The Truth vs. 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.

This is a documentry in English based in USA and covers the trails (two of them) that held Alex Jones accountable for lies and harressment of the families who lost their children and other loved one during the aftermath of Sandy Hook killings.

For me it was heartbreaking to watch. The pain and suffering one would experience when loosing a child that young is, described in vivid detail. (I have used the word loss twice now, please remember this word means murder, and killing).

Some reviews here still show a belief that this event never happened, so devasting was the reach of Alexs Jones. Its a tragedy, and in some way ALL Americans are responsibile for the murders of the 26 people, most children under six years. The Americans share the responsibility as they have failed to secure their gun laws so damaged people like Adam Lanza (the murderer) could not kill so many and so many so young.

It might be easier to believe that this never happened, than to say did we do all we could to prevent this from happening? Should we attack our laws, our legislator, our morality?

But instead of doing that, people looked to hid behind the lies of this man, this broken, pain inflicting man, this Alex Jones. The fear of loosing their guns sems to give people a right to lash out and inflict further pain on strangers than to acknowledge the truth.

Alex Jones lied.

The court found that he had lied.

This documentry is ablout his lies, and the continuation of him lying.

Sadly though; people will continue to believe lies no matter what truth they are presented. And era of the avoidance of truth seems just to have began!

Do watch this, no matter your beliefs.

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.

It's one thing to question authority and official explanations of highly public events; it's something else entirely to portray them in a wholly falsified light, especially when done so in a ridiculing manner that causes tremendous personal pain. Such is what happened when conspiracy theorist broadcaster Alex Jones fanatically contended that the December 2012 mass shooting at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School was a staged false flag event aimed at prompting the seizure of the private citizens' firearms, essentially gutting the guarantees of the Second Amendment. Jones vociferously claimed that the event didn't happen as reported in the mainstream media, that it was all pulled off with actors and that no one was killed. He openly mocked the public grieving of devastated parents through a relentless campaign of blatant disinformation, effectively enabling him to convince nearly a quarter of the nation's population into believing his story. Finally, after many anguishing years (including unbridled derision, public ridicule and death threats from disbelieving fanatics and hecklers), those who lost loved ones fought back, filing defamation suits in Jones's home state of Texas and in Connecticut, site of the tragedy. Documentarian Dan Reed's latest feature chronicles the events of this troubling story with no-holds-barred candor, capturing the searing pain of the Sandy Hook families, Jones's cartoonish out-of-control bluster and extensive courtroom footage of the two trials. Shot over four years, the filmmaker effectively captures the crazed ravings of a two-faced, delirious conman whose self-serving self-promotion efforts made P. T. Barnum look like a rank amateur by comparison. But what's perhaps most unsettling here is the film's uncompromising depiction of someone who honestly believed he could publicly say whatever he wanted through today's powerful, far-reaching communications technology - regardless of its truthfulness - and get away with it, a truly potent cautionary tale for our times. "The Truth vs. Alex Jones" poignantly reminds us of the precious nature of freedom of speech and the need to protect it, especially where matters of responsibility are concerned. Indeed, the First Amendment may allow us to express ourselves, but it doesn't give us license to lie.

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.