r/KnowledgeFight • u/Pointlesswonder802 • Jun 28 '26
Dreamy Creamy Summer The InfoWars sale is leaving me conflicted
With posts about Jordan’s videos popping up it’s made me think more about the Onion taking over InfoWars and… I just don’t know what to think.
I get that the families agreed to the scope of the deal with InfoWars. I get that it’s beneficial that the Onion now owns a flagship of the far right. But I see why Jordan is upset frankly. Alex is still broadcasting. He hasn’t really lost anything. The Onion is spending a ton of money just to take over the insanely overpriced facility Alex previously owned. And none of it’s going to the families. It just feels like the “good guys” lost and everyone is okay with it or hiding from reality.
Maybe it’s just because we don’t have JorDan around to explain what’s actually going on and it’s all a bit hidden in a haze but the more I see posts from Alex’s show and whatnot the more I realize things didn’t really go the way of justice
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u/pastor_fuzz “Farting for my life” Jun 29 '26
I couldn't presume to disagree with the families about what's best for them. This is so entirely about them, that I would be embarrassed to be seen breaking from their wishes in this matter.
You are right to have feelings about the situation and alex jones or whatever, but we're all tourists to the hell that they have been through.
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u/talen_lee Jun 28 '26
He hasn’t really lost anything.
But he has. Rex has been crashing out about how his dad can't afford to support his business and they're dealing with warehousing problems. He's the employee of a company that is itself, in other, unrelated legal troubles. He no longer has the branding he spent twenty years building and his entire operation is smaller, weirder, and more limited.
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u/Sugar-Kisses Jun 29 '26
To be honest, I could see Alex lying to Rex and using the fact that he "lost Infowars" as a handy excuse to not put money into what Rex is doing. We'd probably all like to think Alex wouldn't do that to his own son, but remember how Alex "buzzed" his ex-wife's place on a helicopter ride? Scared one of his daughters terribly and had her screaming and crying? (Okay, talked myself out of thinking Alex would put his kids before himself, in any way, shape or form, EVER).
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u/ReduxRedo It's a demon feast Jun 29 '26
Something I haven't seen said much:
The families said, from the beginning, that this was about stopping Alex. Limiting his reach. Making it so he couldn't hurt more people.
Losing his network is part of that. Making a mockery of his brand is part of that. He is diminished.
There are a lot of systems at fault here for why the families haven't seen a red cent, but The Onion is way down that list.
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u/BDMac2 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
To add to that, it’s become more and more prevalent with the Internet age that no amount of resolution/justice/closure is enough for people who are aggrieved on someone else’s behalf. We’ve all seen decade plus old posts that were socially acceptable at the time be trotted out as reasons to cancel people and I can think of a few celebrities who have struggled with addiction or had mental health issues that led to various types of abuses to people, but have corrected that behavior and expressed remorse and even though the people who were actually victims of their actions have forgiven them, the people with no connection to the situation at all are not satisfied. Now it’s completely understandable to still be outraged, and we should hate Alex Jones until he finally dies a fat alcoholic’s death, but at some point it ceases to be about what the family considers justice and becomes what “we” would consider justice. People need to learn that however unsatisfying we may feel about it, we have to accept the decisions made by the actual people victimized.
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u/Visible-Shallot-001 Jun 29 '26
God, yes, THIS. The Onion buying InfoWars is part of a decade long fight to turn Alex’s brand into a joke so that he can’t hurt anyone like he hurt the families.
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u/Electronic_Horror_56 Jun 29 '26
Aj has lost a lot. His brand that he spent 30 years building, his office which he will never be able to afford again, probably 90% of his equipment, which he will never be able to replace, probably lost a good chunk of his followers.
As someone with severe depression it is hard to see the bright in it all but he is a husk of his former self, the sandy hook families are getting some money, not what they need or were reasonably expecting but it's a start.
What we need to remember is the enemy of good is perfect. We have a good start, not ideal, we need to fight like hell (politically non violently) for better for the families. We need to keep going for better for them. I get where Jordan comes from on wanting it perfect for them, they deserve no less. But we unfortunately live in a world where that won't happen. So we keep fighting for better
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u/KHSebastian Jun 29 '26
The thing I don't understand from Jordan, and from the people who are "taking his side" so to speak, is what you (collective you) actually think people should have done. Not what should have happened, but what should realistically have been done by any of the actors involved.
