Media Matters - Attention, Media: While You Obsess About Charlie Sheen, Mention That Alex Jones Is A Conspiracist (February 25, 2011)
The New Republic - Truther Consequences (October 7, 2009)
I've defended radio host/documentary filmmaker/patriot Alex Jones against his critics in the past, (here, here, and here), because he has enlightened millions of people around the world about the truth of the 9/11 attacks, the secret conspiracy to destroy America and other free nations in order to establish a dictatorial global government, and other important subjects through his films and daily radio broadcast. Those who say that Alex is nothing but a fearmonger and a conspiracy theorist are either ignorant of the facts, or they are deliberately smearing his character, along with others who hold similar beliefs.
The unavoidable truth is that there is deep corruption in the United States government. Washington D.C. was hijacked. America is ruled by a shadow state that is comprised of connected corporations, large banks, arms manufacturers, and corrupt politicians and government officials. America is not led by statesmen and true leaders, but by crazy state terrorists who are pursuing an agenda of war and domination in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Alex Jones is exposing this political reality. He is not perfect. No human being is perfect. But he is an honorable man who is telling the truth to millions of people, and waking up the sleeping giant in America, and because of that I will defend him as best as I can.
Some people who appreciate Alex's work are not big fans of his delivery and style, which is fine because people have different tastes. But people cross a line when they demonize Alex by calling him crazy, or any other person who fearlessly tells the truth.
It's okay to not like how Alex speaks, how he conducts interviews, and how he delivers information. Not everybody likes Howard Stern, yet he is still the most successful radio host of all time. Give respect where respect is due. Success matters in life, and successful people who have attained success because of their talent and hard work are good. We should not bring down people who are successful in their line of work, whether it is in acting, broadcasting, writing, whatever it may be. Truly successful people know that selling out to attain short-term popularity is not important in the grand scheme of things. Alex Jones understands this fact, unlike Glenn Beck, who is often compared to Alex, mostly because he takes material from Alex's films and broadcasts without giving him any acknowledgment.
Successful individuals like Alex Jones, Howard Stern, etc. recognize that to be successful in life you must buck the trend, set your own course in life, and not give a damn about what other people think about you. Time and God are the only true judges of men. Millions of men and women who are called "conspiracy theorists" today for their beliefs about 9/11, JFK, and other historical events will be called something else tomorrow, something much more favorable.
Alex, who espouses what Bill Moyers and other journalists say is a "left-wing" view about the 9/11 attacks, is usually depicted as a right-wing radio host, or a conservative conspiracy theorist, but none of these characterizations are true. 9/11 truth is not a left or right issue, it is an issue of justice, democracy, and accountability. And Alex, along with millions of others, can't be classified as left or right. Those political labels don't mean anything today. What matters is the public good, and that transcends left and right.
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other loudmouth idiots who have made millions of dollars by corrupting their audiences with disinformation, lies, and propaganda for the benefit of the war criminals and thieves in Washington, will be remembered only as pigs and traitors if they continue to misinform the American people and keep them in the dark about how the United States government was hijacked from within. Alex Jones will be remembered as a patriot and hero because he has woken people up to the unspeakable reality of our age.
A year ago, I wrote that Alex combines "passionate truth-telling with mighty eloquence," which is why I personally love his passionate on-air delivery. This is a time to shout, and to release anger. How can a person declare that 9/11 was an inside job with an inside voice? Sometimes, being loud is good. I'm personally very quiet, but I've realized that standing up for yourself, and for justice and truth, can't be done in a quiet way. Alex has tended to manufacture raw emotion as of late, which I dislike, but most of time he express true and raw anger which is very healthy and good. Not being angry at what is going on inside Washington is the unhealthy and unwise reaction.
I will continue to defend Alex's content and his delivery because I believe he is doing good. In fact, I am being timid of my praise for Alex, and the entire Infowars team. Over the last fifteen years Alex has developed his loud voice, built a platform on the radio and used it to inform his fellow human beings about massive corruption and government lying, whereas others have used their multi-million media platforms to spread government propaganda about 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, the war on terror, and defend war criminals like George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Barack Obama.
