It’s difficult to know where to begin on this one. Conspiracy theorist, radio host and talking throat-polyp Alex Jones recorded a video in which he dressed up like a psychotic clown — complete with bloody gloves, a lab coat and a rubber clown mask that made his already shredded voice sound even less understandable.
Why?
Apparently, he was reacting to Salon‘s recent publishing of an article written by a Tennessee-based writer named Todd Nickerson, who confessed to being a pedophile. Nickerson’s article describes how he’s never acted upon his sexual attraction to children and how his pedophilia was likely a consequence of being molested in his front yard when he was 7-years-old.
Full disclosure: I’m also a contributor to Salon, but regardless, I can’t criticize Salon‘s decision to run the article. While I think Nickerson and others like him are vile and unforgivable, he has every right to express his opinion, and I seriously doubt many, if any, readers were stirred to sympathize with someone who very well could act upon his urges, making him even worse. The horrendousness of pedophilia is obvious, so I won’t even bother ranting about it. Would I have run the article? I doubt it. But best case, if it offers enough insight into the mind of a pedophile that allows us to better identify and prevent child molestation, then publishing it was absolutely the right thing to do. Critics of Salon need to explain how this is a bad thing.
There are millions of people who listen to Jones and hang onto his every word. His business model is to exploit, for notoriety and treasure, the paranoia of his audience. And this might be the craziest example of that model so far.