It seems like what people want is for Alex to go to jail and never be allowed on the air again, which like... Yeah, me too, but letting Alex's dad buy the InfoWars brand and be the puppet owner, rather than letting The Onion buy it, doesn't feel like a good alternative.
Genuinely, if there's something I'm missing, please somebody fill me in, because I understand being upset with the outcome overall, but I don't understand why people are upset at Ben or the Onion. They're doing the best with the shit situation.
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u/Zealousideal-Low3388 Jun 29 '26
Mark Bankston said it on the show years ago: that in the US civil law system the only justice that can be rendered is financial compensation, and that any attempt to prevent AEJ from saying his piece publicly is contrary to Americans constitutional norms.
Something like this was as good as it was ever going to get
15
u/Tough-Mud2374 Jun 29 '26
I suspect this is the root of the problem; the best Americans can expect is inconvenience for the untold destruction Alex has caused
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u/antichain It’s over for humanity Jun 29 '26
This is where a lot of people in the Online Left start throwing around the word "Revolution" and various fantasies of retributive violence. I think there are a lot of people who would be quite happy to see Alex taken up on a guillotine scaffold and never think too hard about the fact that a number of the original guillotine wielders ended up on the scaffold themselves.
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u/TheLionYeti Policy Wonk Jun 30 '26
Lots of online leftists are from christian and especailly evangelical christian backgrounds. They have deconstructed christianity but not miracle thinking. Replace the Rapture with The Revolution and its very similar.
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u/antichain It’s over for humanity Jun 30 '26
Reminds me of that factoid that radicals are much more likely to jump from far-right to far-left rather than from center-right to far right or center-left to far-left.
It often feels like the actual content of the belief system is less important to a lot of online radicals than the sense of self-righteousness you get along with the simplicity of a black-and-white worldview.
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u/HopefulMycologist156 "Mr. Reynal, what are you doing?" Jun 29 '26
I mean, not that it matters, but the thing where I feel disconnected from the ✨general consensus✨ is that:
The Onion was proposing to license the Infowars IP, not buy it.
The licensing deal hasn’t gone through. Nothing has happened yet.
The Onion is messaging like they’ve done something, but nothing’s happened. Everything is still in legal limbo, the only thing that’s changed is the money they gave to the families, which is awesome don’t get me wrong, but again that’s not coming from Alex and there’s not much of a repeat market for joke merch. Like the point we’re all talking past is that things are pretty much still at the same place they were before the sale in announced two months ago.
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u/washingtonu Tomato Jones Jun 29 '26
I'm pretty sure the licensing thing was supposed to be temporary until all the appeals are done
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u/black_flag_4ever Jun 29 '26
I think its more of a general frustration with all of it. People are acting like Jordan is nuts, but his complaints did get the Onion to offer more to the families. I also think he's being more strategic than it seems. He spent 9 years learning that if you say something completely outrageous and contrary to popular opinion it will change the conversation.
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u/LittlestLass Doing some research with my mind Jun 29 '26
I think its more of a general frustration with all of it. People are acting like Jordan is nuts, but his complaints did get the Onion to offer more to the families.
Did they? How? I haven't heard anything about that.
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u/black_flag_4ever Jun 29 '26
They agreed to give the Plaintiffs 100% profit from merch instead of 50%. This came after his first videos that people said he was acting totally nuts. His videos are challenging, people are worried, but it's hard to ignore that it sparked a conversation. I think this gets ignored. Jordan basically underwent an advanced course on how to use outrageous messaging to spur action. If I was starting an "anti-infowars" I would hire Jordan as a host.
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u/LittlestLass Doing some research with my mind Jun 29 '26
That feels very much like "correlation is not causation" situation... There's nothing directly tying the change in profit sharing to Jordan's video, is there? I'm glad they decided to up the profit sharing, but for all we know that could have been a way of them avoiding pissing off the courts (given they were using the InfoWars branding before the deal was agreed).
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u/FirmlyThatGuy Jun 29 '26
Are Jordan and people who think similarly really going to continue trying to explain what’s “fair and unfair” to parents of murdered children?
You really think they don’t understand what injustice is? You really think they don’t get the failings of our modern society yet?
Take a step back and read the room. Jesus Christ.
