On July 11th, 2017, Dan Hennen and I recorded a special broadcast giving our opinions on the first reviews of Erik Nelson’s documentary, A Gray State. Here are my notes associated with those rotten reviews.

FRANK SHECK

Sheck’s rotten review leaves the casual reader with a false impression that there are only two choices; either David killed his family, or the government is responsible for their deaths. Sheck’s review, just like all the others, completely ignores any other possibilities. Do you wonder why?

Overall, I find this review grossly irresponsible.

NICK SCHAGER

The article teases Komel’s complicity in the crimes and dabbles into the theory of a supernatural presence that had been following the Crowleys for over a year. Schager writes that David and Komel embarked “on a joint path of wholesale isolation (from everyone they knew) and [became] convinced they were being persecuted not only by the state, but also by otherworldly forces. Between that sort of lunacy and David’s filmmaking endeavor, which involved staging dog attacks on civilians and point-blank assassinations, it’s no surprise that young Raniya, in a candid video moment, is seen describing her and her parents’ imaginary murders in gruesome terms (“this room is bloody… the red man is going to get you”). It’s a stark illustration of how the mindset adopted by David (and his alt-right brethren) warps and corrupts. And the fact that, as a news reporter points out, Raniya’s morbid fantasy functioning as Shining-esque prophesy only further underlines how dreams of death and destruction often end by coming true.”

Overall, this article fails in its attempt to connect David Crowley to the “alt-right” and to Alex Jones. Still, it does a great job of making baseless allegations.

ANTHONY KAUFMAN

Kaufman ends the review by claiming Erik Nelson’s documentary reveals “the catastrophic ways in which both the government and the alt-right community failed a man and his family, and not in the ways that Alex Jones might think.” I think Kaufman failed his readers and should be ashamed of this foolish piece of writing.

Overall, this review tries to attach David and Komel to a pact-theory, to the alt-right label, to Alex Jones, and to Donald Trump. Try as you might, you have failed.

JASON BAILEY

We are back to the pact-theory, which seems to play a key role at the end of the documentary, A Gray State. Bailey calls the documentary a “sad story of a couple succumbing to despair, and to the same kind of paranoia that infused his work.”

Overall, this review is a harrowing portrait of a writer who needs to do more research before succumbing to assumptions about a case he knows very little about.

CHRIS BARSANTI

Several times in Chris Barsanti’s review, David is connected to the imaginary “alt-right” movement, without proof. But that is to be expected in these five reviews. Barsanti makes it sound as if all conspiracy theorists (whatever that keyword is supposed to mean to him) are not open to the possibility that David committed these crimes. That is simply not true.

Overall, I wonder if Barsanti truly believes David was a “murderous” “alt-right paranoiac” or if he realized an article about when fantasies kill equaled click-bait. Your guess is as good as mine.

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