Monday 21 January 2013

Alex Jones: Just how nutty is the far far right?

Who are these people? Has the world gone insane? Or at least a part of it? Just when I think I've heard the craziest of the crazies, I discover somebody who hasn't just crossed the line but stepped over it, drawn another line then crossed over it.

Alex Jones is a syndicated talk radio host who falls at the far far right of the political spectrum. No wait. Let me make that the far far far far right. He is also a conspiracy theorist who believes the government was involved in both the Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11 attacks. I'm still checking to see if he wears a tin hat.

December 14, 2012
The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took place resulting in the death of 20 children and 6 teachers. (Wikipedia)

December 15, 2012
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said that, if there had been armed teachers in the school in Newtown, the tragedy might have been reduced. "Gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands. Federal and state laws combined to ensure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun at the Newtown school where the children were murdered," Pratt said in a statement.

He asked for gun laws to be loosened further. "This tragedy underscores the urgency of getting rid of gun bans in school zones. The only thing accomplished by gun-free zones is to ensure that mass murderers can slay more before they are finally confronted by someone with a gun," he added. (The Guardian)

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Piers Morgan, the British journalist and television host currently working in the United States in Larry King's old time slot, questioned the state of gun control in the United States.

I've made my own views clear on my show -- the senseless killing has to stop. High-powered assault rifles of the type used at Aurora and Newtown belong in the military and police, not in civilian hands. High-capacity magazines, too, should be banned. And background checks on anyone buying guns in America should be comprehensive and stringently enforced. (CNN - Dec 20/1012: Sandy Hook must be a tipping point for change by Piers Morgan)

December 21, 2012
Mr. Jones started a petition on the new White House "We the people" to deport Piers Morgan. As of this writing, January 21, 2013, the number of signatures stands at 109,334.

January 7, 2013
Mr. Morgan had Alex Jones as a guest on his show for what is now an "infamous" interview. Mr. Jones went off on one of his trademark rants which portrayed the shock jock as something of a lunatic. If ever there was a disservice done to the NRA and gun advocates, this was it.

"Hitler took the guns! Stalin took the guns! Mao took the guns! Fidel Castro took the guns! Hugo Chavez took the guns! I'm here to tell you — 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms!" (The Telegraph)

Published on Jan 7, 2013 by SaveOurSovereignty3
Alex Jones Vs Piers Morgan On Gun Control Live On CNN (15 minutes)


Obama is going to take the guns
I investigated this idea of dictators taking the guns from people so they couldn't defend themselves and therefore paving the way to the dictator to take over. This isn't true. Hitler was very much pro-gun in his policies. Yes, he eventually disarmed the Jews but the idea that armed Jews could ward off the onslaught of the Nazis is ludicrous considering that France, an entire country couldn't hold them off. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungry, even Russia, all fell before the might of the Nazis. The Jews being armed would have stopped the holocaust? This is a retelling of history which is in no way reflective of reality. (see my blog Sandy Hook, Gun Control and the "right answer")

Obama wants to take all the guns? First of all this is absurd. But more importantly, the NRA in its pursuit of absolute and unconditional freedom to do anything it wants has squashed just about any effort for any reasonable amount of regulation. Assault weapons? 100 round clips? Armor piercing bullets? Semi-automatic weapons? If guns are supposed to be about hunting and marksmanship and possibly self-defense, just what is anybody preparing for? The zombie apocalypse? In my posting about Sandy Hook I point out that we all must follow the rules of the road so we can all benefit from the maximum safety for the collective we. Why is it that there are little or no regulations governing the sale and use of guns? A semi-automatic assault weapon with a 100 round clip seems more like a weapon of war as opposed to the weapon of a gun enthusiast.

The Beliefs of Alex Jones
Mass shootings are staged. 9/11 was a government plot. The government wants to take over our minds. The list goes on and on and I have to wonder if Alex Jones suffers from some sort of bipolar disorder. Is he legally sane? It is scary to see that his radio show has two million listeners. That means there are another two million Americans giving credence to these ideas. I think of the times I have walked by somebody on a corner standing on a soapbox with a bullhorn rallying against the supposed evils of the world. Everybody walks around him and he remains there undisturbed as he technically isn't breaking any laws. Nevertheless it is obvious this person isn't completely connected to reality. I look at Alex Jones and I see the same type of person except instead of being on a corner with a bullhorn, he has a legitimate radio show plus several Internet web sites dedicated to disseminating his message to the world.

