By Craig McKee
Is standing up for what you believe worth losing friends over?
Sometimes those friends don’t give you a choice. Other times, you can decide to stay away from certain subjects with certain people.
Recently I parted ways with two people I’ve known for more than a quarter of a century. Admittedly, we haven’t hung out for some time, but we do have a history. I don’t think we’re going to be adding to it, though.
In fact, there are five people I connected with on Facebook who are no longer among my online friends. The short version of the story is that they don’t much like my opinion that 9/11 was an inside job and a false flag operation. But they took it further.
Over the weekend of September 8-11, I was attending the Toronto 9/11 Hearings when I made this comment on FB: “So, according to the U.S., a “specific” and “credible” threat has emerged about a terror attack in NY. But there’s a “great deal of uncertainty” and the warning is being done “out of an abundance of caution.” When are people going to see this bullshit for what it is?? Social control and manipulation through fear!”
So far so good. One of my buddies retorted: “Yup, yet another grand scheme by American authorities. Maybe you should spend just a little of your time this weekend considering the 2700+ dead and their families?”
It was the old, “How can you disrespect the victims and their families by questioning 9/11?” argument. It’s not enough that these friends think I’m wrong, they also think that at long last I have left no sense of decency. Or something like that.
It got worse: “Craig, I consider myself open minded and have read up on the conspiracy theories (Griffin et.al.) and feel that the authors (sorry but this includes you) have a bizarre agenda to create so called ‘fact’ out of conjecture. I have yet to read anything really compelling –it all seems like acute paranoia. Sorry if you feel insulted by my comments.”
I love it when people add an apology after they’ve just trashed you. It’s as if they only meant the trashing in the nicest possible way. Of course, I’m flattered to share a “bizarre agenda” with David Ray Griffin, although I’m not sure he’s thrilled to be sharing one with me.
This exchange ended here, but this person, who I’ll call unfriend #1, would make a return on the back of an even more colourful full frontal attack from another longtime friend-like person. We’ll call him unfriend #2.
I posted a link last week showing that the FAA monitoring system on Sept. 11, 2001 was indicating that Flight 175 was still airborne after it was alleged to have crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
I suggested that this was further evidence that commercial airliners with passengers did NOT hit the WTC. Someone I used to work with wrote back, “Get real.” He unfriended me immediately (we would call him unfriend #3, but he doesn’t actually come back into the story). Unfriend #2 called my comment “reprehensible,” which got a “like” from unfriend #1.
Unfriend #2 went on: “It is an irresponsible and dangerous opinion, I believe. Luckily you live in a country that you are allowed opinions no matter how ridiculous and not be thrown in jail. I know exactly why you were unfriended – you bully anyone who thinks differently than you and my blood pressure goes up when I read your conspiracy ‘stuff’ I consider you a friend from way back but I think you have become obsessed and unhealthy.”
Yes, how lucky we all are not to be thrown in jail. How nice to be “allowed” our opinions. On old high school friend, who I’ve connected with again through FB, came to my rescue: “Craig has never ‘bullied” me or anyone I know. He expresses and discusses his opinions but does not “impose” them. The people that feel pressured could just be reacting with immaturity because they do not want others to have differing opinions from their own.”
Maybe there’s hope after all, I thought.
Unfriend #2 ended with this announcement: “To me you have unfortunately become obsessed and any obsession is very unhealthy. I am de-friending you for no other reason except my health. I cannot stand your opinion and yes, you do have a right to your opinion. It’s just that I really do feel sick when I think of you and others actually believing some of this stuff.”
So now I’m dangerous, obsessed and suffering from acute paranoia (very unhealthy indeed) I’m already down two friends, and I decide that I’m disgusted enough with both unfriend #1 and #2 that I officially “unfriend” #2 and then block them both. Three down.
Actually, it’s really five down. Last fall there was another exchange.
From an acquaintance I obviously didn’t know well enough: “Not long ago the conspiracy theorist came out from whatever rock they live under concerning 9/11 towers being blown up by the government………..my opinion is it is utter nonesense and hurtful to people who lost loved ones that day. Besides if if if it was the government do you really think all the people involved in doing such a horific event could keep such a secret……….surely one of those people now no longer in government, someone in cia fbi nsa………hasn’t written a book in order to cash in and become a bmillionaire !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next you’ll be telling me Saddam Insane was really a nice guy, who cared about humanity and the greater well being of our planet………..and was not really hung and lives in Akron Ohio working in a walmart…………so Craig take your theories and shove them where the sun don’t shine.”
Okay, he’s not William F. Buckley, but he makes up for it with sheer dull-witted venom. (I got a laugh out of “nonesense” at least.)
Another FB friend joined in: “When you fear mongers attack peoples emotions and psyche, expect to be targetted in return, cause in the long run you guys are just as evil as the governments you try to attack. When theories are debunked, you call them closed mind yet you want them all to accept the shit you spew.”
I told him to apologize for calling me evil; he didn’t, so he’s now unfriend #4. In person, however, we are now “friendly.”
Should I treat 9/11 just like any other subject I’m interested in, and mention it only once in a while? At one time maybe, but, as Geena Davis said near the end of Thelma and Louise, “Something has crossed over in me, and I can’t go back.”
Learning about 9/11, especially since starting this blog, has changed me forever, because it has helped me to connect so many dots I couldn’t connect before. It has helped me to see how so much chaos, violence, and misery is artificially caused by the very powerful elite that runs a good chunk of the world.
9/11 is like the doorway to a shadowy world of control, manipulation and deception. The elites revealed themselves to us with this atrocity, kind of like when the Klingons have to de-cloak to fire on their enemies. But most of us weren’t paying attention when it happened. We’re still not.
This destructive event was the work of people who have a cynical contempt for all of us, for freedom and decency. We’re cattle, or more likely sheep, to these people. They hold all the cards. They have most of us believing that anyone who questions how freedom and human decency are being corrupted is a wack job or doesn’t care about victims. The elites have successfully made the word “conspiracy” seem like a synonym for delusional fantasy.
