I don’t like using the phrase “conspiracy theorist” to describe people like Alex Jones, because people like Jones are not “theorists.” They’re snake oil salesmen.
Theorists would be more like scientists. Building on knowledge with hypotheses, perhaps even testing them with research and experiments with controls, collecting data … You know, they check to see whether their theories are true.
People like Jones are only interested in getting an audience to believe them. Tucker Carlson immediately comes to mind, but there are others, such as the former president. During the Jan. 6 hearings, witness after witness testified that Donald Trump knew the 2020 election wasn’t stolen. But he kept repeating the lie because it was good for the business of Trump.
For years Jones has been making millions from the lies he’s spread about the young children who were murdered in their school in Newtown, Connecticut. Gotta tell ya, it takes a special kind of person to do that. But in calling the Sandy Hook massacre “manufactured” and “completely fake with actors,” all Jones really was doing was presenting America with a choice: keep listening or tune him out. A lot of Americans chose the former.
We’ll see what happens to Jones next now that a jury in Texas awarded plaintiffs Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis a hair under $50 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Jones’ company, Free Speech Systems LLC, filed for bankruptcy protection during the trial. But a witness estimated Jones was worth more than $270 million.