Why should we not praise voices like Alex Jones? In the shadows of contemporary culture, Alex Jones have risen to wake the American people out of their slumber, and make them aware that their government has been taken over from the inside by traitors and con-men who hate justice, freedom, and all the values that makes America great. We should never underestimate the power of a single voice to change the lives of millions for the better.
In an era when institutions like the government and media have failed humanity, freedom has to be saved by rare individuals like Alex Jones, Ron Paul, or any other individual that can potentially have the attention of millions of people. It doesn't matter what Barack Obama or any other self-serving politician says if the people don't believe a word they say. Obama, Bush, and recent American presidents don't have true power because they doesn't tell the truth. How can they have power if nobody pay attentions to them, and treats their word as valuable and good? Look at where Bush is at today. He is almost in hiding. Five years ago he was on top of the world, and today he is under a rock. This just shows that all the power that presidents have comes with the position, which is taken away after four and/or eight years. Truly powerful individuals are those who can make lasting changes in their societies, whose words can be counted on, and who become more relevant and popular as times goes on.
Scottish writer and historian Thomas Carlyle said that whoever has the attention of the people is a person who truly holds a powerful position in a society. In his book, 'On Heroes, Hero-Worship, And The Heroic in History,' Carlyle wrote:
"Whoever can speak, speaking now to the whole nation, becomes a power, a branch of government, with inalienable weight in law-making, in all acts of authority. It matters not what rank he has, what revenues or garnitures: the requisite thing is, that he have a tongue which others will listen to; this and nothing more is requisite. The nation is governed by all that has tongue in the nation: Democracy is virtually there." - Thomas Carlyle. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, And The Heroic in History: Pg. 215-216.Alex Jones has the potential to be one of the heroic voices of our age because he has told the truth for the last 15 years, and speaks daily to millions of listeners. Other broadcasters are also doing heroic work in my mind, such as CNN's Anderson Cooper. His coverage of Egypt, Haiti, Katrina, and the Gulf oil spill was fantastic, and his compassion for humanity is admirable. Other voices who I think have the potential to express great truths and do heroic work include Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Amy Goodman and the Democracy Now team, Nas, and other musicians/performers.
People in the press, especially television, have yet to realize how powerful they are, and how much good they can do for humanity. Most of the time, television broadcasters devote precious time to discussing useless gossip news, spreading government propaganda, and debating about stupid political talking points that come down to choosing between "republican" vs. "democrat."
For the past sixty years television has been used to keep people dumb and entertained, not informed about the issues of the day that impact their lives and future. Legendary journalist and broadcaster Edward R. Murrow gave one of the most important speeches in the 20th century on October 15, 1958 at a Radio Television Digital News Association convention. Here is an excerpt from the speech:
Our history will be what we make it. And if there are any historians about fifty or a hundred years from now, and there should be preserved the kinescopes for one week of all three networks, they will there find recorded in black and white, or color, evidence of decadence, escapism and insulation from the realities of the world in which we live. I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, PAY LATER.Murrow wasn't joking around when he was talking about survival. Freedom, democracy, justice, the rule of law, and civilization itself are all on the line. 9/11 represents a complete failure of the American media, and the world media. Journalists who are serious about public service should not demean "conspiracy theorists" like Alex Jones, but dig deeper into the topics that Alex and others have covered, and be open and honest. It is difficult to accept that there is a shadow state in America which operates outside of the law and the boundaries of morality, but the truth is the truth. Avoiding reality doesn't change it. Alex Jones has great power because he is using the public airwaves to spread truthful and serious information that has been neglected and degraded by others in the media.
For surely we shall pay for using this most powerful instrument of communication to insulate the citizenry from the hard and demanding realities which must be faced if we are to survive. I mean the word survive literally. If there were to be a competition in indifference, or perhaps in insulation from reality, then Nero and his fiddle, Chamberlain and his umbrella, could not find a place on an early afternoon sustaining show.
In the 19th century Carlyle pointed to Burke's observation of the existence of a Fourth Estate as an important fact that must be considered by everyone. He wrote:
"Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters' Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or a witty saying; it is a literal fact,--very momentous to us in these times." - Thomas Carlyle. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, And The Heroic in History: Pg. 215.For the past 100-plus years Journalism has been corrupted by elites and governments for the most evil of agendas: war. The press has been used to indoctrinate the people, and control their opinions for the benefit of a small oligarchical elite.
