So this little Alex Jones “greatest hits” video I’ve pasted in below — more like a greatest fits video, amirite? — got me thinking. Take a minute (and 34 seconds) to watch it and join me below.
Alex Jones: Master of self-control pic.twitter.com/Le4xL3AC1C
— VICE News (@VICENews) March 6, 2017
Jones has been doing this for years — the yelling, the threats, you name it. Hell, sometimes he literally takes his shirt off and beats his chest like a gorilla. Poke around on Youtube and you can find any number of videos documenting his regular meltdowns. Here’s one of them, in case you haven’t yet reached your Alex Jones limit for the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN4zBUJ89II
And here’s a loop of Jones yelling for ten minutes.
Thing is, though, “meltdown” isn’t really the right word for what Jones is doing here. These tantrums of his don’t seem to drive viewers away from Jones. If they did, I suspect that Jones — who’s a lot cannier than many people give him credit for — would discover his self control in a big hurry, and the “meltdowns” would cease.
No, these fits seem to be part of Jones’ appeal. Why? What’s appealing about them?
I suspect that a lot of Alex’s fans — especially the men — get a charge out of seeing a man reveling in his own toxic masculinity. Male tantrums aren’t really about men “losing control” over their emotions. Most of these men can control their emotions just fine when they have to. When men throw Alex Jones style fits in real life, it’s often a way to cow and control those around them. If a man throws a fit whenever he doesn’t get what he wants, those around him often realize that the safest course of action is to give him what he wants.
Jones has simply brought this rudimentary “toxic male” tactic to the world of politics. And a lot of men are eating it up.
No wonder he and Trump get along so swimmingly.
Does Jones remind anyone else of Annie Wilkes from Misery? With the way he switches from talking calmly and rationally into a flailing, ranting, terrifying ogre and back again in the span of a few seconds?
I’ve been working on a Thesis and I hope to eventually get into a graduate school for. I presented at a WGS conference: “Wake up, Sheeple! The Mainstreaming of Conspiracy Theories in Popular Culture and the Crisis of White Masculinity.” My work dives into men like Alex and how conspiracy ideation is another mode of escapism due to changes in society perceived as a threat. Really need to get my ass in gear though and take the stupid GRE exam.
Ugh. The last place I lived in had roommates who would set up Alex Jones to play in the room opposite mine, and then go to the other end of the apartment to listen to it in the living room. Which meant they were blasting it through the whole place. And the one time I asked them to turn it down I got a “What, don’t you like Alex Jones?”
Yeah, I noped the fuck out of that dysfunctional place within a month.
It’s amazing how watching just a few seconds sent my anxiety spiking. I’m pretty sure I have that reaction to Rush, BillO, Beck as well.
Do the people who watch feel they get permission for tapping into their own rage, or are they addicted to the adrenaline rush of fear? Or both?
Can people listen to him and others like him without having an emotional reaction?
My mom once had a coworker that gave her some Prison Planet conspiracy theory DVDs and she passed them on to me. They are hilarious. They were, at least in the early 2000’s obsessed with Arnold Schwartzenegger being part of a secret plot to give the US to Nazi control. Which is sort of ironic given that Trump is the favorite of out and proud Nazis and he openly pandered to them. Yet Jones apparently likes Trump.
The best of the DVDs was the one that used ridiculously thin “evidence” to claim that George W Bush murdered John F Kennedy by planting a Manchurian Candidate style hypnotized assassin as his co-pilot. The motive for this? Dubya had to get a high profile kill to prove his worthiness to serve the New World Order.
But yeah, his mantrums are totally artificial. He’s clearly putting on a show. He knows exactly what to say and do to rile his fans up. That’s why he went against his useful hate and fear anyone in power schtick and took Trump’s side. Because his racist and misogynistic fans like him.
@abars01
That’s an excellent comparison!
Funny how the minute he has a literal conspiracy of Russians and oligarchs that he would make bank on, he doesn’t because surprise he’s a hypocrite on top of being a bigot.
