An interesting post from FauxCapitalist on the “mainstreaming” of alternative activists. You can also call this commodification of dissent or dissent-porn:
“For someone who is, by his own words, allegedly one of the biggest threats to the New World Order, Alex Jones certainly has some high-powered connections into mainstream media, as mostly vividly demonstrated by his February 28, 2011 appearance on The View.
His June 8, 2012 Infowars.com article, Alternative Media Becoming Mainstream, may have been a sign of things to come, given this celebrity lineup in the two months since, as shown on his prisonplanet.tv show archives:
Richard Belzer – August 16
“Alex is also joined by actor, stand-up comedian and author Richard Belzer. Mr. Belzer has an expansive career as an actor and has appeared in NBC police dramas such as Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”John Rocker – August 15
“On the Wednesday, August 15 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex talks with John Rocker, the retired American Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for the Atlanta Braves and other teams.”Dave Mustaine – July 26
“On the Thursday July 25th edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex airs an interview he recorded this past weekend with American virtuoso guitarist and legendary lead vocalist for the almost three-decade strong, highly influential thrash-metal band Megadeth, Dave Mustaine.”Charlie Daniels – July 20
“Alex also welcomes back to the show to country and southern rock music legend Charlie Daniels.”
It’s fashionable to hate on Jones these days — I guess because we truthseeking types are inherently wary of anything big. However, it could be that the guy is where he is because he has worked obsessively, pretty much around the clock for the last 18 years.
The reason musicians and authors go on his show?
(You know a lot of this, being a published author…)
* If you intend to sell a book or a record, it’s really important to have an audience.
* If you’re big, these things are often booked through your “people” as part of a marathon media tour. By the 15th interview, the author or celebrity may only be faintly aware of which talk show host he or she is talking to.
* A lot of artists and Hollywood/musicpeople have been awakened (or always were). You know how creativity and spirituality are connected.
And, by the nature of their work, a lot of Hollywood actors have a) seen firsthand some of the ugliness that Jones speaks of; and/or b) have been acting out/foretelling major elements of the battle going on today. Anything from Revenge of the Sith, to Enemy of the State (which I recently watched twice), to the Bourne series, to the Bond flicks, or dozens of others.
* To a certain extent, I think the dinosaur media know they need the alternative audience. And they need a credibility transfusion. I think the fact they’d invite Jones or Ventura on their show, is evidence of desperation. That’s a good thing.
There is an audience for Truth. The fact that it has been suppressed artificially, and we have had little power to circumvent that suppression until recently, can lead some to excessive cynicism. (I know — that’s me sometimes too.) We shouldn’t sell the power of Truth short.
As Jones often implores his audience whenever this discussion comes up: Don’t worry about him and don’t follow him. Be your own leader.
Rather than worrying about whether he is real, as he usually says: “Are you real? Then go and do better than me.”
I know I’m real, and for the most part, he’s doing what I would do (perhaps even making some of the same mistakes I have made). The year that he started his career, 1994, I was a student, sitting around planning a very similar alternative media effort. However, after college I ended up going in a different direction, which I now regret.
If there was a way to reach tens (hundreds?) of millions of people with real news/info, a broadcast-quality news network, professional, high-quality documentary films, proprietary social media, etc., etc. without “commodification” (i.e., without money), I’m all ears. Maybe the critics who sit around kibitzing could come up with some ideas, rather than attacking the guy who is doing more than the rest of them put together. If they can run a worldwide multimedia effort out of their own wallet without ever asking for money, then by all means, they should get busy and do it.
BTW, if I’m overseeing COINTELPRO or PATCON, this is certainly the kind of stuff I want people talking about. I want soap operas, I want personality conflicts, I want reckless and unfounded speculation, I want division. I want people to use their time murmuring and whispering about Alex Jones, rather than about me and my fellow agents. I want people mired in wondering — “Who is Alex Jones? Why was he mean to XYZ 18 years ago? Is he Illuminati? Knights of Malta? A Vatican Assassin?” Anything besides actually looking at and evaluating the information, and acting on it.