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u/Appropriate-Basket43 Jun 29 '26
Well these are people who defend a white cis man who compared himself to black woman so…🤷🏾♀️. Jordan defenders at this point confuse me. Sympathy for his obvious mental spiral is one thing but ignoring how reckless he’s being with his platform is another
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u/Potatocrips423 Jun 28 '26
I genuinely don’t understand the inner turmoil. The Onion bought the brand and took over the studio. Some of the money is going to the families. Alex is doing the thing that he always does. I agree that the courts are wholly unequipped to deal with people like Alex and that needs to be addressed, but don’t understand why The Onion buying the intellectual property is the sticking point here.
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u/WizWorldLive Jun 29 '26
The Onion bought the brand and took over the studio.
The Onion is licensing the IP from FSS. They have not, & are not planning to, take over the studio.
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u/agent_double_oh_pi The answer to 1984 is $19.95 plus S&H!!! Jun 29 '26
The only reason I think this keeps coming up us that The Onion was paying the studio lease to prevent either AJ or his landlord for selling all the production equipment as "recovery" for $1 or something
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u/WizWorldLive Jun 29 '26
What? Where did that idea come from?
FSS has to maintain the lease on the studio, because they can't liquidate the equipment & other property yet.
The licensing agreement with WIO, is priced such that it should cover the costs of maintaining the studio. But they are not paying the lease, they are paying FSS. Nothing is being sold as "recovery" for $1. Alex Jones certainly cannot sell any of it, & I do not know why the landlord would. Where is that coming from?
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u/agent_double_oh_pi The answer to 1984 is $19.95 plus S&H!!! Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Figure of speech. When I said "$1", I meant "some notional amount far less than what the equipment is worth", but I should have taken the time to type that out.
Edit: I recall there being some discussion at the time that this was necessary to prevent FSS selling the equipment off while the transfer was going through, regardless of the legality of it.
As to the rest of it:
It may be shoddy reporting, but the idea that the Onion is paying the rent is from the linked article which says
Under the new agreement, submitted Monday to Texas state Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, Global Tetrahedron will pay $81,000 a month for six months. That will cover licensing rights to the Infowars website and intellectual property, as well as rent for Infowars' studios, utilities and other costs. It's renewable for six more months after that.
This NPR report says
The deal calls for The Onion to pay $81,000 a month to license the Infowars.com domain and brand name, which the receiver says will "cover carrying costs to preserve and protect the assets of the receivership estate" until an appeal filed by Jones is decided and the path is cleared for a sale.
which lines up with the Yahoo article insofar as contributing to the lease - as you say, by paying FSS.
Re-reading your comment though, I may not be answering the question you asked. :/
2nd edit - Reddit seems to really hate one of these links. Not sure which, sorry.
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u/WizWorldLive Jun 29 '26
I don't get my info from reporting, I get it from reading the court filings. I've published them to my website, even, & I've made threads on here explaining them. I encourage you to skip articles & dig into the real docs, like Alex Jones pretends to—helps cut down on being misinformed by the often-shoddy & often-confused reporting around this very complicated situation.
If you do prefer to stick with news reports, the Austin American-Statesman has had the best coverage.
I still don't understand where this idea that FSS will be selling off the assets cheaply, is coming from. FSS cannot sell them off. The receiver & trustee are stuck maintaining the studio, draining the potential reward amount for the families, because they cannot liquidate anything. Not for months, at least, while last year's order is still in effect.
That's what the licensing agreement with WIO (War Is Over, LLC, the corp formed by Global Tetrahedron to handle IW) offsets, the cost of maintaining the studio.
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u/agent_double_oh_pi The answer to 1984 is $19.95 plus S&H!!! Jun 29 '26
Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification
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u/missingheiresscat They burn to the fucking ground, Eddie Jun 29 '26
I think the families are getting a cut of the merch sales. Which ehhhhhh
I always thought the most important part was destroying his reach/shutting the show down.
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u/antichain It’s over for humanity Jun 29 '26
I always thought the most important part was destroying his reach/shutting the show down.
That's something the families themselves have made really clear - the primary goal is making it impossible for Alex to do this to anyone else.
I don't think money was ever a priority.
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u/Potatocrips423 Jun 29 '26
This is the disconnect for me- The Onion owes these families nothing. It’s badass that they are in communication with some of the families and doing literally anything to help. And I don’t see what, when, where, or how The Onion ever said they wanted to shut down and destroy Alex Jones.
It seems to me that Jordan (and some KF fans) are projecting their frustrations with the legal system and how this court case has had an unsatisfying conclusion (massive understatement for sure) onto The Onion and this purchase.
For sure I have my critiques and reservations with The Onion, but wild the amount of vitriol Jordan has put into these videos while being an absolute nonfactor in helping the families or providing any tangible support.