I have a friend in Toronto who I visited while I was there in September. I met this person while we were both attending York University, and we’ve been close friends ever since. She was someone who opened my eyes to a lot of injustice in the world – my safe, middle-of-the-road political views have never been the same.
But in Toronto I got a rude shock. Not only did my progressive and brilliant friend not agree with me about 9/11, she didn’t even think it mattered that much. Ya, the U.S. might have found out about the plot and let it happen, she allowed, but so what?
I spent a good part of our visit, too much of it really, trying to convince her she was wrong. But in the end, she maintained that I was wasting much time I could be spending making the world better in some concrete, practical way.
This taught me a hard truth. If I really believe in what I’m saying and writing about, then I’m going to have to be prepared to go there alone at times. I’m going to have to decide when to put away what I care about to get along and when to put truth ahead of everything. Sure, many friends are supportive (even if they don’t agree), and I’ve met new friends from all over the world who believe as I do.
But in the end, the passion I have for exposing what I believe to be the truth about 9/11 comes with no guarantee of moral support or any other kind of support.
Many around the world have paid an infinitely higher price for 9/11. Those killed that day, those killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Millions of lives have been destroyed based on a massive and obscene lie. And freedoms we all take for granted are being stolen away right under our noses.
Losing a few friends isn’t such a great price to pay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuC_4mGTs98&feature=youtu.be
This is a great video. Everybody should see it.
Children sit on the fence on grown up issues … adults make decisions based on evidence. I would bet most of these boot licking supplicants mentioned in your article are too afraid to have actually ever considered the big picture.
Absolutely. Their “truth” is so deeply ingrained that they can’t consider any ideas that challenge their safe world.
I don’t understand the response of some people to 9/11 truth.
I had a friend here in the U.S. who was a conservative, honored the Constitution, was a proponent of civil liberties, etc. We parted ways when I mentioned 9/11 – this guy literally swore in my office – !
I was shocked at his response – it was as if I had told him the moon was made of green cheese. He said that people like me hurt the conservative movement! He left very angry.
Marty, when emotion drives people’s responses rather than thoughtful consideration of the facts, we know we’re in trouble.
Interesting that you should have that experience with someone coming from a conservative point of view. People coming from “the left” (like Barrie Zwicker) have gone into some depth as to the cognitive-dissonance of many “leftists,” especially leading voices like Noam Chomsky, Amy Goodman, and so on.
It’s across the spectrum, including people who are quite conscious of the crime that is American-NATO Imperialism.
This is a very important conversation. I hope the “psychologists for 9-11 truth” are able to build some constructive energy/momentum around their contributions; and if I may, I think we need to go beyond just calling this a matter of “emotion,” and ask: why are people retreating from rational investigation into emotion?
A number of points are given below, (fear of non-conformity, lack of confidence, laziness, etc); but I think a more-illuminating perspective is gained when we put the matter of our indoctrination into its historical perspective.
i.e. brutal, authoritarian society has been crushing the spirit of individuals, (en masse) for THOUSANDS of years… so much so that each new generation inherits a distorted assumption of human potential, and thinks of it as “normal.”
In short, people lose their ability to think rationally because they’re in too much emotional pain, living in a society which gives them no way to express/release/heal.
To get to the bottom of this, (in order to speak to people at the place of emotional yearning) we need to re-examine EVERYTHING.
Thanks Craig, great article.
You can count me as your friend.
James,
I agree with you that the denial is across the board; this is one of the things that that has led me to re-evaluate many of my long-held beliefs about right vs. left. I am probably in the same political category as Barrie Zwicker (or I certainly have been, anyway). I grumbled about the Democrats but found them to be hugely preferable to the Republicans.
But 9/11 seems to have opened me up to a great deal. I now see both U.S. major political parties as being equally destructive – and I see them both as being part of the greater deception about who really wields power.
I have written about the utter failure of major left figures like the ones you mentioned (I wrote a post about Bill Moyers a few months back and another about Michael Moore). And I see it in friends who I thought of as “left.”
The fascinating thing has been to see my more conservative friends and my more liberal ones equally in denial about 9/11, globalization, and related subjects. In some ways, I’m angrier at the left wing friends because they now strike me as being hypocritical. They love to talk about how terrible George W. was, and they think Obama is different – that’s he’s imperfectly doing his best to rectify was Bush screwed up. He’s not. In some ways, Obama is even worse (destroying civil liberties, surveillance, etc.)
Anyway, thanks very much for your support and encouragement. I look forward to future comments.
You have grown since you forged those friendships. they were based on things far less important that what moves you now. Perhaps those friends helped you to get to this new place Craig, just as you are helping others now, and perhaps them in the long run. Though people resist change, friendships change, just like anything else. There is an abiding love however. Your friends should know that.
I think you put it very nicely, George.
And you’re right – the initial basis for these friendships was not really that strong. I really only reconnected with them because of Facebook. FB can block “natural selection” from happening with friends. Some friendships evolve, others go extinct. My real friends support me even when they don’t agree with me. But sometimes it takes something like this to really find out who will stick with you even when it’s not easy.
In January 2006, I visited my high school – a Jesuit college-prep school. Periodically during my college and beyond years, I’d pop in to my high school just to say hello to old teachers and chew the fat a little, updating them on my life. So on this visit I brought up 9/11 truth, having been an activist since the previous year. Most were open and receptive. But my sophomore English teacher reacted much more defensively.
After telling her that my political interests had taken me down the 9/11 rabbit hole, I started discussing LIHOP evidence. I didn’t have a chance to get to the MIHOP evidence, because as soon as I mentioned the possibility of US officials even doing as much as deliberately looking the other way, she cut me off and said “Why are ya so paranoid?”
(And the look on her face basically said, “Oh, my darling honey, you have gone off the deep end. Take some Prozac and some Lithium, and make yourself a nice cup of hot chocolate, take a nice hot bath, and think about rainbows and sunshine and puppy dogs.” Her expression was that of genuine sympathy for a clinically mentally ill patient.)
I started mentioning WTC7 and how it was CD. Without missing a beat, she said, “How do you know?” When I started talking about how if it looks like a duck, walks like, talks like, and quacks like, then it’s a duck. I then started to mention Silverstein, but at that point, my words were going right over her head.
