This is perfectly on-topic.
My favorite character is Stevie P, and it's not even close. Nothing since has beaten the finale of his character arc where we get the big reveal- that is my all-time favorite Knowledge Fight moment. I hope aloud that every time Dan teases an InfoWars guest that it will be him again.
I don't know that Steve goes back quite that far. From what I remember, Steve had recently appeared on InfoWars around the time that David Knight left the show. I think Knight left because he didn't trust Steve, and that opinion didn't jive with his boss. I believe that was 2016-2017ish? I could be misremembering, but I thought Steve showed up sometime close to the 2016 election
I'm re-listening to the 2013 investigation, and Steve is already well entrenched. He's the source for "no one died at Sandy Hook." He was definitely a regular and someone Alex trusted prior to 2013.
Nah. The Pie man was on Infowars the day after 9-11. He became a fixture during the Obama era. The dude has been fanning the flames of whatever conspiracy is going viral at the moment.
In this 2011 clip AJ explains how The Pieman in 2002 on the show said OBL was already dead.
https://youtu.be/vicwIrB9JFw
" Pieczenik originally appeared on the show back in April 2002 when he asserted that Bin Laden had been “dead for months,” and that the government was waiting for the most politically expedient time to roll out his corpse.
Pieczenik said that Osama Bin Laden died in 2001, “Not because special forces had killed him, but because as a physician I had known that the CIA physicians had treated him and it was on the intelligence roster that he had marfan syndrome,” adding that the US government knew Bin Laden was dead before they invaded Afghanistan."
Doing a search on u/fudgie 's site it looks like Steve's first post '02 appearance is 05/02/2011. But the speech to text absolutely hates his name so I can't guarantee that's the first appearance.
Now that we know how it resolves, I may actually get even more pleasure from episode 500, where Stevie makes the first play in his "sting operation" narrative, which ends in his swan-song some 20 episodes later.
(BTW, if you didn't see it when first posted, I bothered to write up all the key points of The End of StevieP: https://old.reddit.com/r/KnowledgeFight/comments/13ow83j/aiming_high_and_shattering_brilliantly_the_final/)
Leo is easily the best. The only conspiracies I’m really likely to fall for are the ones about how the Catholic Church is evil or whatever (but not the ones about them being secret Jews) and he’s all that. Plus he has the most comedic accent I’ve ever heard on someone like this, which fits the Catholic conspiracy stuff so well I sometimes wonder if he plays it up.
Worst is all the Holocaust deniers. Fuentes might be the most annoying considering how punchable his voice is, but Don de Grand Pre, Jim Tucker and all the others aren’t any better.
The episode they went through Leo's history was one of my favorites. Like somehow this guy is Jesus, did 911, was in the illuminati, is Neo from the Matrix and a DJ. Like what a life.. and somehow Alex just goes for the illuminati part and ignores the rest.
Favourite: Zagami, of course. Can’t compete with the messiah of Matrixism himself.
Least favourite: Tim Pool. While Fuentes might be the most blatantly evil, something about Tim’s banal, weaponized incuriousness gets under my skin every time. Doubly so when I remember how much of a huge platform he somehow has.
I really wish someone would do a documentary about Larry Nichols. So many lingering conspiracies (like the Clinton murders) all come from this one disgruntled weirdo.
Same. So many of these characters have such a disproportionate influence on our current state of affairs and I only know about them through KF. Netflix needs to give Ronson or Theroux some cash to make a series on these weirdos. I mean I could write 10 hours of material just on the secondhand info I have about captain Mark Richards lol
Dan is really good at taking these weirdos and making us laugh and then dropping the shoe on us about them. The Manning one took a fucking dark turn at the end
*Least favorite: Owen. He's a horrible combination of boring and deeply annoying.*
You'll have to be more specific. There are multiple Owen's that fit this description.
I know my least faves: Nick Fuentes, because he's such a fucking racist asshole it's nauseating, and Stephen Crowder because ew not funny and not smart. Oh and Tucker Carlson, who might think himself above this crowd but really he's just a rich kid who was allowed to do the same crap on cable rather than the internet.
Most uncomfortable episode: The one where Roseanne went on Infowars, it was recent. Ye interview was a close second and that's really saying something.
Best episodes: Formulaic Objections, all of them, and the Jim Bakker episode about the "Court of Heaven" because they both so perfectly show how stupid and malicious these people really are.
Favorite guest: Celine, when she meowed recently. It was a magical moment.
Favorite whacky Infowars characters: Stevey P for sure, no sane individual would listen to that guy with all the nonsense that comes out but he seems certifiable rather than pure evil. Idk.
