I was delighted to be invited to take part in this panel on Christian Far-Right Extremism last year, and I can finally share the recording of the panel. Details below. Thanks to Paul Hedges for inviting me.
Tag Archives: Alex Jones
Why Alex Jones Renounced President Trump
Things have changed a lot for Alex Jones in the last year or two. Long gone are the days when I used to listen to Infowars every day, a research process that was as much social anthropology as it was history, but I still like to keep an eye on the Tip of the Spear himself.
Things were looking good for a while – the media were paying attention, and thinly-veiled analogues for Jones were appeared in Homeland and The X-Files. He won over a new audience with a stoned appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience. Most of all, a presidential candidate was calling in to the show and making references to Infowars in speeches and tweets.
Donald Trump’s election was a phyrric victory for Jones, however. When your capital is based on your opposition to the institutions of state, it is a problem when you find yourself aligned with those institutions. The narrative of the Deep State worked for a while – the idea that Trump was being prevented from carrying out his more radical policies by unelected officials in organisations like the Department of State and the CIA with an unspoken agenda of their own. This kind of narrative fitted seamlessly on top of preexistent New World Order narratives, but we shouldn’t ignore that it was also the argument made by many Obama supporters as to why he also failed to close Guantanamo Bay. Conspiracy theories are in no way restricted to the right, nor to the margins.
But Jones has also had considerable personal problems. He split up with his wife, Kelly, and lost custody of his children in a rancorous public court case which famously saw Jones’ lawyer claiming his on-air person was “performance art”. Many of his critics leapt at the chance to say this was an admission of what they had known all along, ignoring that if he was lying the first time, why assume he was telling the truth this time, especially when his children were at stake? Kelly was a significant cog in the Infowars machine, and has kept the pressure on, very publicly. Two Infowars employees sued for unfair dismissal, accusing Jones of sexual harassment and racism. Then some Sandy Hook parents sued over claims that it was a staged false-flag. There are rumours that he is having problems with alcohol. Even his protegé Paul Joseph Watson seems to be distancing himself.
When Trump launched a bombing raid on Syria on 13th April 2018, Alex lost it.
During a 26-hour live show (something Jones has done annually for some time), a clearly exhausted Jones begins teary renouncement of Trump which builds into a tirade that makes his fragile state of mind plain.
“I will tell Trump that, you really betrayed your family, and your name, and everything that you stood for… I thought of Donald Trump as a bigger man than me… When I turn against Trump, it’s not because they got to me… I feel like I just had my best girlfriend break up with me… I’m done with Trump.”
It’s hard to read this as mere performance art. His co-host looks genuinely concerned as he repeatedly tells Jones not to stay on air. Jones interrupts him so often that he falls into a confused silence.
There’s no way the Alex Jones of ten or even five years ago would have failed to work this into his broader narrative somehow, no way he’d have let his audience know he was wrong. This disavowal says a lot more about Jones than it does about Trump.
Pizzagate and the Luciferian Agenda
On 7th April, I presented a paper at the CenSAMM conference, Violence and Millenarian Movements, at the Panacea Trust in Bedford. My paper was entitled Pizzagate and the Luciferian Agenda, and you can watch the whole thing below. Here’s the abstract:
In November and December 2016, online accusations of a paedophile ring operating out of a Washington pizza restaurant led to the arrest of Edgar Welch (28) after threatening staff and firing several shots in an apparent attempt to liberate “child sex slaves”. This panic, known as pizzagate, began when leaked emails from Hillary Clinton’s aide, Mike Podesta, were suggested to contain coded language by a number of users on web forums, who began to elaborate upon the narrative until it was widely taken as evidence of a nationwide satanic paedophile ring involving numerous politicians and other power brokers. It is rare is for a conspiracy theory such as this to escalate into violence so quickly, but two things are of particular interest here. First, this ties into the satanic ritual abuse scare of the early 1990s – a phenomenon intimately tied to a Manichaean understanding of the world promoted by certain evangelical millenarian Christians. These ideas have been nurtured and promoted by high-profile independent broadcasters such as Alex Jones, for whom they are part of a sweeping millennial narrative in which a global (and sometimes cosmic) cabal of Luciferians seek to decimate the world’s population and enslave the remains.
I recorded three interviews which will appear on the Religious Studies Project in future, and a full report will appear in the BASR Bulletin next month.
[Updated 28/04/2017 – higher quality video added.]
The Month in Conspiracy
Alex Jones has publically apologised for his coverage of #PizzaGate, and specifically the allegations against James Alefantis. There is obviously considerable legal pressure being applied behind the scenes here, and it is at this point unclear how this relates to his close connections to the Trump White House. Video below, and a full transcript here.
