Who are the Oath Keepers, and what are they doing in Ferguson, MO?

They claim to be an organisation of “Patriots” who refuse, and encourage others to refuse, “unconstitutional orders”.
Of course, they did not exist during the time when Bush enacted the “Patriot” act.
They did not exist when you invaded 2 countries in violation of international law.
They did not exist when the Guantanamo Concentration Camp was created.

No, they formed right after Obama was elected.
They have been silent the whole time while their black co-citizens get murdered by police.
And now they show up at Ferguson to stand against their black co-citizens.

They are a right wing, racist militia formed in opposition to Obama.

They are a bunch of gun toting, provocative trouble makers from out of town, who have no business being there and making matters worse.

The difference between them and the other gun toting, provocative trouble makers from out of town, who have no business being there and making matters worse, is that they are not looting the appliance stores.

A bunch of right wing morons looking to play G.I. Joe. From what I’ve read and heard most of them are military wash-outs who are upset that they never got their chance to play hero.

If they are supporters of/believers in the crap that Alec Jones is slinging, that doesn’t speak well for their general intelligence level.

That guy is a loudmouth nutbar. If I go to a website and see any hint of an affiliation with him or any of his websites, I know to discount anything I have read there and I move on.

Judgemental much? Yup, I have better judgement than to believe anything associated with Jones.

They’re right wing gun toting nuts making a bad situation worse. When we need restraint and calm trust the idiots from both sides to come out in droves.

@ragingloli They are a right wing, racist militia…
@josie They are a bunch of gun toting, provocative trouble makers from out of town
@Darth_Algar A bunch of right wing morons looking to play G.I. Joe
@Buttonstc supporters of/believers in…(t)hat…loudmouth nutbar.
@Adirondackwannabe They’re right wing gun toting nuts…

And I think we have an unbiased consensus!~

I never claimed to be unbiased. I admit to it freely. If it’s associated with Alec Jones, I want no part of it.

Have you ever heard one of this guy’s tirades?

@Buttonstc I was being facetious (thus tilde [~] at the end of the sentence).

Oh yes, I have, or I have heard part of some; I could never stand to stay through the whole rant! I’m thinking the Oath Keepers are probably as reactionary as Alec Jones.

@Yetanotheruser In the midst of your facetiousness, seems like you raise an interesting question: is accurately describing the nature of a group a form of bias, or is it high quality common sense? (My answer: the latter.)

Sorry, I missed the little tilde. I was reading too fast.

The first time I heard Jones I couldn’t believe it. It was in a news interview. It was Piers Morgan, when he had his own show, if I remember correctly and he was honestly trying to have a debate with Jones regarding guns.

(obviously, being British, Morgan thinks the gun culture here in the US is pretty over the top) but he was doing his best to be polite to the guy and try to stick to the issue at hand.

I was like dealing with a rabid dog. Jones was yelling at the top of his lungs the entire time, wouldn’t answer a simple question and just kept going on this ridiculous tirade.

And Morgan was being restrained and absent his usual superciliousness. When he’s in a news type environment (vs. judging a talent show) he’s actually a pretty decent interviewer and an organized and logical debater, despite his sleazy tabloid reputation.

But Jones was just incredible with the shouting and ranting and finally Morgan realized it was a fruitless endeavor so he went on to other guests who were able to make their points on respect for the rights of gun owners in a logical manner. And it turned out to be a decent discussion of both sides of the issue.

But that was the first time I’d ever heard Jones and he did himself no favors, at least in my opinion. I’m surprised anyone listens to him at all. He is just an ignorant, intolerant opinionated jerk.

@sahID is accurately describing the nature of a group a form of bias, or is it high quality common sense?

Good point. I asked myself that same question while composing the OP. I was really trying to put my own bias (usually referred to as liberal/progressive) aside, but the more I read about them, and what seem to be similarities to people like Alec Jones, the more difficult I found it not to be biased.

“But that was the first time I’d ever heard Jones and he did himself no favors, at least in my opinion. I’m surprised anyone listens to him at all. He is just an ignorant, intolerant opinionated jerk.”

And that’s why people listen to him. Well that and he nurtures their delusions. I think some people want to feel persecuted and Alex Jones feeds that want. That and by listening to Jones they get to feel like they’re part of only a few people who know and understand the truth that everyone else is oblivious to. Makes them feel special.