Now hear me out.....
In the late 90's, I believe that the FBI contacted Alex Jones after the Oklahoma City Bombing. He was afraid the feds were there to shut him down, the FBI said the exact opposite. 'We don't want to temper your speech at all. In fact, we want you to say whatever you want.'
I speculate that Jones thought for a moment and blurted out 'what's the catch?'
The catch was, Jones could say what he wanted, but the FBI was going to ask for access to all data that was entailed in the Alex Jones Brand, from who was buying his supplements at his "other business" to any listener or subscriber information. Instead of using valuable FBI resources to track right wing extremists, Jones would simply allow the FBI to monitor the followers of InfoWars. In return for speech freedom, Jones wouldn't disclose their little arrangement.
Well, at least until Sandy Hook. Alex Jones' take on Sandy Hook was so morally reprehensible, the government finally had to step away from protecting Jones.
Think of right wing extremists as tiny little metal shards and Alex Jones as a giant magnet.
You ever notice that most of the right wing bombers DON'T cite Alex Jones? It's usually the off-the-radar guys making homemade devices that slip between the cracks. Because on the radar guys get intercepted early in the process. Selling out your own subscribers makes sense if you put it into a business perspective. If you look at Jones' business model, there's no way he should be worth $250 million dollars. His revenue streams were from the murky and shadowy edges of society.
The government used Alex Jones to keep extremists on the radar, Alex Jones used the government to get rich. Alex Jones couldn't exist in any other country except America, but at what price? What other government in the world allows someone to knowingly spread false information about their government? For a quarter century? Your argument is the 1st Amendment protected Jones. Uh, no. If you look closely, the U.S. Government has often bullied other more principled outlets, like Reason Magazine, into sharing their user information.
Rush Limbaugh, when he passed away, was worth around half a billion dollars. Love him or hate him, he didn't hawk products as brazenly as Jones. Rush sold Conservatism and saved AM radio. There was a clear paper trail from multi-national media corporations detailing how Limbaugh was paid. How did Jones exist on the fringes so long while shoveling in piles of money? The FBI allowed him to exist on the fringes.
The real problem in America is that Alex Jones connected with the average, to below average, young male. 50 years ago, that demographic had good paying American jobs at Chevy, Ford, or the steel mill, they didn't buy into wild conspiracy theories, they loved their government. Those jobs kept men and their families happy, now those jobs don't exist. There's still good paying jobs for smart young males, but for the most part, the good paying jobs have evaporated for the average or the under educated.
Alex Jones has tapped into that angry demographic. "Hey young male, you, you're awesome! You know who's screwing you and keeping you down? The evil government."
The evil government, though, actually pays pretty good. Those jobs, for the most part, are out of reach for the average citizen. (Except for the post office.) There is also an undercurrent in America that good jobs are becoming more scarce, therefore people are willing to put up with more crap at work in order to keep that good, sought-after, high paying job. That creates two layers of anger.
Beacon of Speech is LOATHE to believe most conspiracies because conspiracies are, in reality, often nothing more than plain laziness mixed with indifference infused with an overactive imagination. But the Alex Jones Conspiracy Theory answers internal government motivation, a motivation that Jones' own lawyers partially, (and accidentally,) revealed to the public earlier in the week.
Coincidentally this week, the FBI raided the Florida home of former President Donald Trump. Your question should be: Why did the FBI allow Jones to scathingly rebuke the government for a quarter century, especially when they knew many of his claims were lies? If the FBI can raid the home of a former President, in theory, no one in this country is above the law. At least under certain political environments.
What else made me decipher the Alex Jones Conspiracy?
It was all unlocked by a Rick and Morty Episode.
Russian Bots spread conspiracies FOR their government. The latest propaganda entails the theory that Poland was getting ready to invade and annex Western Ukraine. Putin saved Ukraine?
I don't think so.
Outlets inside Russia that spread conspiracies AGAINST the government of Russia? Those don't exist anymore.
Editor's Note:
We can't leave this story without addressing Joe Biden.
CBS News: Biden Didn't Know About FBI Search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago Ahead of Time, White House Claims. That is very problematic. How so, you ask?
Biden either knew about the FBI raid and he is lying. Or...
Biden really didn't know about the FBI raid and the United States is run by a shadow government. Or....
Biden knew about the raid, but has a type of dementia that doesn't allow his synapses to recall the FBI telling him about the raid.
You see the issue now?