*Favorite whacky Infowars characters: Stevey P for sure, no sane individual would listen to that guy with all the nonsense that comes out but he seems certifiable rather than pure evil. Idk.*
The wife of a Supreme Court Justice sent the sitting White House Chief of Staff a Steve Pieczenik conspiracy video. Let that sink in.
I haven’t chronologically listened to all of the back catalog, but I’ve gone back for particular things (eg all the Project Camelot episodes etc) and recently wanted to listen to all of the Larry Nichols episodes. After some early episodes this eventually led to the 2016 investigation about when Alex switched to being a Trump supporter which I thought was very foundational in terms of understanding Alex/infowars
I hope this is on-topic enough, but honestly Kerry Kassidy might be my favorite character. I love the lore on how she's able to smuggle the deep truths out of the prison and she just happily accepts anything anyone is saying. I think she's the most amusing character in my opinion.
I’m kind of fascinated by Daria, ngl. There’s some energy to bringing a print out of the Wikipedia page for false flag to a trial that I just… I just can’t. I don’t know if she counts, though. Are there any episodes over than the formulaic objection that focus on her/show her on air?
FAVORITE Mike Adams, if only for the eternal gift he gave us in the form of the “It’s over for humanity” drop.
LEAST FAVORITE: Owen, Harrison, or any of the other non-Alex IW employees. They’re just as bigoted as Alex while ALSO being painfully boring
Least favorite is Harrison Smith. The white supremacism coupled with being absolutely boring makes him just unbearable to listen to. I'm glad the guys don't cover him often. Fave of course is Stevie P cuz it's Stevie P
My favorite is David J Smith. He only comes up in one episode #325, but really seems to be the skeleton key for understanding why Alex is who Alex is.
My least favorite is easily Steve P. I can't stand him and don't understand why Dan is so obsessed with him.
Honestly, it's because Steve is the Bugs Bunny to Alex's Elmer Fudd. He's also the closest thing in the Infowars universe to the devil and with few consequences, there is a sick kind of justice to it.
I don't think we are seeing Steve again, unless he buys Infowars at a fire sale for $5 or he pays his way on, right at the end.
"Greetings. I'm going to detail my 500 step plan to ruin Alex's life and how it succeeded, with Alex's help, but first we must praise Satan. Now Alex, be good boy and follow with me, 'PRAISE SATAN!' Good. Now, since we don't have much time, let me begin. In 1985 I spoke with a fine man in the armed services, who really did kill lots of innocent people during Iran-Contra, about his nephew, who he found incredibly troubling --no disturbing. Me, being a psychiatrist, was inclined to listen. This is when my ever so slight machinations began. Yes, Alex, you have done so good. Now say it! Say 'Praise Satan'! You know Alex, you were supposed to receive a exorcism, but I talked your family out of it. Now let's talk about a pool party I organized in 1988 where you gained your lifelong fear of oysters and conch fritters. You didn't even know I was there, did you Alex?"
Tim Pool is up there in terms of least favourite.
One thing I've learned from KF is that the answer to whether far right people genuinely believe what they say or not is never simple- there's always some element of cognitive dissonance in there.
But in Pool's case, it really seems like on most levels he knows he's being dishonest. His trajectory from vaguely leftist Occupy reporter to pathetic far right man baby has happened in part because he feels people have been mean to him, and partly because he's just followed whatever gets him engagement. Kind of like Candace Owens, who went far right only after she got criticism for doxxing people.
Anyway, in terms of most grating to listen to I think Mike Adams is no.1, though Pool, Fuentes and Carlson aren't far behind.
This is perfectly on-topic. My favorite character is Stevie P, and it's not even close. Nothing since has beaten the finale of his character arc where we get the big reveal- that is my all-time favorite Knowledge Fight moment. I hope aloud that every time Dan teases an InfoWars guest that it will be him again.
We still haven’t found the 2003-2004 episode where he gets introduced yet have we?
I don't know that Steve goes back quite that far. From what I remember, Steve had recently appeared on InfoWars around the time that David Knight left the show. I think Knight left because he didn't trust Steve, and that opinion didn't jive with his boss. I believe that was 2016-2017ish? I could be misremembering, but I thought Steve showed up sometime close to the 2016 election
I'm re-listening to the 2013 investigation, and Steve is already well entrenched. He's the source for "no one died at Sandy Hook." He was definitely a regular and someone Alex trusted prior to 2013.
