Alex Jones and Sandy Hook Defamation Lawsuits | Dangers of Conspiracist Ideation — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00hello this is dr grande today's question
2. 0:02is can i analyze the controversy
3. 0:04surrounding alex jones
4. 0:06just a reminder i'm not diagnosing
5. 0:08anybody in this video only speculating
6. 0:10about what could be happening in a
7. 0:11situation like this
8. 0:12if you enjoyed this video please like it
9. 0:14subscribe to my channel and consider
10. 0:15supporting me on patreon i will put the
11. 0:18link to patreon in the description for
12. 0:20this video first i'll look at the
13. 0:21background of alex jones move to the
14. 0:24timeline of the controversies then offer
15. 0:26my analysis
16. 0:28alex jones was born in dallas texas on
17. 0:31february 11 1974 he grew up in the
18. 0:34northeast dallas suburb of rockwall
19. 0:36alex's father was a dentist and his
20. 0:38mother was a homemaker in 1991 his
21. 0:41family moved to austin texas he went to
22. 0:44high school there and graduated in 1993.
23. 0:47he attended college but circumstances
24. 0:50must have conspired against him because
25. 0:52he left without earning a degree
26. 0:55alex had a number of hobbies including
27. 0:56using marijuana and reading books
28. 0:59one book he read was written by a
29. 1:01conspiracy theorist named gary allen it
30. 1:04was titled none dare call it conspiracy
31. 1:08the book was about global bankers who
32. 1:09supposedly financed the communist
33. 1:11revolution in russia and were now
34. 1:13looking to establish a global government
35. 1:16this book greatly influenced alex jones
36. 1:19the siege in waco texas involving david
37. 1:22koresh and the branch davidians occurred
38. 1:24in april of 1993
39. 1:26just before alex graduated from high
40. 1:28school
41. 1:29this disaster reinforced alex's
42. 1:31conspiratorial beliefs
43. 1:33he believed that the federal government
44. 1:35murdered the people
45. 1:37in waco texas
46. 1:38in april of 1995 the oklahoma city
47. 1:41bombing occurred here again alex blamed
48. 1:44the federal government
49. 1:46alex jones had a number of jobs during
50. 1:47his career including hosting a public
51. 1:50access cable television show and working
52. 1:53as a radio station host
53. 1:55he was fired from a radio station in
54. 1:571999 because he just wouldn't stop
55. 1:59talking about
56. 2:01conspiracy theories
57. 2:02that same year he founded the infowars
58. 2:05website which features the alex jones
59. 2:08show
60. 2:09not surprisingly this production is
61. 2:11about conspiracy theories it was airing
62. 2:14on about a hundred different radio
63. 2:15stations by 2001.
64. 2:17after the attacks on 911 alex falsely
65. 2:20claimed that george bush and other
66. 2:22elected officials orchestrated the
67. 2:24attack
68. 2:25in response a number of radio stations
69. 2:27dropped his show despite this setback
70. 2:30alex was extremely successful by 2010
71. 2:33his show had about 2 million listeners
72. 2:35each week
73. 2:36which made him larger than rush limbaugh
74. 2:39and glenn beck combined
75. 2:41the genesis communications network
76. 2:43syndicated his show in 2020 to over 100
77. 2:47radio stations in the united states so
78. 2:49he was back to the level of distribution
79. 2:51he had experienced years earlier
80. 2:53over the years alex has promoted just
81. 2:55about every far-right conspiracy theory
82. 2:58that can be imagined including the fake
83. 3:011969 moon landing conspiracy theory the
84. 3:042020 stolen election myth
85. 3:07the new world order
86. 3:09the claim that global warming is not
87. 3:10real
88. 3:11blaming the federal government for
89. 3:13attacks like the oklahoma city bombing
90. 3:15911 the aurora colorado theater shooting
91. 3:18the boston marathon bombing and several
92. 3:21other disasters alex has falsely claimed
93. 3:24the government puts chemicals in water
94. 3:26that can make people homosexual
95. 3:28and he believes that hurricanes and
96. 3:30tornadoes have been engineered by the
97. 3:32government
98. 3:33alex jones has earned millions of
99. 3:34dollars by spreading this nonsense
100. 3:37much of the money came from selling
101. 3:39merchandise from september 2015 to the
102. 3:42end of 2018 the online store for his
103. 3:45website made
104. 3:47165 million dollars alex sold a number
105. 3:50of products that appeal to people who
