims he is an unstable character. Even Alex Jones' lawyer claims he is a phony, and just playing a character. Alex Jones isn't the problem. The problem is the people who don't realize he is a phony; for example Donald J. Trump.
26
I once knew a conservative who claimed that Limbaugh and his ilk were not serious, just entertainers.....my reply to that was "tell that to the millions of followers who believe and repeat what they are saying."
1
I am struck by Mr. Sykes reference to war, for I have been thinking for a few years now that we are in a cold civil war in which there is not even agreement between the sides as to what reality is. And of course, the emergence of trump and his cult are just the latest escalation. As a lay student of history, I see that our day's rhetoric of alienation and anger resembles that of the 1850s all to closely --- and we know what came at the end of that period.
It seems more likely than not that in one form or another (impeachment, resignation, physical and/or mental collapse) trump will not finish his term as POTUS. I do not think it out of the question that a response to that on the part of his cultists will not be not be peaceful acquiescence, that the cold war may flare into a hot one, at least sporadically.
It is not that hard to identify those who have sown this wind, starting with Nixon. But when and if anyone is reading or writing history in a century, three names will figure prominently in the decline and fall of the USA: Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, and the ghost of Roy Cohn --- linking Joe McCarthy and Donald Trump --- will also have a role.
It seems more likely than not that in one form or another (impeachment, resignation, physical and/or mental collapse) trump will not finish his term as POTUS. I do not think it out of the question that a response to that on the part of his cultists will not be not be peaceful acquiescence, that the cold war may flare into a hot one, at least sporadically.
It is not that hard to identify those who have sown this wind, starting with Nixon. But when and if anyone is reading or writing history in a century, three names will figure prominently in the decline and fall of the USA: Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes, and the ghost of Roy Cohn --- linking Joe McCarthy and Donald Trump --- will also have a role.
12
The much ballyhooed Ronald Reagan, who mainstreamed the 'idea' that government is bad & to blame for everything wrong in this country, made his first campaign stop for president with a 'states rights' speech at the Neshoba County Fair on August 3, 1980, 7 miles from Philadelphia, Mississippi where civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Cheney were abducted and murdered by racists in June, 1964. Many folks believe that Reagan speaking at the Neshoba Fair about states rights so near to the site of these famous murders wasn't entirely circumstantial.
10
The phenomenon of Alex Jones and his ilk in America today is attributable, in great part, to two weaknesses affecting our citizens: (1) absorption of the fantasies fed to us by the media world such as reality TV, Fox News, video games and pornography that have infected the minds of many people, and (2) our deteriorated education system has failed to provide students the knowledge of history, science and civics they need to draw rational conclusions and make sensible decisions.
The lethal stew of these fantasies and failings has crippled peoples' ability to think critically, to listen to poisonous ignoramuses such as Alex Jones, Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump and simply realize that the nonsense they are spewing can't possibly be true. So the people gulled, intellectually defrauded and they allow grifters and con men to have their way with us.
The lethal stew of these fantasies and failings has crippled peoples' ability to think critically, to listen to poisonous ignoramuses such as Alex Jones, Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump and simply realize that the nonsense they are spewing can't possibly be true. So the people gulled, intellectually defrauded and they allow grifters and con men to have their way with us.
12
Too broad of a generalization, check the polls for Trump's approval rating.
1
People come to prefer entertainment to thought. They value emotion over reality. To now say that republicans should have demanded from their followers more mature thought about the country, our government, and the state of the world is too little too late.
The Limbaughs and the Joneses have control over their minds, and no conflicting information is accepted.
The Limbaughs and the Joneses have control over their minds, and no conflicting information is accepted.
1
Trump has released an enormous amount of political venom into America's body politic.
He has yet to display the slightest amount of interest in promoting rational political discourse among the American people.
He has yet to display the slightest amount of interest in promoting rational political discourse among the American people.
15
He couldn't engage in rational political discourse if he wanted to. He's simply too ignorant for that.
1
I am a liberal Democrat and I've never had a problem debating with a conservative Republican or Libertarian but Alex Jones is not simply someone who has views that I totally disagree with. He is an evil man who uses his radio show to spread poisonous conspiracy theories to millions of people and he is a danger to our democracy and he should NOT be given airtime on a major television network which will only further to give him legitimacy to more lost souls.
It is beyond disgusting to call the murders of 20 children, who were all 6 and 7 years of age, and the six adult staff who took care of them "a hoax" that was made up by actors. The families of all those who were lost have had to endure enough pain without some lunatic claiming that their children never existed and that what happened was all make believe. Are the readers of the NYTimes aware that when Jones began his conspiracy tirade the families of the children received thousands of hateful tweets and emails? It's enough to lose a child under any circumstances but to be brutally murdered and then have people doubt this ever happened is sickening.
Megyn Kelly is a charlatan who is willing to do whatever she can for ratings. She cares not one iota how much she plunges America into the abyss. Civility, decency, and compassion have no place in her career, only ratings matter.
We should never, ever give airtime or publicity that will in any way convey a sliver of legitimacy to a sick person who spreads vile lies.
It is beyond disgusting to call the murders of 20 children, who were all 6 and 7 years of age, and the six adult staff who took care of them "a hoax" that was made up by actors. The families of all those who were lost have had to endure enough pain without some lunatic claiming that their children never existed and that what happened was all make believe. Are the readers of the NYTimes aware that when Jones began his conspiracy tirade the families of the children received thousands of hateful tweets and emails? It's enough to lose a child under any circumstances but to be brutally murdered and then have people doubt this ever happened is sickening.
Megyn Kelly is a charlatan who is willing to do whatever she can for ratings. She cares not one iota how much she plunges America into the abyss. Civility, decency, and compassion have no place in her career, only ratings matter.
We should never, ever give airtime or publicity that will in any way convey a sliver of legitimacy to a sick person who spreads vile lies.
