Second Civil War

About

Second Civil War is a conspiracy theory espoused by infamous conspiracy theorist and media personality Alex Jones. Jones's belief that American democrats will declare war on their fellow American citizens on July 4th, 2018 has led to series of tweets, parodying the type of correspondence used during the American Civil War in the 1800s, using the hashtag #secondcivlwarletters.

Origin

On July 1st, 2018, Alex Jones tweeted ^[1] a video clip from The Alex Jones Show explaining that a second civil war would be started by democrats on July 4th. He tweeted, "BREAKING: Democrats Plan To Launch Civil War On July 4th." The post (shown below) received more than 2,000 retweets, 3,000 likes and 20,000 comments in two days.

Spread

Shortly after the tweet posted, many online mocked Jones for the theory. Twitter^[2] user @LiberalVenom sarcastically tweeted, "Attention Democrats Our meeting location has been compromised Initiate plan AlexJonesIsaNutjob NOW." The tweet (shown below, left) received more than 1,200 retweets and 14,000 likes in three days.

Throughout the day, people continued to make similar jokes, focusing on the idea that they did not hear about the war and hoping that it will be more akin to a cook out (examples below, center and right).

On July 2nd, Twitter^[3] user @amandablount2 tweeted, "My Dear John, The war isn't going as planned. Our supply trucks are limited. I'm out of wine and sunscreen. The enemy burned all the books and there is no place to recharge my Kindle. The only music is an old CD of Justin Bieber. – All is lost. #secondcivilwarletters." Within 24 hours, the tweet (shown below) received more than 930 retweets and 4,400 likes.

The tweet inspired others to tweet mock letters to loved ones during the imagined war, parodying the types of correspondences sent during the American Civil War and found in documentaries about the war. These tweets were catalogued under the #secondcivilwarletters hashtag. Several media outlets covered the reaction to Jones's tweet and the hashtag, including Detroit Free Press,^[4] The Daily Beast^[5] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References