How Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories won over my mother
Although the conspiracy theorist has been publicly debunked, we can’t forget the outsize place he continues to hold in the lives of millions.
Per his defense, when conspiracy theorist Alex Jones called the Sandy Hook parents crisis actors, “he was looking at the world through dirty glasses.” Maybe so. But he has built a career selling “dirty glasses” to people like my mother, a self-described “truther” who spread misinformation before and after the Sandy Hook shooting.
After a deployment in Desert Storm and through 30 years of odd jobs — including working a cash register and driving a paper route — my mother has found purpose and intellectual stimulation through her fervent following of Jones. Even as he backpedaled on the witness stand during his defamation trial in Texas and a jury ordered him to pay $50 million to the parents of a Sandy Hook victim for the lies he spread about the massacre, even as Jones faces another defamation case in Connecticut, she calls for a Nuremberg 2.0 to try the forces behind Covid-19 vaccines, which Jones’ site claims are a weapon of genocide.
In my earliest memory of her, we sat together on a cheap Berber carpet at her house in Austin, Texas, watching Jones broadcast on public access TV.
In this respect, my mother isn’t unique: Millions of Americans continue to spread Jones’ misinformation even as he is publicly debunked. While it’s tempting to celebrate Jones’ being held accountable, we can’t forget the outsize place he continues to hold in the lives of millions like my mother.
In my earliest memory of her, we sat together on a cheap Berber carpet at her house in Austin, Texas, watching Jones broadcast on public access TV. The custody agreement she signed with my dad mandated I visit her for three weeks during the summer of 1995. I’d just finished kindergarten.
Rating: 5