Michael -- I love you, but this truly lacks a sense of context. The Russiagate conspiracy was made from whole cloth for political purposes and derailed the political/legal processes of the country for nearly four years. In the end there will be a scattering of wrist slaps -- if that. (Substitute the recent JPM market fixing finding/ruling/damages if you are still on board with the Russiagate narrative. Or the litany of 2016 hacked election claims and the subsequent attempt to derail/flip the Electors) Meanwhile AJ is fined a ~billion dollars for his crackpot ramblings? Stunning.
Michael, I agree that Alex Jones is a bloated fool and that his statements about the Sandy Hook tragedy were beyond defense. Don't forget we have people who, as you have said well, believe in crazy things, harmless like the "flat earth" or malicious like Holocaust denial ( we still have eye witnesses to the Holocaust, both survivors and military liberators). The best antidote to the poison emanating from the likes of Alex Jones is the careful documentation of the facts. The same test should be applied to other toxic beliefs like Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project and other falsehoods that are in fashion in "woke" society. Sadly, what passes for news and social media will not touch that one.
Michael, when will you pay for your lies and conspiracy theories? You slandered Kyle Rittenhouse, calling him a white supremacist who went hunting for black men, even though nothing could be further from the truth. You continue to claim that Russia stole the 2016 election for Donald Trump, and that Trump did Putin's bidding because he was afraid of being blackmailed over the "pee tape," even though both conspiracies were absurd to begin with and thoroughly debunked years ago.
You have become little more than a pathetic shill for the Democratic Party. You long ago abandoned critical thinking for shameless propaganda. How far down this path do you intend to go?
The Covid vaccines have killed thousands, hurt millions (See Steve Kirsch & Naomi Wolf Substacks) and nothing happens to big pharma companies. Alex Jones SAID hurtful things and he has to pay $1 billion? Also, why are pro-life protesters all of a sudden getting rounded up by the FBI? Mr. Shermer, on this topic, you are missing what is really going on.
The mainstream media/political intentional hoaxing is exponentially more damaging to the entire societal zeitgeist than Alex's rambling confused ignorance. 1 billion is a ludicrous, purely political statement. $30 million or something would have felt useful and possibly non-political. 1 billion: purely political.
Aside from conspiracy theories, now defined as "spoiler alerts" in 2022, the AJ verdict actually confirms that the MSM gets away with propagating misinformation with impunity. Which then confirms what so many US citizens realize today: a Conspiracy is just a business plan.
Btw, this sounds like you're just rewriting "why people believe weird things," which was a great book. The difference here is that "conspiracy theory" is now a loaded term that is often applied to perfectly rational beliefs, e.g. it's a conspiracy theory that the chinese government and virologists covered up a lab leak. As if this is not the most likely explanation knowing the incentives involved.
So many "conspiracy theories" fit this mold. In most cases, conspiracy theory really means a straw man. The "fact checks" just knock down ridiculous theories and then foist them on others they disagree with in bad faith. Judging from this article, it seems you are also turning into a bit of a straw man fact checker...
If we impose a legal obligation of truthfulness on the press, what will become of individual free speech? Where would it end? Politicians might have to quit lying, or pay damages. I won't hold my breath. The Jones decision might reflect another hypercritical, hypocritical lying leftist double-standard.
Over the years, free speech has become less free. Speech that causes harm to others and that may be a violation of the law includes libel, slander, malice, obscenity, pornography, sedition, incitement, fighting words, hate speech, classified information, copyright violation, trade secrets, food labeling, non-disclosure agreements, the right to privacy, dignity, the right to be forgotten, public security, and perjury. Of course, many of these, like pornography and lies, are subject to their meaning in context; e.g., satire, humor, fiction, etc.
Back In the good old days, in places where there were few limits on speech, like Germany in the 1930's and early 40's, it was the government that said what was free and what wasn’t.
For example, Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
These days, truth is also the enemy of many Republicans
In a media environment where the average person can rarely distinguish between “facts” which have been corroborated and those that have not, it is not illuminating to call some narratives “conspiracies” and others not. When many “facts” on one side of a topic go unchallenged, is that a good clue? When the legacy media have a history of endorsing narratives that later turn out to be false, what qualifies as a conspiracy theory?
Well, the young males who increased their risk of cardiac death by 84% for the lie that these shots would somehow act as a vaccine could have profited from a healthy dose of conspiracism. :) I wonder what the cost will be for pfizer et. al, ie their gov and media cronies?
could open alot of actions against those who have hurt other people's feelings without having done any physical harm and actually made apologies as Jones did... then we have all the CDC lies about vaxx safety leading to so many deaths and disabilities.. we have a shortage of ambulance chasers now... new growth industry
Michael -- I love you, but this truly lacks a sense of context. The Russiagate conspiracy was made from whole cloth for political purposes and derailed the political/legal processes of the country for nearly four years. In the end there will be a scattering of wrist slaps -- if that. (Substitute the recent JPM market fixing finding/ruling/damages if you are still on board with the Russiagate narrative. Or the litany of 2016 hacked election claims and the subsequent attempt to derail/flip the Electors) Meanwhile AJ is fined a ~billion dollars for his crackpot ramblings? Stunning.