Read the details about Alex Jones’ ascent in the world of talk radio…how he took over the market cultivated by Bill Cooper.
Cooper himself had a background in intelligence and I’m pretty sure was unreliable on a number of things.
Jones is a different kind of unreliable.
There’s nothing COINTELPRO about looking at his past, his explosions on the show, the kind of guests he has, his constant screaming.
If it’s not obviously some kind of operation, I don’t know what is.
The point is to look at the facts….and forget the personalities.
Don’t set up any one person as a mouthpiece or authority.
Walk away from people who do that. They have an agenda.
I can’t tell you how turned off I get by the hyping of Ron Paul….or anyone else.
It has controlled opposition written all over it.
You can create a mass movement but it will be empty at its core. Glittering generalities.
It has nothing to do with whether Paul is a fine person or not. Although I really don’t see his record as all that spotless.
No scrupulous person would have run the kind of campaign he ran. No scrupulous person would appoint their family members all over the place, or double bill, or a bunch of other things.
They weigh heavily against the odds that he is an angel.
One can be soft spoken and a family man and lack one sort of vice, but one can have vices of a different sort – double-speaking, slickness with money, spinelessness, deceit, nepotism.
(Not that I’m saying that’s what he’s like. I’m making a general statement here).
All that is bad behavior too.
I found the hype about Obama equally nauseating in 2008.
Admiration and emulation are one thing
Hero worship is very much a part of group-think.
Secondly, truth is not a commodity.
The whole idea that something can be “sold” to masses of people and will still retain its quality is bogus.
There is no mass-market for classical music of the kind there is for rock music.
You can get one or two classical musicians who can sell themselves or a few classics, no doubt.
But usually they do it in a limited way and with some form of compromise, and their popularity is usually not a result of the finer points of their art.
In selling “TRUTH” like a commodity, all you do is create a counter-revolution that will become as corrupted as the status-quo.
It happened that way with Gandhi.
Gandhianism became a dead end and the epitome of hypocrisy when it was adopted whole-sale by the Congress and its followers.
Mass movements are not led by the masses.
They are always led by the people at the top these days.
Maybe always.
I agree with you, generally.
I will try not to be lengthy with this. All I ever hope for from any effort is that the truth gets out and that people are awakened to think for themselves. Each person seems to have his own threshold for how and when that occurs. Maybe some never will … but you never know, until you go preach the word.
I went to churches that always seemed to divide between seekers and followers. The followers would stay because they were comfortable. Or they’d move on to an even more repressive, idolatrous group. The seekers would stay for awhile, then move on to a place where they could grow further. (And/or, move on because they found out our “leader” was a conniving, womanizing hypocrite.)
So, two opposite types (“Wheat and tares,” perhaps) can be in the same place for two completely opposite reasons , and headed in completely opposite directions.
I wouldn’t say AJ “constantly” screams (granted, I’ve missed most of his shows the last couple months). But given the circumstances, why not scream?
By all means look at a guy’s past and personality, but remember the meaning of “ad hominem.” The message has to be evaluated on its own merits. Unfortunately, truth is often delivered by obnoxious people. Simply being an ass sometimes does not make you a Vatican assassin. (Or “agent” of _____.) In the cost-benefit analysis, the question is whether more is gained or lost through using such a mouthpiece. And, for whose purposes? Maybe the people out there need a guy like Alex Jones for a certain season. Maybe you don’t — congratulations.
Cooper’s got a pretty nice cult following himself, if you ask me. I never listened or read him much. But if you look for it, you could find plenty of dirt on him.
In any case, he was not the only alternative broadcaster talking about the NWO in the ’90s. (I know, having been a huge talk radio geek/AM DXing geek since high school, and having made my own SW radio too, and having been a supporter of a guy named Chuck Harder, who got his start before Cooper and who definitely was set up and attacked by the elites.)
