The Madness of Believing

An unvarnished and immersive dive into the world of conspiracy theories, propaganda, and disinformation from Alex Jones’ former righthand man at Infowars. At twenty-four-years old, Josh Owens was a college dropout who had already been listening to Alex Jones for five years. Originally drawn in by Jones’ entertaining personality and anti-establishment stance, Josh soon came to suspect that vaccines were dangerous, that fluoride in drinking water lowered IQ levels, and a wide range of other far-fetched conspiracies. When the opportunity arose to work for Jones, he jumped at it, packing up his life and moving halfway across the country to start his first job as an adult. The Madness of Believing follows Josh’s experience working at Infowars, where he became one of Jones’ most trusted employees. He began traveling across the world creating “news” stories and spreading outright lies to Infowars’ ever-growing listener base. As he rose through the ranks, his skepticism grew, and Josh underwent a personal transformation just as Infowars too changed from a fringe community to a mainstream disinformation machine. Josh’s story is one playing out across America: that of impressionable young people pulled into a dangerous world where reality and fiction are blurred, and extremist beliefs gain steam. The Madness of Believing is a reckoning with this climate, one that provides riveting insight into these supposedly radical, truth-driven organizations while exposing their dangerous false claims and lies.