Alex Jones as Controlled Opposition

• 42:42Tim appeared on Alex Jones's show once, and Jones claimed he hadn't read his book but knew about it anyway.
• 42:57There are two Alex Joneses: one is a New York Times writer who appears on the media criticism show On the Media.
• 43:23Tim attended a Martha's Vineyard dinner party where the New York Times Alex Jones made fun of the conspiracy theorist version to the assembled wealthy guests, none of whom had heard of him.
• 44:01Alex Jones is an opportunist who plays on people's fears and sells emergency products through ads on his show that normal people would never actually use.
• 44:38Jones serves a perfect purpose for the system by discrediting legitimate voices on real issues, making anyone raising similar concerns seem like they're in his camp.
• 44:52This tactic of using a discrediting figure is called disinformation and is standard practice in both intelligence work and corporate damage control.
• 45:13Louis C.K. confessed to everything rather than denying and going to therapy like other scandalized figures, which was itself a calculated strategy.
• 45:41People are trapped in a goldfish bowl of distraction, spending time on things that don't matter instead of understanding systemic problems.
• 46:09Sports outcomes and individual celebrity scandals don't directly affect most people's lives, even when they're genuinely important issues.
• 46:55When a couple of powerful men are thrown overboard for abuse, it obscures the larger systemic problem of abuse and media complicity.

Alex JonesKevin SpaceyLouis C.K.Martha's VineyardNew York TimesOn the MediaGeorge W. Bush