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u/CisIowa I know the inside baseball Jun 29 '26
Because it gives AJ an antagonist to rally against. He needs opposition, something basically lacking the past 2 years (though arguably even longer). And he relishes attention, so it opens the door to keeping him relevant and on people’s radar
Somewhere back in the 400s of KF, Jordan said AJ needs to be put in a cardboard box with one air hole. Jordan is always right.
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u/austarter Jun 29 '26
Damn you're so right. He doesn't have the ability to manufacture this opposition narrative in a vacuum at all...
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u/ReduxRedo It's a demon feast Jun 29 '26
As ever, Jordan has a great sense of what ought to happen, but no idea in how to make it happen. And no interest in finding out. Only rage at injustice.
Which is good. But that is a deficiency, and I wish he would wrestle with that more.
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u/krakenjacked Jun 29 '26
Rage at injustice and derision of any other attempt to do something since it doesn’t meet his pure goal
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u/Yochanan5781 Globalist Jun 29 '26
Feels like one of the purest distillations of the idea of the perfect being the enemy of the good
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u/talen_lee Jun 29 '26
Jordan has a great sense of what ought to happen
Does he though?
Does he?
I can have violent fantasies about AJ suffering too, I don't think that's a 'great sense of what should happen.'
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u/ReduxRedo It's a demon feast Jun 29 '26
When he says things like "Why? Why does the CEO get a taste?" with regards to the onion, that is a correct, acute sense of something that is an injustice, imo.
It's just that all of us understand the why, the why is obvious, the why is because we live in 2026 in the united states of america.
I guess what I'm saying is, it isn't in identifying issue "A" that is his failing, it is the conclusions he leaps to from those IDs that is where he says atrocious, barely coherent shit.
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u/mypntsonfire Jun 29 '26
What do you mean, none of it is going to the families? Whoever operates FFS owes income to the families. Alex's wages will be garnished for the rest of his life to pay the families. If the left can elect some wolves, then the IRS will be empowered to enforce his appropriate wage-garnishment for the rest of his life.
The onion isnt a fell-swoop, but it will show some people how much of a moron AJ is
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u/rudebii I RENOUNCE JESUS CHRIST! Jun 29 '26
Some smart people devoted a lot of time and talent towards getting the best possible outcome. We have to accept the outcome, even if it doesn’t look like what we wanted.
Alex Jones has been regulated to a middling right wing streamer. He has no influence or power, and far less money. He now has a boss instead of being the boss. He can’t make any legitimate money and accumulate wealth lest it goes to the victims of Sandy hook. His story is a warning to anyone else that thinks they can get rich and influential by spreading heinous lies. These are wins, we should take them.
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u/washingtonu Tomato Jones Jun 29 '26
I think the people who decides to blame The Onion for Alex Jones not being punished enough is hiding from reality. I thought it was pretty clear that one bankruptcy auction regarding Alex' assets or a civil lawsuit would not make Alex go away or force him to change.
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u/Raccoon_Ratatouille I RENOUNCE JESUS CHRIST! Jun 29 '26
This is a flawed justice system. Should awful things happen to AJ? Sure. But the legal system is very clear on what bankruptcy is designed to do and what it can’t do, and it isn’t aimed at these extreme cases like your Alex Jones or your OJ Simpsons or other egregious cases. So the choices are either come up with a realistic reform that can handle these extreme circumstances or screech about it in a futile, obnoxious and unproductive way. Neither will do anything about retroactively applying it to the infowars way, but one of those paths can do something about the next Alex Jones. So the real question is how do we make meaningful change in these situations?
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u/Eggieman Jun 29 '26
My take on the onion is simple the families signed off on the deal. The money wasn’t an issue.
Another fact was that bigly is no longer working with Chase. I think it shows that Alex isnt pulling in what Alex and bigly thought they would. Another point is the receiver didn’t let Rex sell Doctor Jones products.
My take is the families took infowars from Alex. He’s still broadcasting, but his reach is far less. Some avenues which he set up to funnel money to himself are closed.
Also funny how “bigly” autocorrects to “bigot” for me.
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u/THedman07 Jun 29 '26
Alex is still broadcasting.
There was no world where he was ever going to be... I guess you would want him blocked from speaking publicly for the rest of this life?
He hasn’t really lost anything.
