How right-wing commentators like Alex Jones ride mainstream media outlets to fame & fortune

[Nevilledog]

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I was on mushrooms the first time I heard Alex Jones’s voice.

It was the Summer of 2005, and I was living in a house with some friends in Decatur, Ill. Sprawled out on a couch in my living room and worried about the possibility of a bad trip, I stared intently at the TV. Richard Linklater’s 2001 film Walking Life was on.

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“That’s Alex Jones,” someone said, pointing to the screen. “He’s a talk radio guy. Smart. Funny. Not afraid to question the narrative.” Apparently, this movie was his introduction to Jones, as well, which led him to check out more of Jones’s work.

“Uh-huh,” I replied, still focusing all my energy on the screen to stay grounded. I was 19 and had never done drugs before. On screen, Jones’s character (credited as simply “Man in Car with P.A.”) sat behind the wheel of a car, ranting into a microphone. As the scene goes on Jones’s face goes from a light pink to a bright red as he rages about the “corporate slave state” and about the 21st century being “the age of humankind standing up for something pure and something right.”

“Cool. Yeah. I’ll check out more of his stuff, for sure,” I said. But the next thing I knew, we went down to the Sangamon River for a swim, where Oh, I sure hope I can keep my shit together by watching the TV turned into I sure hope I can keep my shit together despite being in the middle of a river. In short, I totally forgot my promise to “check out more of his stuff,” and didn’t think much about Jones for a few years.

*snip*