The Onion Buys Infowars

[UltraBudgie]

Wasn't that.. 'true'?

Well, I don't have a PhD in Gay Frog Studies, but here is a 9000 word paper from someone who does. It has over 100 footnotes.

Theorizing the Gay Frog

The gay frog has taken on a surprisingly prominent role in contemporary environmental culture. Primarily associated with American shock jock Alex Jones and the so-called alt-right, fears of frogs being turned gay by hormones in water have nevertheless entered the mainstream, while gay frog memes are shared online by users from across the political spectrum. This article offers a genealogy of the gay frog, situating this recent moment in the longer history of “sex panics” over gay animals described by queer ecologists, and in the context of an ongoing backlash against feminism and trans liberation. It argues that the potency of the gay frog as alt-right symbol derives from the capacity of the frog to instantiate racialized and sexualized anxieties about border crossings. By examining the role of humor in gay frog clips and memes, this article shows how liberal mockery of Jones has inadvertently mainstreamed far-right beliefs and served to consolidate alt-right notions of victimhood. In spite of this, it argues that the comic potential of the gay frog holds promise for queer ecologists seeking to think differently about sex and nature.

Well worth reading. It does not, however, address the issue about whether he was right or not.

I suppose it matters whether he was referring to fluoride or atrazine. Well, maybe it doesn't.



Sorry Alex, maybe it's just a little funny:

[Karl12]

Theorizing the Gay Frog

Hannah doesn't really refute the findings of the Berkeley study.in that word salad mate.









Apparently Japanese scientists have also turned catfish from males into females by simply using 'soy' (isoflavone).

[UltraBudgie]

Hannah doesn't really refute the findings of the Berkeley study.in that word salad mate.

Haha right? It's a fun look inside the mind of sociology majors, though. Scarier that gay frogs, for sure. The Berkeley article is old research though, and was only reproducible in lab results; there's been lots more studies done since, and yes, Alex was right about a lot of stuff. Good news, atrazine was banned in Hawaii and several US territories in 2020, based on more recent studies:

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/p...020-09-23/

The EU and China have banned it, too. The Wikipedia talk page is a fun read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:LGBT_...acy_theory, especially since they've smeared the new HHS Secretary as espousing this same "conspiracy theory". When pressed, the reaction seems to be "well yeah it's happening but it's a crazy conspiracy theory to imagine it was deliberate or the government doing it!"

[Karl12]

Too right mate and thanks for those links.

He also got it pretty spot on about 911.




July, 2001:





Perhaps he'd been reading planning documents from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

[UltraBudgie]

The Onion’s bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars hangs in the balance as judge orders new hearing

A bankruptcy judge on Monday delayed a hearing in conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ effort to stop the satirical news outlet The Onion from buying Infowars, keeping the auction sale up in the air for at least another few weeks.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez had been scheduled to hear an emergency motion to disqualify The Onion’s bid on Monday, but put it off until either Dec. 9 or Dec. 17. That’s also when the judge will hear arguments on the trustee’s request to approve the sale of Infowars to The Onion. Lopez said it made sense to have one hearing on both requests.

So, delayed until next month. Looks like Infowars might make it through Christmas.

Also heard from were lawyers from Twitter, who argued that the Infowars and AlexJones accounts were their property, and they didn't approve them being reassigned. They likely have T&C on their side. A big part of the Onions gag would be posting from Infowars account, so I imagine they're not happy to hear that. I wonder if Musk himself made that happen.

[UltraBudgie]

The Onion gets frog-blocked!

From the New York Times:

Judge Refuses to Allow Sale of Infowars to The Onion

A judge late Tuesday night said he would not approve the sale of Infowars, the website founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, to the Chicago-based satirical publication The Onion, prolonging a messy tug of war between two high-profile suitors.

The ruling, by Judge Christopher Lopez in federal bankruptcy court in Houston, puts The Onion’s plan to take possession of the Infowars site and its associated assets in limbo. The Onion’s bid was backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones.

A spokesman for The Onion did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Mr. Jones did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Though the case involved colorful litigants dueling for a controversial prize, it ultimately hinged on austere matters of protocol. The arguments over two days of court hearings boiled down to whether the court-appointed trustee adhered to the law when he solicited bids and ultimately picked Global Tetrahedron, The Onion’s parent company, as the winner.

The total value of The Onion’s bid was $7 million, including $1.75 million in cash put up by Global Tetrahedron, with the rest coming from the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, who essentially opted to put a portion of their potential earnings from a defamation judgment against Mr. Jones toward The Onion’s bid.

https://archive.ph/8q8m8

Not much more news in the story, we'll probably hear more in the next few days. I'm torn between enjoying how much Alex Jones annoys people, and hoping the Onion can do something to get back to its heyday of comedy gold.


Edit to add: The Onion has a response on Bluesky, because of course that's what they use now. The comments are a fun read. https://bsky.app/profile/bencollins.bsky...yypar33k2o

[Karl12]

I'm torn between enjoying how much Alex Jones annoys people, and hoping the Onion can do something to get back to its heyday of comedy gold.

The Onion really was quite funny back in the day - did you ever catch this breaking news lol?









Recently saw this Jones piece about 'Skull And Bones' rituals and don't know if he's right but it certainly sounds a bit dodgy from the outside.