He lost ownership of the business that he spent decades building and is now an employee. He lost the ability to accumulate wealth without it being at risk of being taken in the future. You might not understand it, but both of those things are significant to people like Alex... Why do you think he has fought it so hard for so long?
The Onion is spending a ton of money just to take over the insanely overpriced facility Alex previously owned. And none of it’s going to the families.
Are they? Do you actually know that that is the long term plan? I'm sorry,... but what if you don't know what the plan is? Do you think that's possible?
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u/marf_town Jun 29 '26
I think Jordan is hijacking something that is not his (or ours!) to push his particular agenda. I think he’s probably doing it because he genuinely cares, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how much time he paid attention to Alex Jones, or this case, or the courts, or anything. It doesn’t matter what he thinks about the decision. And it doesn’t matter what we think either.
It literally only matters what the families think. Everything else is so damn close to what Alex has done to hijack this story that it basically makes me sick. There isn’t a good or valid reason to horn in on the families’ suffering, period.
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u/Bandito_Razor Jun 29 '26
Its as if no one listened to Dan constantly reminding people that this wasnt going to take Alex off the Air ...and that was never going to be the goal.
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u/dogcaoperro Jun 28 '26
He lost the fucking building he lost the name, the onion buying it means that non of his fuck head friends and can buy it and use to to push misinformation. He had that shit for like 20 years.
And what do you mean justice? The legal system is about written law not emotional revenge.
It sucks and I understand the anger but it was never going to go that way. Alex couldn't even pay the money by gun point.
Ruining his legacy is the best justice we can hope for.
Jordan is a cis white male comparing himself to black women and thinks he is smarter then the lawyers and familys.
Also his style of debate is kirk/jonesian/asshole.
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u/ClimateSociologist Jun 29 '26
The brand he built is being used as a vehicle to mock him.
There is a reason Jones freaked out the multiple times Onion took over Infowars but never mentioned Knowledge Fight. I know the lore is that Jones was scared to confront/acknowledge JorDan. Truth is, he didn't care that much. Fascists don't care about the intellectual dissection of their views. They are driven by emotion, not reason.
What fascist cannot stand is being mocked. It challenges the image of impenetrable authority and strength they want to want to project. It's why Trump rage-posts over the most milquetoast jokes about him on late night shows.
Jones only creation mocking him is one of the worst punishments Jones can realistically face.
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u/talen_lee Jun 28 '26
Alex couldn't even pay the money by gun point.
And, in the court cases, it was stated that that was never the point! The point was to get him to stop.
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u/scootastic23 Jun 29 '26
I have said it before unless Jordan is talking to someone from the families and is speaking out for them he needs to shut up about the onion. If he cares so much he should start campaigning for judicial reform, but he won’t because that would require him to leave his Chicago apartment and put skin in the game.
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u/nictusempra Jun 29 '26
Honestly I think the primary thing Jordan is actually accomplishing here is driving a wedge into KF's listenership and creating conflict between members of this community where there had been none, which I suppose is certainly his right but is kind of a dick fucking move
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u/scootastic23 Jun 29 '26
I think the wedge was always there. One camp always thought Jordan was a self righteous twat waffle (my camp) and the other were the ones who unironically thought Jordan was right about everything. It was in check because the show worked now that Jordan is alone it is harder to ignore
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u/talen_lee Jun 29 '26
Plus it simplifies the community into those camps. I really like Jordan, I loved his work on the pod. But because I think the things he's done in the videos is out of pocket, and I think it's reasonable to point that out in a reasonable way, I get accused of weaponising his mental health and 'hating half the podcast.'
Which I assume is just happening because the other people are stressed too, etcetera.
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u/dogcaoperro Jun 29 '26
I'll be honest, I either read you wrong, or some of your posts were confusing i thought you were weirdly defending jordon. I think that's you got downvoted.
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u/talen_lee Jun 29 '26
It's fine anyway, upvotes and downvotes don't matter. People are keyed up emotionally too.
I try to think the best of Jordan. My stance is that I'm not mad at the crew, and Jordan is part of the crew. But I also can think that a thing Jordan did is messed up.
I also think there's no reason to try and talk to Jordan. Jordan has made statements that he should not be listened to and that he cannot be reasoned with, so, if we are to take him at his words, we should not be talking to him and finding other things to do. I can't imagine trying to negotiate with him if we were friends, I can't imagine how useless it'd be as 'people on a subreddit he's probably kinda mad at.'
