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View Full Version : Alex Jones: "Plague On" or "Tonic To" our discourse?




presence
08-22-2013, 03:10 PM
http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/y3/esq-alex-jones.jpg



Even now, Alex Jones can't relax. Two weeks after he enraged the entire country by naming the U. S. government as Suspect No. 1 in the bloody slaughter at the Boston Marathon, the radio host and avatar of modern American paranoia is on vacation with his family in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He goes to museums with his kids, takes in the Romanesque baths, laments the decay of the grand old hotels that drew high rollers like Al Capone and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hikes up hillsides steamy with the mist from the natural hot springs that bubble right out of the rocks. But everywhere he looks there are fresh assaults on the American way of life, on liberty itself, and the raging radio voice that transforms him from a gentle family man into a ranting prophet keeps taking demonic possession of his soul.

Read more: Alex Jones Interview - Alex Jones Paranoid Story - Esquire

(http://www.esquire.com/anxiety/alex-jones-interview-0913#ixzz2cjbLr0Fw)
(http://www.esquire.com/anxiety/alex-jones-interview-0913#ixzz2cjbLr0Fw)http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/site_images/redesign_2011/logo.png?ggnoads
http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/YF/esq-paranoid-jones-2.jpg

compromise
08-22-2013, 03:37 PM
Is there any neutral option? He does some good things, and some bad things. I don't really think he has that much of an effect on the liberty movement.

presence
08-22-2013, 03:44 PM
Is there any neutral option? He does some good things, and some bad things. I don't really think he has that much of an effect on the liberty movement.

Did you know Ron Paul has appeared on his show over 50 times?

evilfunnystuff
08-22-2013, 04:12 PM
I think you may have missed the deeper meaning of the way that was written.

1. Plauge on ... Greatful

or

2. Tonic to ... Horrified

green73
08-22-2013, 04:14 PM
flawed poll.

Danke
08-22-2013, 04:22 PM
I like Alex.

FrankRep
08-22-2013, 04:44 PM
He's very popular. Even Drudge Report links to him often.

fr33
08-22-2013, 04:46 PM
When I went to a Ron Paul rally over half the males there had some type of infowars/prisonlanet clothing on so I'd say he's useful.

Anti Federalist
08-22-2013, 04:49 PM
Wish there were a million Alex Jones out there with the same "reach".

Zippyjuan
08-22-2013, 07:48 PM
Jones is not really an inspiration to discorse. Those who already like him want to hear more. Those who don't, aren't going to listen to him and dismiss what he says. Discourse is sharing ideas with the goal of maybe changing (or helping make up) somebody's mind. Jones polarizes too much to contribute to that.

donnay
08-22-2013, 07:53 PM
Jones is not really an inspiration to discorse. Those who already like him want to hear more. Those who don't, aren't going to listen to him and dismiss what he says. Discourse is sharing ideas with the goal of maybe changing (or helping make up) somebody's mind. Jones polarizes too much to contribute to that.


It's interesting he is gaining more and more listeners everyday. People are sick and tire of the controlled MSM.

Pisces
08-22-2013, 07:58 PM
I like Alex.

Me too. I don't agree with everything he's said or done but I think his heart is in the right place.

Saint Vitus
08-22-2013, 08:07 PM
I can respect Rand Paul's "go along to get along" approach, and I can see where it can be effective in the long term. But at the same time, I appreciate Alex Jones' fiery approach that doesn't take any shit from these assholes who are destroying our country. We need to be pissed at what's going on in our country and I think that Alex's rants get a lot of people motivated.

better-dead-than-fed
08-22-2013, 08:26 PM
No one's speech is a plague on anything I am a part of.

BlackTerrel
08-22-2013, 08:29 PM
It's interesting he is gaining more and more listeners everyday. People are sick and tire of the controlled MSM.

What is his listenership and what is the trend?

presence
08-22-2013, 08:40 PM
What is his listenership and what is the trend?

