Alex Jones vs Bill Cooper
Is Alex Jones an agent provocateur?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sweGpP82S0I&feature=related
I was just reviewing an old argument between William Cooper and Alex Jones, and I thought it might be a relevant addition to today's undercurrent of revolution in the air.
During the Y2K transition, Alex Jones made some sensational broadcasts suggesting that Russia was about to attack the US with nuclear weapons. William Cooper reviewed these broadcasts, and he proposed that Alex Jones was trying to whip people into a frenzy so that they would instigate violence that the federal government could then use as an excuse to enforce martial law.
In other words, the federal government wants some people to fire the first shots in a revolution so that the federal government comes out looking like the good guys when they attack the militias. And Alex Jones is an agent provocateur that will incite that riot.
I, ajwyoming, have no special insight into who is right and who is wrong, but I thought the William Cooper perspective was interesting in light of the Obama/Joker posters and so forth.
Besides, its healthy to be skeptical about your sources of information. What do you think?
Cooper was nuts
He accused just about everyone of being an agent, whether they were in the patriot movement or UFO researcher. If you read behold a pale horse you'll notice that when he mentions any researcher he comes up with some story of them being a government agent.
If you listen to Jones' broadcast he is reading from an AP report that states the possibility of a missile being shot by Russia towards Alaska. About 15 - 20 minutes later the report had basically been retracted and Jones' reported on that.
Jones has never advocated violence and repeatedly says NOT to riot. Riots are always self defeating and AJ has pointed that out many times on his show.
nuts?
I like a good UFO story, but yeah, I'm with you on the possibility that he was part nuts. UFOs were a big part of his early activism. The possibility of nuttiness exists, may he rest in peace.
Listen to everything, read
Listen to everything, read everything, watch everything then do your own research and verify.
Inherently most people are lazy and don't verify anything for themselves.
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
-Sam Adams
“It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds”
-Sam Adams
"Nothing could better prove...
the mythical character of self consciousness than our extreme sensitiveness to alien opinions; for if a man really knew himself he would utterly despise the ignorant notions others might form on a subject in which he had such matchless opportunities for observation"
Georges Santayana
The conflict between these two men is indeed a mystery. I've listened to both sides of the controversy and am still unclear about many things. Certain aspects of both men, including the information they present, I like and certain others I do not. I think your advice "to be skeptical about your sources of information." is indeed pertinent. That's as much as I can argue; you should all despise me a little for you have your own powers of observation.
Assert Your Authority
Assert Your Authority
Except of course that Alex
Except of course that Alex tells people on a daily basis to make this a peaceful revolution and the act of putting up posters is hardly an act of violence and is in fact a very pro-liberty thing to do. Also, I wasn't paying attention to anything concerning Y2K because I was just a dumb kid finishing High School and only cared about partying, but Alex makes the claim that ABC News had broadcast that a missile was launched and he says he was just reporting on that and that he clarified that it was a hoax upon attempting to confirm it.
But it is interesting that people always play up this Cooper vs. Jones thing because both people have pretty devoted followers. I listen to Jones, and had I been awake to hear him I probably would have listened to Cooper, but I realize what apparently many do not which is that the truth is the truth and in this world with our technology at our fingertips the truth is actually pretty easy to find out. So if Jones is a provocateur, he is at least putting out a majority of truth but it becomes your job as someone who is "awake" to think for yourself and independently verify the information.
These arguments are counter-productive to the whole, and provide little grounds for rational debate just like the religious threads.
thanks, stickles
That's some good insight, and I appreciate it. I enjoy going over to Infowars for information, and sometimes, I get some guilty pleasure out of the hype...kind of like the way people enjoy seeing a horror movie?
I'm usually suspicious of anything that elicits strong emotions because I know that's the easiest way to be decieved.
It is true that Alex Jones almost always suggests a nonviolent approach to problems. Wacky, but nonviolent.
(As if nonviolence is really a good thing?)