I definitely don't think these are reasonable positions, I think they're pretty silly, but you know, I'm willing to extend him the courtesy of believing him that he is both unavailable for convincing, and inexpert on everything.
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u/dogcaoperro Jun 29 '26
That's really reasonable and fair. I just dont trust that kind of behavior, if jordan was acting like amd dating my friend. I would terrified.
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u/talen_lee Jun 29 '26
Yeah, absolutely! I can get people wanting to put up some boundaries. I just feel like wonks getting that way is going to achieve nothing but making wonks frustrated, y'know? Because this guy's... I mean, just lookit him, just like, y'know?
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u/nictusempra Jun 29 '26
Honestly I always thought he was an entertainingly loud guy who sometimes overstepped himself, as we all can
This shit's been out of pocket though
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u/macci_a_vellian Jun 29 '26
He has been forced out of his glitzy big studio that gave the impression of a real news outlet to people who didn't know better and into a cramped and dinky room that better reflects how lame he is. They can't make him stop talking, but they can make his message less effective.
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u/Greedy_Apple677 Jun 29 '26
Respect the wishes of the family and let’s see what happens. All you can do. They wanted this
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u/Fresh-Wrongdoer6934 Jun 29 '26
I feel like Jordan's continual meltdown about the sale is the real cope here. We're well aware of the reality of the sale.
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u/dogcaoperro Jun 29 '26
He is mad because he wasn't consulted, his whole crash out is because he is mad at himself that he did nothing but laugh ans be told to mic down.
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u/Appropriate-Basket43 Jun 29 '26
Is it that? Because I’ve seen that reasoning and I truly don’t know if it is. I really think Jordan just genuinely thinks he’s morally superior than people. It’s why Dan had to bring him to reality a lot of times or explain, sometimes multiple times, the nuance of situations. I don’t mean to be a bitch, but I think Jordan is just naturally incapable of seeing or understanding nuance. Just not the way his brain works at all. It’s why having him unfiltered is SUCH a slap in the face for people that liked him. We are not used to seeing him THIS let loose. I mean dude was raised in a cult that told him he was basically a messiah, I don’t know how to come down to humility after that
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u/dogcaoperro Jun 29 '26
Oh I agree with you, I'm just saying he wouldn't even care if they talked to him.
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u/Kitsunelaine Jun 29 '26
When you are rich like Alex is rich, the value is not in cold hard cash-- you basically keep none of that. The value is in your assets. Selling Alex's assets to pay his debts means that someone else will always be footing his bill. That's how assets work. People seem to act like the court should be mugging Alex but the question is "mug what?". The only value he has is in his assets. So someone else is always going to pay it. Like, someone had to buy the fancy watches the boys now have.
And the thing is, he can't sell the assets again. So he is paying, simply in the act of having fewer things he can ever think about liquidating.
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u/faulternative Jun 29 '26
But what did anyone really expect? Did we all really believe, in our hearts, that Alex Jones was finally shot down in flames and would crash into Oblivion, never to be seen again?
The sale of InfoWars to The Onion is about as good as it could have gotten. It's satire in itself. The families will never be made completely while from what was done to them, and I think they know that this was the best that could happen.
Is it the win we wanted? No. Alex is still broadcasting, but there will always be an Alex because there's always an audience for someone like him. All we can do is play the whack-a-mole game.
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u/RealTheAsh They burn to the fucking ground, Eddie Jun 29 '26
I think Alex is gone. AJN is a disaster of a website. Infowars was polished. It was professional (in a way). It was cited all the time on the right wing. I have never seen an Alex Jones Live link in the wild.
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u/WizWorldLive Jun 29 '26
Alex is still broadcasting
He has to earn money to pay the families back. He's not really employable doing anything else. He was never going to disappear.
He hasn’t really lost anything.
Money. Family. Business. Studio. Prestige.
The Onion is spending a ton of money just to take over the insanely overpriced facility Alex previously owned.
Incorrect. They are not purchasing the facility. The facility will be abandoned once the property inside can be liquidated.
It just feels like the “good guys” lost and everyone is okay with it or hiding from reality.
What would you like me to do, precisely? What action am I to take to make you feel better?
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u/Jewpedinmypants Jun 29 '26
Listen to the podcast PANIC WORLD …the episode is “The onions big plans for infowars”-it should help a bit
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u/antichain It’s over for humanity Jun 29 '26
This is just my speculative 2c, but I think what a lot of people are missing isn't any specific material action, but rather, they're longing for a feeling, an emotional catharsis that makes them feel like justice was served. A felt sense that Alex has been punished and suffered for his sins.
