There’s a big misnomer when it comes to both the Internet and free speech and that is that you can say or do or show whatever you want without consequence.
As a long-time supporter and defender of free speech, especially on the Internet, I know that this is not true. There are some things that you can’t say or do or show online. Certainly when it comes to the online providers, it’s up to whatever standards they want to set as part of their Terms of Service. But, in a general sense, you can’t show clearly obscene things. Things involving kids. Things involving illegal drugs or weapons of mass destruction. And you supposedly can’t use the Internet to incite riots or insurrection.
Conservatives, especially conservative and fascist extremists, have long used traditional and online media to push the boundaries. Some, like the late Rush Limbaugh, have excused their antics as being “entertainment” or claiming to be a “comedian” like the equally late George Carlin. The difference being George Carlin was a genuine comedian, who used real-world hypocrisies for a laugh but still made a serious point about them. When I watch Carlin on HBO, I’m not expecting him to advance a political cause or a candidate for office or to debate his critics.
On the other hand, Limbaugh and his friends and successors are just agitators using supposed comedic gaffes to advance their agenda. And I say that not only as someone who was listening their sputum for decades, but as someone who was an online radio personality. I know the power of using comedy and parody to influence your audience.
And then there is Alex Jones.
Like the late Lyndon LaRouche, Alex Jones is full of conspiracies. His biggest claim to fame is his belief that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 were an “inside job” to justify America going to war against the world. But that’s just one of his many conspiracy theories that he’s bantered about over the years.
His more horrific conspiracy theories, and the most damaging, involve the victims of mass shootings.
Apparently Mister Jones has said that the shootings in places like the Sandy Hook Elementary School and Spellman Douglas High School were “staged” and that “nobody died” and that the victims, survivors, and/or parents of those killed were all “crisis actors”.
I want you to think about that for a moment. Imagine a parent having to go through what they would consider the unthinkable, only to have some blowhard with a bad beard call their child and possibly you to be a “crisis actor” playing a hoax. Your terrible loss being treated as “a hoax”. And all to sell supplements.
Worse yet, Mister Jones has listeners who buy into his conspiracies and have harassed those parents. One such listener did so with repeated death threats that later ended with her going to prison.
Remember the Comet Ping Pong “Pizzagate” mess? The guy who traveled across state lines to show up at that pizzeria with a rifle to supposedly “liberate children” from a basement that did not exist was a listener of Alex Jones, who also stirred that conspiracy up as well. He didn’t create it, supposedly, but he certainly pushed it just the same. Oh, and then Jones allegedly said that the shooter was also part of that conspiracy.
So... you know what the provocateurs say, right? If they’re lying, take them to court.
They did. Two parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre sued Alex Jones and Infowars. Alex Jones was found guilty by default, because Jones apparently refused to provide required documents and was playing games with the legal proceedings.
So now Jones was hit with $4.1 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages for his big mouth and his asinine legal games. He also has to pay $1.5 million for lawyer fees because of said legal games.
And that is just one of many legal cases that he has to deal with because of his reckless antics. He has a lot more to go through, and this judgement will no doubt be used as evidence in all the other lawsuits he is still facing.
Let’s get brutally honest here... Alex Jones has nobody to blame for his situation but himself. He chose to keep talking and running his mouth in his little media service. He chose to target parents and the victims of tragedies and accuse them of being part of some “deep state” hoax. He chose to play games with the legal proceedings, which resulted in the default judgement against him. This is all on him.
He’s not the only one that needs to be held to account for lies, of course. There are a few attorneys representing a certain orange-skinned narcissist who used to be the President of the United States who have been slinging lies and conspiracies as well, and they’re getting hit with lawsuits. A few so-called “news” services and even a pillow businessman that support said orange-skinned narcissist have also been hit with lawsuits because it is “advantageous” for them to support him and regurgitate those lies.
Then there is the orange-skinned narcissist, who firmly believes that he has “absolute immunity” from all accountability in pretty much everything he says, whether it’s about the January 6th insurrection or what he said about a woman who accused him of sexual assault or a former contestant of “The Apprentice”. He just can’t seem to stop running his mouth, and he still believes he cannot be touched.
And yet, they all need to be held to account. All of them. That is how it works. The provocateurs always say that if they’re lying, then take them to court. That is what is happening.
Freedom of speech does not give you the freedom to slander or libel someone, be it to help sell supplements, advance a political agenda, stay in office, or to soothe one’s fragile ego. It doesn’t give you the freedom to invoke panic or violence or terroristic threats via your listeners. We condemn it when done by religious extremist on the other side of the planet. The same needs to apply here in America.
As one lawyer recently said: “speech is free, but lies you have to pay for.”
