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Alex Jones was on JRE on Feb 27, 2019, which appears to have been at the height of the litigation against him (1). I'll take your word that's what he said (so

by latch 6y ago

Alex Jones was on JRE on Feb 27, 2019, which appears to have been at the height of the litigation against him (1). I'll take your word that's what he said (so in that sense, you're right, it's a "fact"), but if you're giving him the benefit of the doubt...well, what could anyone say? He's been held in contempt of court, de-platformed, has a DWI and, more damning, has made similar inflammatory claims since. (1) - I just googled, apologies if I got the dates wrong.

ufmace 6y ago
What bothers me here is this pattern of personal destruction. It seems that certain people have somehow been declared "unpersons". The tactic is to develop a list of the 6 or so worst-sounding things they've ever done, always phrased in the shortest and most inflammatory way and devoid of any context or later explanations that might mitigate how bad they are. Then, any time that person's name comes up, a crowd of people appears to repeat those same sound bites in various combinations over and over again. The goal is not understanding, but to discredit and destroy people. Anybody who tries to provide context or mitigating factors for the selected sound bites may become a target of the destruction too. Alex Jones is not an angel. But then a great many people in public life have done things that can appear damming when packaged into sound bites like this. What matters is not whether Alex Jones is good or bad, but who decides what persons this tactic will be deployed against. What also matters is what kind of world we are building with this tactic. If somebody has done something bad, do they not deserve a chance to explain themselves, give their side of the story? Maybe roll back some ideas that turned out to be a mistake. If somebody has been declared to be an unperson somehow, and the goal is to do our best to prevent them from speaking at all in any forum by shouting them and any supporters down like this, well exactly what is it that we want them to do?
- gadabout 6y ago
  I understand your message and don't disagree, but I think choosing Alex Jones as an example for this message is crazy given that he has literally made his life's work giving a vocal platform to inflammatory content.
  - emmelaich 6y ago
    I agree that Alex Jones is a scoundrel and possibly a loony. However .. this quote from H.L.Mencken: > “For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” I know we're not talking about laws here (for the most part) but the principle applies.

by latch 6y ago

ufmace 6y ago

What bothers me here is this pattern of personal destruction. It seems that certain people have somehow been declared "unpersons". The tactic is to develop a list of the 6 or so worst-sounding things they've ever done, always phrased in the shortest and most inflammatory way and devoid of any context or later explanations that might mitigate how bad they are. Then, any time that person's name comes up, a crowd of people appears to repeat those same sound bites in various combinations over and over again. The goal is not understanding, but to discredit and destroy people. Anybody who tries to provide context or mitigating factors for the selected sound bites may become a target of the destruction too. Alex Jones is not an angel. But then a great many people in public life have done things that can appear damming when packaged into sound bites like this. What matters is not whether Alex Jones is good or bad, but who decides what persons this tactic will be deployed against. What also matters is what kind of world we are building with this tactic. If somebody has done something bad, do they not deserve a chance to explain themselves, give their side of the story? Maybe roll back some ideas that turned out to be a mistake. If somebody has been declared to be an unperson somehow, and the goal is to do our best to prevent them from speaking at all in any forum by shouting them and any supporters down like this, well exactly what is it that we want them to do?

gadabout 6y ago
I understand your message and don't disagree, but I think choosing Alex Jones as an example for this message is crazy given that he has literally made his life's work giving a vocal platform to inflammatory content.
- emmelaich 6y ago
  I agree that Alex Jones is a scoundrel and possibly a loony. However .. this quote from H.L.Mencken: > “For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.” I know we're not talking about laws here (for the most part) but the principle applies.