On Dec. 4, 2016, a 29-year-old man from North Carolina walked into a pizza parlor with three guns. He fired two shots into the air, searched the place, and found nothing. The man was looking for the basement where Hillary Clinton was supposedly running a child trafficking ring, and, of course, was painfully mistaken. The theory that he was trying to prove was the Pizzagate theory, which was fueled and popularized by Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist famous for his lies and chaos. His intention in popularizing this theory was to crush Clinton’s campaign and boost then-candidate Donald Trump’s campaign, but it could have been deadly. Jones was required to debunk the theory due to multiple lawsuits, but if he wasn’t required to, he would have continued feeding  the story to his fans like raw meat. Jones’ narcissistic personality disorder may be the cause of this because he has shown time after time that he’s apathetic about what happens to the people that his theories affect.

9/11 was an inside job, the Sandy Hook shooting was a ploy to pass stricter gun laws, chemicals in our water are turning frogs gay, and the swine flu vaccine will lead to martial law. These are only four of the many twisted conspiracy theories Jones has repeatedly spread. And although they may sound outrageous to most, other people might lack the knowledge to know that they’re not true. These four are indeed shocking, but the ones that have made the greatest impact on America are also the most harmful to people and to our planet. These include theories about vaccines causing autism, climate change being fake, and COVID-19 being fake. Leading an extremely loyal, almost cult-like following of over 70 million people, Jones has also had a huge impact on many topics of debate. He has a thirst for power, fame and money, which he quenches by manipulating his following and feeding them lies and chaos.

Jones’ manipulation has made him a rich man. He sells placebo pills and drugs that he swears will make you younger and fitter or that will make you immune to health problems that don’t even exist. In addition, Jones sells survival products for apocalypses that he predicts. He has utilized his theories to spark fear, tear people down, con people, send people to jail and wreck lives.

On Dec. 2, 2015, Jones interviewed Trump on his show, Infowars. Because of this interview, Jones’ fanbase started to merge with Trump’s, creating an entirely new group of people. These people went after then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and then-President Barack Obama repeatedly, following Jones’ theories and Trump’s confirmation of these theories. After partnering with Trump, Jones continued to put out theories with no thought or evidence behind them. Because of Trump’s confirmation of these theories, papers and news channels took them as fact. This caused Jones to gain more supporters but also sparked mass chaos and paranoia amongst his base. 

At least 50% of Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory. 19% of Americans believe the government was behind the 9/11 attacks, 25% believe the 2008 recession was caused by a small cabal of Wall Street bankers and 11% believe the government mandated a switch to compact fluorescent lightbulbs in government buildings because they make people obedient and easier to control. Conspiracy theories harness people’s paranoia and tells them that they’re not paranoid. Conspiracy theories tell those people that they’re right, which is what they want to hear. Jones knows that conspiracy theory is an effective tool, and in his hands, it’s more dangerous than ever before.