(What I think was telling was how she said “How do you know?” without even missing a beat. No pause on her part, no double take; no consideration that a third building came down. It didn’t surprise, faze, or even interest her that more than two buildings were destroyed. She clearly fell into that “less than 30% open mind” category that DRG spoke of in his original New Pearl Harbor; anything I said must have by default been wrong.)
Her expression was morphing from sympathy, to disbelief, to outright disgust. After I came to the end of a sentence, hence a brief pause in my voice, but before fully finishing the thought I was trying to convey (which required another complete sentence), she said: “Sounds like you need to go play some music.”
I told her that in a couple weeks I’d come back with a burned copy of Confronting the Evidence (a 2004 truth conference in Manhattan) and it would open her eyes. She gave me a tentative OK, followed by, “This is isn’t like ‘The Holocaust Didn’t Happen’, is it?” I tried to assure her there was no similarity; nobody’s saying 9/11 didn’t happen, just that we were questioning who was really responsible.
SO: Fast forward a couple weeks when I returned to the school and left a copy of CTE in the Social Studies department. Then I returned to my English teacher and said “Remember how I said I’d come back with a DVD?” She grabbed the cover of my master copy of Confronting the Evidence, looked at it for LESS THAN A SECOND, and then gave me this look of annoyed disgust, as if to say How dare you waste five seconds of my life with this crap!
She said to me, “Listen, I’m sorry, I’m going to have to be blunt and put my foot down with you. I find that to be propaganda.” I said, ” Excuse me?” Pointing her finger at my chest, she continued: “This stuff has been around for years. You’re just now gettin’ into it. You are a grown man, you’re free to do what you want to do and explore what you will, and I’m not demeaning you, but *I* am NOT interested in THAT.” With that, she started walking into the class that she was about to start teaching.
That was 2006. She went from being someone I looked forward to popping in to visit, to being someone I never wanted to speak to again.
Incidentally, even though the history teachers didn’t have such a reaction, I urged any or all of them to contact me (I gave my email etc.) after having watched the DVD. I never heard from any of them.
Wow, your teacher had much the same reaction as my friends. They also seem to think I’m in need of some kind of professional counselling, I think.
They had the same reaction to my 9/11 opinions: a condescending kind of sympathy along with complete disgust.
Another friend I didn’t mention, who is not totally closed on the subject, kept asking how I knew everything I was saying was really true. On Operation Northwoods, he wanted to know how I could be certain that the scanned document on the Internet was really from the Joint Chiefs of Staff and not a hoax. My father used to use that argument a lot. Any piece of evidence you give them, they say, “But how do you know that information is real?” I was tempted to ask my friend how he could be sure that World War I happened. How does he know all those books and documentaries weren’t just made up? I mean unless you were there yourself…
Craig,
Thanks for the reply. I remember her words, verbatim, were “I find that to be propaganda.” If I could go back in time and relive that experience, I’d be tempted to say:
“That’s the whole bloody point, woman! You haven’t FOUND a damn thing!”
Yes, and the guy who took the time to read Griffin but hasn’t found him “compelling.” He didn’t mention anything specific because he doesn’t have anything. That just what Jonathan Kay said to me. Griffin’s books are full of “factoids.”
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and swims like a duck…then it’s a duck.
A lot of ducks make that mistake during the hunting season.
Dear Mr. McKee,
I sympathize with you on the unfriending. I could tell such stories as well.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trfCyvLAQd8&w=640&h=360]
http://youtu.be/trfCyvLAQd8
With any luck, the above will be an embedded video that explains the phenomena. Essentially, the truth of 9/11 can shake someone’s entire world view, and the pain of such puts them into denial.
That’s it. The implications of believing in inside job are considerable. And it then requires you to reassess other ingrained beliefs. Most people would rather keep the can of worms shut.
This is an excellent video. Indeed, the main obstacles to understanding a difficult truth like 9/11 are emotional, not intellectual. A very wise friend wrote:
“Why do you voice opinions that are not your own? One possibility is, simply, laziness and inertia. Anything that does not touch you personally is not important enough to make an effort for – – in this case the effort to think independently for the sake of truth. Hence you quickly adopt the opinions of others. It is one thing not to have an opinion at all about a subject that is neither important nor interesting to you, but another if you hold other people’s opinions.
“Inferiority feelings are another reason for not having your own opinions. You are so certain that other people know better than you that you rely on their opinions rather than on your own. By going on in this way you create a vicious circle: the more you hold opinions not your own, the more you unconsciously despise yourself for it. And the more you despise yourself, the greater the apparent need to adopt other people’s opinions.
“Thus you see can how every wrong inner condition creates a vicious circle. The only way to break the circle is to have the courage to examine the subject, to review it freely and independently. If then you arrive at a different view and have the courage to live up to it, at the price of differing from your environment, you will automatically respect yourself a lot more — and thus begin to break this particular vicious circle. On the other hand, if you arrive at the same opinion again, but this time it has really become your own, your courage and labor to free yourself from the yoke of your own weakness will have the same positive effect.
“Another motive for holding opinions not your own is a desire to conform. The child or the immature person feels different from her or his surroundings, has a feeling of not belonging, of being isolated and unique in a negative sense. This is why all children want to be like other children and feel deeply ashamed about their imagined difference. The maturing of the soul will change this tendency, but until then a person will be inclined to hold on to others’ opinions.
“In all these instances, you violate your personality; you lack the courage to be yourself and to arrive at your own conclusions. You sell out your truth for an imagined personal advantage, which increases your self-contempt, though this is usually quite unconscious.”
Reading a couple sentence in a post and labeling someone a nut, is oh so easy to do. Defriending someone is a memorable action, it puts them firmly inside the tiny bubble of “self” and you on the outsidewhere you want to be, and can do the most good. If I used the faceSpy, I’d be happy to have you as a friend, Craig.
If your ideas and thoughts are outside my understanding and even perceived as offensive to my beliefs, more the better for me to question you, and to help me find what I truly believe, or learn what I don’t know. Anybody that would dismiss your ideas outright, is not, and never was, a friend.
