Piers Morgan vs. Alex Jones feud: helping or hurting gun control?
Shouting matches, even one-sided ones, make for 'must-see' TV. That may be why CNN host Piers Morgan, at the receiving end of the yelling on gun rights, isn't letting it drop.
Shouting matches, even one-sided ones, make for 'must-see' TV. That may be why CNN host Piers Morgan, at the receiving end of the yelling on gun rights, isn't letting it drop.
Piers Morgan鈥檚 instantly infamous interview with Alex Jones on gun control has started a feud that鈥檚 getting weirder by the day. CNN host Mr. Morgan on Tuesday described his encounter with Mr. Jones the night before on 鈥淧iers Morgan Tonight鈥� as 鈥渢errifying,鈥� and added that Jones鈥檚 unhinged rants are the best advertisement for gun control he can think of. Meanwhile, Texas talk-radio host Jones 鈥� a self-described 鈥減aleoconservative鈥� 鈥� accused Morgan of joking on-air about shooting him.
Will any of this affect the actual chance of passage for national gun legislation? Well, maybe. Even staunch gun rights supporter Glenn Beck noted on Tuesday that Jones sounds 鈥渃razy鈥� and makes it easy for liberals to portray the right as extremists on this issue.
But the whole thing is becoming so outrageous that it may end up as nothing but a vaudeville show that occupies viewers' time while VP Joe Biden meets with the NRA and other groups to try to come up with a serious approach to what might be done to lessen firearm violence.
OK, let鈥檚 back up a second to summarize the state of play. Jones is a main supporter of a petition on the White House citizen input website that calls for the deportation of British citizen Morgan because of his continued calls for gun-control legislation. On Monday, Morgan had Jones on his show to talk about this. 鈥淭alk鈥� isn鈥檛 really the word for what happened, though. It was more of a one-person shoutfest, as Jones riffed about guns, oppressive government, the flag, his ancestors鈥� role in Texan independence, and what flag Morgan would have on his tights if they wrestled.
We鈥檒l add here that Jones believes a conspiracy within the US government caused 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombings and the Gulf of Tonkin incident (look it up). So it鈥檚 not as if he鈥檚 somebody who鈥檚 seen the mainstream for a very long time.
Our reaction was that it was a setup, in the sense that Morgan knew full well that Jones鈥檚 opinions would horrify much of America, and that the resultant car wreck of a segment would prove irresistible television.
On Tuesday, Morgan lit into Jones during聽a "CNN Newsroom" appearance.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 think of a better advertisement for gun control than Alex Jones鈥檚 interview last night,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was startling, it was terrifying in parts, it was completely deluded.... It showed no compassion whatsoever to the victims of gun shootings, and the kind of twisted way that he turned everything into this assault on the Second Amendment is exactly what the gun rights lobby people do. And it鈥檚 a lie. It cannot be allowed to continue.鈥�
Meanwhile, Jones鈥檚 camp responded with outrage to what it said was a threat on their guy鈥檚 life. On Morgan鈥檚 follow-up show Tuesday night, sportswriter Buzz Bissinger said this, according to Jones-affiliated website Infowars.com: 鈥淏ut what do you need a semi-automatic weapon for? The only reason I think you鈥檇 need it, Piers, challenge Alex Jones to a boxing match, show up with a semi-automatic that you got legally, and pop him.鈥�
Was Mr. Bissinger talking about 鈥減op,鈥� as in 鈥減unch,鈥� there, or something worse? In any case, if he really said that, he鈥檚 being reckless with his words, at best. Why give Jones something like that to work with?