An Alternate Reality of Delusion

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In this episode Beth and Elizabeth - who is filling in for Kelly on vacation - talk about something *good* in the land of fake news.  
Wait.  What?  Yes - it's true, something good happened, a bridge was crossed... we think.  In August 2018 Apple, Facebook, Google and Spotify among others all announced that they would be removing all or most of content created by Alex Jones and his website, Infowars.
The move came as these companies declared that Jones had violated the terms of conditions by posting either hate speech, or bullying that violated the terms of conditions these private companies post.

Who is this elusive Alex Jones?  According to his Wikipedia page he started in public access TV in Austin in the 1990's.  He progressed to radio and was syndicated and has built a reputation for himself as "American's leading Conspiracy Theorist" a title given to him by The New Yorker magazine.
He has pumped his listeners full of conspiracy theories starting with the Oklahoma City Bombing, The Bilderberg Group, and of course - recent shootings such as the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  In addition, he also encourages his listeners to pump themselves full of his supplements and other items that he sells under the Infowars brand.

So is this censorship?  Not according to Jones own terms of service.  

This does seem like it's a great thing that Alex Jones and Infowars has been removed from these platforms - but there are many other fish in the sea.  Particularly on You Tube - where the "You Tube Right" has emerged as a place where the right can say what ever they want without fear of retribution of ads being pulled or FCC rules that apply to regular talk radio or TV shows.
However - You Tube has started to take action - they have demonetized certain videos on the site - although the process is arbitrary, it does seem like You Tube is taking steps to be the platform that they want to be instead of a cesspool of hate speech and bullying.    

​Beth's Jam of the week:
Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"
Hint, hint... You Tube, Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher.... 
​

​Elizabeth's Jam of the Week:
​The Elephant in the Room by Jon Ronson
​Elizabeth is pretty sure she read this because of one of Kelly's previous Jams... which is pretty cool!  
But it was such a perfect fit for this episode that she couldn't *not* recommend it.
It takes you through the real journey with the author and an idea he had for Alex Jones...
Pick it up and find out what happened!

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Sources Cited:
https://www.salon.com/2018/08/08/meet-jared-holt-the-guy-whos-getting-alex-jones-kicked-off-the-internet/
https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/08/07/censorship-platforms-delete-infowars-content-not-according-infowars/
https://www.facebook.com/Vox/videos/969159249938344/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Jones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group
https://www.infowars.com/forbidden-information-in-the-age-of-the-internet/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/alex-joness-attorneys-defamation-suit-argue-no-reasonable-person-believe-says/
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/is-alex-jones-empire-in-trouble/

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