Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

At long last, InfoWars is ours

theonion.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 341 posts

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#281

Post by djmips »

underlipton wrote: post #243
djmips wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would describe it as absurdism.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Neutral third party Gemini T. Google, what say you? Tim and Eric's Title Explained By calling the show "Awesome" and "Great" before the viewer has even seen it, Tim and Eric lean into a persona of unearned confidence. Neat. For contrast, this is what I'd call absurdism without being smug: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fs...

I can see that - kind of like Will Ferrell has reflected on playing dumb people who are extremely confident. So I feel smug does slot in there but I don't feel like it defines it.

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#282

Post by lolc »

booleandilemma wrote: post #267
kypro wrote: post #182

Please can someone correct my opinion on this because I'm sure I'm missing something. I find it crazy that in the US you can't take an opinion on something without risking being bankrupted because that thing you said is later proven untrue and that it hurt someone's feelings – feeling which in the US have a monetary value of billions apparently. I agree that the media should be evidence based and it's bad when the me…

I think with Alex Jones in particular it's that people knew he had money, and so they wanted a piece of it. If you're a nobody and you say false things no one cares really. Look at all the randos on X spouting nonsense without repercussions. It didn't help that these people in power don't like him. It's dangerous to say false things and have a lot of money. People in power will use it as an excuse to take your money…

The victims went after a slanderer who systematically profited from his lies. Don't see why we should compare him to randos on Twitter.

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#283

Post by traderj0e »

kypro wrote: post #182

Please can someone correct my opinion on this because I'm sure I'm missing something. I find it crazy that in the US you can't take an opinion on something without risking being bankrupted because that thing you said is later proven untrue and that it hurt someone's feelings – feeling which in the US have a monetary value of billions apparently. I agree that the media should be evidence based and it's bad when the me…

Depp v. Heard is another famous US libel case, but more controversial. They ruled that Heard made false claims (not just speculation) that harmed Depp's career, and she intended for it to hurt his reputation. Alex Jones met similar criteria except much worse.

True though, you could be held liable if you used what you thought was real evidence to ruin someone's reputation, only to find out that it's false. I think it's on you to be careful of that.

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#284

Post by traderj0e »

booleandilemma wrote: post #267
kypro wrote: post #182

Please can someone correct my opinion on this because I'm sure I'm missing something. I find it crazy that in the US you can't take an opinion on something without risking being bankrupted because that thing you said is later proven untrue and that it hurt someone's feelings – feeling which in the US have a monetary value of billions apparently. I agree that the media should be evidence based and it's bad when the me…

I think with Alex Jones in particular it's that people knew he had money, and so they wanted a piece of it. If you're a nobody and you say false things no one cares really. Look at all the randos on X spouting nonsense without repercussions. It didn't help that these people in power don't like him. It's dangerous to say false things and have a lot of money. People in power will use it as an excuse to take your money…

The randos on Twitter didn't cause actual harm to the people they were slandering. You can't make a case for libel against them.

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#285

Post by traderj0e »

kypro wrote: post #263
bena wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An opinion would be something like "I think it's good that those kids were shot". You could say that all day and people would not like you, but no one could do anything about it. What Alex Jones did was deny reality. He suggested that the victims did not exist. He suggested the event did not happen and the grieving parents were government-hired actors. He riled up his listeners and effectively sent them after people.…

> What Alex Jones did was deny reality. He suggested that the victims did not exist. He suggested the event did not happen and the grieving parents were government-hired actors. He riled up his listeners and effectively sent them after people. He did this in spite of knowing what he was saying on his show was not true. That was a large part of things, that Alex Jones was aware he was spreading misinformation. > Let's…

Honestly, I'm not sure about the $1B number, but it needed to at the very least be the amount he made from slandering them on InfoWars, otherwise he'd still have profited off it. That would probably bankrupt him either way.

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#286

Post by hibberl6 »

nslsm wrote: post #121
troped2 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite headlines: "Video: ‘Homophobic’ 6-Week-Old Baby Cries After Gay Dad Tells Him ‘There Is No Mama’" "UK Approves Bills To Remove Criminal Penalties For Women Who Commit Their Own Abortions" "Nigerian Photographed Killing Cat And Trying To Cook It In Front Of Children’s Playground In Italy"

I don’t see what’s so funny about them, especially the last one.

[dead]

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#287

Post by hibberl6 »

arrowsmith wrote: post #219
troped2 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favorite headlines: "Video: ‘Homophobic’ 6-Week-Old Baby Cries After Gay Dad Tells Him ‘There Is No Mama’" "UK Approves Bills To Remove Criminal Penalties For Women Who Commit Their Own Abortions" "Nigerian Photographed Killing Cat And Trying To Cook It In Front Of Children’s Playground In Italy"

I'm not sure what point you're making but there's nothing satirical about the second headline. The UK really did just legislate to decriminalise abortion up to the point of birth. I don't see how that's a laughing matter.

[flagged]

Re: At long last, InfoWars is ours

#288

Post by wlonkly »

thrance wrote: post #156
exogeny wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think there is an acceptable third option between "the globalists winning" and "it is OK for a single media outlet to wage a war on the grieving parents of the victims of a mass murder"?

My comment was just a silly joke, reusing some of Jones phrasing. I never fully grasped who "the globalists" were in his mind, and why they were seemingly behind everything he dislikes, but I always found if funny. I'm just happy he lost his platform, and I find the Onion's piece rather amusing. I thought I could add to it with this dumb joke but I forgot about the fact that Jones still has a sizeable following, and…

Typically, "globalists" from the Alex Jones crowd means "Jews".

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-ori...

Post reply on HN