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Midge's avatar

This might be an informative read:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191028183513/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/meet-alex-jones-175845/

Jones says that when he was a teen, he read some Bircher literature and got into scrapes with local corrupt police. His parents were on friendly terms with Bircher neighbors, though he describes his parents as otherwise unpolitical. The same police busting him in his teenage years also showed up at local parties to sell drugs to his friends, and after some confrontations escalated, they threatened to frame him. At the time, Bircher lore may have struck him as the obvious explanation for the corruption of authority he'd personally witnessed.

Teens believe plenty of crazy stuff but usually grow out of it. Why didn't he? Seems like he was richly rewarded for not growing out of it, both financially and, well, spiritually — finding mentorship and community among those spreading the gospel of crazy. Even bosses' attempts to punish him by firing him for getting too wacky enriched him, getting him into digital media early.

From the interview:

"On the spiritual cancer of modern capitalism, Jones sounds more like Ralph Nader than a Fox Business channel libertarian. 'Madison Avenue makes us addicts of consumerism, using glass wampum to steal our capacity to direct our own lives,' Jones says. 'The globalists are smart and tell us sin is fun, sin is a red-­devil cheerleader. No — sin is cheating other people, it’s sending troops to die in illegal wars, it’s keeping people dumb so you can control, exploit and kill them.'"

Coming from Jones, that's hilarious. Deeply sick and sad, but hilarious.

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Don Gates's avatar

Very interesting. It's impressive how, gradually, people can become that which they claim they despise. His quote is a mix of genuine insight about Madison Avenue, paranoia, and a complete lack of introspection.

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