A good article on Alex Jones and why his followers are lols

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > A good article on Alex Jones and why his followers are lols

Jesus Christ: Jun 1, 2000; mods if you can make this my avatar I will gladly pay 10bux to the coffers

I grew up watching Austin Cable Access and Alex Jones was one of the big "stars" in the late-90s, among other actually talented, funny, interesting people. He's a national-and-internet celebrity these days but most of you probably never got to experience him in person and when he was first forming and can't really appreciate how loving hilarious it is that people take him seriously.

I could regale stories like the time I ran into him at the screening of Wadd at the Dobie Theater (RIP) with his huge-titted Russian escort or when I ran across him and Leslie trying to out-shout each other (holy fuckin' lol) but for now y'all should just read this article.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2000-07-14/77932/

quote:

Alex Jones is no stranger to conspiracy theories. As watchers of his access television shows and listeners to radio shows are well aware, he is devoted to exposing the many conspiracies he believes are threatening our freedom. But to listen to some of Jones' critics, there is a new conspiracy afoot -- and Alex Jones is behind it.

Jones' rants -- formerly heard on KJFK radio and still aired on the Austin Community Access Center's (ACAC, formerly ACTV) television stations, the Internet (https://www.infowars.com), and his syndicated radio programs -- have become a regular fixture in our town's cultural landscape. Jones rails against what he sees as government and corporate threats to our individual liberties, with predictions that the jackboots will be kicking in our doors and hauling us into internment camps any day now -- in fact, he alleges that this is already going on. He points to the deaths of the 80 Branch Davidians in Waco in 1993 as an example of federal police run amok. Jones recently led the effort to build a chapel on the grounds at Mount Carmel.

But a group of current and former ACAC programmers contend that their freedom -- specifically, their right to free speech and to disagree with Jones -- is what is really being threatened, thanks to what they call Jones' heavy-handed tactics. The programmers' allegations -- which they have made very public by both broadcasting them on ACAC shows and posting them on Web pages -- are that Jones has used both ACAC policy and legal maneuvers to intimidate them or get them thrown off the air.

Jones and his supporters counter that Jones is the real victim. They claim that his critics are harassing, threatening, and even physically assaulting him. These allegations go back pretty far -- more than four years -- but recently resurfaced when ACAC programmer Charlie Sotelo received a 90-day suspension from station airwaves when his The Show With No Name was found to be in violation of station policies regarding commercialism. (Sotelo is an employee of the SXSW Film Festival & Conference, which is partially owned by Austin Chronicle publisher Nick Barbaro and editor Louis Black.)

Jones and Sotelo both admit to a great dislike for one another, and at least one fan of the show says that Jones admitted to filing the complaint which led to Sotelo's suspension. But both Jones and ACAC executive director John Villareal deny that charge. Asked what role Jones had in Sotelo's suspension, Villareal replies, "None whatsoever. The guy [Jones] gets too much credit. There were two phone calls [filing complaints], and neither of them were from Alex."

Villareal won't disclose who the two callers were, saying that ACAC policy allows complainants to be anonymous. At press time, The Austin Chronicle was trying to obtain the names under the Texas Open Records Act, but the city maintains that ACAC is an outside contractor hired to run access television on the city's behalf, and thus is not subject to Open Records laws.

Villareal's statement appears to be at odds with a conversation that Jones had with Casey Monahan, a fan of The Show With No Name, at Eastside Tex-Mex restaurant El Azteca. As Monahan, the director of the Texas Music Office, tells it: "I saw [Jones] at El Azteca, I asked him what the deal was with it, and he told me he filed a complaint, and that somebody else did too."

Jones believes that Monahan may have misunderstood him. "I did file a complaint on him for busting into my studio," Jones says, referring to an incident in May when Sotelo accused Jones of doing studio recording that was so loud that the noise was bleeding over into Sotelo's live broadcast of The Show With No Name (which Jones denies). "The guy [Monahan] stopped me ... and asked me, 'What happened to Charlie Sotelo?' And I said 'The guy's crazy, he busted into my studio, and I filed a complaint on him.'" But Jones says that complaint, which he says he later withdrew, was unrelated to the one that got Sotelo suspended.

