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Comment by unknownaccount | Hacker News Reader

This is what the erosion of personal responsibility and accountability looks like. Alex Jones isnt responsible if stupid impressionable people watch his show and do stupid things. That is absurd and absolutely chilling in regards to free speech. Perhaps it even sets a new precedent that everyone who posts a comment/video/podcast online is now responsible for any illegal actions that any of their viewer commit.

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Free speech isn’t simply the ability to say anything at anytime.

If you lie under oath don’t expect a free speech argument to work. Similarly if you personally spread damaging lies, free speech doesn’t help etc etc.

Free speech is most protected when when you take a political or religious stance, but the boundaries shrink dramatically when you talk about someone specific especially if they are simply a member of the general public.

I think the closing remark at the last trial was: “Speech is free, but you have to pay for the lies Mr Jones”

You can see that this isn’t the case with a trivial example, like if your significant other or a family member was killed and I or someone else riled you up and enabled you and lied to you and convinced you to go kill someone else who didn’t kill your family member not only would I be held legally/criminally accountable but we intuitively understand this as morally wrong as a society.

No free speech is harmed here and the First Amendment protects you from the government silencing your speech.

"Alex Jones isnt responsible if stupid impressionable people watch his show and do stupid things. "

He absolutely is.

"This is what the erosion of personal responsibility and accountability looks like. "

Quite the opposite, Jones is being being made accountable for the harm he caused the parents of the Sandy Hook victims.

These are the legal hot takes of our times; on HN no less.

There aren't laws against defamation and libel because it's super meany. It's because the damages people sustain from having lies spread around town about them.

Oh here we go… rolls eyes

This is not “chilling to free speech”.

Spewing hatred and demonstrably false utter bullshit and stirring up people knowingly is what he has and continues to do. Just like any number of other sociopathic fuckwits out there and through the ages.

“Personal responsibility and accountability “ is exacty what he’s being held accountable for because /his/ actions, /his/ drivel, /his/ psychotic vitriol was /knowingly/, /willingly/, and /joyfully/ used to cause these problems.

Your logic would dictate that no one is ever at fault for causing anything. It’s the dipshits who are dumb enough to go with them who are at fault.

I mean, step back and listen to yourself for a moment.

Unless you are too far gone you MIGHT recognize the absurdity of your views.

I am so fucking tired of human trash like him, Glenn Beck, Joe Rogan, Trump, insert hundreds of other pieces of shit getting to do literally whatever they want because “personal accountability” dictates that what they said was just words and free speech and they aren’t at fault.

Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break.

Alex Jones wasnt the mastermind who created this conspiracy theory. The crisis actors conspiracy theory was already popular on the internet a couple days after the incident, months to years before Alex Jones covered it. There were numerous people speculating at the time about some strange discrepencies in the official narrative and footage which was able to convince some otherwise very reasonable people that there was a possibility that it was a hoax. So no, it cant be said for certain that he knew it was false. And no, he cant be blamed for covering a popular conspiracy theory on his show when its well known that he performs a conspiracy theory talkshow. I dont understand why this whole conspiracy which already existed is being attributed to Alex Jones. Perhaps just because he has a popular show? This is a clear case of punishing a citizen for having the wrong opinion.

Five minutes of research shows that this isn't true and that he knew.

I'm not sure anyone is seriously attributing the conspiracy theory to him, they are attributing to him that he spread it, publicly attacking the families while making money doing so.

I'm pretty sure it's a clear case of punishing a citizen for building a hundred million dollar supplement business on false allegations about the parents of dead children that were made so repeatedly they had to go into hiding, and then boycotting the resulting defamation trial. But tomato, tomahto.

"Alex Jones wasnt the mastermind who created this conspiracy theory."

But he constantly repeated it using his very loud platform in an effort to make money.

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