We battle on.
Ron Paul 2012
I thank you for those kind, thoughtful, and tolerant words.
Excellent article Craig. I was heaps more popular before 9/11 Truth. I asked a girl once if she had heard of Building 7 and she said to me – “you’re Hitler”. The willpower of my work colleagues to remain completely ignorant about 9/11 Truth is almost impressive – unfortunately for them I can work 9/11 Truth into ANY conversation and I do. I find the celebrity factor works best.
Me: “Did you hear Khloe Kardashian’s husband got traded to the Dallas Mavericks?”
Moron at work: “Poor Khloe. Do you think she’ll go with him?”
Me: “Who cares. The owner of the Dallas Mavericks is this guy called Mark Cuban – an awesome 9/11 Truther – smart, brave and rich. I mean what sort of idiot doesn’t know about 9/11 Truth by now?”
Ingenious! I’ll have to adopt some of those tactics. I still have a few friends I can potentially alienate. Might as well get it over with. You’ve given me my first good laugh of the day. And I didn’t know Mark Cuban was a truther. Cool.
Two or three years ago, I was contacted by a woman I had last talked to in 1964. She and I had been friends at UNC-CH all through our time there and had spent a lot of time talking. We struck up an email conversation to renew our acquaintence. Two significant changes made all the difference in our relationship. I was deeply immersed in 9/11 truth, and she had found Jesus. When I explained the compelling evidence for the government role in 9/11 she became agitated, with the main component being fear. She didn’t want to think about it at all. It was obvious she believed what I was saying, but she didn’t want to know it. Most of the people I introduced to 9/11 who have rejected the information seem also to be deeply religious. Makes me wonder if fear doesn’t motivate them in both areas. Europeans sometimes characterize Americans as being childish and naive. I don’t have much to come back with. It’s a generalization, of course, but contains a sufficient grain of truth.
It was the lack of rational discussion that I found was missing from the discussions I recounted. Before my friends would look at the evidence, they would react viscerally to the idea that the world isn’t what they believe it to be. And I agree with you – fear is at the root of it.
In my mind they’ve been very successfully conditioned to ridicule anything that challenges their status quo. I offered my friend the material about Operation Northwoods and he didn’t even refer to it in subsequent comments, which became more and more hostile.
This whole thing began because I did something I usually try not to do, which is to “speculate” on possible scenarios. Rather than sticking to picking apart the official narrative, I answered a question about what happened to the passengers if the planes that hit the towers weren’t the commercial flights we’ve been told.
This gave my future ex-friends the opportunity to be indignant and offended and concerned for my mental health. I guess some people aren’t worth arguing with because their biases are too deeply ingrained. Better to talk to more reasonable people.
Shelton,
“Most of the people I introduced to 9/11 who have rejected the information seem also to be deeply religious.”
I don’t think it’s at all an accident that right from the cradle, people are brainwashed into conflating “God and Country.”
Saying the Pledge of Allegiance right from the first grade is enforced nationalism through brainwashing. I, for one, had no idea what I was saying at that age. I was just mumbling random syllables while staring at the stars and stripes. “Allegiance,” “indivisible,” “republic,” etc. are not first grade words. “Cat,” “rat” and “hat” are.
Depending on how fundamentalist a religious person is (I consider myself “Christian” only in principles, i.e. treating others as I would like to be treated, helping the least fortunate among us, etc.), they can have some faith in some pretty wacky ideas, and this spills over into a religious faith in government as well. For example, a belief in the idea that Jesus walked on water requires a belief in the laws of physics being suspended, much like the belief in the official story as to why the WTC came down.
It’s quite interesting, also, to see anti-Mormon people like Michael Wolsey (of CO Visibility911) dismiss that religion as a “cult” (correctly) while at the same time incorrectly seeing his own mainstream Christianity as a sane, sober non-cult. It’s quite interesting to see both ‘debunkers’ and fellow truthers deride Steven Jones for believing in the doctrine that Jesus visited the Americas, as if that makes Jones completely non-credible, while simultaneously believing that Jesus turned water into wine and other such nonsense, and thinking such a belief is sane and rational.
The issue of undue implicit faith and trust can manifest itself within the movement, both from religious people like Wolsey and also atheists like Jon Gold. Just as most people haven’t actually taken the time to read the Bible from cover to cover (and truly analyze some of the bullshit contained within it) even though it sits on their bookshelf for decades, I would bet my life that most people who support the blogs of “Arabesque” haven’t actually taken time to actually read those blogs. Rather, they are simply impressed by the length of the blog, then slap down the link on various forums to “debunk” the idea that a plane didn’t hit the Pentagon. The parallels are numerous. Fundamentalist Christianity is completely closed to the possibility that what it has to say is incorrect. Likewise, people like Gold and Wolsey are completely closed to the possibility that their source of faith and trust, “Arabesque,” is incorrect. Their minds are completely made up, and no amount of refutation will change them; they are as unreceptive as a stone. Much like no amount of factual refutation will change the idea some people hold regarding the earth being 5000 years old.
Unfortunately, a universal human foible, I would say. Even the “awake” ones on this blog are not totally immune.
I think I spend most of that classroom exercise in patriotism wondering who Richard Stans was. You know, the part that goes “and for the republic for Richard Stans”.
Wasn’t he in the Nixon administration?
Or how about: “Our Father, who art in heaven, Harold be thy name…” 😉
It’s kind of the religion equiv of the Pledge.
For those who remember Gilda Radner as Emily Litella on SNL: “What’s all this I hear about too many violins on television? What’s wrong with violins? I think they’re lovely.”
“Ah, that’s too much violence. Too much violence on television. Not violins.”
“Oh, that’s very different. Never mind.”
Shelton, please don’t paint all religious people with the same broad brush. I am highly religious, in that I consider spiritual growth to be the one and only purpose of our lives here on earth, and I’ve never been accused of being a scaredy cat. Genuine contact with God, who is the source of infinite truth, wisdom, love, courage and all good things, can only strengthen your desire to seek truth and your ability to fearlessly proclaim it, despite what others may say.
