censored for “transphobia”@redstarfish @gabriel @schratze @meena The “endorsement” vs. “non-endorsement” chatter is a false dichotomy. Of course engaging someone in dialog does not imply “endorsement”, but it shows enough respect for your opponent to acknowledge them & have a civil discussion. Then there are extremist nutjobs who wise people don’t engage in a way that gives them the slightest amount of validation, e.g. Alex Jones.
@meena @schratze @gabriel @redstarfish Imagine the KKK inviting a current or former US president onto a talk show. Trump aside (let’s keep it simple), endorsement isn’t even in the realm of consideration. All US presidents would reject it because engaging them gives a /shred/ of validation even as an opponent… the KKK is unworthy of rational civil discussion most particularly in the presence of a shred of prestige.
@redstarfish @gabriel @schratze @meena So at a minimum, there’s a trichotomy: 1) those you engage & endorse, 2) those you oppose but still engage b/c you give them a degree of respect for being civil & successful, and 3) those who are so vile, uncivil, repugant, and unworthy of any amount of respect or engagement (your Hitlers, Alex Joneses, KKK, proud boys, etc).
@meena @meena @schratze @gabriel @redstarfish When Trump appeared on the Alex Jones show it was a bit surprising to many even though the two have similar relatively aligned followers b/c someone running for a high office in the US would normally need to distance themselves from radical extremism. Trump calculated that it was more important to reach Jones’ audience. Trump is in the gutter to some extent anyway, so low risk.
@redstarfish @gabriel @schratze @meena My problem is that if Alex Jones can show that someone as respectible as Dr. Stallman appeared on his show, it’s a way of conveying to his audience that his show is not just for whack jobs. It’s unclear how many people RMS hopes to influence but I think it’s unlikely to offset the harm of reinforcing the falsely perceived credibility Alex Jones’ show.
@meena @schratze @gabriel @redstarfish When Alex Jones is dragged into court due to causing real harm to people by deliberate misinformation campaigns, Jones’ lawyer argues that his client is not a journalist, he is an /entertainer/ & his show is purely “entertainment”.
@redstarfish @gabriel @schratze @meena Despite being “entertainment” officially, when Jones said Hillary Clinton was running a child brothel in the basement of a New York pizza shop, one of his nutjob followers took a long innerstate road trip with guns to attack that pizza shop, only to discover that the shop didn’t even have a basement. So the viewers are not on board with the entertainment narrative.
@meena @schratze @gabriel @redstarfish Alex Jones knows he’s not really selling entertainment. His success is in keeping nutters on the hook, believing that the fake stories are real. When RMS appears on the show, it mixes in a bit of truth & reality to ultimately help stimulate the misperception of what the show is.
Dick Smiths Fair Go Supporters@koherecoWatchdog
We prescribe to 'sunlight as disinfectant'. We don't see AJ audience as beyond salvation.
Kudos to RMS for stepping into the minefield that is #AlexJones.
He is a controversial figure, but we take the most issue with the fact that he is behind Cf, which enables him to go off on tangents wo receiving appropriate feedback and enables surveillance/targetting of viewer for induction into #fascist groups later, using known triggers.
@dsfgs @meena @schratze @gabriel @redstarfish Making the show appear more credible has the opposite effect. It pushes the followers further away from salvation. It would take a no-name figure on the AJ show to get through to the AJ audience without it backfiring.
@koherecoWatchdog
We see AJ as really just an #extrovertedThinker and this can translate well to being a #shockJock and for hammering out ideas many of which may be silly, many maybe not. We also take issue with many aspects of Hollywood, and duplicitous politicians, as he does.
We don't believe people watch him because they think he's perfect. Maybe one did.
Our main gripe with him is the C'Flare.
eena meena me@dsfgs @koherecoWatchdog @schratze @gabriel @redstarfish okay, how about this: all fascist bootlickers get out of my mentions
and all rms defenders get out of my mentions.
i do not care about your opinions.
leave me out of this.
@meena
It seems like we are getting to that point in the #identityPolitics realm that is designed to divide the left.
We are anti-fascist.
Have a great day.
@dsfgs @redstarfish @gabriel @schratze @meena You don’t get to know what AJ thinks by watching the show. He is deceiving the audience for money and influence, and not doing it through his own ideas. He *knows* he is creating wild fabrications. His art is deception, not philosophy. Maintaining viewership requires him to present increasingly more extreme narratives so the audience doesn’t get bored.
@dsfgs @redstarfish @gabriel @schratze
There was a good #PBS #Frontline documentary on #AlexJones which shows quite well the beast we are dealing with. I think this is it, in which case it’s a must-see:
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/united-states-of-conspiracy/
It’s also in the invidious network.