The Parking Lot Incident
The bad blood between Sotelo and Jones goes back about four years, to a fight that occurred in the ACAC parking lot. Jones' detractors cite the incident as an example of his inability to tell the truth.
There are two different versions of the incident -- Jones claims that a group of four thugs, one wielding a knife, accosted him outside the studios and physically attacked him because of his beliefs. Sotelo and others tell another story, saying that Jones challenged a man who was ridiculing him, whom witnesses will only identify as "Steve" or "Mystery S." They claim that Steve accepted Jones' invitation to fight, and then thrashed Jones handily. The account, as related by ACAC producer Max Kane, can be read on a Web page maintained by another producer, Shelly Thumbleson (https://www.synaesthetic.com/jarhead.html).

According to Sotelo and the Web page account, after "Steve" left, Jones told police he had been attacked with a knife. Sotelo refuted this, and says that Jones then spit blood on him in retaliation, for which Sotelo allegedly punched Jones.

Jones describes it differently: "The police showed up. They started listening to these people's propaganda. The other people fled. They went and watched the [security] tape, and then they went and wrote the report and then the investigation was pursued on the attackers." Jones said the investigation was never resolved.

Both sides claim that security videos at ACAC support their version of the fight, but ACAC said the tape is no longer available.

In addition to creating tension between Sotelo and Jones, Thumbleson's Web site alleges the fight exacerbated a feud between Jones and "Steve's" friend, Clayton Counts. Counts is notorious, for lack of a better word, for making prank calls to ACAC call-in shows, especially Jones' show. Counts, who still maintains an Internet account on the server of the now-defunct bookstore Fringeware, said he suspects that Jones then called in the FBI and made bogus claims that Counts was a terrorist and possessed child pornography and got the bureau to raid Fringeware to get Counts' address. According to the Web page, the bureau later dropped the investigation.

Media Clips
By Jason Stout
As in the Sotelo case, Jones' accusers have failed to produce any hard evidence of his connection to the raid. The most solid link is Jones' claim, made on one of his ACAC shows, that "I've got the FBI and the Austin Police Department" investigating the fight. And again, Jones again denies any connection to the raid, pointing out that Fringeware was an advertiser on his KJFK radio show.

Also on the Web site, Thumbleson recounts an incident from early in Jones' tenure at ACAC, when a Jones show featured a clip from 60 Minutes, but with a voiceover replacing the show's original dialogue. Thumbleson says he posted a letter at the studio scolding Jones and warning his fellow producers that such a stunt might expose ACAC to legal liabilities. According to Thumbleson's site, "The letter was torn down by Alex Jones within the hour" -- a claim Jones dismisses as "pure propaganda."

Another who feels he took abuse from Jones is Christian Side Hanke, who broadcasts under the name Christian Side, and has belittled Jones' opinions on his show The Response. In retaliation, Hanke says, Jones has targeted him with legal maneuvers. One concerned what Hanke says was a false police report for stalking. Jones also explored the possibility of a wrongful termination lawsuit when he was canned by KJFK, and had Hanke deposed to see if he might have contributed to the firing.

Hanke says the "stalking" occurred when he went to a protest Jones attended for the purpose of contesting Jones' rhetoric. "After the first protest I attended, I received a call" from a police detective, Hanke says. "The detective was laughing about it."

Hanke says Jones came close to filing a lawsuit against him after he read, on-air, an e-mail which he says originated as an Internet newsgroup posting from an insider at KJFK and which was subsequently forwarded to him. The e-mail says Jones "was fired because he is an immature little punk who cries until he gets his way."

During the deposition, Jones' lawyer Steve Gibbens tried to link Hanke to the firing, asking him repeatedly if he had any sort of communication with staffers at KJFK, and questioning him about a statement he had allegedly made that "It's my mission to get [Jones] off the air." Hanke replied that any such statement would have been merely an attempt to challenge the truth of Jones' on-air claims, and not a specific plot to get him fired.

"The guy is kind of weird," Hanke says. "The fact is that everyone has to be a scapegoat for something. This guy's sitting here saying on the air that I've hung a cat on his door or something. Whenever he was trying to sue me, I've always sort of let things go. But I have a tape of all the times he said 'this guy's a stalker' ... calling me a stalker in public. And I was like, okay, I'm going to take all these tapes and sue him for defamation right back. ... [It's] nothing more than a pure, unadulterated false charge, and it escalated."