106. 3:52want to stay healthy and prepare for
107. 3:54disaster like items that will supposedly
108. 3:56treat medical problems or otherwise
109. 3:59protect people from harm tests performed
110. 4:01on some of the products suggest they may
111. 4:04be dangerous and alex has made false
112. 4:06claims about the benefits of using these
113. 4:08products
114. 4:09for example in 2017 two products that he
115. 4:12sold were found to have dangerous levels
116. 4:14of lead
117. 4:15and alex was worn by the fda in april
118. 4:182020
119. 4:19after he marketed a toothpaste falsely
120. 4:22claiming that it treated covid19
121. 4:25alex jones has been sued many times due
122. 4:27to false claims that he has made
123. 4:29one particular series of lawsuits has
124. 4:32attracted quite a bit of attention
125. 4:34alex has made a number of false
126. 4:35statements over the years about the 2012
127. 4:38sandy hook elementary school shooting in
128. 4:40newtown connecticut
129. 4:42for example he claimed that the incident
130. 4:44was staged using actors in an effort to
131. 4:47create anti-gun sentiment several family
132. 4:50members of the victim sued alex in 2018
133. 4:53some of the family members said that
134. 4:54fans of alex jones have harassed them
135. 4:57over the years
136. 4:58because of the false claims
137. 5:01alex has suffered a string of defeats
138. 5:03related to these lawsuits he appeared to
139. 5:05be unwilling to meet his
140. 5:06responsibilities for discovery like he
141. 5:08didn't turn over evidence as required by
142. 5:10the court
143. 5:11he was accused of pulling money out of
144. 5:13the infowars company and moving it to
145. 5:15shell companies in order to avoid paying
146. 5:18judgments
147. 5:19on august 8 2022 a jury ordered alex
148. 5:23jones to pay 4.1 million dollars in
149. 5:25compensatory damages to the father of
150. 5:27one of the sandy hook victims the next
151. 5:30day the jury set the amount of punitive
152. 5:32damages alex would have to pay
153. 5:34at 45.2 million dollars
154. 5:37alex's company is based in texas which
155. 5:39has laws limiting punitive damages it's
156. 5:42likely that award will be reduced
157. 5:44drastically
158. 5:46alex appears to be concerned about his
159. 5:47financial losses nonetheless
160. 5:50the parent company for the infowars
161. 5:52website declared bankruptcy during the
162. 5:54trial
163. 5:55alex has made it seem like he doesn't
164. 5:56have a lot of money but a forensic
165. 5:59economist who testified at the trial
166. 6:01believed that alex and infowars combined
167. 6:04were worth 135 to 270 million dollars
168. 6:09now some people might look at this and
169. 6:10think how is it that a forensic
170. 6:12economist could not narrow this down a
171. 6:14bit more here we have a range of 135
172. 6:18million dollars
173. 6:19that doesn't seem very precise
174. 6:21i think a lot of the uncertainty is
175. 6:22because alex jones has not cooperated
176. 6:25with turning over financial records and
177. 6:27he creatively moved money around to
178. 6:29shield himself from these lawsuits
179. 6:32for example he funneled eleven thousand
180. 6:34dollars a day into shell companies after
181. 6:36the allegations of defamation came out
182. 6:39when considering alex's net worth the
183. 6:41judgment from this trial probably won't
184. 6:43make much difference to him however alex
185. 6:46is facing two more trials to determine
186. 6:48damages one in texas and one in
187. 6:51connecticut
188. 6:52there is also talk of potential perjury
189. 6:55charges
190. 6:56alex's attorney sent the plaintiff's
191. 6:58attorney
192. 6:59two years of text messages from alex's
193. 7:01phone
194. 7:02this was in error
195. 7:04according to the plaintiff's attorney
196. 7:06the existence of the messages revealed
197. 7:08that alex jones had lied under oath
198. 7:11on a side note maybe alex should have
199. 7:13selected an attorney who was just a
200. 7:15little bit more technologically savvy
201. 7:18now moving to my analysis here are my
202. 7:20thoughts on a few items that stood out
203. 7:22to me in this case item number one
204. 7:24did alex jones actually commit
205. 7:26defamation
206. 7:28some people look at lawsuits against
207. 7:30alex jones and say things like
208. 7:32he was just expressing his opinions it's
209. 7:34not defamation
210. 7:36he has the right to question the
211. 7:37official government narrative and the
