(12/16/2006): A secondary cottage industry has emerged, those
eager to defend our government's 9/11 conspiracy theory against
all takers, namely the 9/11 Truth Movement. I've been puzzled
about why these groups are not making much progress, after all,
you have experts from MIT, the NIST report, the 9/11 Commissions
Report and various other publishing concerns like Skeptic
Magazine and Popular Mechanics all against a bunch of misfit
conspiracy nuts.
Seems like no contest. Perhaps they need to hire a PR firm?
Perhaps they should advertise the U.S. Department of State's
Bureau of International Information Programs web page designed
to help us
identify misinformation on Google? The advise found on the
site rules, "Research the allegations".
Skeptic Magazine had their shot at it on CSPAN. What a waste,
the opening argument and ultimate justification against the
conspiracy crowd was that it would take a competent President of
the U.S. to accomplish the evil deeds and since we all know that
President Bush is incompetent, that all 9/11 conspiracy theories
are false.
Research the allegations? Sounds like an Urban Legend to
me. That President Bush is incompetent is clearly either too
good to be true, or to terrible to be true.
The news media is fond of quoting a MIT professor who scratched
his head in thought prior to remarking, of course, that is the
only way a tall building weighing a million tons can come down,
into its footprint.
Research the allegations? OK, did the twin towers fall
into their footprints? Although not the stuff of an urban
legend, it is myth just the same. There are a number of
photographs available that clearly show pieces of the tower's
steel frame blown into nearby buildings. I seemed to have missed
the website identifying doctored photos, perhaps someone would
be kind enough to help my quest?
The NIST report went into great detail with the events leading
up to the actual collapse of the towers, concluding that once
collapse initiated, that the force was so great, that the towers
failed.
Research the allegations? That's a tough one, how do you
define a force so great? As an engineer, perhaps this question
is a bit more appreciated out of the intended political context
in which its meaning is clear. Or perhaps we witnessed a
miracle, the suspension of classical physics as we understand
it, an act of God.
Of course, the urban legend I love best is the purported video
tape of Bin Laden, gloating over his victory, claiming that his
engineers had calculated that crashing a 767 fully loaded with
fuel, would bring the towers down. Apparently Bin Laden
marshaled more engineering expertise planning the attack than we
have in analyzing the attack.
Does the story claim that vast, powerful, and evil forces are
secretly manipulating events?
It is the clear distain for engineering that bothers me the most
with regards to the political explanations. Few, if any of the
observed remnants of the collapse fit the simplified proposed
models of the collapse. Sure signs that something has been overlooked.
Other Favorite Urban Legends:
Secret Societies are benign, designed to keep the elites
entertained. They would never act to harm or control others.
Conspiracy theories are needed to console the masses about
issues to complex to be understood.
(09/05/2006): Several days ago I ran into an article by
Deck Deckert titled, "Conspiracy Nuts And 9/11", in which he declares, "I have some friends who
are conspiracy nuts." The current issue of TIME magazine is also
running a cover story titled, "Why
The 9/11 Conspiracies Won't Go Away" in which they declare
that 9/11 Conspiracy Theories are "a mainstream political
reality". Even Karl Rove jokes about the topic in public
speeches with his closest friends. And every aspiring academic
knows that - to be branded a "Conspiracy Nut", is the kiss of
death.
That a 9/11 conspiracy existed, is undisputed. As to the details
of the conspiracy theory, it would seem the jury is still out, five
years after the tragic event.
Throughout history, conspiracy theories have been closely linked
with "Secret
Societies", those formidable groups that the truly
elite
form and join to advance their own ideologies and passions.
Conspiracy theories have sprung up throughout history as the
non-elite try to make sense of the policy agendas that the elite
skillfully, sometimes brutally, bring to what is now referred
to as "The New World Order", e.g. Bush 41's Inaugural Address.
Perhaps the most revealing insight into "Conspiracy Theories"
was enumerated by
Daniel
Pipes during an interview for the
History Channel,
which documented secret societies, whereby Mr. Pipes states, (that
while) the vast majority of Conspiracy Theories are false, that
Conspiracy Theories are - how the elite society prefers to
operate.
So how did the elites bungle 9/11?
For a growing number of Americans, removed from the horror and
shock that was 9/11, a disturbing video of the collapse of
WTC7
is the smoking gun.
If I were teaching high school physics today, I would definitely
show this clip to my students and ask them, "What
is wrong with this clip?". I am betting, that all of them
would be able to clearly explain the situation. That building
collapsed at free fall speeds. In fact, if you look, you
will find that both of the twin towers did the same thing, e.g. fell
at near free-fall speeds. (Answer: the top floor could only
reach the ground at near free-fall speeds if all, or most of all
the floors below it were removed first.)
With the nativity of a child, the questions spill freely from
within.
Ron Suskind, while on his recent book tour, reminded us that
he keeps a video clip from "A Few Good Men" on his laptop. The
scene is "You can't handle the truth!", wherein Ron reminds us,
that throughout our history, all Americans can and do handle the
truth. It is the truth, that is the undeniable necessity of our
security and of our freedom.
So it is, dueling conspiracy theories (the proof of the correct
version is left up to the reader,
if
one exists). I do
feel compelled to offer a few hints:
Government Incompetence: A favorite of the un-initiated.
How does one become the world's only super power through
incompetence?
Government Inability to Keep Secrets: Lets see,
10,000-20,000 involved in the
Manhattan Project, no leak there.
Area 51, no leak there either.
Black Projects are so secret that not even their funding
can be traced! Pleeeaaassse... see #1
Government Faith: Opposites attract and enhance
(Bush/Osama), there are
at least 3 sources of faith (religion,
philosophical,
scientific), and is there a "war
of civilizations as neo-con
fundamentalism claims of Islamic fundamentalism? Or does the
rest of the world have legitimate grievances with how the
world's only super power
flexes its capitalistic muscle?
Government False Flag Operations: Notorious throughout
history. Our own
Operation Northwoods is perhaps the best motive for the JFK
assassination and the resulting
single bullet theory.
While all of this makes for fascinating and at times, entertaining
reading, and indeed after spending long hours doing so, it is
clear that, like the truth behind the assassination of JFK
over fifty years ago, no common man really knows, nor are we
likely to know the truth fifty years hence, the truth about
9/11.
The real question is, "Where do we go from here?"
The Great Conspiracy - The 9/11 News Special You Never
Saw - Part 1
While the individual parts of this news special are no longer available, you may view the entire program on Google Video. The transcript is also available in pdf format.
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