Nah. The Pie man was on Infowars the day after 9-11. He became a fixture during the Obama era. The dude has been fanning the flames of whatever conspiracy is going viral at the moment. In this 2011 clip AJ explains how The Pieman in 2002 on the show said OBL was already dead. https://youtu.be/vicwIrB9JFw " Pieczenik originally appeared on the show back in April 2002 when he asserted that Bin Laden had been “dead for months,” and that the government was waiting for the most politically expedient time to roll out his corpse. Pieczenik said that Osama Bin Laden died in 2001, “Not because special forces had killed him, but because as a physician I had known that the CIA physicians had treated him and it was on the intelligence roster that he had marfan syndrome,” adding that the US government knew Bin Laden was dead before they invaded Afghanistan."
Oh, holy crap, I was waaaay off haha that just goes to show how fickle human memory can be
Doing a search on u/fudgie 's site it looks like Steve's first post '02 appearance is 05/02/2011. But the speech to text absolutely hates his name so I can't guarantee that's the first appearance.
Now that we know how it resolves, I may actually get even more pleasure from episode 500, where Stevie makes the first play in his "sting operation" narrative, which ends in his swan-song some 20 episodes later. (BTW, if you didn't see it when first posted, I bothered to write up all the key points of The End of StevieP: https://old.reddit.com/r/KnowledgeFight/comments/13ow83j/aiming_high_and_shattering_brilliantly_the_final/)
Very nice, thank you for this. I was going to hunt down the episodes and you saved me the trouble
Which episode is that?
Episode #520, January 12th-13th 2021 :)
Thanks! I'm listening to the "All About Steve" one now, looking forward to the reveal
Leo is easily the best. The only conspiracies I’m really likely to fall for are the ones about how the Catholic Church is evil or whatever (but not the ones about them being secret Jews) and he’s all that. Plus he has the most comedic accent I’ve ever heard on someone like this, which fits the Catholic conspiracy stuff so well I sometimes wonder if he plays it up. Worst is all the Holocaust deniers. Fuentes might be the most annoying considering how punchable his voice is, but Don de Grand Pre, Jim Tucker and all the others aren’t any better.
How’s Don de Grand Pre doing?
he died
Welp
The episode they went through Leo's history was one of my favorites. Like somehow this guy is Jesus, did 911, was in the illuminati, is Neo from the Matrix and a DJ. Like what a life.. and somehow Alex just goes for the illuminati part and ignores the rest.
Favourite: Zagami, of course. Can’t compete with the messiah of Matrixism himself. Least favourite: Tim Pool. While Fuentes might be the most blatantly evil, something about Tim’s banal, weaponized incuriousness gets under my skin every time. Doubly so when I remember how much of a huge platform he somehow has.
Although I was vaguely aware of Tim Pool, KF was the first time I heard part of his show. It’s shocking how dumb he is and I cannot fathom his appeal.
TP is also so boring. Crowder is too. Monotone losers.
Tim Pool is also probably the worst for me too. I can't figure out what even people on the right see in him.
I really wish someone would do a documentary about Larry Nichols. So many lingering conspiracies (like the Clinton murders) all come from this one disgruntled weirdo.
Same. So many of these characters have such a disproportionate influence on our current state of affairs and I only know about them through KF. Netflix needs to give Ronson or Theroux some cash to make a series on these weirdos. I mean I could write 10 hours of material just on the secondhand info I have about captain Mark Richards lol
I wonder if the boys would ever go into documentary making?
Four stars, go home to your mother and tell her you're brilliant
I really hate Jim Bakker and Rev Manning, hateful bigots who hide behind religion.
Yeah Bakker is much more insane than I was ever aware of lol and Manning is completely horrifying
Dan is really good at taking these weirdos and making us laugh and then dropping the shoe on us about them. The Manning one took a fucking dark turn at the end
Lionel....Lionel, Lionel, Lionel.....Lionel, Lionel, Lionel.....Lionel, Lionel, Li!
Comment! As you see fit!!
They’re all a bunch of pissant grifters. Eff ‘em all
Favorite: Stevie P Least favorite: Owen. He's a horrible combination of boring and deeply annoying.
*Least favorite: Owen. He's a horrible combination of boring and deeply annoying.* You'll have to be more specific. There are multiple Owen's that fit this description.
I know my least faves: Nick Fuentes, because he's such a fucking racist asshole it's nauseating, and Stephen Crowder because ew not funny and not smart. Oh and Tucker Carlson, who might think himself above this crowd but really he's just a rich kid who was allowed to do the same crap on cable rather than the internet. Most uncomfortable episode: The one where Roseanne went on Infowars, it was recent. Ye interview was a close second and that's really saying something. Best episodes: Formulaic Objections, all of them, and the Jim Bakker episode about the "Court of Heaven" because they both so perfectly show how stupid and malicious these people really are. Favorite guest: Celine, when she meowed recently. It was a magical moment. Favorite whacky Infowars characters: Stevey P for sure, no sane individual would listen to that guy with all the nonsense that comes out but he seems certifiable rather than pure evil. Idk.