345
By not exposing these fringe elements what happens if the whole Republican party becomes Ultra right in the process?
With all the rhetoric about civility and how people who disagree on politics hate each other, it's important to point out that all views are not equal. Some of the people, like Jones, are evil. Their ideas are abhorrent. We endanger our democracy by "understanding" them. It is they who poison discourse.
I wish I could do more than Recommend this comment!
I wish I could do more than Recommend this comment!
Censorship, anyone?
1
I may tune in. After all, the hype (including this column) is overwhelming. There is a very real chance that Ms. Kelly can expose this man without allowing him to celebrate his hateful theories and rhetoric. But this promotional splash or publicity stunt or whatever it is comes with risk for NBC and for sane political discourse more generally.
Frankly, I think people on the political right have more to fear from this interview than people on the left. Might Jones wind up tied to President Trump or the GOP in ways that embarrass moderate Republicans or even some Tea-partiers?
Sykes says we no longer have the luxury of ignoring Alex Jones - indeed that we may already have ignored him at our peril. Can he seize the show as a platform for his views? Can Ms. Kelly expose him as hateful to the point of being dangerous? Do these questions sound like a cliffhanger ending to a soap opera episode?
I am not going to pre-judge. But I may just want to tune in to find out what happens.
Frankly, I think people on the political right have more to fear from this interview than people on the left. Might Jones wind up tied to President Trump or the GOP in ways that embarrass moderate Republicans or even some Tea-partiers?
Sykes says we no longer have the luxury of ignoring Alex Jones - indeed that we may already have ignored him at our peril. Can he seize the show as a platform for his views? Can Ms. Kelly expose him as hateful to the point of being dangerous? Do these questions sound like a cliffhanger ending to a soap opera episode?
I am not going to pre-judge. But I may just want to tune in to find out what happens.
27
I won't be tuning in. I don't waste time watching the highly biased Fox News, nor do I want to see the far more reliable NBC News turned into Fox News For Dummies. I know nothing about Megyn Kelly, and I'd like to keep it that way.
2
David, I completely respect your choice and the reasons for it. But I think it might be okay (we'll see what happens) to watch the show.
If burglars were roaming your neighborhood, you would want them identified and taken off the streets. Jones doesn't break the law but I think identifying him and those who support him might be useful, even if we can't take him & his gang off the airwaves.
Last week Putin was interviewed on Ms. Kelly's show. This week it is Jones. I'm not sure I'd want to be next week's guest. I wonder, does she have Assad and Duterte lined up? Is she making a point of context? (I don't know her schedule so this point may be wishful thinking on my part.)
Again, I respect your stance - widely shared by others - to spend your time doing just about anything other than watching. But even if this is merely a cruel Fathers Day publicity stunt, I trust that those choosing to view it will not be swayed by the hateful nonsense but rather might be appropriately appalled. And that's a good thing.
If burglars were roaming your neighborhood, you would want them identified and taken off the streets. Jones doesn't break the law but I think identifying him and those who support him might be useful, even if we can't take him & his gang off the airwaves.
Last week Putin was interviewed on Ms. Kelly's show. This week it is Jones. I'm not sure I'd want to be next week's guest. I wonder, does she have Assad and Duterte lined up? Is she making a point of context? (I don't know her schedule so this point may be wishful thinking on my part.)
Again, I respect your stance - widely shared by others - to spend your time doing just about anything other than watching. But even if this is merely a cruel Fathers Day publicity stunt, I trust that those choosing to view it will not be swayed by the hateful nonsense but rather might be appropriately appalled. And that's a good thing.
1
There is not one Republican leader who does not belong in prison at this point. Not one.
11
NYT: "He [Trump] suggested his predecessor plotted to wiretap him....Where could he possibly have gotten such an idea?"
Answer: From a New York Times headline screaming out from the top center of the NYT print edition on the very day of Trump's inauguration, stating: "Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides: Examining Russian Ties: Business Dealing of Campaign Advisers Are Investigated". This article did not specifically indicate Trump personally was being wiretapped, but did suggest "wiretapped" evidence was being used in investigations attacking his administration.
P.S. Please stop refusing to enter my comments just because, like this one, they disagree with some of the political positions of your paper. It is exactly such censorship and bias that causes people to distrust the mainstream media and to turn to nut jobs like Alex Jones. As horrible as much of what Alex Jones says is, he does occasionally run stories the mainstream media should run, but refuses to because such stories are viewed by the mainstream as too politically incorrect.
Answer: From a New York Times headline screaming out from the top center of the NYT print edition on the very day of Trump's inauguration, stating: "Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides: Examining Russian Ties: Business Dealing of Campaign Advisers Are Investigated". This article did not specifically indicate Trump personally was being wiretapped, but did suggest "wiretapped" evidence was being used in investigations attacking his administration.
P.S. Please stop refusing to enter my comments just because, like this one, they disagree with some of the political positions of your paper. It is exactly such censorship and bias that causes people to distrust the mainstream media and to turn to nut jobs like Alex Jones. As horrible as much of what Alex Jones says is, he does occasionally run stories the mainstream media should run, but refuses to because such stories are viewed by the mainstream as too politically incorrect.
5
If Trump got his idea from that headline, it proves he cannot read and jumps to faulty conclusions. I do think there's no rhyme or reason to the process of which comments make it to publication, but that does not make me turn to crackpots like Jones thinking they do a better job than the Times. The more rational explanation is that different moderators use different criteria.
Like saying children murdered in their school were actors? Like saying a political candidate ran a child sexploitation operation from a DC pizza place? Anyone who follows this guy needs to examine the question of "why".
1
It's called the freedom of speech. You don't like it, don't listen.....
6
I don't believe there's a First Amendment right to be interviewed on TV.
1
He has an audience because much of the US is actually more of a Second World country than a First World country. For the same reason, over 40% of the US population believes the human race is less than 10,000 years old. You don't see this level of ignorance and delusion in actual First World countries.