But there are many people involved in “religious” organizations which do not facilitate genuine contact with God. Perhaps your friend was from one of those.
The people who follow the path that I’m on, who have advanced to a very high level, have lost all fear of death — that is how fearless they have become!
I don’t mean to imply that the reaction by my former acquaintance defines the nature of spirituality. I think it is probable that fear defines many of the relationships that people have with what they imagine to be a deity. I should think that if one imagines that the all-powerful creator of the universe is the vindictive psychopath of the Christian myth, and that this entity takes a personal interest in the personal affairs of his creatures, it could induce a virilent paranoia, which is how I would characterize the reaction I saw in my friend. I could hear the terror coming through the phone. I can’t ascribe all of that to her religious stance, since, when I was talking about the evidence that 9/11 was brought about by people in our own government there was a reaction that I could not say for sure was not genuine fear stemming from our just talking about it in a world of phone taps and corrupt secret bureaucracies. Hers was an extreme reaction, certainly not typical, I should think. It probably has much more to do with the physiology of the amygdala than the nature of God, whose existence I regard as highly questionable (comparable to that of Russell’s teapot orbiting between Earth and Mars).
I enjoy discussing spirituality with open-minded people, but not with those who regard different ideas as an attack. I believe an honest and fearless search for truth to be one of the best things one can do with one’s life, which probably explains why I can’t “drop this nonsense and get on with my life” as one friend suggested.
Human beings are endlessly fascinating in their variety.
Craig, I read your Facebook story on Infowars RSS feed, and I can relate. My own brother absolutely flipped out on me when I discovered the truth back in 2005. It was the video of WTC7 and of Rudy Guilliani saying that one of the buildings was about to collapse that convinced me. Now I am more thn convinced. I am certain.
Your friends remind me of a scene in the movie 1984, where three or four men are eating lunch, and one of them wants the others “meat”. It isn’t meat at all, but the guy who likes it just blathers on about how good it tastes.
Your friends are in that category. They know something is wrong, but there is no way they will confront it because the reality is too frightening. If the government who burned alive the Branch Davidians and crushed the WTC employees wants to murder a few thousand more Americans, your friends don’t want to be among the dead. They think thay are preserving their life when in fact, they are losing. Their fear will ultimately bring about their demise.
Keep up the good work. 9/11 was an inside job perpetrated by elements within the US government, and we can be sure that the government will spring another on on us soon.
Jerry Davis
Editor
Freedom-Won.net
Hi Jerry,
Your 1984 comparison is very fitting. I also thought about that book when my friend described my thoughts as “dangerous.” The only thing he didn’t accuse me of was being “disloyal.”
Fear is at the root of so much, and 9/11 is no exception. It’s not evidence people have a problem with, it’s the very idea that their view of the world could be so wrong.
I appreciate your comment. I have just registered for your web site, so I’m looking forward to reading the articles you have posted there.
You mentioned how Building 7 and Giuliani’s statement starting you down this road. Building 7 did it for me, too. I have a post coming, likely right after the New Year that might interest you. I have collected stories from major figures within the Truth movement (David Ray Griffin, Barrie Zwicker, Senator Mike Gravel and lots more) about how and why they became convinced that 9/11 was an inside job. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks Shelton for that reply. Luckily for me, I believe in reincarnation, which takes all the pressure off. The most extreme fundamentalism seems to come from people who believe that we get one life, and it’s a test: do we fail or do we pass. If we fail, it’s into the lake of fire and brimstone with us, to be tortured for all eternity. And yet they tell us “God is love.” Hmm.
I believe that everybody has all the time they need to get where they’re going, so no need to evangelize. Unsolicited advice comes from an arrogance that says “I know better than you do,” and evangelism is essentially unsolicited advice. It’s that arrogance which has given religion such a bad name, and why almost no one wants to hear someone else’s religious views. They believe it means that they will be pressured, put down and condescended to, and who wants that?
Even mentioning my spiritual endeavors in the most casual way to longtime friends, I can sense an immediate tensing, a shrinking back, as if they expect some kind of coercion to follow. There is certainly no curiousity about it. In fact, it’s not much different than how most people react when I bring up 9/11!
When those that we consider friends take an adamantly adversarial position and become confrontational or belligerent, even in this case where the truth may be too much to handle, then they are not truly friends.
An old acquaintance put it best when he bluntly said you’re not a friend you’re a guy that I know. Harsh words if you consider someone a friend. However, a good dose of reality that will save you greater pain. It would be would be much worse if you found you couldn’t rely on them as a friend in a greater time of need.
Periodically weeding out the friends from guys that we know has been a very positive thing for us. My wife says it reminds her of a good Spring cleaning. I’m lucky to have learned that very valuable lesson early in life and thank him for it.
You’re so right. I certainly found out that I couldn’t rely on these people – even to believe that my motives are good whether or not they agree with me. The thing is that speaking out on this subject is no longer a choice for me. I’ll keep at it regardless of what acquaintances think. Thanks for the comment.
You are doing an amazing job.
I always fear what my friends may think, when I post comments and articles about 9/11 on Facebook,
So far, so good, perhaps because I have many Mormon friends on Facebook, who are amazing people.
Thanks, Kriss. Good for you for having the courage to state your beliefs. Sounds like you have some supportive friends.
Friends on your social network are not friends in real life. they just share interests with you. Don’t take it personal if they do not share your interest in 9/11 truth. Don’t shut the door on them in real life. eventually they will come back. They already admitted it’s a scary problem outside their control, and that they’ll suffer a nervous breakdown if they don’t ignore it.
Many were traumatized by 9/11; its been over 10 years, but some people are still unable to face the truth: we are not as good as we think. This cognitive dissonance has divided the country but fortunately many more are ready to wake up and do something to solve the problem. Listen to these Colorado psychologists to understand what your friends are going through, and you’ll realize part of you already went through this, and how to help them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW6mJOqRDI4#t=113m16s
I hope you’re right that people are ready to wake up. Overcoming people’s denial is tough – and sometimes impossible. Thanks for the comment.
