In the world of politics, there are some things we’d rather not touch. The negative effects of both fascism and communism had deterred the masses from that level of political extremism. If centralizing everyone’s political compass position is a positive or negative effect is a debate for another day. The one thing to know is that, behind all of the independents and partisans, there are still extremists inside the U.S. government and, most of all, the internet. 

When somebody mentions the phrase “alt-right,” the first thing to pop up in someone’s mind is President Donald Trump. Although he is extreme compared to other U.S. presidents, there are more extremists on our World Wide Web. Behind all of the lib-left and centrist shiny front end of all of your favorite sites and internet news sources, there is something rougher and uglier. 

This “something,” is the news website “InfoWars.” Forget all of the complaints you have for Fox News or other more popular right-wing sites. This one tops them all. Included with this website is, of course, the articles. InfoWars has reacted accordingly to its beliefs on the Coronavirus outbreak. God forbid they talk about the epidemic in a civil and informational matter. InfoWars’s strategy is to use the deadly outbreak for political fuel, using it to call out the incompetence of the communist Chinese government (which I don’t fully disagree with), and how “Italian Leftists” are dealing with the situation of COVID-19, or the “Coronavirus” inside their country. 

Even more strange than these articles is the cast of interesting characters that write these articles. The creator of InfoWars and the writer of most of the articles on the site is Alex Jones. Although you may have not heard his name, you have most likely seen his face. He went viral a couple of years ago for some dialogue on his radio show aptly named, “The Alex Jones Radio Show.” In a speech about supposed chemicals in our drinking water, he claimed said chemicals will “turn the frickin’ frogs gay.” 

His constant conspiracy theories, many of them blaming the U.S. government for atrocities such as 9/11 and the Sandy Hook shootings have had him banned off Facebook and many other social media sites. Many people, even some Republicans and conservatives, have called out Alex Jones’s extremist far-right philosophies. In an interview in the New York magazine, however, Alex Jones proudly describes himself as “a thought criminal against Big Brother.” 

It seems absurd that any amount of people would believe any of his theories. However, there is actually a nice sizable nugget of the American populace that spend their free time happily perusing around his site and ingesting his inflammatory articles. 

He even has many “correspondents” that write articles and manage his website along with him. One of them is the infamous alt-right social media personality, Kaitlin Bennett. She first gained media fame in 2018 when she posed for a graduation photo holding an AR-10 in front of the sign for Kent State University. She claimed that she should be able to carry the weapon and defend herself on campus, referencing the 1970 Kent State shootings where four unarmed college students were killed protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. 

She has been using her newfound fame to post her beliefs on Instagram and Twitter, posting everything from anti-abortion, transgenders in bathrooms, and of course, gun-carrying rights. She signed up to work for InfoWars shortly after her initial rise to fame, most likely ignoring the slew of sexual harassment allegations against Alex Jones from former employees. 

Now, it is not my say that you should believe what I believe. One of the few things I do agree with InfoWars on is the freedom of speech. However, you the reader must also weigh the things you read with great caution. Freedom is an important and infamous word. On the ever-expanding world inside our computers, it’s becoming easier for your run-of-the-mill person to publish an inflammatory piece of media that can spark a craze across the world. It is their American right to publish what they want. It is your American right to believe what you want.