Antarctica is a hot topic in alternative history narratives these days. Here’s David Wilcock and his latest “insider” Corey Goode on how “The Antarctic Atlantis” relates to the secret space program:
Want to know how it all fits together? This could only be improved if it was designed to look like an octopus. Or a squid, I suppose: http://laughingsquid.com/the-conspiracy-theory-flowchart-they-dont-want-you-to-see/?utm_source=feedly
Barth’s Notes on Westminster Attack conspiracy theories: http://barthsnotes.com/2017/03/24/westminster-terror-attack-the-troofers-emerge/
The autism caused by vaccination narrative gets another celebrity endorsement: https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/human-rights/his-life-has-been-altered-forever-de-niro-finally-opens-up-about-his-son-s-autism-link-to-vaccines/
Cameron tells UN conspiracy theories are “extremism”
In a speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York last week (24/9/2014), David Cameron stated that he intends to defeat not only violent “extremists”, but “all extremism”, in which he includes alternative narratives about the cause of 9-11 and 7-7. Although he does not use the term “conspiracy theory”, in this, deliberately or not – echoed George W. Bush’s famous quote following 9-11, “Let us not tolerate absurd conspiracy theories”, underlining that “conspiracy theory” is a rhetorical term employed by those with power to silence dissent from the “official line”.
As evidence emerges about the backgrounds of those convicted of terrorist offences, it is clear that many of them were initially influenced by preachers who claim not to encourage violence, but whose world view can be used as a justification for it.
The peddling of lies: that 9/11 was a Jewish plot and the 7/7 London attacks were staged.
The idea that Muslims are persecuted all over the world as a deliberate act of Western policy.
The concept of an inevitable clash of civilisations.
We must be clear: to defeat the ideology of extremism we need to deal with all forms of extremism – not just violent extremism.
For governments, there are some obvious ways we can do this.
We must ban preachers of hate from coming to our countries.
We must proscribe organisations that incite terrorism against people at home and abroad.
We must work together to take down illegal online material like the recent videos of Isil murdering hostages.
And we must stop so called non-violent extremists from inciting hatred and intolerance in our schools, universities and prisons.
Of course some will argue that this is not compatible with free speech and intellectual inquiry.
But I say: would we sit back and allow right-wing extremists, Nazis or Klu Klux Klansmen to recruit on our university campuses?
So we shouldn’t stand by and just allow any form of non-violent extremism.
We need to argue that prophecies of a global war of religion pitting Muslims against the rest of the world are nonsense.
We need Muslims and their governments around the world to reclaim their religion from these sick terrorists.
We all need to help them with programmes that channel young people away from these poisonous ideologues.
And we need the strongest possible international focus on tackling this ideology… which is why here at the United Nations, the UK is calling for a new Special Representative on extremism.
Watch further, however, and you will see Paul Joseph Watson, Alex Jones’ UK representative, relate this clip to Jones’ larger narrative of the immanent takeover of the West by the New World Order. While I agree with Watson’s questioning how Cameron’s words can be reconciled with the freedom of speech enshrined by democracies, I think the claim that he is criminalising all dissension is a bit of a stretch.
David Icke, Chemtrails and UKIP Conference’s Star Speaker
Guido Fawkes today reports that Hong La, one of the speakers at the upcoming UKIP conference, is a fan of David Icke and Alex Jones, and a proponent of the Chemtrails narrative, in which the NWO is spraying mind and climate-altering chemicals from aircraft.
Regular readers of this blog will be aware that both Nigel Farage and Lord Monkton have both appeared on the Alex Jones Show on a number of occassions, as has David Icke. Rather curious, then, that Farage’s opponents aren’t milking that particular PR angle, instead reserving it for relatively minor figures like La.
Bilderberg, Alex Jones, David Icke and UKIP
I expect, if you read this blog, that you’ll be aware that the 2013 Bilderberg Group meeting took place over the weekend at the Grove hotel in Watford. Only a few years ago, the press were largely denying the existence of the group; this year it has been covered by the Guardian (Martin Rowson’s cartoon from 8.6.2013 shown on left), the Independent, Sky News, the BBC and undoubtedly other outlets. The BBC even had Alex as a guest, although frankly I don’t think he handled it too well (see below). His similar tactics against Piers Morgan in the US were probably better received because many Americans see Morgan as an outsider, but here, Jones was the outsider.
Alex Jones has covered the Bilderberg Group for a long time, and this year travelled to the UK to personally report on the event, and to “bullhorn” the meeting from a barge. He also got to meet David Icke in person for the first time, despite Icke being a frequent guest (via skype) on his daily show. You can watch the interview below.
Don’t forget that in 2001, Alex Jones called Icke a “con man” and the Reptilian thesis as the “turd in the punchbowl” of his otherwise lucid conspiracist research in Jon Ronson’s Secret Rulers of the World documentary series on Channel 4. Interestingly, Icke now seems to be attempting to set up a media operation similar to Jones’.