The message from these psychologists and therapists – whose presentation in this video is in my opinion borderline unprofessional- seems to be that what people must do is say to themselves
‘I don’t think the evidence that ‘911 was an inside job’ is plausible or believable – but I must be brave and courageous , overcome my denial and make myself believe it. If I don’t find the evidence credible then I must adjust my perceptions of what is credible until I do believe it – it is , after all, The Truth. It’s called 911 Truth – don’t you see? You surely don’t want to be one of those lesser, common sheep-like people – be like us, courageous ,patriotic, intelligent ,holders aloft of the sword of truth..’
One of the people in this video , Dorothy Lorig, talks about reading an article by David Ray Griffin and having to leave the room and go outside and feeling sick etc.( I have to say reading his articles sometimes has that effect on me too.) One article. A professional, educated person reading one article and she doesn’t appear to realise that someone who provides a one-sided, biased, slanted presentation of evidence is only giving you half the truth , and a distorted version of half the truth at that, and the very least you should do is be sceptical until you have heard all of the evidence. It’s like a member of a jury leaving the court after hearing the prosecution case and deciding the accused is guilty. Of course the whole idea of the 911 truth movement is to give the impression that they are also presenting, the defence case as well because they tell you all about the ‘offical story’ (it’s a lie by the way) ,interchangeable with ‘the official bs story’ , ‘the official fairy story’ , ‘what we were told’, ‘what they want us to believe..’ etc. with appeals to one of the fundamental fears people have -of being deceived. ‘Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me’ . Shame.
The solution to this is to remove the denial by doing ‘research’ , watching DVDs, reading articles by David Ray Griffin , -listen to Barrie Zwicker as he tells you that a year before 911 George Bush spent 47 days rehearsing for 911 with the top Hollywood scriptwriters, including his key scene where where he sits in a chair looking serious for 8 minutes. If only we could find the script for that. Go to forums, websites, blogs , all hammering home the same message to you, over and over… How could anyone describe that as propaganda.
Oh, this is rich. The Truth movement uses fear to push people into rejecting the 9/11 official story. Nice try.
I find your whole tone disingenuous, as always. You must have loved Jonathan Kay’s Among the Truthers. He also loves to lump all those who question what happened on 9/11 into one category – psychological curiosities at best, enemies of democracy at worst.
If you are persuaded by the official story and its hundreds of impossibilities then by all means stick with that collection of “evidence.”
After all, we know 19 Muslims hijacked four planes and skilfully eluded the U.S. military for more than an hour and a half, don’t we? That’s not so hard to do. We know burning jet fuel can bring down skyscrapers – it happens all the time. We know that presidents don’t interrupt goat stories to respond to their country being “under attack.” The children might get upset!
It’s all so straight forward. When will those truthers see reason?
Dear Mr. Wright, you wrote:
Hold on a second. Isn’t that a masterful example of the age-old disinformation canard: attack the messenger and ignore the message?
So, your opinion finds the presentation from these psychologists and therapists as being borderline unprofessional, eh?
You must have some sort of justification or founding for this opinion. Please enlighten the good readers of this forum about your personal experiences with psychologists and therapists who were more professional (in their presentation and facts), in order to prove that you have a basis for comparison and know WTF you are talking about. How many hours did you sit with these more professional psychologists and therapists? Was there something troubling you or your mind that induced you to rack up such hours of observation with these psychologists and therapists doing their profession?
Could it be your grasp of reality?
Or maybe… dare I say it… maybe they were doing mind-control on you in those many, many professional observation sessions — they observing you rather than you observing them –, so that you could remain mentally and spiritually unaffected and ignorant of any truth leaked out in this forum.
Mr. Wright, you seem to have the same affliction as Mr. Good and Agent Albury Smith with regards to standing behind your words with a tad bit more than obscure postings to other people’s blogs. Therein lies the key, Mr. Wright. If you would step up to the plate and collect all of your wonderful words and arguments into one place — your own blog — where you have home court advantage, then I’d likely become a devoted fan and reader! Because this hurdle seems to be a big one, “many hands make light work.” Join forces with Mr. Good and Agent Albury Smith.
Here’s a great title for the blog: “The Three Stooges of the Ah-pock-oh-lips”.
Of course, you shouldn’t name a blog based on one suggestion. It requires brainstorming, surveys, and market research. So let’s put it out to Mr. McKee’s readers what you blog should be titled.
Readers? A little help here, please.
@Señor el Once
Hold on a second. Isn’t that a masterful example of the age-old disinformation canard: attack the messenger and ignore the message?
Dear Mr. Wright, you wrote:
Indeed it was, Mr. Wright. My apologies.
I was being mind-controlled and just couldn’t help myself in making the bat-shit crazy supposition regarding how you would have obtained the experience to be able to judge whether or not the “the presentation from these psychologists and therapists were borderline unprofessional.”
@Señor El Once
Sorry for this delayed response to your post, which I appreciate..
..just to explain what I meant about these psychologists and psychiatrists talking about 911, I would be a bit uneasy about the idea of people in these professions putting forward their beliefs about something – whether it is their beliefs about 911 or religious beliefs or whatever, and implying that people who don’t hold the same views are in denial etc. I would have the same problem I think if they were a group of psychologists supporting the ‘official story’ getting together and directing their professional diagnoses at people in the Truth movement in a presentation on Youtube or wherever else it is available on the internet. There are things to be said in general about peoples world view and adherance to those views, which applies to all people, but I think there is a certain objectivity and professional detachment required in these professions where there are surely guidelines and codes of practice about keeping a certain seperation between their personal views and their professional work. This to me is not an issue specific to 911 but a wider question about personal versus professional views for people in these particular professions.
A. Wright, your first piece of twaddle is rich indeed. Your disingenuous attempt to imply a manipulative intent on the part of the psychologists won’t wash; for their concern (about people being in denial) is based on a thorough, objective exploration of evidence, (not one article, which you sneakily describe as “one-sided, biased,” etc.) They’re clearly very rational, well-educated, scientific people; and as psychologists, they’re well-qualified to ascertain what DENIAL is, (relative to objective rational investigation).
Beyond that, Craig demolished your argument well enough.
Your second comment/reply contains fewer smirks per square inch, (you sound almost reasonable); but again, nice try.