Jones says Hanke has it backward: He claims he is Hanke's victim, and that Hanke has threatened him via television and phone messages. "We filed an exploratory motion in court to let him know we were serious," Jones says. But Jones' suit never happened; Hanke says Jones simply couldn't afford to pursue it any further and begged to be left alone, but Gibbens claims that the suit remains "in a holding pattern."

The anti-Jones camp claims that if a fellow producer crosses Jones, he will watch their program obsessively until he finds a violation and turn that person in. Seeming to support that contention, Jones' producer Mike Hanson turned over dozens of hours of videotape of Side's show to the Chronicle, and said he had more.

On the other hand, Jones' detractors could be accused of obsessively watching Jones as well -- Side and Kane gave me their own tapes, and another producer named Beau Henry, who once considered himself a Jones ally, actually produced a "documentary" detailing Jones' activities.

The documentary focuses on a 1997 conflict between Jones and producer Chris Ramirez in which Ramirez aggressively challenged Jones at the ACAC offices regarding the veracity of claims Jones made on his show. Shortly after the argument, complaints were filed against Ramirez for alleged commercialism on his show; Ramirez was subsequently banned from telecasting on ACAC twice, the second time permanently. The documentary suggests there was a link between the argument and the suspension. The Chronicle was unable to contact Ramirez for comment.

"There was a purge of everybody [at ACAC], that had nothing to do with me," says Jones. "The complaint was filed by somebody about him ... He was suspended for talking about Taco Bell prices. I just love these people -- they get on, they break the rules, I don't complain on them, and they accuse me of it.

"And then the guy did some things on the air that were so horrible about me you couldn't imagine, and we started monitoring. He was saying that if I was out in the crowd to shoot me or throw gasoline on me at a rally. Boom, he got suspended for that. Yes, being here six years, I have filed two or three complaints."

Kane, who formerly directed Ramirez's show, says that Jones and other ideologically similar programmers, such as Terry "Liberty" Parker and Jeff Davis, "are more or less a plague on free speech. ... If you watch any show, you can find technical violations."

"I am the abused one here," Jones responds. "I am not part of any rivalry. I'm just attempting to do my show. I just want to be left alone." end story

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:08

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 13:09

Neurotic Roleplay: May 20, 2005

Alex Jones is crazy? thought provoking and refreshing commentary

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:10

Big Beef City: Aug 15, 2013

Yeah I could read all that or I could say:

"Alex Jones is a poo poo heel who somehow managed to parlay old Art Bell listeners into spawning money and becoming even more right wing poo poo bags. Thanks".

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:12

Dignity Van Houten: Jul 28, 2006; abcdefghijk
ELLAMENNO-P

I've only started paying attention to this clown in the last year - do people genuenely view him as anything other than an entertainer? He's just so obviously off the rails - shrieking, getting naked, waving his arms - do people watch this guy and listen to his stories about aliens and jet fuel can't melt steel beams and ACTUALLY agree with him?

I have a hard time believing that. But then again some people believed Colbert's gimick.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:13

ClamdestineBoyster: Aug 15, 2015; Can't post for 10 years!

Angry retard yells at poo poo.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:15

SPACE HOMOS: Jan 12, 2005

Alex Jones is a charlatan in the purest form. If you couldn't tell by his "supplements" he sells, that everything he does is to reach the widest audience of idiots then exploit them. Plus it leads to good videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUIcCyPOA30

Take every conspiracy and mash them together. It attracts real crazies and people wanting to see crazies.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:25

Who What Now: Sep 10, 2006; by Azathoth

quote:

They claim that Steve accepted Jones' invitation to fight, and then thrashed Jones handily. The account, as related by ACAC producer Max Kane, can be read on a Web page maintained by another producer, Shelly Thumbleson (https://www.synaesthetic.com/jarhead.html).

Ahahahaha

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:30

ElectricSheep: Jan 14, 2006; she had tiny Italian boobs.
Well that's my story.

I was grinning at the post then I saw you mention Leslie Cochran and I got sad

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:30

Percelus: Sep 9, 2012; My command, your wish is

nothing good ever comes from texas

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:38

SPACE HOMOS: Jan 12, 2005

Percelus posted:

nothing good ever comes from texas

MY dad used to say this to me. Are you my dad?

