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Paul Joseph Watson (born 24 May 1982), also known as PJW, is an English YouTube personality, radio host, writer, editor, and conspiracy theorist. He has been described as 'alt-right' by multiple sources, though he does not associate himself with that label, instead identifying himself with the "New Right". He publishes content that is critical of Islam, feminism, pop culture and left-wing politics.

He is the editor-at-large of Infowars.com, an online publication that promotes conspiracy theories about American and international politics, and a contributor to Infowars' talk radio programme The Alex Jones Show, where he occasionally either hosts or co-hosts instead of or with radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Watson has been working on Infowars.com since October 2002. As of August 2017, he has over one million subscribers on his political YouTube channel.

Political stance

Watson, along with Jones and Infowars as a whole, used to discuss conspiracy theories such as Chemtrails, the New World Order and the Illuminati before switching to material against feminism, Islam, and left-wing politics. In an interview, Watson recalled, "I've talked about some quite fruity things in the past in my younger days, in terms of conspiracy theories. We don't all believe what we believed ten years ago." Watson has been described as a member of "the new far-right" by The New York Times, who wrote in August 2017 that his "videos are straightforward nativist polemics, with a particular focus on Europe" and also noted his opposition to modernist architecture and modern art.

Watson previously described himself as a libertarian, and supported Ron Paul in the 2012 U.S. presidential election. In a 2016 tweet, he said he no longer considered himself a libertarian because Gary Johnson "made the term an embarrassment." In a post to Facebook in November 2016, Watson described himself as being a member of the "New Right," which he considers to be distinct from the alt-right. He claims that the alt-right "likes to fester in dark corners of sub-reddits and obsess about Jews, racial superiority and Adolf Hitler." He and Mike Cernovich have feuded with figures such as Richard B. Spencer and David Duke who see white nationalism as necessary for the alt-right; the more nationalist part of the movement refers to the former as alt-lite.

Watson has also referred to himself as a conservative, and he considers modern day conservatism to be a counter-cultural movement.

Although he endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Watson declared in an April 6, 2017 tweet he was "officially OFF the Trump train" following the president's decision to launch missile strikes on Syria in response to a gas attack several days earlier, believing Trump had reneged on his promise to not intervene in Syria. After a decrease in Twitter followers occurred, he denied he had "turned on Trump," saying he was "off the Trump train in terms of Syria." He declared in a separate tweet he would shift his focus on ensuring French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen of the National Front would be elected in the 2017 election, in which she was ultimately defeated.

In the media

In 2016, he was an early proponent of the allegations that Hillary Clinton suffers from numerous serious medical conditions. Watson's part in the manufacture and popularization of the rumour was covered in the mainstream media as part of a discussion of the role of rumour and conspiracy theory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

In February 2017, he offered via Twitter to pay any journalist who thinks Sweden is safe to visit the country and stay in the 'crime ridden migrant suburbs' of Malmö. Many journalists took him up on the offer, and Watson chose New York journalist and videographer Tim Pool, who was already planning a similar investigation. Watson provided $2,000 USD to Pool for the trip. Tim Pool also ran a fundraiser to fund an investigation into other 'no-go zones' in other areas of Sweden and Europe.

Personal life

Watson was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England where he grew up on a council estate. In a November 2016 interview with The Tab, he described his adolescence as "not particularly conventional", and said that he exercised for three hours each day and drank very little alcohol. One of his first jobs was cleaning toilets at a sports arena, but he gave this up to concentrate on InfoWars and his website PropagandaMatrix.