Unlike you, a well-trained, credible psychologist can make a distinction between what they discuss with their patients, (reserving judgement in lieu of helping them gain self-understanding) and what they say in public; and, like honorable citizens, they know when it’s necessary to speak truth to heinous crimes in our country, based on their own thorough investigation.
Again, nIce try troll; and hey, a word of advice: you should know… now that you’ve been exposed, every word you say from now on is only going to make who you work for more obvious.
Can you feel your credibility slipping away?
That’s the echo of sound of the state apparatus (behind whom you hide) losing its grasp of our necks; and when that happens, what you gonna do for a job? Who’s going to protect you then?
I pity you and your ilk. God help you.
@James
I don’t think I was implying anything about the intent of the psychologists and therapists in this video – I was saying it straight out. They were saying it straight out. If you didn’t detect that intent in their presentation , they would be disappointed to say the least.
What I said about Dorothy Lorig was what Dorothy Lorig said about herself. Do you not detect a slight one-sided, bias in the work of David Ray ‘the 911 Commision Report is a 571 page lie’ Griffin?
As for your credibility , if you think I am anything other than an ordinary working person who is just giving their personal opinions, here and anywhere else I have posted them, unpaid and unprompted by anyone, then put some money on it… $100, $1000, $50,000 , it depends on how much you want to lose.
Hi Craig,
I’ve experienced similar reactions from friends. BTW – I’d like to befriend you on Facebook if you would like that. My FB name is Rick Warden and a key word would be Simferopol, where I presently live in Ukraine.
You or someone here may enjoy these articles:
Armed SWAT Raids Confirm 9/11 Criminal Hearings Necessary
http://templestream.blogspot.com/2011/09/armed-swat-raids-and-news-confirm-911.html
The ‘Other’ 2012 Christian US Voters Guide
http://templestream.blogspot.com/2011/12/other-2012-christian-voters-guide.html
Hi Rick, I’ll check out those articles, thanks. And I’ll check out your Facebook page.
People who believe in 9/11 official conspiracy theory , please contact me , I have some MBS , CDO , Credit default swap and some Enron stocks to sell.
When people are moved down in life, I applaud, if you are dumb enough to believe the Main Stream Media , you deserve to be cheated of your life savings !!
I am yet to see a 911 truther who lost his shirt and his life saving in the current fraudulent moves by the elites !!
Craig.. There is a term for the absolute intolerance to the truth about 9-11…Its called “Cognitive Dissonance”….
Most people these days suffer from that indifference and unwillingness to see the truth, even when it is staring them right in their faces…
I too have suffered from knowing the truth. I have been sworn at, called insane, almost punched in the face, etc…. It sadly comes with the territory…
All we can do is try to awaken people to the truth… Those who are critically thinking and open to new ideas are the ones that we can save.. The others, sadly, are beyond hope!
And BTW… Check out my site, and a few others in my blog list….. You can then take the red pill and see how deep the rabbit hole really goes…
Notherntruthseeker,
I will plunge into your site with great interest. And I thank you for checking out mine. I think I’ve already swallowed that red pill, but I know there’s so much in the rabbit hole that I haven’t explored yet.
And you’re right about how some people are never going to open their minds. Still frustrating, though. The psychology of it all is fascinating; the trick is not to get depressed about the rigid fear that stops most people from considering what is happening all around them.
There are areas of the rabbit hole that even 9/11 truthers hesitate to explore because they fear being labelled as crazy. Some members of the movement are so worried that a far out position will be used to discredit 9/11 truth. This has caused me to think carefully about what areas to examine first. But ultimately, I’m going to say what I believe because not to do so would defeat the whole purpose.
Don’t ever give up on 9/11 Truth, Craig. As you pointed out in your post, you’re not alone, and I am another like you. We may eventually pay a higher price since we are so hated by some that when the economy collapses and they come for those that they will put away or worse, we may be the first that they come for. Hopefully that won’t be so but it is something we should be prepared for.
Trying to convince some people is like banging your head up against a brick wall but those converts that you make are definitely worth it.
Well said, LF. I agree that it’s worth it, even if the rewards aren’t always so apparent. I think there are a lot more of us than people realize (partly because we are ignored or marginalized by the media).
9/11, US and Israel:
http://www.amazon.com/America-Deceived-II-Possession-interrogation/dp/1450257437
Im spending xmas with myself, for similar reasons mate.
But in all honesty i couldn’t see any way better to observe the day.
After all aren’t we celebrating a man whose message of truth and love got Him crucified?
Yeah, I’ve been unfriended by an entire town and rural area. That’s what thirty years being a researcher gets you. My friends are my books, thousands of them, my animals, and my God. I was thinking today how it must have been to be innocent and they cried “give us Barabbas” And they nailed the greatest truth teller in world history to a tree, cross, hunk of wood, he wasn’t a truth seeker mind you, he had the truth. They’re still crying out for Barabbas. Let me give you a clue, if we comprehend legal/lawful terminology we can know the corporation of the (eye), mister Horus, and all his friends. The law books take us to his front porch. And brother, it’s not the peon subservient to the real boss Rothschilds, not even close. “Let those who would be deceived be deceived.” Flip, I remember when talking about JFK or the Federal Reserve got us unfriended, and marginalized as some kook. ha ha..
It is infuriating though. Those who cannot see the truth. You have to feed it to them in small batches and hope something sticks. Hope they have the “ah ha moment” we all have had…
Did it ever occur to you that they might not think it’s the truth? – that it might not be the truth?
>> I have a friend in Toronto who I visited while I was there in September. …Ya, the U.S. might have found out about the plot and let it happen, she allowed, but so what?…. in the end, she maintained that I was wasting much time I could be spending making the world better in some concrete, practical way.
Hi Craig; I found you via Infowars. Apparently you have more friends or acquaintances than me. Allowing for the fact that I haven’t heard your arguments, I think your Toronto friend gets it right. She sounds like a brilliant person and a very worthwhile friend.
