Alex Jones
From Zanecorpwiki
I'm not sure what my opinion of Alex Jones is,[notes 1] but he's the most fascinating media figure by a long distance. Today, he declared that the problems of our world are not of human design. (Oct 26th, 2011; about 11:45 or so in the Austin broadcast.)
I wish I had my phone so I could relay the exact phrase. The lead up was amazing. He was talking about going to Vegas and swimming up from the depths of ignorance and how had this spiritual connection with people, who was awake and who wasn't. Then, as I recall, he said something like, "It's not about the money or the sex or anything like that." Then there was this long pause and he said something like, "Because what's behind all this isn't human, ladies and gentleman."
He then said that you can think of it as demons, or aliens, or the subconscious (?) but that whatever you call it, the system is real. He then went on to speak exclusively in apocalyptic Christian terms (though he was careful to point out that all mainstream Christian churches are part of this machinatious web) saying that what this pervasive, malevolent thing (which he seemed to most strongly identify with the devil) wanted our soul. He said poverty was not about some people having too little while other had too much, but was really about the spiritual suffering of the impoverished. The "haves" are bought off with the promise of wealth, but the ultimate goal of the force behind it all was actually the suffering.
In part of his analysis, Jones is quite profound. I see very little value or consistency in his diagnosis, though.
If you believe that that humanity is essentially good at some level... and here the bar I think is very low. For me, I look at the sweep of history and it seems pretty clear that "all in all", we've gotten better. How you calculate "all in all" is vitally important, but lifespan is twice what it was not so long ago. The standard of living in the US is on the order of 100 times what it was 100 years ago. I can sit and bemoan all the problems we have as well as anyone, but at the same time, it was also clearly worse in the past. Humanity may not be "good" yet, but we're trying, and that positive inclination is all I need.
It may be for different reasons, but Jones and I agree that humanity is good in some fundamental way. I think we also agree that something much, much better... that going from the potential to be good to being good... is right in front of our faces. Today he described being an inch under water and striving to break the surface. I've used similar metaphors myself.
So why are things shitty? For Jones, it must be intentional. There must be some dark force. For myself, it's inertia, or entropy; it's the passive force of decay.
The problem is that the diagnosis--malevolent spirit demon vs. passive decay--calls for very different responses. In seeing demons, Jones must demonize his opponents. He uses the language of war and conflict to describe the struggle. It's necessarily divisive.
I take people at their word, and so I see this talk about malevolent spiritual forces as Jones at his most honest. But when he talks about the compassion and love he has for the world as the reason he's on his campaign, I simply cannot square it with his divisive, dismissive, patriarchal, and astoundingly egotistical world view. Jones is crystal clear in his assessment that anyone that doesn't share 100% of his opinions is an ignorant, brainwashed tool. Even to grant that Jones was right about the conspiracy, the need to awaken people, all of it, it wouldn't make up for the meanness with which he attacks the problem.
Notes
- ↑ I'm pretty sure Jones means well. He certainly pours a lot of energy into what he does, and I trust that he's sincere. But his conclusions are flawed, at least when judged empirically. He incorporates many empirically incorrect statements into his stated thinking. I can only speculate, but I would say that he mistakes passion and energy for work. It's a kind of intellectual laziness, focusing on the emotionally charged bits of the argument because it's thrilling. Ignoring the tedious drudge work... both because it's tedious and it might contradict. I base this conclusion on both his results and as he himself has described his method of research on the show. I'm haven't been listening to him for that long, though, so my opinion is still far from firm.