26
And where is the Democratic Party? Invisible, on life support, or just dead. Absolutely no initiative!!! For example, in 2018 Republicans will be distancing themselves from Trump, telling the electorate that he/she is running on their own record not Trump's. The Dems should not let this pass and stare labeling their opponents with the slogan "If you don't disown Donald Trump, you own Donald Trump". Or some such. DNC chair Perez, be warned, the rank and file are not only frustrated, we are angry!
Also, I would like to add to Sunk-in from Sausalito's remark, and wonder who are the "Extreme Left" in the Democratic Party and what is their program?
JD
Also, I would like to add to Sunk-in from Sausalito's remark, and wonder who are the "Extreme Left" in the Democratic Party and what is their program?
JD
3
If nothing is a lie, then everything is a lie.
And if there are no ramifications for lying, then lying will continue unabated. What ramifications have there been for Alex Jones? He gets paid a lot of money. He is quoted extensively. Once an alt right side show, now the mainstream media wants to interview him. And apparently the president goes to him for advice. (But then again, our president sets a new standard himself for lying, so that part of the story makes perfect sense.). And turn on any "news" show and we can see GOP pundits and political leaders all defending the lies.
With this behavior being so often modeled, how do we teach our children to be honest, trustworthy and act with integrity?
The GOP message these days is: "Facts are whatever I say they are, at the moment I say them. Honesty and integrity is for suckers."
At some point all of us must look in the mirror--even Trump supporters--and decide if this is the country we want.
And if there are no ramifications for lying, then lying will continue unabated. What ramifications have there been for Alex Jones? He gets paid a lot of money. He is quoted extensively. Once an alt right side show, now the mainstream media wants to interview him. And apparently the president goes to him for advice. (But then again, our president sets a new standard himself for lying, so that part of the story makes perfect sense.). And turn on any "news" show and we can see GOP pundits and political leaders all defending the lies.
With this behavior being so often modeled, how do we teach our children to be honest, trustworthy and act with integrity?
The GOP message these days is: "Facts are whatever I say they are, at the moment I say them. Honesty and integrity is for suckers."
At some point all of us must look in the mirror--even Trump supporters--and decide if this is the country we want.
8
In another time, 'perhaps not even Donald Trump would have deigned to be associated with (Alex Jones).' Surely Mr. Sykes gives The Donald too much credit.
4
As much as I appreciate Mr. Sykes as a level headed and fact based conservative, with regarding one statement he needs to be corrected when he states that Alex Jones "has no exact analogue on the left." No Mr. Sykes. In today's media universe Mr. Jones has NO analogue on the left
7
But why? Why does he have so many followers? And why do so many people seem to tolerate him or even secretly enjoy the rants? What is scary is not Alex Jones. There will always be crackpots, and some support for them. And, his many followers aren't merely disenfranchised or missing the old days with more conservative values. Their support for this guy seems to indicate that they are thoughtless, selfish, mean spirited, uneducated people. And there are even more people that seem to tolerate this. Yes, he makes things worse, but he also represents the damage that we already have within our society.
167
And yet...some of those "thoughtless, selfish, mean spirited, uneducated people" are veterans who served to preserve your freedom to call them "thoughtless, selfish, mean spirited, and uneducated" Please take the following quote to heart:
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the NY Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promise of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”
—David Rockefeller, Bilderberger, Trilateral Commission, and CFR member/founder
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the NY Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promise of discretion for almost 40 years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.”
—David Rockefeller, Bilderberger, Trilateral Commission, and CFR member/founder
1
If Chobani had in its law suit asked for a million dollars in damages - quite reasonable considering Jones' serial libel of that company and its workers- instead of just an apology and a few superficial changes of his social media platform, Jones and his vicious lies might have been shut down for some time, in a similar way the Southern Poverty Law Center sued a Klan faction out of existence.
6
Using the virtue of free speech to protect a lie subverts that founding principle of our nation. The liar may speak, but we have an obligation to challenge the lie.
3
The right bears full responsibility for this fringe. In the 30s, conservatives started courting the religious as a counter to the New Deal. They continued to the present, from the Birchers to the radical anti-abortion fringe. People that would be relegated to standing on soap boxes on street corners were invited in because the right needed their votes (their policies alone would never appeal to the poor).
The left has its problems, mainly due to ignoring that same base of workers and selling out to corporate interests, but they dealt with their fringe long ago (does no one remember the 70s?) The right still embraces theirs. For those who try to equate the fringes of today (Bernie followers are just like Alex Jones's!) - you are liars.
The left has its problems, mainly due to ignoring that same base of workers and selling out to corporate interests, but they dealt with their fringe long ago (does no one remember the 70s?) The right still embraces theirs. For those who try to equate the fringes of today (Bernie followers are just like Alex Jones's!) - you are liars.
5
All of Jone's "theories" are both tasteless and don't pass the smell test. The best way to expose this nutjob is exactly what Ms. Kelly is doing: letting him rant to a national TV audience. While he may find a few fellow travelers, most people outside the beltway and major media newsrooms have never heard of him and will be appalled and outraged by his goofy antics. The rightly famed Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis hit the proverbial nail on the head when he wrote:
"Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants..." and
"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."
"Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants..." and
"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."
1
Come on, conservatives. Fight it out in the arena of ideas, not hiding behind charlatans like Alex Jones. Make the liberals HAVE to believe you because of the force of your arguments, the massing of your evidence, meeting the objections of your opponents head-on. The time will come (many would say it is already here) when to be even associated with a person of the caliber of Jones will be a badge of dishonor. Win the arguments - economic, social, moral - with sound reasons, not because you whip up emotions with mindless drivel. And if you cannot win the arguments that way, consider alternatives, not sick and baseless rants.
