I'd run into this guy before, a year ago, at the same bus shelter, posting up the same, tired, useless fliers and advertisements promoting a catalogue of garbage being put out by radio talk show host Alex Jones on his website. Jones is one of a zillion idiots out there who has a standing beef not so much with President Obama, but with the present structure of government. This local zealot, whom we'll call "John Doe" because I don't know his name, is also trying to debunk, for lack of a better term, the mental health system. Oh, please! Give me a break!
Let me quote for you what "John Doe", a middle-aged fellow, wrote on one of his fliers:
Under the heading of "Sickness Symptoms":
To watch all you ever worked for and had wars for....to be played...given no voice....to be only given: spots & shots & parroting like tots.....always stay asleep forever.....
Incomprehensible? You bet. The Bible warns us, in the Gospel According to Matthew, to watch for false prophets & teachers. "John Doe" fits. He wants us to get rid of credit & debit cards and pay cash only. That's only fine if you're paranoid about identity theft such that you don't want to use the plastic. Gas & store cards fall into this line as well. He wants to put the world's banks out of business, but in the next sentence he demands that only Americans should be employed. Oh? Where?
His whole problem is that he doesn't complete any of his thoughts. He stops and moves on to the next point. He's irrational, and, based on the fact he was writing on hospital stationery, a hospital he likely used to work for, I might add, I'd guess he's spent some time in a psychiatric ward, but as soon as he gets out, he's back putting up his fliers. A year ago, when I first met him, he tried to sell me on his crackpot theories and non-truths, and at the time I suggested to him that maybe he should take his case to a wider forum, and talk to the local newspapers. He didn't, and apparently doesn't trust the press, period. His loss.
The United Negro College Fund's long standing slogan, "a mind is a terrible thing to waste", applies to this clown, as well as Alex Jones and the rest of his followers. If they don't get it, well........!
I am often reminded of Mark Twain's immortal quip:
ReplyDelete"Take what you like and leave the rest."
I'm not a regular listener (or apologist) of Alex Jones, but I've heard his show from time to time and visited his website. I do think there's more out there than what is exposed on mainstream media (especially since I work for it) but it's up to we the people to distinguish information from propaganda or outright insanity.
Which is even more difficult considering the fact that tabloid media adds to the confusion with so many fake stories, which in turn is a waste of time considering the popularity of Jon Stewart's Daily Show.
ReplyDeleteMy pen pal in Long Island is a fan of another radio crackpot, Art Bell. I am, however, reminded of a famous line by the late wrestling personality and actor, Capt. Lou Albano, in which he'd describe a nemesis as having "the brain of a dehydrated pea bean. Put it in a parakeet--ZING! It flies backwards!"
That line applies to Bell, Jones, and all their supporters since they traded in their common sense for pea beans.