Alex Jones (radio host)

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For other people named Alex Jones, see Alex Jones (disambiguation).
Alex Jones
Alex jones.jpg
Jones, circa 2009
Born Alexander Emerick Jones
(1974-02-11) February 11, 1974 (age 50)
Dallas, Texas, United States
Occupation Radio host, film producer
Known for Various conspiracy theories such as 9/11 Truth and New World Order theories
Website infowars.com
This InfoGalactic article has forked from originally being a Wikipedia mirror.

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For the left-wing "official" corporate-media term and establishement view, see the biased Wikipedia article on Jones as well as the mirrored copy on Infogalactic, intolerant of "fringe" independent media.

Alexander Emerick "Alex" Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American radio show host, noted right-wing political dissident, conspiracy analyst, documentary filmmaker, and writer.[1] His syndicated news/talk show The Alex Jones Show, based in Austin, Texas, airs via the Genesis Communications Network[2] and shortwave station WWCR[3] across the United States, and on the Internet in video form.[4][5] It has also aired on the online talk radio channel America's Talk which airs elusively on IHeartRadio, propriety of global investment firm Bain Capital.[6] In 2018, he became the target of apparently coordinated suppression efforts by mainstream media and social media organs.

Jones has been the target of intense condemnation from the political left, and persons describing themselves as mainstream conservatives, for his statements about gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.[7] He has accused the U.S. government of being involved in the Oklahoma City bombing,[8] the September 11 attacks[9] and the filming of fake Moon landings to hide NASA's secret technology.[10][11][12] He believes that government and big business have colluded to create a New World Order through "manufactured economic crises, sophisticated surveillance tech and—above all—inside-job terror attacks that fuel exploitable hysteria".[13] Jones describes himself as a libertarian, paleoconservative and an "aggressive constitutionalist".[14][15]

New York magazine described Jones as "America's leading conspiracy theorist",[16] and the Southern Poverty Law Center describes him as "the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America."[17] When asked about these labels, Jones said that he is "proud to be listed as a thought criminal against Big Brother".[16] He insists he will continue to speak out against the political establishment that (he states) is seeking to enforce a degree of social conformity bordering on enslavement.

Jones was rapidly deplatformed by the main social media services from July 2018. On the 24th, YouTube removed his channel's ability to live stream. On July 27, Facebook removed his videos. On August 3, Stitcher Radio removed his podcasts. On August 5, Apple removed Infowars podcasts from their app. On August 6, 2018, Facebook removed more social media accounts related to Alex Jones, stating he used inappropriately "dehumanising language" about transgender persons, Muslims and immigrants. YouTube removed the entire InfoWars channel the same day.[18] These bans were widely described as political censorship by right-wing commentators, and part of an ongoing SJW convergence process, though the bans were praised by soft conservatives and from the political left.

Early life

Jones was born on February 11, 1974, in Dallas, Texas,[19][verification needed] and grew up in the Dallas suburb of Rockwall and the city of Austin, Texas. His father David Jones is a dentist; and his mother, a homemaker.[8] In his video podcasts, he reports that he is of Irish,[20] German, Welsh, mostly[21] English, and partially Native American descent.[21] He was a lineman on his high school's football team and graduated from Anderson High School in Austin, Texas in 1993.[8] As a teenager, he read Gary Allen's None Dare Call It Conspiracy, which strongly affected him, and which he calls "the easiest-to-read primer on The New World Order".[22] After high school, Jones attended Austin Community College.[23]

Career

Jones began his career in Austin with a live, call-in format public-access television cable TV program.[citation needed] In 1996, Jones switched format to radio, hosting a show named The Final Edition on KJFK (98.9FM) .[24] During this time Ron Paul was running for Congress and was a guest on Jones's show several times.[25] In his early shows, he frequently talked about his belief that the US government was behind the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995,[26] using the incident to put down a growing "states rights movement".[27] In 1998, he released his first film, America Destroyed By Design.