1
Right on - there is no analogue on the Left to Alex Jones - or Limbaugh, ... It seems there is no analogue on the Left to the paranoid Religious Right either - so afraid we are somehow infringing on their politics, beliefs if we do not all believe them.
The alt-religions, with their very high and mighty rhetoric and holier than thou righteous rage that they have spewed for decades, seems to have trained the deceiving mouth-pieces of hate and division for fun and profit. All the credibility and evidence they have to offer is "Believe Me!" These cult leaders are the instigators of the apocalypse and the subversion of the American citizen's own government.
We see Republicans empower - through silence - the lunatic-charlatan-Trump-fringe and the alt-Right saboteurs within our own government - who have pledged an oath of loyalty to the NRA, Norquist, Koch, oil, coal, anti-immigrants, subservience of women, etc. - instead of representing all American citizens. They've finally elected the apocalypse president.
Perhaps I am being unfair to Republicans, because I now associate ALL of them with Trump, Jones, Limbaugh, the alt-Right, as we have certainly unfairly associated ALL Muslims with the bad dudes hijacking their religion to justify terrorism.
But where are the rational, reasonable and negotiable Republicans we can talk to? Do any of them "believe" the Russians attacked us or do they really believe their prayers were answered when Trump won all those electoral college votes?
The alt-religions, with their very high and mighty rhetoric and holier than thou righteous rage that they have spewed for decades, seems to have trained the deceiving mouth-pieces of hate and division for fun and profit. All the credibility and evidence they have to offer is "Believe Me!" These cult leaders are the instigators of the apocalypse and the subversion of the American citizen's own government.
We see Republicans empower - through silence - the lunatic-charlatan-Trump-fringe and the alt-Right saboteurs within our own government - who have pledged an oath of loyalty to the NRA, Norquist, Koch, oil, coal, anti-immigrants, subservience of women, etc. - instead of representing all American citizens. They've finally elected the apocalypse president.
Perhaps I am being unfair to Republicans, because I now associate ALL of them with Trump, Jones, Limbaugh, the alt-Right, as we have certainly unfairly associated ALL Muslims with the bad dudes hijacking their religion to justify terrorism.
But where are the rational, reasonable and negotiable Republicans we can talk to? Do any of them "believe" the Russians attacked us or do they really believe their prayers were answered when Trump won all those electoral college votes?
2
Frankly the issue is not so much with Jones as the apparently many thousands of people who think so little of this country that they prefer to buy into his conspiracy theories
And equally sad is even if Kelly exposes Jones as the evil charlatan he is his minions will stand with him
And if Kelly plays softball with him then he will look validated and possibly gain even more
He should ostracized, not put on prime time.
This is a pure ratings play by Kelly.
And equally sad is even if Kelly exposes Jones as the evil charlatan he is his minions will stand with him
And if Kelly plays softball with him then he will look validated and possibly gain even more
He should ostracized, not put on prime time.
This is a pure ratings play by Kelly.
4
Conspiracy and propaganda and hate are common on right and the left. We need to confront those who try to incite violence and shut down free speech.
3
Charles Sykes and his ilk paved the the way for guys like Alex Jones.
5
Rabid animals are dispatched immediately. There is nothing positive to be gotten by allowing them to succumb to a "natural" death, and there is the possibility of the disease spreading ever further the longer the poor creature lives.
Ridding ourselves of "rabid" nutjobs is not so quickly and easily done. The only legal and ethically acceptable way is to bring the full force of the sun with its rays focused by the most powerful microscope that can be brought to bear. The heat created by this technique results in spontaneous combustion.
Unfortunately, no one dogs Alex Jones and his ilk in the same single-minded way they spew their lies. Periodicals like "Mother Jones" do what they can, but are inherently too late with too little. Once a month by paid subscription is no match for free 24-hours/day access via radio or internet. It doesn't help that a large percentage of those Hillary called "deplorables" genuinely deserve the label. For these people low intelligence is not what makes them deplorable, it is their intellectual laziness that defines them.
Ridding ourselves of "rabid" nutjobs is not so quickly and easily done. The only legal and ethically acceptable way is to bring the full force of the sun with its rays focused by the most powerful microscope that can be brought to bear. The heat created by this technique results in spontaneous combustion.
Unfortunately, no one dogs Alex Jones and his ilk in the same single-minded way they spew their lies. Periodicals like "Mother Jones" do what they can, but are inherently too late with too little. Once a month by paid subscription is no match for free 24-hours/day access via radio or internet. It doesn't help that a large percentage of those Hillary called "deplorables" genuinely deserve the label. For these people low intelligence is not what makes them deplorable, it is their intellectual laziness that defines them.
4
Does Alex Jones go against everything we know about the events he discusses? Yes. Do any of his primary reputation-makers add up? Not to this Constitution-lover and former liberal.
But you on the Hard Left coming here to file your book reports need to understand that the fake news war we've seen for a year now loks EXACTLY like Alex Jones.
The NY Times = Alex Jones = WaPo, NY Daily Snooze = Alex Jones = CBS Evening Snooze, NBC News = Alex Jones = ABC, CNN, = Alex Jones = Steven Colbert et cie, and on and on.
All the assorted amateur pretenders on the Left not listed above have been waging total war against the judgement of the American voters under the Constitution are just as whacked-out as Alex Jones.
Sadly now, the once-respected article writers here at the Times - NOT just the radicalized opinion writers - now look exactly like Alex Jones with this hate war that is already getting people killed.
All these I listed put those bullets in Mr. H's gun in Alexandria the other day. How many more must die before the angry progressives realize that we have a good man in the White House for the next 3 years and 6 months?
But you on the Hard Left coming here to file your book reports need to understand that the fake news war we've seen for a year now loks EXACTLY like Alex Jones.
The NY Times = Alex Jones = WaPo, NY Daily Snooze = Alex Jones = CBS Evening Snooze, NBC News = Alex Jones = ABC, CNN, = Alex Jones = Steven Colbert et cie, and on and on.
