La verdad contra Alex Jones

A friend once said that "Alex Jones never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like." I avoid AJ like the plague, so ... maybe? In any case, AJ comes across as a manipulative ego-maniac in this film.

This documentary is of limited value to anyone already familiar with the horrific Sandy Hook school shooting, but I think many will find it watchable. I think the film does a good job of bringing up issues and posing questions (without jumping to biased conclusions).

I have frequently argued with conspiracy theorists online, as many do not believe man ever set foot on the Moon, despite ample (and obvious) evidence. These people seriously believe that they have esoteric knowledge, and anyone who believes the "mainstream narrative" does so for "religious" reasons. These people cannot be reasoned with (as one of the Sandy Hook parents explains); they simply believe all counter-evidence is fake. The sad reality is that these know-nothings promote their garbage with a religious zeal that they project onto others; they believe they're entirely rational, despite their invariably poor understanding of science and engineering. A popular topic is 9/11.

Some liberals say censorship is the answer, but I believe MORE speech, not less, is the best approach, or we go down a slippery slope towards an Orwellian Ministry of Truth. This documentary is a fine example of *more* speech; I think it's important to acknowledge that.

I would have preferred crisper editing to make room for more legal details. There is a LOT of human-interest footage involving the parents, but these poor folks were demonized for being "crisis actors", and so it's understandable for the film to focus on their plight. While this documentary isn't overly informative, it showcases basic reality here. However, the slow pacing seems designed to fill up an arbitrary 2-hour run length.

It feels trite to rate this, but I give it seven (7) stars. My heart goes out to all the victims' families (my rating isn't about them; it's purely technical). The tombstone footage at the end was very moving.

PS: There are only 10 reviews preceding mine, and already we have a one-star review by an AJ foot soldier (aka "true believer"). It's disturbing how common (and loud-mouthed) these "hoaxer" types are. I say learn to recognize (and ignore) them.

The world got a horrible shock in December 2012 when a psychopath walked into a school in Connecticut and murdered several children. Most people were rightly horrified. Unfortunately, radio host Alex Jones - known for whipping up conspiracy theories - called it a false flag event, and his listeners ate it up.

Dan Reed's documentary "The Truth vs. Alex Jones" looks at Jones's rumor-mongering and how this led to harassment of the victims' parents. The harassment got to the point where the parents filed a lawsuit against Jones. Much of the documentary shows scenes inside the trial, with Jones trying to pretend that he didn't try to harm the parents.

The main thing to take away from the documentary is that Jones is the latest in a long line of blowhards making things up to further their careers (such as Joe McCarthy and Rush Limbaugh). Sadly, their fans - one might call them cultists - believe the lies and proceed to torment the victims. One can only hope that criminal prosecution will bring down these mendacious goons.

Not the greatest documentary, but I recommend it.

Within the first 6 minutes of the documentary that point is made clear when Alex Jones is trying to force another group not to expose the facts behind lies he extolls so he can sell a product.

There has been a long history of profiteers but with the speed of communications we have now, it can be more far-reaching. My biggest hope, is when these fraudsters are exposed not just they but they people that helped support their lies also have to pay or go to jail.

Hiding behind the First Amendment when you know you are lying does not give you freedom of speech.

The documentary is worth watching though to see all the details of the lunacy that was exposed.

I lost an old friend to Alex Jones when Infowars did a special on the Bilderberg group (basically "Jewish cabal controls the world"). This friend, a successful game designer with a college degree, accused me of not being open to different interpretations of facts, and I cut ties with him because I had to admit to myself that you cannot penetrate a wall of BS with rationality when people want to believe what they want to believe - in his case, antisemitism.

I was hoping this documentary would dwell a little more on how we have come to this distorted scary place and what a major part Alex Jones has played in this. It is fitting to give the Sandy Hook parents so much room, to show that they are real people whose kids were really murdered. And you can deduct from Jones' own statements that he thought he could escape justice with the mob power of his (ab)user base. But unfortunately the film plays out as a courtroom drama and will therefore do little to dissuade the (mis)believers. Don't get me wrong, it's great material, and I understand that the director wants to use as much of it as he can. But those who think Alex Jones is a false prophet will just receive yet another confirmation, while those who take him for a civil rights hero will still find it possible to confirm that.

It's an important documentary in terms of respecting real victims and giving them a voice. But I wish the approach had been broader so as to describe just how many myths on how many subjects this man has created and how many millions of people he has harmed.

I tried to stay away from political discussions and concepts because I am not comfortable with being in that environment but Alex Jones really is one absolute egocentric and self-centered a person. The Truth vs. Alex Jones is a pretty good documentary about how Jones misinformation about the Sandy Hook shootings have damaged the victim's families and the insanity and craziness of Jones himself.

With interesting discussions explored, the documentary offers interesting and sometimes, frustrating discussions and scenarios that helped bring forth the information and the situations to light. Including some good uses of music and emotional atmospheres throughout. Filmmaker Dan Reed, previously made Leaving Neverland which I didn't like due to it's poor structure and annoying pacing, improves his direction with how he handles the materials and the standards of not being too exploitative nor offensive to it's subject and victims.

There are some moments that are pretty terrifying regarding some subjects, certain individuals and Jones himself as they perfectly capture how America has become fundamentally broken and damaged. While the structure is the typical HBO style of documentaries and there are some topics I kinda of wish they would explore a little more, I think this documentary does a good job on exploring it's subject.

Not easy to watch for some but I recommend it.