In 1998, Jones organized a successful effort to build a new Branch Davidian church, as a memorial to those who died during the 1993 fire that ended the government's siege of the original Branch Davidian complex near Waco, Texas.[28] He often featured the project on his public-access television program and claimed that David Koresh and his followers were peaceful people who were murdered by Attorney General Janet Reno and the ATF during the siege.[24]

In 1999, he tied with Shannon Burke for that year's "Best Austin Talk Radio Host" poll as voted by The Austin Chronicle readers.[29] Later that year, he was fired from KJFK-FM for refusing to broaden his topics, his viewpoints making the show hard to sell to advertisers, according to the station's operations manager.[24] Jones stated: "It was purely political, and it came down from on high ... I was told 11 weeks ago to lay off Clinton, to lay off all these politicians, to not talk about rebuilding the church, to stop bashing the Marines, A to Z".[24] He began spreading his show via internet connection from his home.[26]

In early 2000, Jones was one of seven Republican candidates for state representative in Texas House District 48, an open seat swing district based in Austin, Texas. Jones stated that he was running "to be a watchdog on the inside",[30] but withdrew from the race after a couple of weeks.

In July, a group of Austin Community Access Center (ACAC) programmers claimed that Jones used legal proceedings and ACAC policy to intimidate them or get their shows thrown off the air.[31]

In 2001, his show was syndicated on approximately 100 stations.[26] After the 9/11 terrorist attack, Jones began to speak of a conspiracy by the Bush administration as being behind the attack, which caused a number of the stations that had previously carried him to drop his program, according to Will Bunch.[32]

On June 8, 2006, while on his way to cover a meeting of the Bilderberg group in Ottawa, Jones was stopped and detained at the Ottawa airport by Canadian authorities who confiscated his passport, camera equipment and most of his belongings. He was later allowed to enter Canada lawfully. Jones said regarding the reason for his immigration hold: "I want to say, on the record, it takes two to tango. I could have handled it better."[33]

On September 8, 2007, he was arrested while protesting at 6th Avenue and 48th Street in New York City. He was charged with operating a bullhorn without a permit. Two others were also cited for disorderly conduct when his group crashed a live television show featuring Geraldo Rivera. In an article one of Jones's fellow protesters said, "It was ... guerrilla information warfare."[34]

Media

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Main article: The Alex Jones Show

The Alex Jones Show syndicated radio program is broadcast nationally by the Genesis Communications Network to more than ninety AM and FM radio stations in the United States,[2] and to WWCR Radio shortwave.[citation needed] Live broadcast times are weekdays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CST and Sundays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. CST. The Sunday broadcast is also broadcast by Emmis Communications' KLBJ Radio.

According to Texas Monthly editor Nate Blakeslee the show had a listenership of 2 million per week in 2010.[35]

According to journalist Will Bunch, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America,[36][37] the show has a demographic heavier in younger viewers than other conservative pundits due to Jones's "highly conspiratorial tone and Web-oriented approach". Bunch has also stated that "there was always a cast of bottom-feeders like cult radio personality Alex Jones to feed on the deepest paranoia".[32] According to Alexander Zaitchik of Rolling Stone Magazine, in 2011 he had a larger on-line audience than Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh combined.[38]

Jones is the operator of several websites centered on news and information about civil liberties issues, global government and a wide variety of current events topics.[citation needed]

Point of view

Jones during a 9/11 Truth Movement event on September 11, 2007, in Manhattan

Political

Mainstream sources have described Jones as a conservative,[39][40][41][42] a right-wing conspiracy theorist,[43][44][45][46] and a libertarian.[47] Jones sees himself as a libertarian and rejects being described as a right-winger.[48] He has also called himself a libertarian,[49] paleoconservative,[50] and an "aggressive constitutionalist".[14][15]

Religious

Jones is a Christian and expresses high regard for the Bible, often citing the more prophetic books of the Bible in order to back up his conspiracy theories,[51] stating: "I just want to try to be a pure and virtuous person. I want to try to transcend my flesh and be the true leader that we're all meant to be... I feel the spirit of the Creator and it embraces me with chills..."[52]

