580 Freeway Shooter Byron Williams claims he was inspired by Glenn Beck
Were Fox News talk show host Glenn Beck and 9-11 Conspiracy expert Alex Jones the inspiration for Byron Williams the 580 Freeway Shooter?
We sat down and spoke with Pacifica Radio investigative reporter John Hamilton about his story which first appeared on Media Matters called Progressive Hunter which details what led to the shootout in the wee hours of the morning on July 18th 2010 between 45 year old unemployed white supremacist named Byron Williams and California Highyway patrol last summer.
According to the article Glenn Beck and Alex Jones of prison planet/ infowars were key inspirations for Williams. On the night in question, Williams was enroute to San Francisco where he planned to shoot workers at the Tides Foundation which is an organization that helps distribute funds to left leaning non-profits and political organizations.
Williams in his own chilling words said he was inspired by the attacks exposes put out by Fox News TV host Glenn Beck. We also come to learn that Jones has an even bigger influence.
In the interview below we hear clips from both Beck and Williams who is currently locked up in Santa Rita jail, 20 miles outside of Oakland awaiting trial.
The way Alex Jones “works” is the same way Paris, Public Enemy,Immortal technique or any of the political rap groups work, the only difference is he’s better at it and (probably) makes more money. The way it works is you cultivate the theater of constantly being “against” some vague subjective group of people like “the illuminatti” or “big brother” or “the goverment” or the “immigrants” some other infantile fruitcake shit. The trick is to do it in a way where it’s intertwined with just enough “truth” that all the absurdities becomes negligible in the mind of your audience. What this does is it attracts a demographic of confused people that have had something negative happen in their lives that they displace toward whatever this charismatic mouthpiece points to.
It’s the same psychology of a women who was abused as a child and then routinely attracting abusive relationships as an adult.
Alex Jones is really talented at it.
lol…
Am I wrong?
No interidal I think u made solid pts.. I had to laugh bc you laid out the game eloquently..props
It’s also the same psychology behind statesmen and the military riding the wave of fake enemies. Same with the attractiveness of some people to cults and street gangs.
Alex Jones is probably doing these people a service. I mean his website is one of the most popular in the world. Go look at the Alexa rating. If it wasn’t for him these people wouldn’t know what the hell to spend their time on!!
What I most admire about this interview and it’s presentation is the fact that a black man is airing it. I have been praying for black radio to pay attention to Beck and Limbaugh, so that our community could be aware of what is being said about us. How they step on the graves of our ancestors in their effort to trash the President. They have called the first lady “Trash in the White House” talked about her clothing in a way that no one has ever addressed a first lady. FOX NEWS, and Company has hijacked the wonderment, and enthusiasm that Blacks should still be experiencing. Our children should be reciting quotes from the President’s speeches. Yet we have let FOX NEWS and Conservative pundits cry INDOCTURNATION, and we cower away like there is something wrong with our kids wanting to be like the first Black President of the United States. I wish R&B FM radio stations would start programming at least one day a week of informative Talk. Black folk need to know what’s going on around them, we’re being kept in the dark by our own media. Black People should demand a change in programming, it’s time, especially now!
Well, there’s also an element of your website that lends itself to it. Most political websites do whether you like it or not.
I prefer to toss the concept of politics and just admit what I’m really interested in, which is social engineering.
I need to see evidence of Alex Jones’ racism. I have seen Jones attack the left and the right equally. Also, debatable as it may be, one of the main charges Jones made in The Obama Deception is that Obama is the new face of white rule. I will be interested to see if Alex Jones has racist tendencies.
If Obama is the new face of “white rule” that’s racist in and of itself. It’s based on the assumption that he is a (black) puppet that doesn’t have a brain. I use to think the same of George Bush until I realized he’s as smart as anyone – and smart enough to “play along” since anything less can lead to real problems – Personally and “nationally”.
The theater of social order exists for a reason, even if it’s all bullshit.
I used to browse Alex Jones’ materials and remember when Beck was on HLN before his jump to FauxNewZ. I suppose all the hype of post-9/11 got things rolling, but after a while, it got to be tin-foil hat territory. I think there is a big gap between what should be done vs what can be done.
What’s most astonishing to me is that Byron Williams is being held at Santa Rita, right in my backyard. so to speak. I always thought the jail was for drunk drivers and non-violent crimes. Guess I was wrong.
intertidal nudibranchs says:
If Obama is the new face of “white rule” that’s racist in and of itself. It’s based on the assumption that he is a (black) puppet that doesn’t have a brain.
I doubt that was the point in the Obama Deception. Obama Does have a brain he just loaned it out to Goldman Sachs and all the bankers who fill his coffers. You know the same ones who brought down our economy and just looted what was left of our treasury.
I want to know how this is X radio show host’s fault. Unless they were using subliminal messages of some sort I could understand, but nobody blames Al Gore for the Unibomber. Is Al Sharpton responsible for the burning of Freddie’s Fashion Mart (Sharpton has called Jews ‘diamond merchants’ and interlopers’) If B’nai B’rith gets shot up by some African American would it be fair to blame Louis Farahkan who routinely calls Jews “parasites” and “bloodsuckers”.
The Davey D makes some half-baked point about “Well, if the police/FBI can watch/monitor/regulate/sue us? They why can’t they do the same for X?”
The answer is the to increase surveillance but to stop it? More speech not less speech?
One final thought, this “Investigative reporter” says Lou Dobbs is xenophobic and racist without proving it, and with the host that Alex Jones is racist.
Can someone please point out evidence, becuase I doubt it.
What isn’t racist nowadays? Talk about a broken record.
Voting against or disagreeing with Obama is not racism, it’s a matter of policy.
Wanting to secure our borders (or even wanting deportation of all illegal Aliens) is not racism, it’s common sense. (And if you looked at the drain put on state and local governments you could call it ‘fiscal business sense’)
Asian shopkeepers watching people in the aisles closely is not racism, it’s simply making sure no one is shoplifting.
I could say the same about anti-semitism if you inserted name of Jew here.
BTW, John Hamilton is from the far left Pacifica (no bias here, I’m sure). Did anyone here listening know that for a radio station that claims to be anti-establisment they talk a lot of $ from the rich establishment they claim to hate, namely the FORD, Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations, as well as George Soros, who has done insider trading and wrecked economies and currencies?