The point is to look at the facts….and forget the personalities. …Don’t set up any one person as a mouthpiece or authority.
Agreed. I don’t totally trust anybody. (Like, why trust some female Indian author claiming to be a libertarian? Maybe she’s a super-deep-cover disinfo agent too. Is she even Indian? Is “she” even a she??? 😉
Avoid cults, throw out the bathwater, keep the baby, seems right to me.
When it comes to commercialism, I can live with folks selling survival gear and food, because eventually some or all of that will come in handy. Food is food. if Armageddon doesn’t happen on schedule, just eat it.
I worry a little more about the people selling gold and silver like magical talismans against all evil. I think that in a total collapse, ammo or seeds will be worth more. IMO, the only justification for all the metal-mongering — and this may be a thin justification — is if it helps you to educate and free people.
Ron Paul is a slightly different can of fish, or kettle of worms. To his credit, I think he was the last person to encourage idolization of himself. On the double-billing, I see a lot of stories that refute that and point out the dodgy nature of the (Soros/-funded) org that put this stuff out, as well as the reporter who “broke” the story. I think that nickel-and-diming expense reports wouldn’t have been worth his time. There probably was mismanagement, or if some accounts are to be believed, a total sabotage of his campaign.
Appointing family members was his prerogative, I suppose, although it turned out to have been poor judgment. I’ll assume he had the best of intentions: “How do I protect myself against insidious infiltrators? I know — appoint my son-in-law to run everything!”
Ooops.
I would like to know more about that Benton dude, when he came on the scene, and how he managed to charm the pants off the granddaughter and then weasel his way into everything. I’ve read a lot about mind control. Anything’s possible.
There is not mass market for classical music of the kind there is for rock music.
Regardless, if the market is scattered hither and yon, you have to reach them somehow. how do you do that, barring telepathy? (not saying that ‘s impossible; just seems unreliable — or maybe I just need to practice more?) Seems to me that the fastest way is to create a mass message.
I do believe that when people come to have a hunger for justice and truth, that comes from God. So, I’m happy to see people moving toward the light that they are given, even via an indirect path with twists and turns. The question is, what comes next. This is a unique time when everything is accelerating and knowledge is accumulating. The people of the Lie are falling more completely into lies, and the people of truth are going faster toward truth. Maybe the disillusionment of the Paul campaign is exactly what they need, and maybe enough disillusioned seekers will create the critical mass to create something that has never been seen before. What? I don’t know. A new society maybe.
ALthough I’m a Christian, and still pretty conservative and literalist, I’m no longer a fatalist. When the Bible says WE are the body of Christ … well, I suppose we’d better start acting like it. And I aim that at myself more than any one.
So, I always look for the silver lining.
Or maybe I’m all wrong and we can all just bend over and kiss our asses goodbye.
Well, on Cooper, says he started talking about UFO’s in 1988, the same year Chuck Harder begain broadcasting — but supposedly, it took Cooper until the late ’90s to move awa from UFOs to more terrestrial issues. So, I’m not so clear on who was “first.” I’ll just say, he had a lot of company out there.
” (Like, why trust some female Indian author claiming to be a libertarian? Maybe she’s a super-deep-cover disinfo agent too. Is she even Indian? Is “she” even a she??? ;)”
Well, you have to look at whether there is any evidence for a claim.
The only person calling me a deep cover disinfo agent is a shill, with a history of stupid, semi-coherent rants.
Every point made by him about me is documentably false from calling me an illegal alien and a bunch of other things, mostly fed to him by people who are trying to muddy up the issue of market manipulation.
Second, I’ve never claimed to be a true-blue libertarian. I’ve always called myself a mixture of traditionalist and progressive – a Tory-bohemian.
I actually kind of dislike doctrinaire libertarians… or doctrinaire anything.
It’s not the theory. Theory means nothing on its own. It’s how it’s used and who uses it for what purpose. That’s where the game is given away.
Third, I don’t follow Alex Jones around 24/7 calling him vulgar epithets and accusing him of nameless crimes.