However, he views organized religion as part of the New World Order, saying, "One of the biggest problems in the United States is organized religion. Not just Christians, but Hindus, Muslims, other people. The leaders of their denominations have been funded openly by governments and corporations to preach doctrines of submission to government, submission to tyranny."[53] He is also very critical of Pope Francis, whom he considers to be a socialist advocate of a global government, and a global religion, while ignoring traditional Catholic issues such as abortion.[54]

White genocide

In the late 2010s, Jones started to strongly promote claims that Western governmental and cultural elites are perpetrating an ongoing policy of white genocide through population replacement, and a wide variety of anti-white policies and direct attacks. He said that NFL players protesting during the national anthem were "kneeling to white genocide" and violence against whites, words which the SPLC strongly condemned. On October 2, 2017, Jones claimed that Democrats and communists were plotting imminent "white genocide" attacks. His reports on the topic received support and coverage from white nationalist publications and groups, such as AltRight.com and the New Zealand National Front.[55][56]

Controversies

Jones has been the center of many controversies and mainstream condemnation, such as claims he made of government involvement and cover-ups related to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting involving alleged crisis actors.[7] Similarly, he accused the US government of having set up the Oklahoma City bombing[8] and the September 11 attacks in order to seize more policing and social powers.[9] Jones was in a "media crossfire" in 2011, which included criticism by Rush Limbaugh, when claims spread that Jared Lee Loughner, perpetrator of the 2011 Tucson shooting, had been "a fan" of the 9/11 conspiracy film Loose Change, of which Jones had been an executive producer.[38]

TV shows and interviews

In January 2013, Jones was invited to speak on Piers Morgan's show after promoting an online petition to deport Morgan due to his support of gun control laws.[57] The interview turned into "a one-person shoutfest, as Jones riffed about guns, oppressive government, the flag, his ancestors' role in Texan independence, and what flag Morgan would have on his tights if they wrestled".[57] The event drew widespread coverage,[57] and according to The Huffington Post, Morgan and others such as Glenn Beck "agreed that Jones was a terrible spokesman for gun rights".[58] Jones's appearance on the show was a top trending Twitter topic the following morning.[59]

On June 9, 2013, Jones appeared as a guest on the BBC's television show Sunday Politics. During a discussion about conspiracy theories surrounding the Bilderberg Group meetings with presenter Andrew Neil and journalist David Aaronovitch, a critic of such theories, Aaronovitch implied that they either don't exist or Jones is a part of them himself. This was then followed by Jones's shouting and regular interruptions, to which Andrew Neil ended the interview, describing Jones as "an idiot"[60] and "the worst person I've ever interviewed".[61][62] According to Neil on Twitter, Jones was still shouting until he knew he was off-air.[60][61]

Criticisms

Jones is widely described in the mainstream media as being a far right conspiracy theorist,[63] while other critics believe he is a leading figure in the controlled opposition who intentionally promotes fall-back propaganda in order to discredit the truther movement.[64]

Select Alex Jones' report clips were mocked by comedian/journalist John Oliver while criticizing the truth and lies of Donald Trump on his Last Week Tonight [[HBO] television show, February 12, 2017. On his fourth season, first episode, John Oliver, laughed at a 2016 excerpt without context of a furious Jones ranting that Hillary and Obama hate everyone, prosperity, God, and children. Oliver listed other Jones reports about the government steering tornadoes (dated 21 May 2013), the Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag attack (dated 19 April 2013), tap water is a "gay bomb" (dated 16 October 2015), and that Sandy Hook was synthetically staged with actors (dated 2015 without day or month). Oliver said this is "not just offensive, it's stupid." John Oliver said that Donald Trump is "such a fan that Alex Jones himself has said, 'It is surreal to talk about issues here on air and then word for word hear Trump say it two days later.'" (26 January 2017). Oliver jumped back to 2015 on The Alex Jones Show when Trump said, "I just want to finish by saying, your reputation's amazing. I will not let you down. You'll be very, very impressed I hope. And I think we'll be speaking a lot." As if the world is not perpetually riddled with poor information, lies, and mistakes, including corporate media echo-chamber sources, Oliver accuses Trump of repeating an Alex Jones Show inaccurate report sourced from Gregg Phillips "We have verified more than three million votes cast by non-citizens." on Twitter (13 November 2016).

