Why people are drawn to 9/11 conspiracy theories
Explore the Theoiries for Yourself
Take a look, if you can stand it, at video footage of the World Trade Center collapsing. Your eye will naturally jump to the top of the screen, where huge fountains of dark debris erupt out of the falling towers. But fight your natural instincts. Look farther down, at the stories that haven’t collapsed yet. In almost every clip you’ll see little puffs of dust spurting out from the sides of the towers. There are two competing explanations for these puffs of dust: 1) the force of the collapsing upper floors raised the air pressure in the lower ones so dramatically that it actually blew out the windows. And 2) the towers did not collapse from the impact of two Boeing 767s and the ensuing fires. They were destroyed in a planned, controlled demolition. The dust puffs you see on film are the detonations of explosives planted there before the attacks.
I’m generally a rational person, and most of my beliefs have rational underpinnings and explanations…and yet, when it comes to 9.11, the rationality I cherish seems to disappear. Five years later, it’s still difficult to wrap my head around the attacks that took place. The memories of that day seem as if they’re from another lifetime. Yes, I can remember virtually everything about where I was, what I was doing, and what I was thinking and feeling on 9.11.01, but the memory is nothing if not surreal…which pretty much makes me like every other American.
Over the ensuing five years, I’ve tried to come to grips with 9.11 and understand what took place on that horrific day…and I’ve come to the conclusion that it just simply isn’t possible, at least not for me. There are thousands of Americans, though, who are convinced that what we saw on 9.11 was only part of the story, the tip of the iceberg that, below the surface, implicates our government in the attacks. While I understand the need and the desire to achieve some degree of certainty concerning and understanding of what happened, some people seem willing to go to almost unimaginable lengths to prove their pet theory- that Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader and his evil henchmen were the powers behind the attacks, implicitly and perhaps even explicitly assisting the attackers. Why? To assist the Bush Administration in securing the means to justify a global war to create and foster worldwide American corporate hegemony…of which the war in Iraq is Exhibit A.
OK, I’ll admit it. I want to believe. The problem is that I just can’t. I detest Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader as much as anyone (and more than most), but it defies logic (and certainly my feeble History major’s understanding) to think that our government could be capable of pulling off such a series of coordinated attacks- and then maintaining absolute silence for the past five years.
We live in a country ruled by a tabloid news mentality, where secrets and rumors rule the roost and create Arbitron ratings. Most Americans can’t kept a secret for a few days. To think that thousands of Americans (and it would have taken thousands to coordinate and pull off these attacks in the manner alleged) have been absolutely silent for the past five years defies rational understanding and explanation. Unless this Administration somehow recruited and trained a secret army of hyper-loyal automatons willing to unquestioningly do ANYTHING Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader commanded, no matter how illegal or immoral, I cannot see how there is anything that conclusively implicates this government in the 9.11 attacks. I’m not saying that it isn’t possible. It certainly is, if only because there are so many more questions than answers…and Nature abhors a vaccuum. There are questions that will likely never have answers, and that’s why the “9.11 Truth Movement” will be with us ad infinitum.
Take a look, if you can stand it, at video footage of the World Trade Center collapsing. Your eye will naturally jump to the top of the screen, where huge fountains of dark debris erupt out of the falling towers. But fight your natural instincts. Look farther down, at the stories that haven’t collapsed yet.
In almost every clip you’ll see little puffs of dust spurting out from the sides of the towers. There are two competing explanations for these puffs of dust: 1) the force of the collapsing upper floors raised the air pressure in the lower ones so dramatically that it actually blew out the windows. And 2) the towers did not collapse from the impact of two Boeing 767s and the ensuing fires. They were destroyed in a planned, controlled demolition. The dust puffs you see on film are the detonations of explosives planted there before the attacks.
And there is the missile strike airplane that flew into the Pentagon. Questions, questions, questions…and damn few credible answers. I’m certainly not going to deride those who have spent countless hours searching for what they feel is the truth. It’s people like this that keep our government honest…as much as such a thing is possible anymore. Too many sheeple simply accept whatever pablum Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader is trying to spoon-feed them, unquestioning swallowing the Administration’s propaganda and talking points without so much as a critical thought. In this sense, conspiracy theorists perform a useful service- they THINK.
From where I sit, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered. Most of these questions never will be. 9.11 was an event of such scope and magnitude that it simply defies rational explanation. As much as I detest Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader, however, I’m not willing to make the leap of faith to convincing myself that our government was somehow involved in the 9.11 attacks…as much as I might like to do so. I want to believe. I just can’t.
Those who want to believe are completely convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt. Their faith and certainty is complete and rock-solid. Those who do not believe think the conspiracy theorists are a bunch of dateless wack jobs with far too much time on their hands. As with most things in our world, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle…but who knows exactly where?
I’m willing to listen. I want to believe. I just can’t. Not based on the flimsy evidence, rampant speculation, and fevered imagineering used to fuel the conspiracy theories curently in vogue on the Internet. As cynical and suspicious as I am, I just haven’t reached the point where I can assimilate a grand, overriding conspiracy theory. Sometimes, there just aren’t rational explanations available.
I want to believe. I just can’t.