All the assorted amateur pretenders on the Left not listed above have been waging total war against the judgement of the American voters under the Constitution are just as whacked-out as Alex Jones.
Sadly now, the once-respected article writers here at the Times - NOT just the radicalized opinion writers - now look exactly like Alex Jones with this hate war that is already getting people killed.
All these I listed put those bullets in Mr. H's gun in Alexandria the other day. How many more must die before the angry progressives realize that we have a good man in the White House for the next 3 years and 6 months?
4
At some point large swaths of Americans decided that library science and critical thinking skills simply was not worth funding anymore. The look at a newspaper or online newspaper and have no idea that it is built out into sections.
Keep stripping money out of education budgets, keeping telling ourselves it is ok. Alex Jones and Donald Trump are a primer for the ground we are softening.
When Alex Jones wines a Pulitzer then we can take your viewpoint with some level of interest. Until then, it is nothing more then a demonstration of what happens when we gut public education
5
It is not hard to see why no on the right denounces Alex Jones. Until the baseball shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, I cannot think of a single instance in which the paranoid conspiracy theorist rhetoric and mindset spewed by Jones and his ilk on a daily basis has ever resulted in politically-motivated violence specifically directed at Republicans. Throughout the past fourty years, the vast majority of political violence has been directed against minorities and the people representing them- i.e. - Democrats. The assassination attempt against Ronald Regan was not politically motivated, but rather the action of a psychopath seeking attention from a woman whom he was stalking. Even the Oklahoma City Bombing- which of course cost innocent people of both parties their lives- was directed by a right-wing psychopath at what he saw as a liberal (read- Clinton) government.
The Virginia shooting represents an exception to the rule. More to the point, it is an exception precisely because Democrats- including technically-independent Bernie Sanders- have repeatedly and forcefully denounced violence while Republicans have said nothing or jokingly endorsed it (i.e. Donald Trump joking that if Hillary Clinton won the presidency, his supporters could simply assassinate her.)
The Virginia shooting represents an exception to the rule. More to the point, it is an exception precisely because Democrats- including technically-independent Bernie Sanders- have repeatedly and forcefully denounced violence while Republicans have said nothing or jokingly endorsed it (i.e. Donald Trump joking that if Hillary Clinton won the presidency, his supporters could simply assassinate her.)
3
Mr. Sykes,
The time to act was long before this recent explosion of fake news and roiling hatreds. Nixon's Southern Strategy was a poorly disguised incitement to voters to celebrate their racism and hate federal power. Hiding behind the flimsy "States Rights" screen, Nixon's racist supporters would not be called to account for the racist views that informed their policy positions. Instead it was given a cutesy term: the dog whistle.
Then Reagan improved on the Nixon strategy, twinning a hateful Welfare Queen canard with claims of federal inefficiency and overreach. Not only did Reagan broadly smear black people, he encouraged voters to see the federal government as a corrupt institution that was stealing "your" money and giving it to the shiftless blacks.
The trick has now been played hundreds of times, where the GOP finds a policy objectionable to conservatives and then portrays the government as an enabler of corrupt practices. From birth control and abortion, to separation of church and state, education, civil rights, the environment - all have been used as cudgels to pound away at government. And so voters (not just conservatives any more) have been trained by our political leaders to refine and direct their hate, racial or otherwise, at the federal government.
One wonders what would have happened if voters had stopped Nixon and Reagan in their tracks. One wonders how an institution run by executives who hate it could ever be successful.
The time to act was long before this recent explosion of fake news and roiling hatreds. Nixon's Southern Strategy was a poorly disguised incitement to voters to celebrate their racism and hate federal power. Hiding behind the flimsy "States Rights" screen, Nixon's racist supporters would not be called to account for the racist views that informed their policy positions. Instead it was given a cutesy term: the dog whistle.
Then Reagan improved on the Nixon strategy, twinning a hateful Welfare Queen canard with claims of federal inefficiency and overreach. Not only did Reagan broadly smear black people, he encouraged voters to see the federal government as a corrupt institution that was stealing "your" money and giving it to the shiftless blacks.
The trick has now been played hundreds of times, where the GOP finds a policy objectionable to conservatives and then portrays the government as an enabler of corrupt practices. From birth control and abortion, to separation of church and state, education, civil rights, the environment - all have been used as cudgels to pound away at government. And so voters (not just conservatives any more) have been trained by our political leaders to refine and direct their hate, racial or otherwise, at the federal government.
One wonders what would have happened if voters had stopped Nixon and Reagan in their tracks. One wonders how an institution run by executives who hate it could ever be successful.
5
Since he has a following - since he has influence - it is necessary to hold him up for ridicule. Let that be the entertainment. The virtue of free speech is only realized if truth is spoken as insistently as ranting drivel.
2
Now, Mr. Sykes, where were you when all this was happening? On the right wing air waves, if I recall. When did you first criticize Mr. Jones? Or is it convenient now for you to promote your new book?
3
Yeah, gotta watch those lefties. On the right we've got the president of the US choosing to be misguided and misinformed by this vicious, self-serving liar, and on the left we had a president who got information from sources such as the NYT, WaPo, and people in advisory roles who actually had taken the trouble to learn something about the subject at hand.
Yep - exactly the same.
Yep - exactly the same.
4
My concern is that Meghan Kelly will normalize him. She did that in her interview with Putin (ie, ending the interview with friendly chatter about the kids). Normalizing Jones sends the message that it's OK to believe his bizaar conspiracy theories. But it also sends a message that his rageful style, his vitriol is acceptable in public discourse. We all know inciting this type of rage in people is dangerous at worst, unproductive at best. Alex Jones does need to be exposed, but perhaps through some hard nosed investigative journalism rather than friendly interviewing.
