Misinformation. Conspiracy theories. Fear mongering. We experience it every day, most recently in the wake of the harbor accident in Baltimore, and prominently from Infowars’s Alex Jones who suggested terrorism. “Looks deliberate to me,” he wrote according to news reports, “A cyber-attack is probable. WW3 has already started.”
It’s nothing new from Jones , who has been spewing his venom for years, and is the subject of a disturbing new HBO documentary: “The Truth vs. Alex Jones,” which focuses on his decade-long and relentless attacks on Sandy Hook families and his claim that the mass shooting was staged as an anti-gun crusade. As we know, Jones and his followers put these family members through a different kind of hell while doubting and disparaging the honor and memories of those killed – including 20 first-graders.
If ever there was any doubt as to the impetus for such individuals using the “microphone” to attack, cast doubt, and endanger others, it is laid bare here: power, influence, and money. We see in court evidence, in fact, web analytics that show direct correlations between vile comments made about Sandy Hook families and their deceased children, and increased website visitors. This in turn, led to increased sales of supplements Jones sold on his website – to the tune of tens of millions of dollars – in particular on the days the most egregious attacks were made. And so they continued. And continued.
By the way, with regard to his remarks about Baltimore and war, Jones’ website also sells survivalist products where you can “fund the fight against tyranny.” Of course, Jones could use the money after more than $1 billion in defamatory judgements were rendered against him in 2022. To date, he continues to broadcast and the plaintiff families have not been paid.
What is perhaps most mind-boggling and difficult to understand are the disillusioned and shallow minds that seek out and accept, latch on to and spread the type of dangerous mis-information Jones and his ilk dish out. Like the innocent people they and Jones attack, they too are preyed upon, lied, shaken down and used, albeit in a much different way. Hopefully “The Truth vs. Alex Jones” will help open some eyes, and unharden some hearts.