Alex Jones vs Cenk Uygur

[jmdrake]

LOL. Love seeing him get owned like that.

[anaconda]

Cenk is 100 million miles off mark when he equates Peter Schiff with the likes of the NY Fed and Goldman Sachs. He just doesn't get it.

[Emerick]

I'm sorry, but Cenk is just stupid. Alex is talking about a set of facts, of documents, of documented plans etc. Cenk disagrees on the basis of "it seems crazy". Come on, how dumb someone has to be to don't understand that personal impressions like this mean nothing.

For instance, suppose Cenk and Alex lived in the 1930s, when Hitler was saying he was going to kill the jews. Alex would come with a speech of Hitler saying he was going to kill the jews and would be terrified. Cenk would answer like this: "Oh, this is just crazy. I mean, WHY would someone want to kill anybody? And WHY would someone like killing jews. That just doesn't make sense to me."

If Cenk lived before the XXth century, he'd still be stupid, but it was going to be comprehensible. But having lived in the century in which we had two world wars, communism, and nazism, resulting in more than 200 MILLION deaths by governments around the world, one can only conclude that he's beyond retarded...

[itshappening]

I'm sorry, but Cenk is just stupid. Alex is talking about a set of facts, of documents, of documented plans etc. Cenk disagrees on the basis of "it seems crazy". Come on, how dumb someone has to be to don't understand that personal impressions like this mean nothing.

For instance, suppose Cenk and Alex lived in the 1930s, when Hitler was saying he was going to kill the jews. Alex would come with a speech of Hitler saying he was going to kill the jews and would be terrified. Cenk would answer like this: "Oh, this is just crazy. I mean, WHY would someone want to kill anybody? And WHY would someone like killing jews. That just doesn't make sense to me."

If Cenk lived before the XXth century, he'd still be stupid, but it was going to be comprehensible. But having lived in the century in which we had two world wars, communism, and nazism, resulting in more than 200 MILLION deaths by governments around the world, one can only conclude that he's beyond retarded...

If Cenk had a tv program on German TV in the early 1930's he would be suggesting the Nazi party putting yellow stickers on Jewish businesses was nothing serious... 10 years later they were sent to gas chambers.

[VBRonPaulFan]

By "rational libertarian" I mean someone like myself or Ron Paul. Someone who doesn't trust the government to do the right thing or a competent job, and sees too much government as dangerous, as well as a major detriment to the economy.

The "irrational" "libertarians" are those like AJ who seem to be one bad hair day away from climbing a tower. Those paranoiacs who think the government is "out to get them" 24-7. Who believe everything is a massive government conspiracy (part of the reason they are irrational is that the same people who don't think the government is competent enough to deliver the mail think that same government is competent enough to flawlessly execute massive and elaborate conspiracies- that just ain't rational, folks- how can the government be completely inept on one hand, and execute flawlessly on the other?).

Frankly, I'm not sure AJ is irrational. I sometimes think he really doesn't believe half the stuff he says and may well be just demagogue the issues for financial gain. But whether he is a true believer or just an opportunist, he reflects badly on those of us who are rational libertarians.



Are you serious? Do you really think the ability to earn money as an entertainer demonstrates rationality? I'll give you a chance to think about that, and if you really believe it, I'll give you a list of really bat shit crazy people who are multi millionaires and you can try again.



Am I missing something here? Last I checked, AJ had a radio show. How are you "viewing" that?




Because they never have nutty people on "The View" or Fox News? Right...

Glenn Beck (not one of my favorite people, despite the fact that he also claims to be a libertarian) was right. The reason AJ is often brought on these shows is to discredit libertarians. Put AJ on "Piers Morgan" or "The View," get him riled up (which usually takes about 15-seconds), red in the face, yelling and ranting, and they win. Because he is being presented as a representative libertarian, but comes off as a blow hard, a bully, and a nut, not a person capable of rational debate.

The sad thing is, he DOES make some good points that I, or any other libertarian, would agree with- whether discussing gun control or anything else. But the good parts of his message are obscured by his abrasive personality and his nutty conspiracy rantings.

Sit back and think about it. Take the infamous "Piers Morgan" appearance. What do you think sticks out most in the mind of the average viewer watching that act:

A) That AJ points correctly points out that the right to bear arms is about protecting ourselves from aggressors or the state.
B) That AJ went off on a bunch of crazy conspiracy rants.
C) That AJ got riled up, started yelling and ranting, challenged Morgan to a fight, etc.

My guess is that no more than 20% focused on A) (and most of those were probably already libertarians). The other 80% probably saw him as a loud mouthed bully and a nut (or both). I doubt that "performance" by AJ convinced a single person who wasn't already a 2nd amendment supporter to become a supporter.

The exact opposite of Ron Paul. Ron, despite being extremely charismatically challenged, was able to convince millions to become libertarians. He didn't do it by throwing out crazy and volatile statements, he didn't do it by yelling and ranting and bullying. He was calm, rational, and reasonable- he got people carefully consider what he was saying, and many realized that what he said made sense.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Some people wake up when they get the in your face message that AJ brings to the table, and some people wake up when someone like Ron Paul does a great job at planting a seed that gets them thinking. Both strategies do win over converts, it all depends on the person.

That being said, I'm not at all a fan of the AJ strategy of being a blow-hard, and I couldn't watch the Cenk interview because it was embarrassing to me to sit there and watch him go apeshit.