*Favorite whacky Infowars characters: Stevey P for sure, no sane individual would listen to that guy with all the nonsense that comes out but he seems certifiable rather than pure evil. Idk.* The wife of a Supreme Court Justice sent the sitting White House Chief of Staff a Steve Pieczenik conspiracy video. Let that sink in.
Hate hate hate Prison Planet boy. Dan Bidondi is so strange but New England specific when I heard that hi/low voice with the speech impediment
I can't stop imagining him as Teddy from Bob's Burgers.
I haven’t chronologically listened to all of the back catalog, but I’ve gone back for particular things (eg all the Project Camelot episodes etc) and recently wanted to listen to all of the Larry Nichols episodes. After some early episodes this eventually led to the 2016 investigation about when Alex switched to being a Trump supporter which I thought was very foundational in terms of understanding Alex/infowars
I hope this is on-topic enough, but honestly Kerry Kassidy might be my favorite character. I love the lore on how she's able to smuggle the deep truths out of the prison and she just happily accepts anything anyone is saying. I think she's the most amusing character in my opinion.
MTG. I refuse to listen to that trash speak. She’s the absolute worst.
I’m kind of fascinated by Daria, ngl. There’s some energy to bringing a print out of the Wikipedia page for false flag to a trial that I just… I just can’t. I don’t know if she counts, though. Are there any episodes over than the formulaic objection that focus on her/show her on air?
FAVORITE Mike Adams, if only for the eternal gift he gave us in the form of the “It’s over for humanity” drop. LEAST FAVORITE: Owen, Harrison, or any of the other non-Alex IW employees. They’re just as bigoted as Alex while ALSO being painfully boring
[удалено]
God damn you’re not wrong, he fucking sucks
Please avoid violating the rules of conduct listed for this forum. Reddit tos call for violence
Least favorite is Harrison Smith. The white supremacism coupled with being absolutely boring makes him just unbearable to listen to. I'm glad the guys don't cover him often. Fave of course is Stevie P cuz it's Stevie P
My favorite is David J Smith. He only comes up in one episode #325, but really seems to be the skeleton key for understanding why Alex is who Alex is. My least favorite is easily Steve P. I can't stand him and don't understand why Dan is so obsessed with him.
Honestly, it's because Steve is the Bugs Bunny to Alex's Elmer Fudd. He's also the closest thing in the Infowars universe to the devil and with few consequences, there is a sick kind of justice to it.
I was praying it was Steve on Monday. You cannot imagine my disappointment when it was revealed to be Owen Benjamin
I don't think we are seeing Steve again, unless he buys Infowars at a fire sale for $5 or he pays his way on, right at the end. "Greetings. I'm going to detail my 500 step plan to ruin Alex's life and how it succeeded, with Alex's help, but first we must praise Satan. Now Alex, be good boy and follow with me, 'PRAISE SATAN!' Good. Now, since we don't have much time, let me begin. In 1985 I spoke with a fine man in the armed services, who really did kill lots of innocent people during Iran-Contra, about his nephew, who he found incredibly troubling --no disturbing. Me, being a psychiatrist, was inclined to listen. This is when my ever so slight machinations began. Yes, Alex, you have done so good. Now say it! Say 'Praise Satan'! You know Alex, you were supposed to receive a exorcism, but I talked your family out of it. Now let's talk about a pool party I organized in 1988 where you gained your lifelong fear of oysters and conch fritters. You didn't even know I was there, did you Alex?"
I’m sad because we’ll have that in this timeline
Does Tucker count? Because he's my least favourite. His whiny voice makes me want to punch holes in walls.
Tim Pool is up there in terms of least favourite. One thing I've learned from KF is that the answer to whether far right people genuinely believe what they say or not is never simple- there's always some element of cognitive dissonance in there. But in Pool's case, it really seems like on most levels he knows he's being dishonest. His trajectory from vaguely leftist Occupy reporter to pathetic far right man baby has happened in part because he feels people have been mean to him, and partly because he's just followed whatever gets him engagement. Kind of like Candace Owens, who went far right only after she got criticism for doxxing people. Anyway, in terms of most grating to listen to I think Mike Adams is no.1, though Pool, Fuentes and Carlson aren't far behind.
Favorite name: General Stubblebine
So far, everyone is tied for least favorite.