Victimizing victims - Shawn Loughlin editorial

Just recently, one of the world’s foremost dirtbags, Alex Jones, received his comeuppance after years of outright lies through Infowars, his website that’s famed for pushing fake news and conspiracy theories. Denying the facts and insisting that the Sandy Hook school shooting, which killed 26 people (20 of them under the age of eight), didn’t happen has now cost him just under $1 billion.

 

This lawsuit, awarding damages to the families of the victims of the shooting, comes after another that cost Jones tens of millions of dollars and there are still more lawsuits to come. It would be nice to think that this landmark case will deter people from using a tragedy to further some perverse point they’re trying to make, but it’s highly unlikely.

 

It’s hard not to put yourself in the mind of a parent whose child has been murdered by a crazed gunman and try to imagine the rage they must feel towards someone like Jones or his supporters. Getting through easily one of the most tragic events that can happen to a family is hard enough, but then to have someone try to further a political agenda or ideology by dragging you through the mud all over again would just be too much to bear.

 

Rapper Kanye West just did as much. He’s making news thanks to his wildly irresponsible views, straight-up anti-semitism and buddying up with controversial media personality Candace Owens. The pair (both Black) were recently pictured wearing “White Lives Matter” shirts and Kanye just recently dragged the late George Floyd into one of his many public rantings. He said the man, killed by police in Minnesota in 2020, was on fentanyl and died as a result of drug use, rather than police violence. The Floyd family is considering legal action against West.

 

I’m not sure if West is running for president again, trying to sell albums or just engaging in general instigation, but what Floyd and his family have to do with any of it is anyone’s guess, aside from the political flashpoint aspect of it all. If it will appeal to certain groups, West will do it, rather than leaving a dead man to rest and a family to mourn.

 

Here in Ontario, the No More Lockdowns movement’s suspendered superhero Randy Hillier found himself in hot water for a similar transgression last year. The former MPP shared a post on social media that linked the recent deaths of 11 Ontarians to vaccination against COVID-19. Not only was the post false and information irresponsible to share, but, like Jones and Sandy Hook, the families stood up to Hillier and shared the truth about the death of their loved ones. 

 

Hillier eventually apologized, but the damage was done and his point made. He and other politicians like Maxime Bernier and Derek Sloan have tried to build themselves back up into someone to vote for with stunts like Hillier’s. They have a political point to make and have shown, in some cases, that they don’t care whose throat they have to step on or whose life they have to denigrate to do it.

 

I’ve written about this before, when those against vaccination tried to make health issues suffered by Canadian musician Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey into vaccine side effects stories. When people cross over into a certain level of ignorance, they’ll do anything to make their point. To them, everything looks the way they want it to - the way that makes them right.

 

It’s nasty business and there are real victims and because of opportunists and heartless fame hounds, the victims are victimized all over again. It’s tragic and it’s soulless, but, sadly, it’s also unlikely to be going anywhere.