Yes, We Should Ban Alex Jones
Elon is reinstating some conservative accounts. Maybe Trump is next? Ann Coulter tells us whom she’d like to see back on Twitter.
Why are conservatives like this? Why defend Alex Jones of all people? Ann's not even making a "free-speech absolutist" argument (which would be defensible); or at least she's not speaking up for the reinstatement of David Duke or—even edgier!—ISIS. No, there's something precious to her about Alex Jones. There’s something about him worth the special pleading.
The answer to this question is that conservatives see themselves in Alex Jones. He's both an "innocent," idealized image of the American Right and a representation of their Id brain and inner rage.
What do I mean by "innocent"? One excuse constantly made for Jones is that he's just too enthusiastic, scatter-brained, and emotional to, you know, get his facts straight. He should be forgiven for his honest mistake of polluting the public square. He knows not what he does!
Jones is the conservative Id brain in that he gives voice to their stupid indignation. “The liberals,” conservatives believe “are demon-possessed and out to get you.” Conservatives are endlessly fighting rear-guard actions against the liberals’ advance, with the fury of a fat middle-age man who's ripped his shirt off. Every election is a way of loudly screaming “NO!” at the world, every liberal novelty—abortion, Covid masks, drag queens—a new threat to all that is good and holy. There is simply no time for a vision of the world or positive message. Conservatives are constantly overwhelmed by this emergency. For this, and other reasons, the idea of a conservative intellectual is an oxymoron.
Conservatives don't care that Alex Jones is obviously wrong in most everything he says. "He's got it right!” they think, because he's innocent and enraged—and pointing in their direction. Jones acts as the the GOP's berserker or storm trooper; he’s the guy you send in first—and the one who ends up getting killed. Yes, he might think that the liberals are really an aristocratic cult of vampires and pedophiles (if not outright lizards), but he’s firing at the right target. Jones is what most every conservative would be if they had his energy and total disregard for respectability.
The reality is that Alex Jones should be banned from every platform because he's not so innocent after all. Jones doesn't just pollute the discourse on accident but encourages mass derangement so that he can sell the “initiated” bogus weight loss remedies and dick pills. Whether he’s truly cynical in his grift is immaterial. (For what it’s worth, I think he’s not.) The greatest conman, after all, believes his own con. No platform or company owes Alex Jones anything, not to mention the opportunity to defile public discourse.
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Dear Ann, 2016 called - it wants its meaningless conservative talking points back.