CONSPIRACY CRANKS: CREATING CRAZED ‘9/11 TRUTH’
Posted by Ron Ballew under People, Political Philosophy at 8:45 pm.I have been trying to figure out why so many people have fallen for conspiracy theories about 9-11. There seems to be an inherent distrust in anything American and a deep antipathy towards Bush. Why? I am not sure, it is possible in our relativistic society, that conservatives are mistrusted because they actually do believe in a yes or no, especially the issues on abortion, homosexual rights, war etc. (not that consevatives have a lock on truth). It is easy to turn someone who believes there is an absolute standard for right and wrong into the “bad guy” who desires to ruin our fun or freedom or whatever someone wants to call it.
I realise that the extreme right can also be blinded by their own ideology, and are dangerous (remember Timothy McVeigh?). However, it is a stretch to believe that George W. Bush is anything remote to a Timothy McVeigh. The polarisation and hatred emanating from conspiracy theorists seems to be almost pathological. Notice I am speaking about conspiracy theorists here and not just the left. They mistrust a president and political party so much that what they want to believe is more important than truth. There is an ignorance about Islam that cannot be ignored. Anyone who is not a Muslim is the enemy. We (the United States) are the enemy simply because we do not practice Islam. Under Islam there can be no separation of church and state. This ignorance mixed with a paranoid fear of conservatism has bred something ridiculous.
Bush/Halliburton/Zionist/CIA/New World Order/Illuminati conspiracy for world domination. That day, Popular Mechanics, the magazine I edit, hit newsstands with a story debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories. Within hours, the online community of 9/11 conspiracy buffs - which calls itself the “9/11 Truth Movement” - was aflame with wild fantasies about me, my staff and the article we had published. Conspiracy Web sites labeled Popular Mechanics a “CIA front organization” and compared us to Nazis and war criminals. For a 104-year-old magazine about science, technology, home improvement and car maintenance, this was pretty extreme stuff. What had we done to provoke such outrage?
Research. Read More.
September 13th, 2006 at 9:01 am
I was fascinated by State Dept. rebuttal and NIST rebuttal to various 9/11 conspiracy theories (CT).
Also, google on MIHOP, an acronym for Made It Happen On Purpose. And we also recall the scurrilous rumor which spread around the Arab street immediately post 9/11 that the Mossad did it, and that all Jewish WTC employees “got the word” and were not at their desks.
An article I read recently on this very subject leads me away from partisan ideology as the explanation for these and other CT (JFK, Bay of Pigs, Reagan assassination attempt, Carter Iran rescue fiasco; there is even a theory that the tsunami was caused by Indian government nuclear tests). I wish I could find the cite; it may be have been via the Financial Times.
The insight goes like this. 9/11 and these other events are incredibly important and life-changing, so our subconscious wants to find an equally complex explanation. The official explanations don’t satisfy: One lone gunman can’t have taken down a young charismatic president; a few terrorist cells couldn’t demolish two towers and severely damage the Pentagon; all those UFO sightings can’t all be weather balloons; those Christians must have had something to do with Rome’s fires.
September 13th, 2006 at 10:31 am
AP -
Amen!
Ron -
I guess their explanation for PM’s silence for, what - 10 decades, is that you guys were covert but have now been released to wreck havoc?
It is so sad to see otherwise intelligent people fall for these theories. I’ve a Christian friend who believes absolutely in the FRC, Illuminati, Masons, Papacy, Skull & Bones nexus. No amount of reasoning will turn him.
However, all that said, I do believe there will come a day when we will see the “real” messengers as boys who cried wolf and do our best to silence the message … “thus saith the Lord!”
Good post!
September 13th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
As one who has never met a conspiracy theory he did not like. And as a person who believes that all conspiracy theories cancel out all other conspiracy theories, I am baffled by all this Bush hatred. I do not have enough faith in the US government to believe that they could pull off the destruction of the World Trade Center without some high level official spilling the beans.
All the best,
Ken Schlichenmeyer
January 28th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Be sure to check out the book “Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory” due out in March by Dr. David Ray Griffin.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781566566865&itm=2
http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-11-Mechanics-Defenders-Conspiracy/dp/156656686X/sr=1-4/qid=1168895874/ref=sr_1_4/102-3028549-2492937?ie=UTF8&s=books