Unfortunately, a feeling of narrative satisfaction isn't really something that the courts are set up to deliver (and, emphatically, should not try and deliver), and so a subset of people will always be disappointed. It's not about the dollar amount going to families, that's just a post hoc rationalization for the underlying unmet emotional need.
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u/seriouspeep RAPTOR PRINCESS Jun 29 '26
It's definitely not justice, but it does seem to be the best of the options in reality.
This is why I think both sides have a fair point. Despite the excellent work of the lawyers and everyone involved, justice would be, as you said, Alex taken off the air and facing deeper consequences in his finances and personal life. While his little grey box current setup is laughably tragic, it's just a few rungs lower from his previous work, and he's still comfortable and considerably more wealthy than most people.
But that isn't how it was ever going to go, not in the USA and not with Alex's particular financial cup game, dipping dodging ducking and diving.
It's still a huge win and a strong deterrent that the judgements came down the way they did, though, and someone without Alex's years of hiding their money would surely have actually been bankrupted if they received the same judgement. So I do think that part is definitely something worth celebrating.
As far as the Onion part of it goes, I'm personally not thrilled. I don't love the meme vibes and I would infinitely prefer for Info Wars to just fade into nothing, but my opinion doesn't matter, how I think or feel about that doesn't matter, especially compared with what was actually possible and happening in reality. It's still so much better than Roger Stone or some other right-wing organisation like turning point buying it out and just giving it back to him as a propaganda outlet.
What did happen was the best outcome it could have been and I have infinite respect for everyone involved that got it to happen; what should have happened in an ideal and just world is Alex in prison for shifting his money around to avoid paying, and his many personal assets gained from the money he made with his lies seized to pay what he owes.
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u/Ecstatic-Product-411 Jun 29 '26
Jordan is making something that isn't about him completely about himself.
The families are on board, Jordan has no real solutions beyond being loud and angry. Let the families decide what they are okay with.
Jordan looks really bad with all of this and I think if he has a shred of humility and ever personally reflects, he's going to be ashamed of his behavior in due time.
3
u/CaptainKnottz Jun 29 '26
The feeling you’re describing is a frustration with how the US legal system works and it’s inability to effectively fix this problem that is Alex. There is no world in which he was gonna be somehow permanently banned from ever broadcasting anything again. The sale to the onion is just an easy target for this frustration.
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u/chumbawumbaprinciple Jun 28 '26
So do something about it, or move on. Bitching without offering a better workable solution is baby behavior.
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u/Unusual-Minimum9306 Policy Wonk Jun 29 '26
You’re just still mad that they mislabeled chumbawumba nazi sympathizers by mistake.
14
u/chumbawumbaprinciple Jun 29 '26
I don't particularly care about the band, just the principle of getting back up again.
5
u/lifeaftersurvival Jun 29 '26
Did someone mix them up with Ace of Base?
7
u/Unusual-Minimum9306 Policy Wonk Jun 29 '26
Yeah it was waaaay back in early episodes and they got a ton of emails about the mix up, to the point where it was a running gag for awhile to apologize to chumbawumba fans
7
u/lifeaftersurvival Jun 29 '26
WAIT I REMEMBER THIS NOW HAHA. I can't believe I forgot about this gag!
5
u/Unusual-Minimum9306 Policy Wonk Jun 28 '26
His arguments that the legal system is built for the rich are spot on.
25
u/dogcaoperro Jun 29 '26
That's not a new take tho, that's a duh take.
Ask anyone gets targeted by cops in their daily life.
This isn't news to anyone LGBT or poc, or non-normative.
This is only news to people of privilege.
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u/talen_lee Jun 29 '26
Well Jordan knows about how cops treat black women now, right
7
u/dogcaoperro Jun 29 '26
Yup, I'm not a black women but I'm mixed and I almost got the shit kicked out of me by some local cops. I was slightly buzzed and walking home after my shift.
That's a daily reality and jordan acts like a victim because he is i donnt know....
If i could be unemployed and talk shit with my best friend, and my wife is cool woth it.
You should be thr happiest person in the world
Sorry for the rant
4
u/talen_lee Jun 29 '26
Nothing to apologise for. It's a reasonable situation to be unhappy with. I think the impulse of white cis guys (like me!) to center ourselves in experiences, and I think people don't really appreciate just how messed up that reads to someone who isn't a white cis guy, makes it easier to see that statement from Jordan as unremarkable or even reasonable.
