Infowars’ founder, controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, caused another uproar on Twitter by declaring that an executive order had been issued by ex-President Donald Trump to terminate taxpayer funding for NPR and PBS. According to Jones, this move constitutes a frontal assault on ‘globalist propaganda’ aimed at undermining Western values. His tweet has, as expected, whipped up a veritable storm of responses, ranging from fervent support to boisterous mockery, with dramatic wording, as is always his style.
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Jones did not furnish evidence to sustain his claim, a customary breach of etiquette, one might say. Still, that did not prevent his supporters from celebrating. An account named Maddi K simply said, ‘He’s doing the right thing,’ and Jo Nell Montgome ry would want Congress to make it permanent. Allowing all to comment on ‘Fan Fking Tastic’ and ‘This is huge.’ Some were saying that, in their eyes, this indeed was a long-overdue day.
Not surprisingly, the critics were more astute. His critics found it darkly hilarious that Jones should accuse anyone of propaganda. Chris, calling himself @glasstyle, asked, ‘So how do we stop you from spreading globalist propaganda?’ Other Twitter users launched fiery attacks on Jones’ credibility and one rather bluntly asked: ‘Did Alex Jones ever go to jail or did he have to make payments only?’ a pointed reference to his difficulties with the law regarding the massacre of Sandy Hook. R, another user, too lashed out at Jones without sparing any of his choice words: he was ‘the bloated, beetroot-faced muppet’ while referring to Jones’ making court-ordered payments to Sandy Hook victims.
Then, of course, there were those who could not contain their laughter at Jones’ misspell. LADY FOX 🦊 wanted to know humorously, ‘What is a ‘viris’ please? My spellchecker tried to change it to ‘virus,’ but that can’t be right surely?’ Such is the nature of snark that Twitter vests upon-it was jokes and actual confusion from scrolling replies.
Others took a more philosophical road: Luke (@Luke_AbrahamsX) wondered, ‘If defunding Big Bird is the frontline of saving the West, we might be fighting the wrong war.’ Another user, Josh, asked: ‘When did PBS become the bad guy?’ These comments directly highlighted the ridiculousness of casting public broadcasting as any kind of existential threat.
But @rydem_ threw the curveball back into Jones’ financial ruin: ‘How’s the payment plan for the Sandy Hook victims treating you by the way?’ It was an unkind reminder that for anything that Jones says, he had to take the punishment for his own crimes.
And then came a bizarre turn on the thread with this random health manifesto dropped by @cancertreatme in the replies near the bottom:’Cancer is 100% curable’, and ‘Disability is not in your limbs but in the mind.’ Why not?
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This tweet, on concert, is Alex Jones—loud and diabolically divisive without a grain of truth. Truth-carnival barker, he knows how to draw a crowd. And, in this day and age, that might be the only worthwhile thing he ever addressed.