Journalists who have acted heroically and righteously like Gary Webb have been either ignored, or silenced, while their colleagues looked the other way. But, thankfully, we are living in a time when there are more journalists than ever, which means there are more eyes to document more lies told by governments. Ordinary citizens can document events with cell phone video cameras, and twitter, and increase awareness on the spot. Establishment media lackeys and government propagandists no longer have the ability to shape events, and brainwash the public mind. The revolution in journalism is obviously unnerving a lot of professional journalists, but I don't see what they have to be afraid of. Competition is good, it creates an environment that makes it more likely that there will be better products on the market, and that is just as true for the information market.
The reason Alex Jones is so successful is because other radio stations and media organizations are not delivering the goods, they're not delivering what people want, which is the unvarnished truth. People are tired of listening and/or reading lies and misinformation on ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, etc. People don't like being deceived, and treated like fools. And people don't like to be called "conspiracy theorists" and "nutjobs" by clueless and arrogant "professional" journalists.
II.
This article/post turned out much longer than I wanted. But it's important to defend a man like Alex Jones who has done tremendous good for America, freedom, and humanity. I don't like it when my heroes are denigrated, and treated like crazy wackos. Alex deserves praise and compliments, as do others who are educating the public and speaking the truth like Amy Goodman, Matt Taibbi, Michael Hastings, Glenn Greenwald, Anderson Cooper, Gordon Duff, David Ray Griffin, Richard Gage, Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Robert Fisk, Alan Hart, Tom Engelhardt, the list goes on and on. There's too many to mention.
Alex Jones is not a radical, fringe, or anti-government figure. What he says is not crazy, in fact, it is becoming mainstream. The fact that 9/11 was an inside job is almost common knowledge. People who speak about 9/11 truth and who believe that the American government has been hijacked are not wackos. There is a difference between being a revolutionary and being a heretic. I am pro-government. That is, when government is in the hands of the good, and if its power is limited by laws. Those who make war, and who spread paranoia and fear, are for anarchy. The ones who crave chaos, the ones who are truly radical and crazy are men like Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, George H.W. Bush, the neocons, and the corrupt rascals who control the CIA and Pentagon. They turned America upside down, and destroyed the U.S. constitution. They used war, the most radical thing imaginable, as a means to their corrupt ends.
As Alex himself constantly says, what America needs is not a revolution but a restoration. The foundations of America are strong, the strongest of any nation. A country's constitution can always be updated and reworked to fit current circumstances, but the main groundwork for freedom and accountable government in America has already been built by the founding fathers.
In our day the forces of evil and chaos in America have worked to destroy those foundations from the inside. The threat to America and the American people comes not from caves in Afghanistan, or from Iran, but from America's hijacked government. The forces of chaos and corruption and terrorism are busy working in the halls of the White House, the CIA, and the Pentagon. Alex Jones is working every day to raise awareness in America and the world about these anti-democratic and anti-freedom forces, and his work has had a big effect on the minds of millions. In my mind Alex is a hero because he is spreading knowledge, and awakening people to the truths of our time. And we need heroes now more than ever. Again, just because I think Alex is a hero does not mean that he is perfect, and always right. But on balance Alex is doing way more good than bad. There is nothing wrong with praising a man whose intentions are noble and good. We must praise and defend good men, otherwise, what's the point of the pen? Others can praise Barack Obama. I will praise Alex Jones. He is using his voice to preserve freedom, justice, and truth, and reestablish order in America.
What is Obama doing with his voice? Nothing good. What did Bush do with his voice? Nothing good. Obama and Bush, known as President as the "leader of the free world" have used the bully pulpit to spread lies, poison the public mind, destroy America's freedoms and prosperity, and defend criminal wars. They will be viewed as the villains of our era for their protection of a rotten and corrupt political order, along with those who hide behind their faces and words.
I'll end this post with another Carlyle quote:
"May we not say, moreover, while so many of our late Heroes have worked rather as revolutionary men, that nevertheless every Great Man, every genuine man, is by the nature of him a son of Order, not of Disorder?" - Thomas Carlyle. On Heroes, Hero-Worship, And The Heroic in History: Pg. 267.
Thank you for reading if you read this far.