Published on Aug 24, 2012 by vilemonkey
YouTube: Alex 'Hyperbole' Jones



Final Word
I have to wonder if the world hasn't gone insane. I know that both the left and right sometimes (ofttimes?) portray each other as being divorced from reality and in politics I would say everybody at one time or another shoots their mouth off in the most egregious of fashions. However since the middle of 2011 when the GOP lined up their candidates for the Republican nomination, I have realised the party of the right has been hijacked by the far far right as exemplified by the Tea Party. The sky is falling; the world is coming to an end; hyperbole is the name of the outrageous game in an effort to obfuscate the details of a patriarchal, parochial, narrow Christian white view of America. Alex Jones is just another in a long line of extremist clowns whose opinions leave one stunned by the absurdity of their claims. I would go so far as to say that Alex Jones is so far out there, he makes Glenn Beck look normal and Beck is anything but.

While you may laugh at Alex Jones as I did, I have to add the sobering thought that Mitt Romney didn't lose the election by that wide of a margin. In other words, the vocal minority is more than just vocal, they are avid campaigners. Everyone should keep this in mind as we all move into the future. Obama must make even more significant progress in his second term to put to rest the fears of anybody, left or right, about the ability of the Democrats to deliver. If they even falter, Alex Jones is waiting in the wings gleefully rubbing his hands together to shout to everyone, "I told you so!" The United States can ill-afford another George W. Bush and all he represents. I am not saying the Democrats are perfect; not by a long shot, but the Republicans under the influence of the far right have become anything but reasonable.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
-proverb

The collective we must move into the future. The collective we must throw off the shackles of tradition and become better, smarter, more enlightened. Alex Jones is another indicator that the collective we has a long way to go.


References

Wikipedia: Alex Jones
Alexander Emerick "Alex" Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American talk radio host, actor and filmmaker. His syndicated news/talk show The Alex Jones Show, based in Austin, Texas, airs via the Genesis Communication Network on over 70 AM, FM, and shortwave radio stations across the United States and on the Internet.

Wikipedia: The Alex Jones Show
The Alex Jones Show is an American talk radio show hosted by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Genesis Communications Network. ... [It] has a format which has remained unchanged since the program began. The program airs live and primarily consists of interviews with guests...normally conducted by phone or Skype and occasionally with the guest in the studio... The remaining segments of the show are filled with Jones' monologues...These monologues have a tendency to run into heated rants while listener calls tend to be fleeting and brief.

The Christian Science Monitor - Jan 9/2013
Piers Morgan vs. Alex Jones feud: helping or hurting gun control? (+video)
Shouting matches, even one-sided ones, make for 'must-see' TV. That may be why CNN host Piers Morgan, at the receiving end of the yelling on gun rights, isn't letting it drop.

Wikipedia: Larry Pratt
Lawrence D. "Larry" Pratt (born November 13, 1942) is the executive director of Gun Owners of America, a United States-based firearms lobbying group, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Google image search: The Alex Jones Show

Google video search: The Alex Jones Show

Genesis Communications Network: The Alex Jones Show

YouTube channel: Alex Jones

The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights - Oct 17/2011
Who is Alex Jones?
[This is a comprehensive analysis of this gentleman's beliefs.]
His YouTube channel has over 30 million views and over 200,000 subscribers. He's had cameo appearances in two Hollywood films. Yet he's hardly a household name. Nonetheless, over the last fifteen years, Austin, Texas-based radio talk-show host Alex Jones has made a career pumping out bigotry and conspiracies for profit.

Huffington Post - Jan 21/2013
Alex Jones, Radio Host Who Wants Piers Morgan Deported, Says Government Creating Gays With Chemicals
We've heard a lot of ridiculous things about where LGBT people come from and what they're capable of (see the slideshow below), but Alex Jones' claim that the government is creating gays with chemicals takes conspiracy theories to a new level.

2013-01-21

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1 comment:

A Political Junkie said...

Unfortunately, there is a huge audience for theatrics of this ilk. Just type "gun confiscation America" into Google and read through some of the links provided.