4 ms·

At the risk of sounding like a troll, I don't see anything in that link about Alex Jones threatening lives.

jimhi 6y ago
I think they are saying Alex Jones is responsible because his followers ended up stalking and harassing the victims parents. One could argue he never directly said to do that so it isn't his responsibility, but he also has a big platform.
- ALittleLight 6y ago
  By this logic Bernie Sanders endangered lives because one of his supporters shot Steve Scalise. To my knowledge Jones just said something like Sandy Hook was fake, which is clearly a bad thing to say, but it doesn't threaten people.
  - jimhi 6y ago
    Similar arguments have been for Trump as well
  - thomasmeeks 6y ago
    Alex hammered his Sandy Hook conspiracy theory to the point of being sued for defamation, and losing (https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=alex+jones+sandy+hook+lawsuit&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=alex+jones+sandy+hook+lawsu...). Families were forced to move multiple times, unable to visit graves. When the families faced hardship, Alex doubled down on his claims. He never took a moment to ask his supporters to back off or seek a calmer resolution. Whereas Bernie immediately denounced the shooter and reached out to Steve Scalise. Steve does not blame Bernie for having a deranged fan (https://www.newsweek.com/steve-scalise-shooting-bernie-sanders-2017-alexandria-congressional-baseball-1252274 https://www.newsweek.com/steve-scalise-shooting-bernie-sande...). Bernie did not imply Steve deserved to be harassed or shot. He has, in fact, asked his supporters to back off (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bernie-sanders-email-supporters-799468/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bernie-s...). These two things are obviously not equivalent.
    - drak0n1c 6y ago
      Not quite "never". You may not be aware because the Joe Rogan podcast was the only outlet that covered his apologies and regret for his behavior. For years since the incident he's been telling his followers in his own show that he was wrong about it and to not harass the families. It's still the case that he changed his attitude too late, only after some of his listeners acted and the escalation became real.
    - afiori 6y ago
      > He never took a moment to ask his supporters to back off or seek a calmer resolution. This is an interesting point, because had he done that it could be used against him as an admission of guilt.
- Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
  So do you now expect content creators to be in direct responsibility for any stupid action that any of their self-identified fans do? That's just crazy, how do you even consider this a defensible view?
  - jimhi 6y ago
    Sorry, are you trying to convince me of something? I just translated what I think is a fair view of a different comment...
  - willis936 6y ago
    When you tell your fans to do it, yes. There’s a lawsuit about it. Look it up before grandstanding on false premises.
    - isoskeles 6y ago
      Can you post a quote in which Alex Jones told his followers to threaten the lives of these people? Looks like the lawsuit was only about defamation, not Alex Jones directing people who listen to him to make death threats. I’m not trying to make some gotcha argument that you can cause your followers to make death threats and therefore you had no part. I’m making the case that Alex Jones is an idiot who says things about water turning the frogs gay, and under no reasonable interpretation of his actions or beliefs can I see that he intended to cause death threats to occur.

I think they are saying Alex Jones is responsible because his followers ended up stalking and harassing the victims parents. One could argue he never directly said to do that so it isn't his responsibility, but he also has a big platform.

ALittleLight 6y ago
By this logic Bernie Sanders endangered lives because one of his supporters shot Steve Scalise. To my knowledge Jones just said something like Sandy Hook was fake, which is clearly a bad thing to say, but it doesn't threaten people.
- jimhi 6y ago
  Similar arguments have been for Trump as well
- thomasmeeks 6y ago
  Alex hammered his Sandy Hook conspiracy theory to the point of being sued for defamation, and losing (https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=alex+jones+sandy+hook+lawsuit&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=alex+jones+sandy+hook+lawsu...). Families were forced to move multiple times, unable to visit graves. When the families faced hardship, Alex doubled down on his claims. He never took a moment to ask his supporters to back off or seek a calmer resolution. Whereas Bernie immediately denounced the shooter and reached out to Steve Scalise. Steve does not blame Bernie for having a deranged fan (https://www.newsweek.com/steve-scalise-shooting-bernie-sanders-2017-alexandria-congressional-baseball-1252274 https://www.newsweek.com/steve-scalise-shooting-bernie-sande...). Bernie did not imply Steve deserved to be harassed or shot. He has, in fact, asked his supporters to back off (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bernie-sanders-email-supporters-799468/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bernie-s...). These two things are obviously not equivalent.
  - drak0n1c 6y ago
    Not quite "never". You may not be aware because the Joe Rogan podcast was the only outlet that covered his apologies and regret for his behavior. For years since the incident he's been telling his followers in his own show that he was wrong about it and to not harass the families. It's still the case that he changed his attitude too late, only after some of his listeners acted and the escalation became real.
  - afiori 6y ago
    > He never took a moment to ask his supporters to back off or seek a calmer resolution. This is an interesting point, because had he done that it could be used against him as an admission of guilt.
Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
So do you now expect content creators to be in direct responsibility for any stupid action that any of their self-identified fans do? That's just crazy, how do you even consider this a defensible view?
- jimhi 6y ago
  Sorry, are you trying to convince me of something? I just translated what I think is a fair view of a different comment...
- willis936 6y ago
  When you tell your fans to do it, yes. There’s a lawsuit about it. Look it up before grandstanding on false premises.
  - isoskeles 6y ago
    Can you post a quote in which Alex Jones told his followers to threaten the lives of these people? Looks like the lawsuit was only about defamation, not Alex Jones directing people who listen to him to make death threats. I’m not trying to make some gotcha argument that you can cause your followers to make death threats and therefore you had no part. I’m making the case that Alex Jones is an idiot who says things about water turning the frogs gay, and under no reasonable interpretation of his actions or beliefs can I see that he intended to cause death threats to occur.