197
This will be a controversial interview. One reason that Ms. Kelly has chosen Mr Jones is to justify her new extremely high salary on her new program. She will attract many viewers because of his fame. Good luck to the two of them. I personally have no interest.
The problem is that giving Jones and his nonsense a nationwide broadcast platform merely validates the nonsense.
How many times has our current President pulled this stunt: say something utterly ridiculous, incendiary, and unsupported or directly contradicted by undisputed facts. Then distance himself from the statement by remarking that 'some people say' it; and then ominously suggest that 'we need to look into this.' Which for the gullible means 'it could well be true.'
Thus we get the birther lie. The 'millions of fraudulent votes' lie. The 'Muslims celebrating in Newark on 9/11' lie. The 'Obama bugged my office in Trump Tower' lie. The 'a million people at my inauguration' lie. The 'Benghazi' lie. The 'climate change is a Chinese hoax' lie. And on and on and on. The more the lie is repeated, the more credence it is given. It becomes 'alternative fact.'
No. The more widely this stupidity is broadcast, the more damage it does. Unless Megyn Kelly is able to channel Edward R. Murrow, and do to Alex Jones what he did to eviscerate Joseph McCarthy and his ilk, she will only serve to perpetuate the madness.
If only there had been an Edward R. Murrow to rip the black heart out of the Trump campaign. Instead, our 'journalists' gave him all the exposure he needed to turn our presidential election into the political equivalent of Tod Browning's 'Freaks'. Now the circus has occupied the White House.
How many times has our current President pulled this stunt: say something utterly ridiculous, incendiary, and unsupported or directly contradicted by undisputed facts. Then distance himself from the statement by remarking that 'some people say' it; and then ominously suggest that 'we need to look into this.' Which for the gullible means 'it could well be true.'
Thus we get the birther lie. The 'millions of fraudulent votes' lie. The 'Muslims celebrating in Newark on 9/11' lie. The 'Obama bugged my office in Trump Tower' lie. The 'a million people at my inauguration' lie. The 'Benghazi' lie. The 'climate change is a Chinese hoax' lie. And on and on and on. The more the lie is repeated, the more credence it is given. It becomes 'alternative fact.'
No. The more widely this stupidity is broadcast, the more damage it does. Unless Megyn Kelly is able to channel Edward R. Murrow, and do to Alex Jones what he did to eviscerate Joseph McCarthy and his ilk, she will only serve to perpetuate the madness.
If only there had been an Edward R. Murrow to rip the black heart out of the Trump campaign. Instead, our 'journalists' gave him all the exposure he needed to turn our presidential election into the political equivalent of Tod Browning's 'Freaks'. Now the circus has occupied the White House.
299
our former President Obama also spouted nonsense and his lies were repeated by media. We all need to open our eyes to propaganda from Left and Right.
2
There is a Murrow named Maddow.
2
A few months ago we had a President who successfully took on the great challenge of helping our country cope with the Sandy Hook killings. Now we have a President who embraces this person who uses his considerable media clout to spread this amazing lie that the killings of these little children were faked. How can we have fallen so far so fast?
4
I believe that Alex Jones is someone who spawns outrageous theories and influences those with uncritical, irrational minds to believe vile things about their government and society on the whole. Having said that, I find the number of people who have expressed an insistence on boycotting NBC and Megyn Kelly for her decision to interview Alex Jones, very troubling. I have enormous amounts of sympathy for the parents, friends and relatives who lost a loved one at Sandy Hook. Having said that, censoring free speech because someone's feelings may be hurt, is not sufficient grounds to do so. Adults must be adults and part of being adult is knowing that free speech often leads to hurt feelings. That is one of the burdens of living in a society that values free speech. You can boycott NBC and Megyn Kelly if you wish. That is your right. To insist that the interview not be shown is censorship pure and simple. We must be exposed to views that we find repugnant so that we can articulate cogent, articulate and rational responses to these opinions. Megyn Kelly purports to be a professional journalist. Let her do her job. If she is good at her job, then she will expose Alex Jones for who he is - a blundering, foul mouthed, exploitive bully who preys upon the immature, cynical, paranoid people among us. If she isn't good at her job...then fair game...criticize away! To suggest that she not be allowed to do her job - or worse, to be censored - is doing us all a grave disservice.
112
No one has proposed censoring Alex Kelly's hate speech. It is possible to object to giving him the legitimacy he will gain by allowing him to appear on a national network such as NBC. It is legitmate to object and attempt to influence through a boycott the station that gives this speaker of lies and hate a platform on which he can be normalized. This is not a free speech issue.
35
But what if all the free speech has made a blundering, foul mouthed, exploitive bully who preys upon the immature, cynical, paranoid people among us, values to be embraced and esteemed - especially when they can earn one fame and lots of money?
Maybe exposure isn't the best disinfectant. I struggle to find the facts to support the power of free speech to right the cultural ship of state when we have Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, O'reilly, et al spewing their destructive propaganda.
Instead, it's mores and folkways that drive our cultural and moral compass, and they must be asserted to shape the values we esteem. Legal rights often conflict with one another and what we value. It's our obligation to choose if we do not wish to devolve into an uncivilized society.
It is our self-censorship of our id that makes individuals civilized - not our freedom to utter every hurtful, emotion laden thought. In society when we shun people with unacceptable behaviors, we do similarly. When everything is acceptable, nothing is unacceptable.
Identifying and asserting limits is the nature of a healthy civilized society.
Maybe exposure isn't the best disinfectant. I struggle to find the facts to support the power of free speech to right the cultural ship of state when we have Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, O'reilly, et al spewing their destructive propaganda.
Instead, it's mores and folkways that drive our cultural and moral compass, and they must be asserted to shape the values we esteem. Legal rights often conflict with one another and what we value. It's our obligation to choose if we do not wish to devolve into an uncivilized society.
