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The Onion to Take over InfoWars

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251–260 of 297 posts

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#251
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No joke, I use Facebook every year or so to access the marketplace and at the time my feed was roughly half rage-bait, and the other half being what I can only describe as AI-generated almost-pornography. Both had thousands of what looked like genuinely real interactions per post, mostly from developing country users.

I'm loathe to defend Facebook but most people's experience is not yours. The algorithm pushes content you're most likely to engage with, in your case it has nothing to go on so probably pushes whatever causes the most reaction in general.

Just trying to imagine any other business run this way. Imagine asking a doctor for a recommendation and they give you heroin since everyone seems to really dig it.

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#252

Organizations love to run controlled opposition. Just came out that the Southern poverty law center has been funding the KKK of all things. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdal/pr/federal-grand-jury-char...

A sucker is born every minute, and the Trump admin will make sure to con them all.

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can only speak for myself, but punitive damages of 1-2 million per complainant (22 I think) seems entirely reasonable and in line with previous rulings? But let me also flip the on it's head, if 1.4 billion dollars is an appropriate punishment to you then is there any amount of money that would be too much?

I don't think your values are sufficient deterrent for the kind of behavior Alex Jones and InfoWars exhibited and substantially profited from. They made more than the 22-44 million you're suggesting. They would still have profited from their actions. I think it needs to be large enough to be a real deterrent. So it needs to be large enough that there is a real risk of turning substantial profit into substantial loss.…

The way you leave a company penniless is to fine them and everyone else involved for ‘more money than there is in the world’?

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So that kinda sums it up then, people who disagree with you (including me) think that the punitive damages should be rooted in punishing Alex Jones et al, not in destroying him forever.

The punishment was made to be a deterrent for all who might consider doing the same as Alex Jones. You have made a straw man about destroying him forever.

Notably, what he did probably does deserve him being destroyed forever.

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was an impressively stupid and/or lazy fuck up, to a point where I think Jones could have a lawsuit against his attorneys there. IANAL but it does seems like "sending an entire copy of your clients phone and making no effort to redact it" could be a thing that, you know, is bad counsel.

No, the lawyers can argue about the scope of what they show the jury during trial. There are plenty of rules against biasing or inflaming the jury with unrelated material.

Yes but they didn’t show anything irrelevant in the trial. It was idiotic to send a dump of the entire phone.

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#257

For anyone curious about the events that led to this decision, I made a timeline that shows how it happened: https://alexjoneslies.com/

the AI-generated imagery is a non-starter for me

That AI-generated imagery isn't bringing any less value to the conversation than comments like these where something is rejected for having a whiff of AI. Employing a graphic designer to create different decorative images is outside the scope/resources of that personal project if I had to guess.

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn't because there's no government prosecution.

How is a ruling in a civil court not a form of government prosecution? It would be more correct to say that your first amendment rights stop at defaming others.

IANAL but I think of a civil suit as a substitute for the injured party extracting justice by less civilized methods. If you wreck my fence, I can come wreck your fence in retaliation. Or I can sue you. The government is only providing the venue for resolving the dispute.

Now in reality there are political and other influences on court behavior. But the government is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant.

Re: The Onion to Take over InfoWars

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens if you don't pay your civil liabilities? Civil vs criminal is a silly distinction when it comes to discussing right suppression. Jail time is not the only way to suppress a right.

You go to jail for failure to abide by a court order. Which is still distinct from going to jail for your speech. Alex Jones can continue to say whatever he wants, from a criminal perspective. He may be somewhat more aware of the potential costs of being a professional liar now, which might cause him to make different decisions as he analyzes the cost/benefit ratio for something he wants to say. The government won't…

> The government won't stop him from saying whatever he chooses to say. The government might enforce costs, should he be sued for what he says and is found liable.

This is just a shell game of limiting speech.

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