Guest Editorial
Sarcasm. It was indeed not a victory for that ubiquitous catch-all slogan which only seems to appear when it’s time to justify wickedness.
Alex Jones, the “far-right” leaning head of the InfoWars website and host of The Alex Jones Show as well as several other media websites and podcasts, is being sued in a billion-dollar-flavored lawsuit prosecuted by several families who were involved in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shootings in Connecticut.
The reason for the lawsuit as alleged by an NBC.com article states that Jones is being processed for “defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Unfair Trade Practices Act, for telling his followers that the massacre was ‘fake’ and the families were ‘crisis actors’ on multiple platforms for years.”
The Unfair Trade Practices Act, FYI, gets the party started with, “The purpose of this Act is to regulate trade practices in the business of insurance…by defining, or providing for the determination of, all such practices in this state that constitute unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices and by prohibiting the trade practices so defined or determined.”
So…it’s about insurance? What does that have to do with Alex Jones? Furthermore, is it wise to allow politicians to define “unfair methods” of business? And what about…
Too much thinking. We’re dealing with Congress now, so there is no answer coming in to land any time soon.
The fact that, in passing this act, the state now has control over what gets defined as “unfair” should be already chilling enough to any red-blooded Ron Paul fan, but what is equally scary is that Jones never did anything illegal – that is, in God’s eyes and in God’s Law, given to us in Scripture.
For example, if Jones’ previously publicized theory about the shooting is right, then it shows massive corruption concerning the government creating and then covering up fraudulent claims of a school shooting in an effort to seize more power through gun laws. If Jones’ theory is wrong, then he was, well, wrong. And perhaps…mean. Really mean. And he was capitalizing on that meanness to sell product and get clicks.
The article on NBC.com continues, “His false claims attracted a massive viewership, leading him to rake in millions of dollars in product sales, according to testimony given at trial.”
Ok…? What’s illegal about that? Isn’t this ultimately how CNN gets their money most of the time? And I thought “everyone is entitled to their own opinion”? Isn’t there room for differing views on what happened that day in 2012?
But now that the state defines “unfair methods,” I guess they can slap that label onto whichever unlucky sap happens to attract their attention. And boy, they have been looking to fell this mighty tree and harvest its sap for a long time now. A long time.
You see, the government does not care about the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting, or any school shooting, for that matter. They just hate Alex Jones. They hate him because, among many reports and presentations exposing government corruption and fraud, he has lately been more like a dagger and less like a thorn in their side for years. He was so precise in predicting their next move, that a sizeable percentage of the memes generated in 2020 during the COVID tyranny were a nod to Jones prognosticating the whole shebang with Biblical accuracy. This of course did not make Big Brother happy.
Now, among this circus of litigation, acts, lawyers, lawsuits, judges, and juries, the Law of God reveals itself to provide a “still more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31) to address the problem of, well, mean people.
First, it is not a crime to lie. Otherwise, surprise birthday parties would be outlawed. The Bible says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). But Jones was not bearing witness against anyone in a criminal or civil case. He was expressing his views on his media platform.
If it can be proved that Jones was incorrect in his opinion, then he owes the families precisely…nothing. An apology. Repentance for knowingly lying, a confession, and then an apology. But that is all that God has required of Jones. Certainly, Christ did not recall the Pharisees back to give the woman caught in adultery compensation for her time. The Law of God does not penalize for “being a meanie.”
If, however, Jones caused economic, tangible damage to those whom he allegedly defamed, then he does owe money. Therefore, the Lord says in Numbers 5:6-7, “When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged.”
How can emotional damage be calculated, if, indeed, any can be proven? How can one put a dollar sign on grief, sadness, hatred, or anger? That is, how can Jones make restitution in this case?
The short answer is: he can’t. If he is shown to be intentionally taking advantage of a controversial situation (legacy media anyone?), then he could be a nice guy and add financial gifts to his repentance. But Biblically speaking, he is not required.
That’s because Jones may have committed a sin, but not a crime. There is a difference. And we have doomed ourselves in letting the state conflate the two.
The power of God’s government (Theocracy) and God’s Law (Theonomy) are a nation’s wisdom among the other nations. “And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?” (Deuteronomy 4:8).
God’s Law, had it been instituted in this nation, would have protected Jones; he is entitled to his own interpretation of events, a.k.a., his own opinion. In fact, God’s Law would have also protected all those victims of mass shootings, since there is no legislative body to create gun control legislation.
And while we’re at it, there wouldn’t be public school as we know it today, because there is also no law forcing compulsory taxation to Christ-hating institutions. Furthermore, there wouldn’t be…
Too much thinking.
Luke Saint is a Christian Reconstructionist and author of The Sound Doctrine of Theocracy. He resides in Berks County.