Another guest to feature on the show was UKIP MEP Gerard Batten (below). Nigel Farage and Lord Monkton have both previously appeared on Jones’ show. Presumably, they are hoping that this exposure will increase their profile internationally through Jones’ considerable US audience, and may even be part of a strategy aimed at creating a broader libertarian network. However, given their recent bullish trajectory in the UK, how wise is it for them to be aligning themselves with someone who has just been called an “idiot” and a “lunatic” on the BBC?
Boston Marathon Conspiracy Narratives Emerge
The following does not aim to endorse or debunk any of the emerging conspiracist narratives surrounding the Boston marathon bombing. Rather, it is intended as an ad hoc reception history, an attempt to track the dissemination and development of these ideas in real-time. I may update the post as things develop, particularly if these narratives take unexpected directions.
As you will by now be aware, around 2:50 PM local time on Monday 15th April 2013, two explosive devices were detonated close to the finish line of the Boston marathon, killing 3 and injuring at least 100 more. As I write this (Wed 17th), we still know almost nothing about the perpetrators or their motivations and aims – the Huffington Post today quotes an expert as saying that it is likely the work of either domestic or foreign terrorists, which is really saying nothing at all. Mark Jurgensmeyer, a respected scholar of violence and religion, has penned a short piece for Religion Dispatches pointing out that the signs point to it being the work of right-wing Christians, and I would tend to agree with him.
Alex Jones doesn’t. Within an hour of the event, infowars.com had three pieces up which point out similarities between the marathon bombing and other recent terrorist acts. In particular, one piece claims that when several witnesses asked why there were bomb-sniffing dogs on the route, they were told that a training drill was in operation. This claim is also made for 9-11 and the 7-7 bombings in London, and apparently not without some justification. But Jones’ claim that this proves it was a “false flag” (that is, an attack made against your own people but ostensibly by your enemy) is predicated upon the belief that 9-11 and 7-7 were false flag attacks.
For Jones, the motivation behind such a false flag attack is to demonise himself and other Tea Party activists, and thereby discredit their opposition to further restrictions on gun control. He points out that CNN were broadcasting an op ed stating that “Right Wing extremists” could be behind the bombs less than 2 hours after the event, and in lieu of a suspect.
Dan Bidondi, a local host for Infowars, was dispatched to the press conference, where he hijacked the Q&A by repeatedly asking if it was a false flag event, and at a second asking about the security drill:
Other now familiar tropes emerged quickly too. This video claims to show that the facebook Boston Marathon Memorial page was set up before the bombs went off – something which was also a feature of the conspiracist take on the Sandy Hook shootings.
Jones has not yet claimed that he predicted the attack. However, Cindy Jacobs, an ”Apostle” in the Pentacostal organisation the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE) tweeted last week:
Cindy Jacobs @cindyjacobs 9 Apr
Must take threats from North Korea seriously-possiblly April 15th. Need to pray protection for both the US and South Korea and Japan.
11:38 AM – 9 Apr 13
In the aftermath, however, and in a perfect example of what I have called “rolling prophecy”, she was now claiming that she had predicted the marathon bombing (Thanks to Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion for this):
Cindy Jacobs @cindyjacobs 15 Apr
Bombings in Boston, Massachusetts on Patriots Day, April 15th. I had been warning we needed to pray about danger today. Please pray!
2:30 PM – 15 Apr 13
By the early evening, http://www.bostonmarathonconspiracy.com/ had been registered, containing a short holding message to PLEASE KEEP THE VICTIMS OF THIS EVENT AND THEIR FAMILIES IN YOUR THOUGHTS. It turns out that the registree was one of the admins of the conspiracy debunking blog, Screw Loose Change, as a preemptive strike.
A final thought: why is this an “act of terror” and not an “act of terrorISM”? Why the shift in terminology?
The Awakening a “new New Age”: Gerald Celente on Alex Jones
On Alex Jones Infowars Nightly News on Tuesday 7/8/12, Gerald Celente of the Trends Research Institute forcasts a rebirth of spirituality because of the financial crisis, which he calls “a new New Age”. Very interesting that these are “straight” conspiracists, concerned with financial and political conspiracies, not UFOs or any of the more woo-woo aspects, yet they are couching the purported Awakening in terms of a new age.
Of course, the old New Age developed among similarly counter-cultural “alternative” communities following the financial crises of the 1930s and the Second World War, so there are some parallels. It’s just that today’s alternative communities are web-based.
Relevant part starts at 45m. WordPress doesn’t seem to let me embed the video to start from there.
Alex Jones on 8 Out of 10 Cats
Occasionally funny but inexplicably bitter Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats this week featured a sequence where they mocked my favourite Texas-based paleoconservative conspiracist radio host and film-maker, Alex Jones:
No, the other Alex Jones:
And he’s not happy. He appears to believe it’s the most popular show in the UK, and that it demonstrates that mainstream TV promotes a slave mentality. Personally I think it’s remarkable that he could even appear on mainstream TV in the UK:
David G. Robertson 