Between 1 and 3 million weekly I believe.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%22infowars%22%2C%20%20%22alex%20jones%2 2%2C%20%20&cmpt=q

Zippyjuan
08-22-2013, 08:54 PM
Who Is Alex Jones? Forbes wants to know.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/09/who-is-alex-jones-anyway-five-fun-factoids/


1. For a guy who’s pretty out there, he’s got some scale. His daily four-hour show airs on more than 60 AM and FM radio stations, according to Infowars.com, one of his two websites. It’s syndicated by Genesis Communications, a radio network founded in 1998 by Midas Resources, a vendor of gold and silver coins. The show draws 2 million listeners per week, according to a 2010 Texas Monthly profile.

Infowars.com and Prisonplanet.tv, his other site, attract a monthly unique audience of 4 million. Jones also has a YouTube channel with 350,000 subscribers, which has received more than 260 million views. He’s produced around 25 documentaries, depending how you count them, including “Loose Change,” the most famous of the films alleging that the Sept. 11 attacks were an inside job by the U.S. government.

Altogether, Jones was taking in revenues of about $1.5 million per year in 2010, enough to support a staff of 15 and enable him to buy an $800,000 house and 7,600 square foot studio.

2. He’s never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like. Or basically never, anyway. Jones believes that a pan-global cabal of the super-rich, with its origins in a century-old cult called the Illuminati, is conspiring to exterminate most of the world’s population and enslave the rest. Among the tools of this so-called New World Order: mind control, water fluoridation, the global warming “hoax,” eugenics, the World Bank and the IMF, flu vaccines, FEMA, the Gates Foundation and psyscho-active drugs, both legal and illegal.

He believes the recent mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado, and Tucson, Arizona, were the work of perpetrators who’d been programmed by the government as part of a plot to deprive Americans of their guns. He believes Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed by a microwave gun and dead before his plane crashed. He believes the federal government engineered the Oklahoma City bombing as a coded reminder of the way it had crushed the Branch Davidians in Waco a year earlier.

Some of his theories are patently unfalsifiable — any proof of their falsity is just part of the cover-up — but some aren’t. On his show Tuesday, he claimed Piers Morgan must have been a government operative in order to know the mechanics of hacking mobile phones. In fact, no special knowledge was required to hack cell phones; Morgan’s tabloid colleagues simply relied on the fact that most phone owners never bothered to change the default pass codes. The phone companies have since fixed the problem.

3. For a dude who believes virtually every powerful institution is a tool of an evil conspiracy, he’s surprisingly keen on Hollywood. “The globalists want us turned toward Hollywood and the TV so they can poison us,” he told Rolling Stone in 2001. Yet he loves to quote movies, especially science fiction movies like “Star Wars,” “The Matrix,” “Star Trek,” “Starship Troopers” and “Dune.”

He’s friendly with filmmaker and fellow Austinite Richard Linklater, who has put him into two of his movies, and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, who named an album after one of Jones’s films. His love of heavy metal music is especially curious given that genre’s long association (mostly in the form of urban myths) with Satanism and subliminal mind control. (Jones famously tried to catch global elites performing what he believed to be Satanic rituals at Bohemian Grove.)

4. Speaking of his famous friends, he’s pals with Charlie Sheen and helped to get him fired from “Two and a Half Men.” It was on Jones’s show that Sheen laced into the CBS sitcom’s creator, Chuck Lorre, in a way that was widely perceived as anti-Semitic. For the record, Jones himself has long taken pains to distance himself from overt anti-Semitism or racism of any kind.

5. Some of his enemies aren’t who you’d think they’d be, either. He especially hates Rush Limbaugh, whom he calls a “whore,” and Glenn Beck, whom he accuses of stealing his theories and presenting them as his own, yet only after twisting them in a way that lets big business and the Republican Party largely off the hook.

ClydeCoulter
08-22-2013, 08:58 PM
Who Is Alex Jones? Forbes wants to know.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/09/who-is-alex-jones-anyway-five-fun-factoids/

So, why post that crap? In agreement with your sentiment? (you can vote)

Danke
08-22-2013, 09:04 PM
gee, Zippy trying to discredit Alex Jones, I am so surprised.

Zippyjuan
08-22-2013, 09:05 PM
Article includes listenership info.

donnay
08-22-2013, 09:08 PM
What is his listenership and what is the trend?



http://www.radioratingz.com/ratings/894/Radio+Show+Alex+Jones.html

69360
08-22-2013, 09:09 PM
somewhere in between

Tod
08-22-2013, 09:29 PM
If only he had hickok45's or maybe Paul Wheaton's voice instead of that annoying scratchy voice....

jclay2
08-22-2013, 09:41 PM
Jones is not really an inspiration to discorse. Those who already like him want to hear more. Those who don't, aren't going to listen to him and dismiss what he says. Discourse is sharing ideas with the goal of maybe changing (or helping make up) somebody's mind. Jones polarizes too much to contribute to that.

