Sandy Hook Hoax?

On Sunday, June 18, 2017, Megyn Kelly interviewed Alex Jones.  Jones, apparently, likes to promote conspiracy theories, which among others, includes his belief that Sandy Hook was a hoax.  There is even a Facebook page promoting this inane idea.¹ 

“If you are offended by this page,” the Sandy-Hook-Hoax Facebook page warned, “do NOT click LIKE.You are free to state your opinion on the matter.”

“We at SHH do NOT claim that the shootings did not take place and that people did not die,” the page said. “We are collecting evidence that points towards a discrepancy in what we have been told by the media, government and law enforcement. We present that evidence and let YOU make an informed decision.

“If you are offended by this page, do NOT click LIKE. You are free to state your opinion on the matter.”

A story published in the Omaha World Herald June 20, 2017, reported on Kelly's interview of Jones.  It did poorly in the ratings.  But Alex Jones reportedly has the support of our President.  Many have seen Jones on late-nigh comedy sketches, where he is routinely slammed for his stupid rants in his podcasts.  But because the pain is so raw over Sandy Hook, Connecticut’s NBC affiliate did not air the interview, according to the World-Herald report.

Lawyers representing 12 people who lost loved ones at Sandy Hook urged NBC officials not to air the interview, and understandably so.  But this is a mistake.  The adage is simple: truth does not flee light (veritas lucem non refugit).

What Jones does, and others like him, is hypocritical. Those who listen are either foolishly pushing buttons, or buying what Jones and others like him sell, unaware that many of these folks live in gated communities (or will one day either here or on mars).

Make no mistake.  This is about making money.  When Megyn Kelly pushed Jones on his claim about the massacre at Sandy Hook, for example, he literally grimaced, and for a moment viewers could actually believed he might genuinely care.  That is, until Jones woke up to the imagined cheers of his sponsors and advertisers (and the people he fools into buying stuff):  He couldn't have cared less about the ethics of his salesmanship, and he said nothing in defense of truth.

Jones, the Sandy Hook Hoax (SHH), and other scams peddled by the right (and even the left), is not concerned with fake news, finding the truth or anything else. It is about greed.  It is about the corruption of people, ideas and deeds that are destroying civility, democracy and even the rule of law.  Only knowledge and critical thinking will help find the truth.  And good journalism.

In Harry Harrison's Make Room! Make Room! the fictional world is crowded, and starving, with billions living on lentils, soy beans, and — if they’re lucky — an occasional starving rat.

In the movie Soylent Green, based on Harrison's book, a dried-up apple and a piece of steak cost thousands of dollars on the black market.  The rest of the people are destined to eat soylent green (corporum mortum), a new wonder food.  Not out of cruelty, but because those in power have nothing else to feed them.

“Corporum mortum,” cautiously and gingerly (I pray), illustrates a much-needed point.  It’s not only that the people who peddle garbage will have apples and steak to eat while the rest of us starve.  But that they will keep doing what they do right up until the end.  Right up until there is nothing left.  Even dignity.

“I think he's blessed,” Neil Heslin said to Kelly about Alex Jones, “to have his children to spend the day with, to speak to. I don't have that.”

I was deeply moved by Neil Heslin when he answered Kelly's question.  She asked him if he had anything to say to Jones on Father's Day.  He could have said anything, but he chose to honor his son, and us all.

“I think he's blessed,” Neil Heslin said, “to have his children to spend the day with, to speak to.  I don't have that.”

What an honorable man.  How many of us would have had such dignity in the face of Jones' divisive greed?  I am honored by the broadcast, and humbled.  Insightful journalism is a the foundation of our democracy.

Thank you, Niel Heslin for your wisdom.  And thank you NBC for letting Megyn Kelly file her report.


Footnotes
 ¹ A search on this subject found a Facebook page entitled Sandy Hook Hoax [SHH].