Why We Should Be Concerned About the Alex Jones Ban

First of all, I’d like to say that I’m not a big fan of Alex Jones or Info Wars.  Even back in the day when he would occasionally put out what seemed like interesting information I didn’t like his style,  and over the years he has turned into more of a circus show masquerading as “Independent News”

That being said, I don’t think it is right or fair that he should be completely banned from all social media platforms, for several reasons and from several angles.

First of all, if you don’t like his stuff you don’t have to watch it or read it.  I don’t (usually).  However, there are a lot of people in the world who actually do like his shows, even if it’s just for the entertainment value.  It’s not really my taste in entertainment, but it’s not up to me or you or anyone else to tell people what they can or can’t watch or read.  And if you’re really concerned about the information he’s putting out, debunk it.  Comment or otherwise put out what you feel is the correct information to counter what he is saying.  Keep in mind, though, to “debunk” something is to actually prove it incorrect.  Hurling politically or socially charged epithets at people doesn’t prove anything and doesn’t do anyone any good.

Next, if they’re so concerned about his content, then this ban was the biggest mistake they could make as it just completely legitimized his whole platform.  His whole show and all of his content centered around conspiracy theories plaguing the US government and the big corporations, and this banning definitely looks like the result of a conspiracy between, at the very least, the media platforms, and perhaps at the urging of some government officials.  Now, Alex and all of his followers will be saying “See!  He was right!  there is a conspiracy!” and “He must be telling the truth, that’s why they had to shut him down!”  So now Alex Jones’ following will be larger than ever.  He already had a lot of fans, and I guess his website subscriptions have more than doubled since the social media ban.  So yeah, that didn’t work.

I think the thing we should be most concerned about, though is the fact that just a couple of big tech billionaires now have the power to completely control everything you see and hear online.  They’ve completely banned Alex Jones, that means they can, and actually do, mess with others as well.  And not all of them are “right wing” or conservative, either.  Some are very Left leaning and quite Progressive.  TeleSUR English, a Latin American news agency, and Occupy London have been banned from Facebook on occasion with no explanation.  Other shows like the Jimmy Dore Show and Lee Camp’s Redacted Tonight have had to deal with shadow bans and other means of having their content restricted, again with no real explanation.  And one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard, Peter Joseph of the Zeitgeist Movement and Eleanor Goldfield of Occupy.com, both of whom have HUGE followings of social media, were told by Facebook that they had to download the app so that they can be location tracked in order to continue to be able to post on their pages.  The thing these all have in common is they all tend to question the policies of the US “Empire”, especially it’s economic and military policies.

So, there is a small handful of people who have total control of the flow of information in the West, and they are actually using that control to drive and maintain the social and political narrative where ever they see fit, and eliminate any who question it.

That sounds positively disturbing to me, like it’s right out of a George Orwell novel.