I have been very changed by Alex's discourse for the better. He made me investigate things that I thought were quite wacky, but on further investigation was factual evidence from mainstream msm articles. He is really entertaining and brings up very very pertinent topics. Even if you disagree with his analysis, I doubt you can state that he discusses topics little significance like the msm does.

Edit: I actually started out thinking my brother was completely crazy for listening to alex jones until I listened to the man myself. Also, for those with an open mind, you can gain a tremendous amount of info from so called crazy. I would never imagine that I could actually learn and gain new perspectives from a man who believed in lizard people....but it is possible (see david icke).

fearthereaperx
08-22-2013, 10:42 PM
Who Is Alex Jones? Forbes wants to know.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/09/who-is-alex-jones-anyway-five-fun-factoids/

Alex made 7 million last year.

You don't like him because he is libertarian, pro-2nd amendment, pro-free market capitalism, and makes caricatures out of statists in painting them to be monsters(a favorite tactic used by the Left)

The Alex Jones and Drudge coalition was instrumental in blocking the Administration's gun-control agenda. So, to say that he isn't effective in the national debate is patently false.

eduardo89
08-22-2013, 11:17 PM
Did you know Ron Paul has appeared on his show over 50 times?

And on Fox well over 100 times. Your point?

Zippyjuan
08-22-2013, 11:20 PM
Alex made 7 million last year.

You don't like him because he is libertarian, pro-2nd amendment, pro-free market capitalism, and makes caricatures out of statists in painting them to be monsters(a favorite tactic used by the Left)

The Alex Jones and Drudge coalition was instrumental in blocking the Administration's gun-control agenda. So, to say that he isn't effective in the national debate is patently false.

I just don't buy most of his conspiracies.

Zippyjuan
08-22-2013, 11:23 PM
Rush Limbaugh has 14 million listeners for comparison. Glen Beck 7.5. Hannity over 13 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-listened-to_radio_programs

I don't even see him on this list: http://www.talkers.com/top-talk-radio-audiences/
http://www.talkers.com/images/audiencechart_august13.jpg

In their "Top 100 for 2012" he is at #66. http://www.talkers.com/61-80/
http://www.talkers.com/2013hh/cells/066.jpg
(Herman Cain is #59)

fr33
08-22-2013, 11:29 PM
Rush Limbaugh has 14 million listeners for comparison. Glen Beck 7.5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-listened-to_radio_programs

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?425134-Just-How-Stupid-Are-Americans-Video

Ender
08-22-2013, 11:42 PM
I have been very changed by Alex's discourse for the better. He made me investigate things that I thought were quite wacky, but on further investigation was factual evidence from mainstream msm articles. He is really entertaining and brings up very very pertinent topics. Even if you disagree with his analysis, I doubt you can state that he discusses topics little significance like the msm does.

Edit: I actually started out thinking my brother was completely crazy for listening to alex jones until I listened to the man myself. Also, for those with an open mind, you can gain a tremendous amount of info from so called crazy. I would never imagine that I could actually learn and gain new perspectives from a man who believed in lizard people....but it is possible (see david icke).

Pretty much my experience, as well

fearthereaperx
08-23-2013, 12:09 AM
I just don't buy most of his conspiracies.

You also said:


Jones is not really an inspiration to discorse. Those who already like him want to hear more. Those who don't, aren't going to listen to him and dismiss what he says. Discourse is sharing ideas with the goal of maybe changing (or helping make up) somebody's mind. Jones polarizes too much to contribute to that.

Jones was able to successfully reframe the mainstream narrative following Sandy Hook that 'guns are evil and must be controlled' to 'men with power are evil and must be put in check'. One doesn't need to buy his conspiracies to admit that his method of messaging is actually effective in changing minds.