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:39

Percelus: Sep 9, 2012; My command, your wish is

SPACE HOMOS posted:

MY dad used to say this to me. Are you my dad?

i'm your grandpa

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:41

Sophy Wackles: Dec 17, 2000; > access main security grid
access: PERMISSION DENIED.

He's a funny comedian and I think he should have his own late-night show on Fox.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 01:55

Comfy Fleece Sweater: Apr 2, 2013; You see, but you do not observe.

I've always thought he was an idiot conspiracy theorist but I distinctly remember him talking about PROJECT ECHELON AND BLACK HELICOPTERS in the 90's(!), saying the government had surveillance of all internet communications, and I was like psh what a loving nutcase and then 10 years later it turned out that yes the government WAS spying on all emails and they do have an official program and now it's an official agency called the NSA

So I wonder

He also predicted the Amero(like the Euro) because Canada and Mexico were going to join up and be like the EU, still waiting for that one

# ? Oct 6, 2017 02:06

Waffle House: Oct 27, 2004; You follow the path
fitting into an infinite pattern.

Yours to manipulate, to destroy and rebuild.

Now, in the quantum moment
before the closure
when all become one.

One moment left.
One point of space and time.

I know who you are.

You are Destiny.

Big Beef City posted:

Yeah I could read all that or I could say:

"Alex Jones is a poo poo heel who somehow managed to parlay old Art Bell listeners into spawning money and becoming even more right wing poo poo bags. Thanks".

RIP Art Bell, you were too good for us all.

It strikes me I think I've met Charlie Sotelo before.

e:

truly an O.G. shitposter irl
VVVV

Waffle House fucked around with this message at 02:22 on Oct 6, 2017

# ? Oct 6, 2017 02:07

subhuman filth: Nov 1, 2006

Rip leslie

# ? Oct 6, 2017 02:16

General Dog: Apr 26, 2008; Everybody's working for the weekend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pdpLAn8mh4

# ? Oct 6, 2017 02:21

VikingSkull: Jan 23, 2017; Look Viking you're a trash Trump supporter what the fuck makes you think you can have an avatar that isn't what I decide? Shut your fucking trap and go away. Your trolling is tiresome and just shits up the forum.

935 posted:

I've only started paying attention to this clown in the last year - do people genuenely view him as anything other than an entertainer? He's just so obviously off the rails - shrieking, getting naked, waving his arms - do people watch this guy and listen to his stories about aliens and jet fuel can't melt steel beams and ACTUALLY agree with him?

I have a hard time believing that. But then again some people believed Colbert's gimick.

People also think pro wrestling is real

People are dumb

# ? Oct 6, 2017 02:22

Sand Dan: May 15, 2017; welcum 2 our sick cyberpunk h e l l

it's true tho I drank fluoridated water as a kid and now I'm gay as hell :q:

# ? Oct 6, 2017 02:29

Hail Mr. Satan!: Oct 3, 2009; by zen death robot

Fyi there are several Magachuds in GBS who love him

# ? Oct 6, 2017 03:00

Alucard: Mar 11, 2002; Pillbug

I'm the frog that got turned gay.
It's like the Frog Prince but a dude kissed me.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 03:05

spacetoaster: Feb 10, 2014

SPACE HOMOS posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUIcCyPOA30

I wish the camera would have stayed on Rogan's face the entire time.

frakeaing HAMSTER DANCE posted:

Fyi there are several Magachuds in GBS who love him

Yeah. I hate those guys.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 03:17

COMRADES: Apr 3, 2017; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

SPACE HOMOS posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUIcCyPOA30

spacetoaster posted:

I wish the camera would have stayed on Rogan's face the entire time.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 04:07

Ramrod Hotshot: May 30, 2003

Has Alex Jones done a full 180 since Trump's election as it pertains to gov't surveillance, black helicopters, etc? Since Trump IS the government at this point and Alex Jones is too far up his rear end?

Is he 100% party line at this point, having dropped the conspiracy stuff? Or is back to basics, i.e. Hillary is a reptoid and UFOs are undermining the Great Leader?