Michael, I agree that Alex Jones is a bloated fool and that his statements about the Sandy Hook tragedy were beyond defense. Don't forget we have people who, as you have said well, believe in crazy things, harmless like the "flat earth" or malicious like Holocaust denial ( we still have eye witnesses to the Holocaust, both survivors and military liberators). The best antidote to the poison emanating from the likes of Alex Jones is the careful documentation of the facts. The same test should be applied to other toxic beliefs like Critical Race Theory, the 1619 Project and other falsehoods that are in fashion in "woke" society. Sadly, what passes for news and social media will not touch that one.
Ironic how the comments on a book about Conspiracy Theories prove the need for it.
Michael, when will you pay for your lies and conspiracy theories? You slandered Kyle Rittenhouse, calling him a white supremacist who went hunting for black men, even though nothing could be further from the truth. You continue to claim that Russia stole the 2016 election for Donald Trump, and that Trump did Putin's bidding because he was afraid of being blackmailed over the "pee tape," even though both conspiracies were absurd to begin with and thoroughly debunked years ago.
You have become little more than a pathetic shill for the Democratic Party. You long ago abandoned critical thinking for shameless propaganda. How far down this path do you intend to go?
You used the word "insurrectionists." You lost your credibility on this topic.
The Covid vaccines have killed thousands, hurt millions (See Steve Kirsch & Naomi Wolf Substacks) and nothing happens to big pharma companies. Alex Jones SAID hurtful things and he has to pay $1 billion? Also, why are pro-life protesters all of a sudden getting rounded up by the FBI? Mr. Shermer, on this topic, you are missing what is really going on.
I agree, sort of. And you make important points.
BUT,
The mainstream media/political intentional hoaxing is exponentially more damaging to the entire societal zeitgeist than Alex's rambling confused ignorance. 1 billion is a ludicrous, purely political statement. $30 million or something would have felt useful and possibly non-political. 1 billion: purely political.
Aside from conspiracy theories, now defined as "spoiler alerts" in 2022, the AJ verdict actually confirms that the MSM gets away with propagating misinformation with impunity. Which then confirms what so many US citizens realize today: a Conspiracy is just a business plan.
Btw, this sounds like you're just rewriting "why people believe weird things," which was a great book. The difference here is that "conspiracy theory" is now a loaded term that is often applied to perfectly rational beliefs, e.g. it's a conspiracy theory that the chinese government and virologists covered up a lab leak. As if this is not the most likely explanation knowing the incentives involved.
So many "conspiracy theories" fit this mold. In most cases, conspiracy theory really means a straw man. The "fact checks" just knock down ridiculous theories and then foist them on others they disagree with in bad faith. Judging from this article, it seems you are also turning into a bit of a straw man fact checker...
This seems a free press legal issue that might help address the lack of press accountability since https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Times_Co._v._Sullivan I was surprised to hear Charlie Kirk defend Jones, and it seems others were also, as I heard Kirk elaborate his position 10/13/2022: https://player.fm/series/the-charlie-kirk-show/quid-pro-joe-threatens-the-saudis-with-jack-posobiec
If we impose a legal obligation of truthfulness on the press, what will become of individual free speech? Where would it end? Politicians might have to quit lying, or pay damages. I won't hold my breath. The Jones decision might reflect another hypercritical, hypocritical lying leftist double-standard.
You’ve very conspicuously avoided listing delusional left wing conspiracies among your examples. Why is that?
Over the years, free speech has become less free. Speech that causes harm to others and that may be a violation of the law includes libel, slander, malice, obscenity, pornography, sedition, incitement, fighting words, hate speech, classified information, copyright violation, trade secrets, food labeling, non-disclosure agreements, the right to privacy, dignity, the right to be forgotten, public security, and perjury. Of course, many of these, like pornography and lies, are subject to their meaning in context; e.g., satire, humor, fiction, etc.
Back In the good old days, in places where there were few limits on speech, like Germany in the 1930's and early 40's, it was the government that said what was free and what wasn’t.
For example, Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
These days, truth is also the enemy of many Republicans
In a media environment where the average person can rarely distinguish between “facts” which have been corroborated and those that have not, it is not illuminating to call some narratives “conspiracies” and others not. When many “facts” on one side of a topic go unchallenged, is that a good clue? When the legacy media have a history of endorsing narratives that later turn out to be false, what qualifies as a conspiracy theory?
Alex Jones‘ mistake was not being a preacher.
Well, the young males who increased their risk of cardiac death by 84% for the lie that these shots would somehow act as a vaccine could have profited from a healthy dose of conspiracism. :) I wonder what the cost will be for pfizer et. al, ie their gov and media cronies?
could open alot of actions against those who have hurt other people's feelings without having done any physical harm and actually made apologies as Jones did... then we have all the CDC lies about vaxx safety leading to so many deaths and disabilities.. we have a shortage of ambulance chasers now... new growth industry