212. 7:40fact that he's being sued only proves
213. 7:42that he must be right alex jones
214. 7:44certainly has the right to express his
215. 7:46opinion even if his opinions don't make
216. 7:48any sense
217. 7:49the problem is that is not what alex has
218. 7:52been doing with sandy hook for example
219. 7:54he claimed the shooting was staged
220. 7:57not as his opinion rather something he
221. 8:00was asserting as true
222. 8:02to say that sandy hook was staged is to
223. 8:04say that the parents of all the victims
224. 8:06are lying
225. 8:07and evil conspirators with the
226. 8:09government
227. 8:10that qualifies as defamation
228. 8:12in my opinion alex jones is guilty of
229. 8:16defaming the sandy hook parents item
230. 8:18number two
231. 8:20are the defamation lawsuits going to
232. 8:21prevent people from talking about
233. 8:23conspiracy theories like is it now a
234. 8:25dangerous world where every conspiracy
235. 8:28theorist will be sued for defamation
236. 8:30will this have a chilling effect on the
237. 8:33type of conspiracy theories they talk
238. 8:35about most people who promote conspiracy
239. 8:38theories will never get sued for
240. 8:39defamation for a number of reasons
241. 8:42a few examples
242. 8:43they don't have a large platform so
243. 8:45they're not doing as much damage as
244. 8:46someone like alex jones
245. 8:49they don't have enough money to make
246. 8:50them a good target for a lawsuit
247. 8:52and their claims are non-specific and
248. 8:55fanciful
249. 8:56like when people say that the 1969 moon
250. 8:59landing never happened
251. 9:00technically the astronauts who went to
252. 9:02the moon could have sued for defamation
253. 9:04but the claim that the moon landing is
254. 9:06fake is so ridiculous that no one
255. 9:08believes it
256. 9:09therefore the astronauts would have
257. 9:11trouble proving they sustained any
258. 9:13damages
259. 9:14maybe they could say that they hurt
260. 9:15themselves laughing hysterically but
261. 9:18that's about it
262. 9:19item number three
263. 9:21why does alex jones keep endorsing and
264. 9:23creating conspiracy theories to explain
265. 9:25his strange behavior alex said that he
266. 9:27has quote
267. 9:28almost like a form of psychosis unquote
268. 9:32alex's ex-wife said that he was mentally
269. 9:34ill
270. 9:35and during divorce proceedings it was
271. 9:38revealed that alex was diagnosed with
272. 9:39narcissistic personality disorder
273. 9:43in one of the early depositions related
274. 9:44to sandy hook alex's attorney said that
275. 9:47alex was simply playing a character he
276. 9:50was a performance artist
277. 9:52alex has provided conflicting reports on
278. 9:55a few occasions he said that he was just
279. 9:57giving his opinion however at other
280. 9:59times he has denied being a performance
281. 10:01artist
282. 10:02claiming that he completely believes
283. 10:04what he's saying
284. 10:06alex has admitted that sandy hook is 100
285. 10:08real after saying the opposite for many
286. 10:11years
287. 10:12it is difficult to know the truth with
288. 10:14alex jones because he lies and changes
289. 10:17his story frequently
290. 10:19alex appears to be driven to promote
291. 10:21conspiracy theories regardless of the
292. 10:23consequences everything bad that happens
293. 10:25to him is a conspiracy
294. 10:28alex even claimed that the judge in the
295. 10:29defamation case was part of a conspiracy
296. 10:31against him
297. 10:33as far as alex's personality one
298. 10:35possibility is that alex has both
299. 10:37paranoid and narcissistic traits the
300. 10:40paranoia fuels his belief in conspiracy
301. 10:42theories he interprets benign
302. 10:44information as having some type of
303. 10:46special meaning
304. 10:47like many conspiracy theorists he prides
305. 10:50himself on connecting the dots
306. 10:53the narcissism leads alex to believe
307. 10:54that he has a special purpose within the
308. 10:57framework of his paranoia he's not just
309. 10:59another paranoid person he's a
310. 11:01magnificent leader of the paranoid
311. 11:03people who will free them from these
312. 11:05evil and terrible government
313. 11:07conspirators
314. 11:09or at least sell them a bunch of
315. 11:10products that don't work and may be
316. 11:13dangerous another theory about alex's
317. 11:15personality is that he is narcissistic
318. 11:18and greedy
319. 11:19so he may just be pretending to have
320. 11:21paranoia it serves him well financially
