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The Onion buys Infowars

nytimes.com

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Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#71

Post by adventured »

rightbyte wrote: post #24
jsheard wrote: post #2

The announcement by America's Finest News Source: https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/ Alex Jones response: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857058831135645739

Seems like the article is really gleeful. Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits.

You have to step extremely far over the line to be brought down by such a lawsuit, particularly if you have money to spend on legal defense (as Jones did previously, or the Onion does today). Jones went over that line one time too many, in a country where a lot of people strongly dislike him. It's like being Martin Shkreli, the system* is going to keep targeting you and eventually get you (entirely warranted) on one of your legal infractions. The more you're a jerk and stick your head up prominently, the more you're going to draw counter attacks to your behavior by the varied masses.

* the system referring to the vast combination of peoples: politicians, legal, monied interests, lobbyists, news media, corporations, journalists, agitators, whatever, et al

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#72

Post by rightbyte »

afavour wrote: post #38
rightbyte wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like the article is really gleeful. Somewhat ironic since The Onion could be brought down in the same way by defamation lawsuits.

> Seems like the article is really gleeful. Good! It should be. Alex Jones is a ghoul making money from dead school shooting victims. Anything that embarrasses him is entitled to as much glee as it wants.

Yes and he profits from fooling mentally ill people. Selling homeopatic pills and whatever.

But I think the right to be wrong is way more important than getting at Alexander Jones.

The precedent is bad.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#73

Post by bediger4000 »

jacknews wrote: post #21

I'm very much not a fan of Q-anon and related subcultures, but the sandy-hook award of $1.5 billion is obviously ridiculous, and is clearly just a government/institutional exercise in dictatorial/systemic power. There is no possible way that someone ranting on the internet can cause 1.5 billion of emotional damage or whatever the claim was. In particular, the libel (and it should be libel, making claims that are not…

The USA has an adversarial legal system. Jones and his lawyers didn't do anything that they could have done to prevent this.

My understanding is that the suit against Jones was pretty standard in what damages it asked for, and that defendants (Jones in this case) are giving every opportunity to negotiate and legally lessen the damages. Jones' lawyers did not do this, apparently at his direction. Jones also refused to produce evidence that is always traded between parties in suits like this. There was a "Perry Mason" moment when Jones was on the stand testifying that revealed (due to an incredible screw up by his lawyers) that Jones had apparently withheld info he should have disclosed during discovery.

Basically, he directed his lawyers to do nothing, and they did so. The size of the judgement is statutory. It's not that there was a governmental thumb on the scale, it's that Jones and his lawyers didn't do anything to scale it down, or even do much to contradict the plaintiff's claims.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#74

Post by vidarh »

soco wrote: post #44
arethuza wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Brexit taught me anything it was that the correct phrase is pesky unelected EU bureaucrats!

Now if we want to get into dirty details, no bureaucrat is ever elected. You elect the representatives, and they nominate in turn whoever bureaucrats they feel comfy to work with. Or is this in the UK different?

Yes, but that is not the point. The point is it was a favorite attack point used by Brexit supporters. A whole lot of the accusations against the EU applied just as much - sometimes much more - to the UK itself.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#75

Post by DiggyJohnson »

righthand wrote: post #69
s1artibartfast wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesnt mean it was a reasonable amount.

What is unreasonable about it? Someone should get to lie and spread conspiracy theories for decades and have to only pay a little? The man had been doing it because he could, not because he didn’t understand it was a lie. Then when called out and asked to stop, he kept doing it.

The amount of money versus the damage

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#77

Post by spacemanspiff01 »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #20
daft_pink wrote: post #4

Not sure if this is true or just another Onion article.

NBC is reporting it too. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/onion-wins-alex-jones-i... , reported on HN by elsewhen at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42136327 . So... I guess it's real? Still feels surreal...

The past 10 years feels surreal...

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#78

Post by newmanpo »

aaomidi wrote: post #19
dogleash wrote: post #14

Funny concept. Shame that The Onion's writing these days so mid.

I think it’s more that the world is now the onion.

You think the world has gotten dumber? By the numbers it’s smarter even if it’s unevenly distributed and less smart than people’s vain sense of cultural identity leads them to believe.

For example; ~15% in the US have earned more than a bachelor’s. While public polls show people believe close to 50% have a PhD. Close to 50% have a bachelors.

So the majority misunderstand ground truth but understand how to abstractly find the answer.

Seems better to have people know how to count their way out of a bag and miss some inane specific than everyone being actually uneducated.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#79

Post by bogtog »

Really curious what the bidding was like or who else made an offer, since it seems that the Sandy Hook Victims (who own all of the debt?) wanted the sale to The Onion specifically

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#80

Post by jsheard »

tgv wrote: post #7
jsheard wrote: post #2

The announcement by America's Finest News Source: https://theonion.com/heres-why-i-decided-to-buy-infowars/ Alex Jones response: https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857058831135645739

Wonderful news. I'm glad their CEO recognizes the great value of CEOs. My only worry is that this acquisition makes Global Tetraeder so large that it attracts the attention of those pesky EU bureaucrats, who will want to split it up into multiple imperfect solids.

They'd better think twice as long as Ted Kaczynski remains on The Onions editorial board[1], he also knows a few things about splitting things into multiple solids.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/iNDpZt2.png

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