It's not about changing those whose minds are already made up, it's about changing the minds that aren't made up. The left uses fear mongering, entertainment, exaggerated caricatures of their opponents to draw in audiences, and eventually voters, and it works. Alex is just using those same methods of psychological warfare, but with a conservative/libertarian leaning to build an audience on the libertarian side. And yes, he get's paid well because he is doing what he loves and works hard.--just like Ron Paul.

better-dead-than-fed
08-23-2013, 12:13 AM
I just don't buy most of his conspiracies.

I was thinking the same thing about the DOJ's conspiracy theories:


The DOJ publishes at least ten thousand "conspiracy" theories per year:

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cfjs04.pdf

page 14 (page 22 of the PDF)

Shills are being paid to use the same word to discredit people for telling the truth. If you pay attention to what the word means, it makes it harder for shills to use it against you:


conspiracy: An agreement by two or more people to commit an illegal act....

http://www.nolo.com/dictionary/conspiracy-term.html

You have to assume that the people misusing that word to discredit you are being paid to obscure the truth. I don't take it personally.

CPUd
08-23-2013, 12:54 AM
I liked the Esquire article. The writer had spent some time with him while he was on vacation with his family. Its main focus is on how he spent most of his life fighting bullies, in one form or another.

I forget he's still relatively young- the article has some pictures of him from when he was a kid, and they are all in color.

Peace Piper
08-23-2013, 01:51 AM
Like Ron Paul, Alex is consistent. And who else even begins to voice the proper
outrage at what is happening to this country?

Alex at 23 yrs old (around 1997-8)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-pB-aOOhCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-pB-aOOhCA

BuddyRey
08-23-2013, 02:21 AM
I like Alex Jones very much, because I believe the conspiracy theory that he's actually Bill Hicks. Notice how Bill Hicks supposedly died in 1994, and Alex Jones has no personal history or accreditations before 1995 or so. And maybe this is because they both grew up in Austin, but they had similar ways of "dissing" people, by calling them scum, chicken necks, etc. I even heard Alex Jones lapse into a very nasal speaking voice in an early documentary that wasn't at all like the blustery good ol' boy delivery he puts on for his radio show. Even Joe Rogan has said Alex doesn't really talk like that off the air.

eduardo89
08-23-2013, 02:33 AM
I like Alex Jones very much, because I believe the conspiracy theory that he's actually Bill Hicks. Notice how Bill Hicks supposedly died in 1994, and Alex Jones has no personal history or accreditations before 1995 or so. And maybe this is because they both grew up in Austin, but they had similar ways of "dissing" people, by calling them scum, chicken necks, etc. I even heard Alex Jones lapse into a very nasal speaking voice in an early documentary that wasn't at all like the blustery good ol' boy delivery he puts on for his radio show. Even Joe Rogan has said Alex doesn't really talk like that off the air.

http://mackquigley.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/bill-hicks-alex-jones.png

http://mackquigley.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/bill-hicks-alex-jones.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9djRS-hASZs/T_2Mrg5y1JI/AAAAAAAAAGU/n_XoiuBw-wc/s1600/image71_Alex+Jones+Hicks.jpg

BuddyRey
08-23-2013, 02:39 AM
http://mackquigley.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/bill-hicks-alex-jones.png

http://mackquigley.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/bill-hicks-alex-jones.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9djRS-hASZs/T_2Mrg5y1JI/AAAAAAAAAGU/n_XoiuBw-wc/s1600/image71_Alex+Jones+Hicks.jpg

Good catch!

We are through the looking glass here, people. This is a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma.

jclay2
08-23-2013, 02:50 PM
Rush Limbaugh has 14 million listeners for comparison. Glen Beck 7.5. Hannity over 13 million.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most-listened-to_radio_programs

I don't even see him on this list: http://www.talkers.com/top-talk-radio-audiences/
http://www.talkers.com/images/audiencechart_august13.jpg

In their "Top 100 for 2012" he is at #66. http://www.talkers.com/61-80/
http://www.talkers.com/2013hh/cells/066.jpg
(Herman Cain is #59)

Seriously Zippy? If you look at the media operation as a whole as opposed to strictly the talk radio operation, Alex Jones has a huge reach. He gets links on drudge regularly and has a huge audience via youtube,infowars.com, etc. Suggesting that Herman Cain has more reach is pure dishonesty. Alex has uploaded thousands of videos and many of his uploads have multi-millions of views.