Press TV, an Iranian propaganda network

Iranian Press TV: While claiming to defend America from a dystopic future, a popular radio host turns to a land that is already there Alex Jones scores one for tyranny Practically the moment the two bombs tore through the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing or maiming hundreds of people, media personality Alex Jones declared that Americans will not be told the truth by their government. He elaborated further in the hours and days to come, posting photos of Navy SEALS and security personnel whom he claimed may have had something to do with the bombing as part of a government “false flag” operation to frame right-wing individuals and patriot groups opposed to the fundamental changes President Obama has brought to the United States. Even when it was revealed that the bombers were two jihadist brothers with roots in Chechnya, his analysis remained largely the same: Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev are nothing but patsies for a larger agenda. Jones obviously has the right to speak his mind since any patriotic person should agree, no matter how offensive the accusations are, that it is healthy to question what our government tells us and how it reacts to a heinous crime like the Boston Marathon Bombings. He also won a lot of praise – and rightfully so – for challenging CNN’s Piers Morgan over the ridiculous gun control measures the most corrupt of politicians, both Democrat and Republican, have been trying to ram down the throats of the American people while the economy sputters. Press TV, an Iranian propaganda network Amidst all of this, the supposedly pro-Constitution host has revealed something dark about his message; something that evidently shows promoting liberty is not one of his priorities. Less than a week after the attacks in Boston, Jones took it upon himself to give his analysis on false flag operations to Press TV, an Iranian propaganda network that claims to be a form of “alternative media” like Jones’ websites Infowars and Prison Planet. For those of you who have not had the chance to gaze upon it, Press TV espouses the official viewpoint of the Iranian government and nothing more. Its coverage is disturbing, even terrifying, to read: headlines and editorials attack Iranians who challenge their Islamic regime as “rioters” and mock Syrians who are killed by their dictator, Bashar Al-Assad. Hypocritically, it applauds anyone who protests against governments the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei deems illegitimate – especially the tiny Gulf Nation of Bahrain. If you have a dissenting personal view, don’t expect it to be shared in the comment sections – which tend to be gutter pipes of anti-Semitism and calls for Islamic domination – because the staff at Press TV censor anything that challenges their world view. Shamelessly, the network has a petition demanding that the United Kingdom, which banned Press TV from the airwaves last year, “stop the war on free speech!” and allow its depraved broadcasts to be syndicated on British televisions. Jones’ websites have linked to the petition in the past and I should note that his April 21st appearance on the channel was not his first. One of his prior appearances included commentary on the Fort Hood shooting, when Major Nidal Malik Hasan gunned down over 40 people in November of 2009, right around the time Iran was quelling pro-democracy demonstrations in the streets. The decision to use Press TV as a medium to promote his show and speak out against what he sees as creeping police state actions by the US Government make it hard for Jones to be taken seriously, especially since this is a man willing to challenge Piers Morgan, a British “foreigner” seeking to change the American way of life. Morgan, for all his flaws, is a decent person compared to Jones’ friends in Iranian media (I’d like to point out, however, that Morgan himself had a nauseating interview with Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, last year while he was under police protection at the expense of American taxpayers for a UN summit). At the helm of Press TV is a government that executes more prisoners than any other society on earth and is so paranoid of its own population that it is looking for a way to disconnect from the worldwide web and replace it with a domestic, ayatollah-approved system that would make it far easier for the security apparatus to hunt down dissenters. Perhaps I am mistaken, but this is exactly what Jones claims to be against…at least when it comes to American freedom of speech and cyber rights. If we are to take Jones at his word that the US Government is as evil as he says it is and all our freedoms are on the cusp of being flushed away, how does it justify reaching out to a foreign government that has already inflicted such hell on its people? Iranians have practically none of the rights that Jones does, including the right to challenge his government and encourage civil disobedience, yet he is complaining about the situation in America to media funded and censored by their oppressors. This is like running across the street to be sheltered by your child molester neighbor because you just found out that your landlord is a Neo-Nazi – please keep in mind that I make this comparison while giving Jones the benefit of the doubt for the sake of a discussion. Intentional or not, Alex Jones appearance on Iranian television helped to advance tyranny of the worst kind In order to preserve legitimacy, Alex Jones should apologize for his associations with Iran’s propaganda mill and denounce its clerical leaders. It is possible that a number of listeners have turned away from his show for trying to implicate Navy SEALS, who have the respect of most Americans, as the culprits behind the Boston attacks, but even with that he could hold onto a claim that he is looking for the truth and opposing tyranny, however misdirected the rest of us might find it. His partnership with Press TV suggests something else entirely though. He is either woefully ignorant of who the network is run by, selfish enough to look past it for the sake of promoting his show, or committed to advancing tyranny. Intentional or not, his appearance on Iranian television helped to advance tyranny of the worst kind.