It’s funny how hard they went on Alex Jones as that can pretty much summarize to us all whether they were afraid of his rhetoric or not.
They were very afraid.
They were very afraid.
Not to mention that a lot of very true shit going on is indeed conspiracies -- it just doesn't involve aliens and illuminati, but established powers (e.g. the white establishment having FBI follow and discredit MLK and other civil rights activists), state agencies, rich private interests buying politicians and forming cartels, powerful elites pushing their agendas, big industries promoting their crap (e.g. big food and big tobacco buying their own "scientific research" and then promoting it in through the magazines they advertise in) and so on...
Well that is simply not true.
For example, the Sandy Hook harassment brigade caused real harm, eg: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-crime-sandyhook-i...
I'd say the problem lies more with people that find it acceptable to harass others, whether their actions are based on a true story or a hoax.
I agree there are many other things which are also harmful.
Someone wanting to harass someone else can do it over a true story (person X did X) just as well as over a conspiracy story (aliens made person Y did Z).
The fault lies with the harasser (who is acting badly) not with the reason why they harass.
Or maybe you think that if a story is true then it's OK to harass people over it?
I think we agree that isn’t true.
Both the harasser and the person encouraging it can be at fault.
You can throw in all the strawmen you like.
Trolling has been a problem for internet platforms since the Usenet days. The solution has always ended up being banning that individual from the place they are doing the harassing.
That's just sensible community management.
No, they are not a single entity. No they aren't perfectly coordinated. No, they aren't a single group conspiring in a smokey room.
But they are a social group. They go to the same schools, live in the same ZIP codes and vacation in similar places. They marry overwhelming among themselves. There are a few thousand families in the US with that level of power. New families reach these power levels and other families fall off, it isn't a fixed thing.
But you'll know who they are because you and I aren't invited to their clubs.
They are the people who own the country. They are the people who are invited to the Bilderberg meetings. They are those who fund think tanks. They are the people whose kids are guaranteed a seat in an Ivy league school, regardless of merit. They are also VERY unlikely to face jail time when they are accused of a crime; which is rare.
This sounds unlikely, since these are the people who are least affected by people like Jones. I'd also note that many of these people are also the ones making noises about a conspiracy against conservative voices in silicon valley.
The people who banned Jones are more like people like me. People who hate the lying, disrespect and trolling he represents.