#3013: J.D. Heyes

JD Heyes is a fringe conspiracy theorist and contributor to insane conspiracy outlets like NaturalNews, where he primarily focuses on conspiracy theories related to Covid-19 (“Covid-19 bioweapons”), climate change denialism (climate alarmism is a “real mental disorder”), 9/11 trutherism, and various wingnut conspiracies targeted especially on Biden (e.g. the risk that “leftist tyrants” like then-president Biden might use “emergency” measures to promote his agenda – funny that). In particular, Heyes appears to have been instrumental in the creation of the NaturalNews project Hoggwatch.com, the purpose of which was to smear and spread conspiracy theories about David Hogg and other survivors of the Parkland shooting.

 

Many of Heyes’s beliefs are presumably on display e.g. in the list he and Ethan Huff compiled of the NaturalNews “recipients of the 2015 Journalist Courage Awards” and “recipients of 2015 Celebrity Hall of Shame Awards”: Heyes falsely believes e.g. that vaccines cause autism, all manner of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories about GMOs, and that, apparently, all and every scientist with real credentials who defend conclusions based on research and evidence about anything are in some sort of vast conspiracy against paranoid fundie wingnuts like himself. More details here.

 

In particular, Heyes dislikes Wikipedia. Responding to a complaint by the lunatic fringe organization the Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology (ACEP) that Wikipedia correctly describes “energy psychology”, “energy medicine” and “emotional freedom techniques” as pseudoscience, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said that “if you can produce evidence through replicable scientific experiments, then Wikipedia will cover it appropriately. What we won’t do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of ‘true scientific discourse’. It isn’t.” That kind of view obviously riled Heyes, and insofar as he couldn’t quite manage defend ACEP on scientific grounds, he – true to form – decided to go big on conspiracy instead.

 

Diagnosis: Yes, you know the kind. The wild-eyed angry, paranoid and delusional clown, the kind most of us dread being stuck in conversation with or run into at family gatherings. Heyes’ set of beliefs about the world appears to be almost perfectly complementary to the facts, but that, of course, doesn’t prevent him from enjoying an audience.