My Life with Alex Jones
Alex Jones' "InfoWars" website sold in a bankruptcy auction to The Onion. The moment bookends a long and fraught relationship I've had with the conspiracy theorist.
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I woke up yesterday to the most wonderful news. Alex Jones’ suffering. His demise has been a long-time personal goal of mine. So I was elated to discover that—in an effort to pay off the staggering damages he owes to the Sandy Hook Victims—his most prized possession was sold off to none other than The Onion. (Brain suppliments included!)
I was in college at the University of Texas—Austin during the Bush Jr years. Even after the recent political events, I still maintain that W’s re-election in 2004 stands as the most disheartening moment in my political memory. But I have to admit that Trump’s re-election holds a lot of promise.
I think because we didn’t have social media at that time, and because it was TWENTY years ago (Jesus Christ), we easily forget just how bad things were back then. But if you have the heart, I invite you to go on YouTube and relive the era. It was terrifying. With thousands of innocent Iraqis and Americans dying for an unjust war built on a total lie, Bush still managed to get re-elected. And for those of us still teathered to reality, his win felt utterly destabilizing.
As a student at UT in 2004, protesting the war was a totalizing and alienating experience. Austin was not only the power center for W’s political aparatus, but the epicenter of his “Young Republicans” college campus culture war campaign, led by Karl Rove (affectionately referred to as “Turd Blossom” by his closest friends). Harking back to McCarthy-era strategies, some of my own professors found themselves defending their tenureship against an enslaught of young, khaki’ed culture warriors and their accusations of “communist” brainwashing.
In my inability to comprehend the moment, I fell victim to Alex Jones’ bullshit. He was a budding, local radio personality in those days. Still just a local crank, featured in Richard Linklater’s “Waking Life,” Jones was one of the few voices speaking out against Bush’s unjust war. And I ate it up.
Listening to his rants on local radio after school felt like having reality validated. But what I didn’t appreciate was how his speaking truth to power also introduced me to a load of other bullshit I didn’t totally sign up for.
And therein lays the problem with conspiracy theory. The start with a kernal of valid criticism, and then bring you to the backroom to see the “good shit.” Soon enough, I found myself digesting some of the most idiotic 9/11 conspiracy theories imaginable. Which, in turn, caused me further strife and alienation. In my desire to teather myself to reality, I had suddenly found myself drifting into fantasy.
It took a bit for me to snap out of it and regain my agency as a thinking being. But the experience has always stuck with me. Because of my early relationship with Alex Jones, I understand the path in and out of the conspiracy-addled brain first hand. And it’s informed much of my work. Not least of which, my most recent for Netflix.
Since my days in Austin, Alex Jones’ grip over the hyperactive imaginations of internet-addicted Americans has only grown, sadly. But yesterday, in a triumphant moment of schadenfreude, his most valuable asset—and the central cesspool of online bullshit—InfoWars.com was sold off in auction to The Onion. I cannot think of a better owner.
For those who don’t know, I made
a documentary a few years back called “Feels Good Man.” The film followed the life of artist Matt Furie, creator of Pepe the Frog. The story picks up as Matt suddenly finds himself at the center of a new culture war happening online in the lead up to the 2016 US Presidential election. His innocent, stoned cartoon frog had been coopted by the alt-right. And Alex Jones took keen interest in Pepe’s propaganda potential.
In the film, we track Matt’s attempts to stop Jones from selling a horrible poster with Pepe’s image emblazoned on it, alongside Donald Trump, Alex Jones, and several other MAGA acolytes.
Eventually, Matt got the help of a large, blue chip lawfirm to help him out in his quest, and he sued Jones for copyright infingement. Through a stroke of luck—and the distinct laziness on the part of Jones’ lawyers—we were able to obtain Jones’ deposition footage from the lawsuit. So we put it in the film. And it became one of my favorite scene I’ve ever had the pleasure of working.
Enjoy. And let us all enjoy the continued suffering of one of the worlds most truly evil people.
If you’d like to watch the full film, “Feels Good Man” is available to stream on Peacock and YouTube, with ads. But if you’d like to rent it, those proceeds go directly the filmmakers and it’s a much better viewing experience, I would argue! You can find it on Amazon or Apple or wherever you rent or buy indie film. (Incidentally, though, Amazon takes a 50% cut! Where Apple only takes 20%)
More soon!