It is our self-censorship of our id that makes individuals civilized - not our freedom to utter every hurtful, emotion laden thought. In society when we shun people with unacceptable behaviors, we do similarly. When everything is acceptable, nothing is unacceptable.
Identifying and asserting limits is the nature of a healthy civilized society.
1
Arguing that Jones does not deserve the platform and validation this interview will confer is not censorship. Jones can and does say whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Nobody is shutting him down. But that does not mean that Kelly and NBC are obliged to interview him. Would they invite on a stone-cold racist or Holocaust denier? No, because those views are illegitimate and not worthy of public discourse. Jones falls into the same category. The nature of the interview format can't help but legitimize Jones views. Instead, MBC should do an investigative expose of Jones and his ilk.
3
The left is worst than Alex Jones because the left opened fire and killed Congressman Scalise and the other Republicans last week, violently rioted a Berkeley to prevent free speech of conservatives, etc.
As for the author of thos op-ed, Charles J. Skyes, just watch Rachel Maddow, an exact leftist equivalent of Alex Jones.
As for the author of thos op-ed, Charles J. Skyes, just watch Rachel Maddow, an exact leftist equivalent of Alex Jones.
3
Why is Megyn Kelly interviewing such a cruel dangerous man on a national platform? This is very disrespectful to the parents and families who lost their loved ones in the Sandy Hook massacre. These people are using other people's
misery to enrich themselves. I condemn NBC, Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones
for this most egregious spreading of falsehoods. We should all boycott Megan Kelly.
misery to enrich themselves. I condemn NBC, Megyn Kelly and Alex Jones
for this most egregious spreading of falsehoods. We should all boycott Megan Kelly.
1
NBC should not be providing a platform that gives legitimacy to this reckless and shameless crackpot.
How about good old fashioned hard nosed journalism to confront and combat conspiracy theories ?
Would NBC have given air time to Father Coughlin in his day?
How about good old fashioned hard nosed journalism to confront and combat conspiracy theories ?
Would NBC have given air time to Father Coughlin in his day?
1
And what about Rachel Maddow?
3
What about her? Are you honestly comparing her very well-sourced, intellectual, and rational world view with the "Sandy Hook and 9-11 are government hoaxes" crowd?
Stephen's comment is the unfortunate consequence of our post-truth society. These two people should not even be in the same sentence, but Stephen thinks they are equal. This is like saying the flat-earth people are just like the scientists who got us to the moon.
Stephen's comment is the unfortunate consequence of our post-truth society. These two people should not even be in the same sentence, but Stephen thinks they are equal. This is like saying the flat-earth people are just like the scientists who got us to the moon.
2
Oh my, do I hear "false equivalence"--a neat phrase by which the sins of the establishment are excused because those of the outsiders are, you see, far worse. Nobody believes what Alex Jones says, not even Alex Jones. He's an act, a performance artist who is expressing the rage of people who object to the abuses of the narratives they decided should be believed by them, decided by the media elites and the others. That's the post-truth regime, if you are looking for one. And it includes Maddow, who pushed the Russia collusion story like CNN a lost airliner, even though that has now been exposed as bunk. Likewise the narrative that Trump has been under investigation (hmm...). Likewise the claim that Sarah Palin is responsible for the recent assassination attempt of Republicans--executed by an ardent admirer of Maddow. Cure thyself, physician, before you go around lecturing others about your superior capacity for truth.
What about her? Does she lie?
2
Jones's conspiracy theories are falsehoods that most people don’t want to confront on broadcast television? Really now. The protest belies some sort of defect in us normal people? No. Saying no to NBC's cynical exploitation of extremist lunacy is from strength, not weakness. We have a callus from confronting this craziness every day in one form or another since the day Fox News went on the air. When NBC announced they intend to normalize it, featuring their newly acquired Fox News star of all people, we drew the line.
There is nothing edifying about sitting down to take in the burlesque act of an extremist freak. Consuming poisonous media doesn't make people well-informed, it makes them dumber. No one should watch. Some people may continue to watch NBC News, but I won't.
There is nothing edifying about sitting down to take in the burlesque act of an extremist freak. Consuming poisonous media doesn't make people well-informed, it makes them dumber. No one should watch. Some people may continue to watch NBC News, but I won't.
Thank you to Charlie for pointing out the hypocrisy of the far right who, after lying in unison that the Muslim community never condemns ISIS after each attack, themselves not only refuse to condemn their own dangerous extremists but secretly revel in their hatred.
They use Rush, Infowars and Fox so they can sin by proxy. They don't all buy the messaging, but they know these liars are useful weapons.
They use Rush, Infowars and Fox so they can sin by proxy. They don't all buy the messaging, but they know these liars are useful weapons.
1
Why isn't there a similar debate about publicizing the fringe thinking of Al Sharpton?
4
Did you read the article? "While Alex Jones has no exact analogue on the left, we have to watch out to also make sure that something similar is not emerging on the left."
1
Have Al Sharpton's followers tormented, harassed and terrorized the parents of dead children?
What a ludicrous comparison.
What a ludicrous comparison.
1
Because Al Sharpton never said the kinds of things Jones does every day.
1
To me, the ongoing dilemma is not Alex Jones, but rather the multi-millions of our fellow citizens who listen to him regularly and who support his paranoid ravings.
What has led to this? Is it the same dark corners of mass consciousness that the totalitarian movements of the 1920-40s festered? If so, why? If not, what new forms of social disease has been aborning in our midst?
It surely feels bigger than Trump and his apologists, for even if he were ultimately to be brought down by his hubris, what of Jones, Hannity, Drudge and their ilk? What of the descendants of the "Greatest Generation" who sacrificed so much to fend off the ills of the Axis powers in Europe and Japan who now respond positively to the same currents in their own country?