# ? Oct 6, 2017 04:22

Fellbat: Feb 23, 2014

Last I checked he's still anti-government for reasons removed from the big shift, they took his kids away for being a unfit parent.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 04:54

VikingSkull: Jan 23, 2017; Look Viking you're a trash Trump supporter what the fuck makes you think you can have an avatar that isn't what I decide? Shut your fucking trap and go away. Your trolling is tiresome and just shits up the forum.

frakeaing HAMSTER DANCE posted:

Fyi there are several Magachuds in GBS who love him

there's like maybe 1 that takes him seriously and the rest of us laugh at his insanity

# ? Oct 6, 2017 04:55

walgreenslatino: Jun 2, 2015; Lipstick Apathy

Alex Jones kicks rear end. I wish I was pure enough to believe in him

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:00

walgreenslatino: Jun 2, 2015; Lipstick Apathy

Don't disrespect this humble water filter salesman

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:00

walgreenslatino: Jun 2, 2015; Lipstick Apathy

Ramrod Hotshot posted:

Has Alex Jones done a full 180 since Trump's election as it pertains to gov't surveillance, black helicopters, etc? Since Trump IS the government at this point and Alex Jones is too far up his rear end?

Is he 100% party line at this point, having dropped the conspiracy stuff? Or is back to basics, i.e. Hillary is a reptoid and UFOs are undermining the Great Leader?

He seems to recognize that Trump's minders are steering the administration in bad directions that the lovable, stupid, but ultimately populist dipshit trump would otherwise not support, so he's more perceptive than 99% of political commentators.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:03

mind the walrus: Sep 22, 2006

1. I respect his energy in being a crazy person that milks idiots of their money and get other idiots to plaster his name/face/footage everywhere. The fact that he does so consistently is nothing short of impressive.

2. I really want to know what drug cocktail he's on to keep that energy up.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:06

COMRADES: Apr 3, 2017; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

My favorite Alex Jones conspiracy is the one about him being Bill Hicks.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:09

LordoftheScheisse: Jan 16, 2016

Didn't he forget to pick up his kids because he ate a big bowl of chili or something? I might be mixing up my Jones anecdotes here.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:13

fuck the ROW: Aug 29, 2008; by zen death robot

mind the walrus posted:

1. I respect his energy in being a crazy person that milks idiots of their money and get other idiots to plaster his name/face/footage everywhere. The fact that he does so consistently is nothing short of impressive.

2. I really want to know what drug cocktail he's on to keep that energy up.

Some people are just born with the will power, and drive, to become an alex jones. Theres no explaining it with drugs

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:15

DiHK: Feb 4, 2013; by Azathoth

Glen beck is more entertaining. Less crazy, sure, but the show he puts on is more believable.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:19

fuck the ROW: Aug 29, 2008; by zen death robot

Glenn Beck looks like an egg, is a loving mormon *spit*, I hate him.

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:20

super sweet best pal: Nov 18, 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myJA9BcgB6Q

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:37

Bogus Adventure: Jan 11, 2017; More like "Bulges Adventure"

I love that he thought this was a good before/after pic for a weight loss supplement

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:42

fuck the ROW: Aug 29, 2008; by zen death robot

Bogus Adventure posted:

I love that he thought this was a good before/after pic for a weight loss supplement

Lmao. A golden god is born

# ? Oct 6, 2017 05:45

Nick Rivers: Nov 23, 2004

LordoftheScheisse posted:

Didn't he forget to pick up his kids because he ate a big bowl of chili or something? I might be mixing up my Jones anecdotes here.

I thought he ate so much chili and got so full he forgot his kids' names.

lol Alex Jones rules

# ? Oct 6, 2017 06:28

Lawrence Gilchrist: Mar 31, 2010

935 posted:

I've only started paying attention to this clown in the last year - do people genuenely view him as anything other than an entertainer? He's just so obviously off the rails - shrieking, getting naked, waving his arms - do people watch this guy and listen to his stories about aliens and jet fuel can't melt steel beams and ACTUALLY agree with him?

I have a hard time believing that. But then again some people believed Colbert's gimick.

my ostensibly liberal state has had cars driving around with his bumper stickers for at least a decade. i saw an average of one a year for the first three years and then a couple and now ive seen four so far and lets just say i dont get out much either but can you sublet your cave

# ? Oct 6, 2017 09:26

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# ? Apr 28, 2024 13:09

Phobophilia: Apr 26, 2008; by Hand Knit

he sounds funny at first but remember that he spends alot of time screaming at the parents of the kids killed at sandy hook and calling yogurt employees rapists and calling for black people to be brutalized by cops

# ? Oct 6, 2017 10:56

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