Alex Seitz-Wald writes about Conspiracy Entrepreneur Alex Jones. The latter Alex is making a heap o' money catering to paranoids across America who stand ready, even eager to hear that their government is out to enslave them. As I've written here before, I think we underestimate how much of the "nutcase" end of our political discourse exists simply because it's so lucrative.
Years ago when I briefly delved into the surreal land of "Who Really Killed J.F.K.?," I laid eyes on an entire industry. There were folks who professed to be after the truth and were willing to entertain and even promote any theory of how President Kennedy died…any one except the one about Lee Harvey Oswald being a lone nut. There was no money in that theory. It also wouldn't advance anyone's political agenda but the real reason it was written-off in some circles was because it didn't sell books, didn't bring in donations, etc. I met people whose income and reputations were built on the premise that Oswald couldn't have acted alone and were not about to abandon their livelihoods.
It's like Deep Throat said not in that parking garage but in William Goldman's screenplay for All the President's Men: "Follow the money!"