Well, at least that nice Mr. Jones apologizes for his colorful language and his screaming.
I have yet to hear President Trump apologize for his own verbal excesses.
Happily, Jones is a Trump adviser. So I’m confident that any day now, we’ll hear the president apologize for certain things he’s said. Or yelled.
Much like Chernobyl, the Alex Jones / Roger Stone / Donald Trump meltdowns are perpetual ongoing sources of toxicity, and can continue indefinitely.
Funny how he can pull that “RAAAR RAAAR RAAAR HATE VIOLENCE RAAAHR, ‘scuse me” thing over and over, and his dim sheeple never seem to catch on. You’d think they’d notice the pattern, or something.
Also, all that chest-pounding makes me want to pelt him with bananas.
“abars01” compared Alex Jones to Annie Wilkes. Heck, he or she makes a good point. Both are vicious sociopaths.
Alex Jones is a cancer on humanity, and I hope that screeching scumbag con-artist has a massive heart attack right in the middle of his stupid show.
He spits on the graves of people who were murdered in the 9/11 attacks, the Boston Bombing, and the Sandy Hook massacre. Not that he gives a damn about the wounded & the survivors, either.
May he rot in Hell.
@Monster Teeth
So much to dig into, but I’ll suffice with: Comments policy. Thanks!
Wow. I listened for all of maybe two minutes and I wanted to smack him and send him to his room without desert!
I cannot BEGIN to express how very tired I am of toxic, screaming man-babies.
Off topic for a moment – David, are you well now? I think I have had a version of the same creeping crud that so many have had over the past month. Anyway, it is good to see you writing again.
Alex doesn’t give me anxiety like some people but there’s something very off putting about his tantrums. All the worse for them being deliberate because then it means that he actually thinks reaching into his diaper and throwing shit like this will somehow benefit him.
Hello.
Hmm, can not access to the video from work. Is this something like a Two Minutes Hate stuff ?
Have a nice day.
OT — but it sums up Trump’s vacation hypocrisy beautifully.
Plus quantification is involved, so presumably MRAs can understand it.
@occasional reader
Alex Jones gets red in the face and yells a lot. Then he says, “Oh, I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen.”
I envision his audience as 14-year-old boys who think that a grown man screaming (a grown man who is not their dad or their teacher) is the funniest thing ever.
Dan Kasteray:
This shit has made him rich, and led to him having the ear of the president. So, ridiculous and hateful though he is, he knows what he’s doing.
> Kat
Well, the problem is if the youngs see him as a role model or a figure of authority. Hope they will not mirror him too much.
OT : (part of the article is in english)
In the Fashion(? Trend ?) world, someone called James Scully discloses names of some abusers and companies which are treating badly the models, raising both angry grunty denials and thankfull answers (i let you guess which parts are whose). It is not bad in the sense that a shoot in the anthill may help the models in the future, but it is a bit sad that it has to take so long for the shoot to come.
I think there is still a lot to say about fashion world, but maybe it is a bit positive ?
@Jessy:
I would love to read that thesis, or indeed any papers you’ve written towards it. It sounds fascinating.
I’ll just leave this here. 😛
I’m still going with my theory that Alex Jones is just an elaborate piece of performance art by Bill Hicks.
He’s sure looking porcine these days. In the face, I mean.
All the screaming he does, plus more than 10 years of a 3 hour (I think) program, has taken its toll on his voice. I remember hearing a woman call in, complaining about his voice. She said she liked his show, mind you, she just found his voice grating. He responded by imitating various foreign accents, and asking if she would prefer he sounded like that. It seemed kind of rude, since all she was doing was, asking him to take care of his voice.
There’s one clip on YouTube where he’s in badly-applied clown makeup. Why, I’m not sure. Then again, it IS appropriate.
OT: House Republicans unveil bill to repeal Obamacare
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/obamacare-repeal-bill-republicans-1.4012588
Did anyone else play all three videos at once? Delicieux!
Also added in @gijoel’s lovely link.