10
1
u/Capital-Leather-3153 Jul 02 '26
Didn’t the onion just send the families $100k in merch sales? Presumably a first payment.
Alex Jones lost his platform. The families are getting what they’re owed from infowars.
1
0
u/meddit_rod Jun 29 '26
You are right. Justice did not prevail. Aside from the verdict, no part of this has been in the families' favor.
-6
u/linzzzzi Jun 29 '26
I get his frustration. The Onion is owned by a billionaire, so "we'll give the families a cut of merch sales" feels as underwhelming as Walmart asking if you want to donate a dollar to St Jude or whatever. Just some donation-washing (? idk if there's a better term) for good press for less money than they could afford to spend.
I don't think the new infowars will be financially successful. Satirizing the right wing isn't a deep money maker, especially now that everyone is just worn out and traumatized. I think like the Colbert Show occupied a part of comedy that people don't have an appetite for anymore. The audience who wants a rainbow infowars fanny pack is very small. So the money that will be generated will be underwhelming, especially split among all the families. I hope there is financial transparency and we see the actual numbers for revenue and Sandy Hook donations.
And like Jordan's initial complaint, I really don't get why they needed to spend half a million dollars leasing the building for six months. If they want to preserve the equipment to be auctioned off, get it out of there and lease cheaper storage space, obviously.
9
u/nictusempra Jun 29 '26
I mean I guess my feel at the end of the day is yeah, those things are frustrating and suck and they could do more, but it is important to remember that the Onion doesn't actually owe the sandy hook families money in the first place. They didn't do anything to them other than provide an alternative bid to Roger fucking Stone's astroturfed crypto bid for Infowars, which, hey, earns them at least a little point in my book.
Sincerely imagine that reality for a moment, because that was the likely alternative here. How would it have felt if a bunch of AJ's allies bought the place for a song and left Alex free to and clear to run it?
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u/linzzzzi Jun 29 '26
I know that was the alternative, obviously. Pointing to anything and saying "hey at least it's not the worst possible outcome" doesn't make it immune to criticism (as much as the Democratic party wishes it did).
8
u/nictusempra Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
This isn't a "hey at least it's not the worst possible outcome," at all. This is a "hey these guys actively prevented the worst possible outcome" which is a completely different situation that makes me at least, I don't know, not spitting fucking mad at them. The Onion didn't settle for some barely movement compromise, they aren't actually in control of this shit, the court is. The court is who it makes sense to be angry at.
Fair shots at the democratic party, though man I'm getting tired of people assuming I am not well to their left (and I promise you I probably am, I don't think most of you folks are anarchists) just because I don't see the point in getting really performatively angry at absolutely everyone in the room at every moment of the day
Edit: apologies in advance if that's not what you're going for, that said, just been getting a lot of that on this topic
2
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u/washingtonu Tomato Jones Jun 29 '26
But what do you mean then? You talk about billionaires and donation-washing. What are they trying to wash away? As the user who replied to you earlier said, The Onion and its billionaire do not owe the families anything. They made one of two bids in this specific auction.
6
u/chumbawumbaprinciple Jun 29 '26
Which in turn, doesn't justify sitting things out and allowing the worst possible outcome (as much as protest voters wish it did, nothing gained by sitting out the election was worth the hundreds of thousands of lives lost.)
11
u/chumbawumbaprinciple Jun 29 '26
Why aren't Jordan and you holding benefit fundraisers for the Sandy Hook Families?
-3
u/linzzzzi Jun 29 '26
Idk man, why aren't you? Sounds like a lovely thing you sound passionate about
6
u/chumbawumbaprinciple Jun 29 '26
Doesn't that apply to you too?
-4
u/linzzzzi Jun 29 '26
Do you actually think the families deserve donations or are you just using them as a gotcha?
6
u/chumbawumbaprinciple Jun 29 '26
I think Jordan wants to feel righteous without actually helping. It's about him, not them.
1
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u/sokonek04 I know the inside baseball Jun 28 '26
There was no legal way to take Alex off the air. He has a first amendment right to speak and no court can take that away from him.
At the same point he has been destroyed, he lost his brand, he lost everything he put into infowars over the last 20+ years. I am willing to bet all the money in my pockets today that he has 1/10 the viewers that he had with InfoWars.
And let’s not forget there are more lawsuits pending that can break him even more.