321. 11:24alex jones is very motivated to make
322. 11:26money and he almost certainly knows that
323. 11:28the products he sells are useless
324. 11:31he understands the mindset of a
325. 11:33conspiracy theorist therefore knows how
326. 11:35to take advantage of them to make
327. 11:37millions of dollars
328. 11:39which brings me to the final item number
329. 11:41four what is the typical personality
330. 11:43profile for someone who financially
331. 11:44supports alex jones
332. 11:47like his hardcore fans
333. 11:49most of these supporters maintain
334. 11:51conspiratorial beliefs
335. 11:53a conspiracy theorist is defined as an
336. 11:55individual who makes the unnecessary
337. 11:57assumption of conspiracy
338. 11:59when other explanations are more
339. 12:01probable another definition is an
340. 12:03individual who makes an unverified and
341. 12:05relatively implausible allegation of
342. 12:07conspiracy
343. 12:09claiming that significant events are the
344. 12:10result of a secret plot carried out by
345. 12:13preternaturally sinister and powerful
346. 12:16groups
347. 12:17of people some of the people who support
348. 12:19alex jones fall into a category that's
349. 12:22more severe than regular conspiracy
350. 12:24theorists they are diehard conspiracy
351. 12:27theorists
352. 12:28here are a few characteristics of the
353. 12:29die hard believers they have what is
354. 12:32referred to as a conspiracist ideation
355. 12:35that is they have the general tendency
356. 12:37to believe in conspiracy theories they
357. 12:39often believe in many it's not like they
358. 12:42were convinced by one and they stick
359. 12:43with that they take on as many as they
360. 12:46can
361. 12:47their beliefs are often bizarre and
362. 12:48fanciful in nature for example they may
363. 12:51believe the earth is flat
364. 12:53and they believe in conspiracy theories
365. 12:54that are mutually contradictory for
366. 12:57example they might believe that evil
367. 12:59people are in control of the government
368. 13:00but at the same time alien lizard
369. 13:03humanoids are running the show or they
370. 13:05believe that government officials are
371. 13:07incompetent but at the same time they
372. 13:09have the ability to engineer hurricanes
373. 13:12and tornadoes
374. 13:13as far as the personality
375. 13:14characteristics of a conspiracy theorist
376. 13:17here's what we see in the research
377. 13:19belief in conspiracy theories is related
378. 13:21to high openness to experience
379. 13:23low agreeableness machiavellianism
380. 13:26psychopathy paranoia being receptive to
381. 13:29unusual beliefs
382. 13:31and schizotypal personality
383. 13:32characteristics like odd thinking
384. 13:35magical beliefs and belief in the
385. 13:37paranormal
386. 13:38one case study indicated that 55 percent
387. 13:40of the variance in conspiracy theory
388. 13:43beliefs
389. 13:44could be explained by just four
390. 13:45components
391. 13:47odd thinking magical beliefs
392. 13:48machiavellianism and primary psychopathy
393. 13:52so factor one psychopathy
394. 13:54notably absent from the personality
395. 13:56profile
396. 13:57is narcissism
397. 13:59perhaps this is how alex jones became a
398. 14:01leader
399. 14:02of conspiracy theorist
400. 14:04his grandiose self-image sense of
401. 14:06entitlement and lack of empathy served
402. 14:08as a magnet to people who were
403. 14:10desperately looking for someone to lead
404. 14:12the charge against reason and common
405. 14:14sense alex's stunning legal defeat will
406. 14:17only strengthen the resolve of his
407. 14:19followers
408. 14:20in their minds it proves that everyone
409. 14:21was out to get alex all along his
410. 14:24supporters are trapped in a world where
411. 14:26all information inexorably reinforces
412. 14:29their nonsensical beliefs they are
413. 14:31trapped in an illogical prison
414. 14:34and what's worse alex jones is their
415. 14:37proverbial cellmate
416. 14:38those are my thoughts on the controversy
417. 14:40surrounding alex jones please put any
418. 14:42opinions and thoughts in the comment
419. 14:44section they always generate an
420. 14:46interesting dialogue as always i hope
421. 14:48you found my analysis of this topic to
422. 14:50be as intriguing as alien lizard
423. 14:52humanoids who infiltrated hollywood and
424. 14:55are trying to destroy the world with bad
425. 14:56acting thanks for watching