Lately, the media has attacked the website Infowars, run by social critic Alex Jones, for encouraging terrorism that results in attacks like the one waged by Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his brother, Dzhokhar, at the Boston marathon recently. According to the Infowars site, Tamerlan’s ex brother-in-law has stated that Tamerlan became interested in Infowars after he became interested in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think the key word here is ‘after.’ The interest in the Middle East wars happened before Tamerlan turned to Infowars to discover more information on the subject, so I do not see how Alex Jones can be blamed for what Tamerlan and his brother allegedly did.
I think there is definitely a connection between media and people’s behaviour in general. If there was not, then advertisements would not exist. Commercials would not exist. Banners on websites would not exist. However, I think it is a leap to suggest that Alex Jones or his website is at fault for what individual criminals do. As I said before, Tamerlan was interested in the Middle East, angry with America for various reasons, and then searched for information to back up beliefs he already held.
Inasmuch as Alex Jones criticizes the mainstream media for its refusal to follow certain stories, it makes sense that it would relish the chance to attack him when an issue like this comes up, that Tamerlan read Jones’ Infowars website. Some of the issues concerning the Boston bombings that Jones is interested in, that the mainstream media does not pursue, include the drill that was being performed by the government on the day of the bombing, the presence of security at the event prior to the actual tragedy, and conflicting stories about suspects.
Alex Jones asks the question in his article whether or not it is suspicious that the media is making a connection between one of the few websites that is asking questions about these issues and the actual suspects in the case.