Films

Alex Jones and fans at the Première of A Scanner Darkly, a film by Richard Linklater, in which Jones has a cameo.[26]
Year Film Notes
1998 America: Destroyed by Design
1999 Police State 2000
1999 Are You Practicing Communism? Produced by Mike Hanson
2000 America Wake Up or Waco
2000 The Best of Alex Jones
2000 Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove
2000 Police State II: The Takeover
2001 Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports: Exposed
2001 911 The Road to Tyranny: Special Emergency Release
2002 911 The Road to Tyranny
2002 The Masters of Terror: Exposed
2003 Matrix of Evil
2003 Police State 3: Total Enslavement
2004 American Dictators: Documenting the Staged Election of 2004
2005 Martial Law 9-11: Rise of the Police State
2005 The Order of Death
2006 TerrorStorm: A History of Government-Sponsored Terrorism
2007 Endgame: Blueprint for Global Enslavement
2007 Endgame 1.5
2007 TerrorStorm: A History of Government-Sponsored Terrorism - Second Edition
2007 Loose Change: Final Cut by Dylan Avery Executive producer
2008 The 9/11 Chronicles: Part 1, Truth Rising
2008 Fabled Enemies by Jason Bermas Producer
2009 DVD Arsenal: The Alex Jones Show Vols. 1–3
2009 The Obama Deception: The Mask Comes Off
2009 Fall of the Republic: Vol. 1, The Presidency of Barack H. Obama
2009 Reflections and Warnings: An Interview with Aaron Russo
2010 Police State IV: The Rise Of FEMA
2010 Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined by Jason Bermas Producer
2012 New World Order: Blueprint of Madmen

Author

Year Book Publisher
2002 9-11: Descent Into Tyranny Progressive Press
2008 The Answer to 1984 Is 1776 The Disinformation Company

Film subject

Year Film Notes
2003 Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9/11 by Stephen Marshall
2009 New World Order by Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel
2010 The Fall of America and the Western World by Brian Kraft

Acting

Year Film Role
2001 Waking Life Man in Car with P.A. (cameo)
2006 A Scanner Darkly Street Prophet (cameo)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 List of Alex Jones Radio Show Affiliated Stations.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ "Company Overview of iHeartMedia and Entertainment, Inc.". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg LP. 2014. Retrieved September 20, 2014. On September 16, 2014, Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc. changed its name to iHeartMedia and Entertainment, Inc.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Alex Hern (Aug 6, 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/06/apple-removes-podcasts-infowars-alex-jones
  19. ↑ Jones, Alex. Coast to Coast AM. January 27, 2007.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Alex Jones Puts Anti-Semitic Caller in His Place!! (2011-03-04). Alex Jones Channel/Prisonplanet.tv/Genesis Communications Network. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Howard Stern Radio Show, February 26, 2013.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  40. ↑ An article in the San Jose Mercury News describes Alex Jones as a "conservative radio talk show host".
  41. ↑ Two articles in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from March and April 2009 describe Jones as a "conservative radio commentator"
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. ↑ (Sep 5, 2017) https://web.archive.org/web/20180115184458/https://altright.com/2017/09/05/alex-jones-caves-and-finally-admits-white-genocide-is-real/
  56. ↑ New Zealand National Front (Sep 6, 2017) http://www.nationalfront.org.nz/?p=9295
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  58. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  59. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  63. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jones_(radio_host)
  64. ↑ https://shoebat.com/2018/08/07/alex-jones-always-was-controlled-opposition-it-does-not-matter-whether-or-not-he-is-banned-from-social-media/

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