References

1. "An interview with Paul Joseph Watson". The Tab Sheffield. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2017-03-07.
2. ^ Macbain, Hamish (1 March 2017). "Are these the faces of London's young 'alt-right'?". Evening standard magazine.
3. "Contact Information". Propagandamatrix.com.
4. ^ Cheadle, Harry (26 August 2016). "How Conspiracy Theories About Hillary Clinton's Health Went Mainstream". Vice. British conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson
5. Mark Townsend (February 11, 2017). "Britain's extremist bloggers helping the 'alt-right' go global, report finds". The Guardian. London-based Paul Watson, described as white supremacist and "editor, staff writer" for the conspiracy website InfoWars ... is named as a central disseminator of the conspiracy theory concerning Hillary Clinton having debilitating health issues ... During a series of unashamedly conspiratorial videos that were viewed millions of times, Watson, originally from Sheffield, suggested Clinton might have had syphilis, brain damage and Parkinson's disease as well as alleging she was a drug abuser.
6. David Weigel (August 28, 2017). "The alt-right's take on Clinton's speech: Botched, but legitimizing". Washington Post. For the alt-right and its allies ... the speech helped elevate a fringe. In videos, Jones and his colleagues at InfoWars portrayed her as a sickly, doddering figure of desperation. ... InfoWars contributor Paul Joseph Watson...
7. ^ "Alt-right editor challenges journalists to visit Sweden". BBC News. 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-08-10. Paul Joseph Watson, the UK-based editor of far-right conspiracy website Infowars
8. "Alt-right commentator gets 'schooled' by historian over diversity in Roman Britain". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
9. "The alt-right's views of Trump are getting kind of complicated after his Syria strike". 2017-04-10. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
10. "This Alt-Right Blogger Said Sweden Is Crime-Ridden And Now People Are Trolling Him With Memes". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
11. ^ Pearce, Matt. "The 'alt-right' splinters as supporters and critics agree it was white supremacy all along".
12. ^ Wilson, Jason (24 May 2017). "How rightwing pundits are reacting to the Manchester attack". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2017. Paul Joseph Watson, Alex Jones's British mini-me, has followed the same broad path that the rest of the organization has. He was never on the left, of course, but over time his commentary has focused less and less on the Illuminati and chemtrails, and more and more on pushing a stridently anti-Muslim, anti-feminist and anti-left message.
13. Infowars’ Paul Joseph Watson can’t get anything right Salon
14. Moser, Bob (21 August 2017). "How YouTube Became the Worldwide Leader in White Supremacy". New Republic. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
15. "Paul Joseph Watson FULL interview: Mass immigration, left-wing hate and Brexit". YouTube. 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2017-09-19.
16. Herrman, John (2017-08-03). "For the New Far Right, YouTube Has Become the New Talk Radio". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
17. Lynch, Conor (23 December 2016). "Donald Trump and the libertarians: Why have so many people who claim to love freedom embraced a strongman?". Salon.
18. "InfoWars' Big Alt-Right Breakup With Richard Spencer—and the KKK". The Daily Beast. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
19. Walter, Damien (18 February 2017). "There's a very simple reason why the alt-right is not the new counterculture". The Independent.
20. Withey, Josh (8 April 2017). "Paul Joseph Watson in humiliating U-turn after losing hundreds of followers". indy100. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
21. Greenwood, Max (7 April 2017). "Syria strike disappoints Trump backers in media". The Hill. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
22. Jamieson, Amber (26 August 2016). "Conspiracy central: the activists painting Clinton as a sick, terrorist-friendly killer" – via The Guardian.
23. Collins, Ben (9 August 2016). "'Is Hillary Dying' Hoax Started by Pal of Alex Jones".
24. ^ Roden, Lee (21 February 2017). "Far-right editor's offer to pay travel costs to 'crime-ridden Malmö' backfires as dozens accept". The Local Sweden.
25. Bowden, George (20 February 2017). "Paul Joseph Watson's Twitter Offer For Journalist Trip To Sweden Spectacularly Backfires". Huffington Post.
26. ^ Bowden, George (21 February 2017). "Paul Joseph Watson Comes Good On Twitter Offer To 'Investigate Malmo, Sweden, Crimes'". Huffington Post.
27. "Paul Joseph Watson on Twitter".
28. "An interview with Paul Joseph Watson". 7 November 2016.
29. Worswick, Marie-Elise (7 November 2016). "Meet the pro-Trump YouTuber from Sheffield who's impacting the U.S. Election". The Tab.
30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmYOA_pvZIw
31. http://www.propagandamatrix.com/

External links

• Paul Joseph Watson's channel on YouTube
• Paul Joseph Watson on Twitter

• British conspiracy theorists
• British bloggers
• Living people
• People from Sheffield
• English YouTubers
• Alt-right
• New Right (Europe)
• Critics of multiculturalism
• Critics of the European Union
• Critics of Islam
• Male critics of feminism
• Conservatism in the United Kingdom
• Opposition to Islam in the United Kingdom
• 1982 births