Must we wait until we are laid low just as those countries were in 1945 before we come to our collective senses? Who will stand up to the Jones/Goebbels, Petain/McConnell, and Quisling/Ryan now running wild
What has led to this? Is it the same dark corners of mass consciousness that the totalitarian movements of the 1920-40s festered? If so, why? If not, what new forms of social disease has been aborning in our midst?
It surely feels bigger than Trump and his apologists, for even if he were ultimately to be brought down by his hubris, what of Jones, Hannity, Drudge and their ilk? What of the descendants of the "Greatest Generation" who sacrificed so much to fend off the ills of the Axis powers in Europe and Japan who now respond positively to the same currents in their own country?
Must we wait until we are laid low just as those countries were in 1945 before we come to our collective senses? Who will stand up to the Jones/Goebbels, Petain/McConnell, and Quisling/Ryan now running wild
4
This type of instant celebrity does serve as a lightning rod for most Americans to decry his assertions and there is a certain solidifying of beliefs in all that. We know he is wrong, we say he is wrong, we denounce his viewpoints in a collective way , and we move on without him- and he remains only ,at times, like small static on the radio.
2
It's interesting that liberal democrats are hated because they don't approve of the hate-speak spewing from people like Mr. Jones. And Ann Coulter. And Rush Limbaugh. And Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Michael Savage, to name a few. The hatred spews and the guns come out and the fringe fire away, literally. Our president listens to these people and we can't control the damage being done.
4
There is no personal cost in spewing lies. There is no honor. There is no regard for facts.
Say or do anything to grab media attention and a spot in the limelight. Every year the race to insanity speeds up.
When the majority of people say no, we will not listen to or give credence to that clap trap, then a glimmer of hope for our future will appear.
No glimmer on the horizon yet.
Say or do anything to grab media attention and a spot in the limelight. Every year the race to insanity speeds up.
When the majority of people say no, we will not listen to or give credence to that clap trap, then a glimmer of hope for our future will appear.
No glimmer on the horizon yet.
2
I paid very close attention to Alex Jones in 2016. In particular, I was looking for what would happen under the situation I believed most likely, which was a narrow Clinton election victory and claims of fraud by Trump that would be channeled and magnified by Jones.
The result would then be several weeks of tension during which some spark, somewhere, would occur: likely something like the Bundy occupation of the Oregon wildlife refuge, quite possibly worse up to a Waco siege-scale event.
Without really arguing at this point for armed insurrection, Jones would fan the flames and allege further conspiracies, which would lead to a cascade of further incidents. There would be a ~30% chance of sporadic right-wing insurgency by the spring of 2017. At this point, Jones might feel compelled to back greater rebellion, in the most heavily-armed country on the planet, with most of the arms in the hands of sympathetic right-wing forces.
At this point, President Clinton would have no choice but to confront the rebellion, which turns into an asymmetric modern civil war centered in mountainous areas and the Deep South, with spree killings by lone wolves fairly common everywhere else. Even if this didn't happen immediately, tensions would be raised enormously and it could break out at any time later on.
The NYT crowd reacted with shock and horror at Trump's election. I cried with relief. Four years of stupidity would ensue, but not one of those hellish asymmetric modern civil wars.
The result would then be several weeks of tension during which some spark, somewhere, would occur: likely something like the Bundy occupation of the Oregon wildlife refuge, quite possibly worse up to a Waco siege-scale event.
Without really arguing at this point for armed insurrection, Jones would fan the flames and allege further conspiracies, which would lead to a cascade of further incidents. There would be a ~30% chance of sporadic right-wing insurgency by the spring of 2017. At this point, Jones might feel compelled to back greater rebellion, in the most heavily-armed country on the planet, with most of the arms in the hands of sympathetic right-wing forces.
At this point, President Clinton would have no choice but to confront the rebellion, which turns into an asymmetric modern civil war centered in mountainous areas and the Deep South, with spree killings by lone wolves fairly common everywhere else. Even if this didn't happen immediately, tensions would be raised enormously and it could break out at any time later on.
The NYT crowd reacted with shock and horror at Trump's election. I cried with relief. Four years of stupidity would ensue, but not one of those hellish asymmetric modern civil wars.
1
yes, an excellent article. it is this anger that incites the passions that carry to the ballot box. but i fear the greater danger are the puppet masters, the mercer family, the koch brothers, the fossil fuel and banking sectors, in short the powerful private interests who unduly influence the legislative process.
3
IConservative Operatives have done polling research to estimate the number of voters that traffic in conspiracy theories.
Several years ago I participated in a telephone poll that included the following question: Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone? I will never know the true purpose of this question , i suspect the question was crafted to gauge the slice of the electorate that was comfortable believing in disproven conspiracy theories.
It is regretable that Conservatives have chosen to go down this path. William F Buckley reclaimed the GOPs integrity when he forced out the lunatic fringe.
My patience has run out waiting for the GOP to take ownership for the integrity of the message, i became an independent voter
Several years ago I participated in a telephone poll that included the following question: Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone? I will never know the true purpose of this question , i suspect the question was crafted to gauge the slice of the electorate that was comfortable believing in disproven conspiracy theories.
It is regretable that Conservatives have chosen to go down this path. William F Buckley reclaimed the GOPs integrity when he forced out the lunatic fringe.
My patience has run out waiting for the GOP to take ownership for the integrity of the message, i became an independent voter
Does this cause massive "collateral damage" in the form of thousands of threats to the grieving families of dead children? You bet. Totally devoid of hate, killing them just the same.
Jones is exactly who and what he says he is - a paranoid tinfoil hat type that improbably surfed a tsunami of paranoia. His career goes long back to before 9/11, and he's been remarkably consistent in his anti-"NWO" rhetoric all the way since then.
In the interview, this will become apparent. He's genuinely crazy in a way that appeals to millions of people, who came out to boost Trump over the top. Please be prepared for this. He won't be "unmasked" - there's no mask there. Just a strangely appealing - to a big enough chunk of the electorate - brand of insanity.