Levantine,
Glad you found me. My Toronto friend is indeed a close and valued part of my life. I was expressing dismay, however, at her reaction to my recent preoccupation. It isn’t that she disagrees; of course she is entitled to do that. My disappointment came from her essentially telling me that I’d been engaged in a pointless and worthless activity for the past year+. As someone who had opened my eyes to many political truths, I wasn’t expecting that.
Also, I do think there’s a big difference between saying the U.S. government planned and carried out the “terrorist attacks” and saying that they found out they were going to happen and allowed them to. This later position has many problems, and it ultimately doesn’t stand up.
Thanks for the comment.
Wow! I stumbled across this article on Infowars and have thoroughly enjoyed the read, including many of the comments. I haven’t read every single one, but did skim over many.
The video on cognitive dissonance that Senor El Once posted is a portion of a longer documentary about WTC 7 that is absolutely fantastic. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. My brain is racing right now, but I just wanted to throw a few things out there in light of the many points that have been made.
For me, WTC 7 was the deal breaker. A very good friend of mine that I’ve known since childhood started talking about 9/11 Truth years ago and all of our friends (myself included) would just sort of roll our eyes and give him that same condescending, pitiful response. We were all together about 4 years ago and he was going on about it and everyone was dismissing him much in the same way that many of you have described in your stories. I sensed that he was very passionate about what he believed and I asked him to show me something that would help me understand where he was coming from.
He took me online and showed me the BBC newscast from that day when they reported that WTC 7 had collapsed 30 minutes before it had actually collapsed… and the building is still standing in the background as she reported it. Not only did it seem entirely screwy to me, but it was also the first time I was aware that a 3rd building went down. That was it for me. I unintentionally took the Red Pill and started my way down the rabbit hole.
I’ve experienced many of the same reactions and resistance that many of you have. Of course, I started out naive and unaware of the hostility so I would just talk about it openly, but I learned the reality of the title to this article very quickly. So now, I tend to keep my mouth shut most of the time. Rather than bringing it up directly, I try to strike up conversations that might inadvertently lead to an open door. Or I just discuss it in my “comfort circles”.
There was some talk in a few comments about religion/God. I don’t have much to say to the specific conversations, but I will say that as a Christian, I have found the path for seeking and sharing the truth about 9/11 ironically similar to the path of seeking and sharing the truth of the gospel. I’m a firm believer in “knowing what I believe and why”. Both paths have a lot of tough questions that don’t always have easy or clear answers and both are met with great resistance, ridicule, alienation, anger, hostility, confusion, and close-mindedness when being discussed with someone that believes differently.
Christ told his disciples that this would happen, and he said that following him would mean sacrificing many of the people and possessions that we hold dear, perhaps even all of them. This was not some ploy to try and shift the conversation, but I have seen many parallels, at least personally, in the two and I find it very interesting.
Thank you, Craig, for your article and this blog. It’s my first time here, and I’ll be following you more frequently from now on. And thank you to all the other commentors out there, whether you are of the same beliefs or not, for being grown-up and open-minded enough to discuss such things.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”
Adolf Hitler
I am a friend as well…keep fighting the good fight!! Television is Goliath and the Internet is David…eventually the beast will topple.
If they are truly your friends, they will come back to you.
If they are just associates, of course they will disassociate themselves from you.
The meaning of friend is someone who sticks with you and supports you, and values your opinions.
I agree about friendship… and wasn’t it Gandhi that said “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”? Great quote, and very true… just look at what’s happening with Ron Paul.
They say “for those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”
A lot of people simply do not want to believe this. They don’t want to hear or think about it. Frankly, I think a lot of them expect or want other people to take care of the problem for them. It’s a common attitude you see even in the truth movement. Truthers want to learn a few bullet points, wear black t shirts, hold up signs, and hope other people will pay attention so those people will do something about it or tell other people so someone does something. Bless their heart for doing something, but they, like many others, simply don’t know what to do.
Perhaps I have a different outlook since I feel like I have personally touched and felt the evidence “proving” an inside job, so I feel like I know what needs to be done. Focus on this evidence like sunlight through a magnifying glass and you will see a fire start that the perps can’t extinguish. I see it as this, if you know the evidence and research and take it to govt officials and you should be able to hold them accountable if they won’t look at it. Hell, I have personally dealt with a US congressman who 100% believes the witnesses and believes the plane was on the north side flight path but refuses to accept the implications. But he will be held accountable and when some of his colleagues realize the implications he will look and feel like a fool.
I personally think when you encounter those people who don’t want to even listen, I say make them look foolish. Push the boundaries of their patriotism, patience, courage and self-dignity. I would flat out question their mental and emotional status to their face. You have to remember they represent an obstacle in the way of justice and a threat to the safety of the world. As harsh and dramatic as that sounds that is how you should make them see themselves if they are not going to even educate themselves before they argue the issue. There is a level of reverse psychology involved. People will not react and rise to the occasion unless they are challenged and their reputation is on the line.
I have to say, isn’t it interesting that you don’t see alleged truther “Brian Good” on a topic like this sharing his experiences regarding sharing the truth with friends and family? It’s pretty obvious when they can’t even take a little time to post a fake experience to bolster their street cred as a genuine truther but will trip over themselves to be able to post their horseshit lies whenever cit or the NoC path is mentioned.
I would like to post a fake experience – it was a summers day and I was visiting my old university campus to deliver a summons to the head of the history department who once de-bagged me during a heated row about the Merovingian sucession. As we reminisced about old times I happened to mention that I thought 911 was not an inside job. He went ballistic. He took off his gown to reveal a black ‘inside job’ t-shirt. He reached into a display cabinet where he kept his collection of old blunderbusses. I dashed for the door and he came after me, chasing me down the hall and out across the quadrangle. I went down the steps to the old Boolean Library, past the new accomodation block and through the archway into the arts block garden. I had taken this route in my old fraternity days but not at this speed. At the end of the ornamental pool I went through a gap in the hedge and back around past the gym and ended up in front of the porters office. The porter was standing behind his counter reading and I was about to tell him that Professor Drake was on the loose with one of his guns when I noticed the cover of the book he was reading- it was ‘Children of the Matrix’ by David Icke. I looked at him and he looked at me and I slowly backed up and then left through the front gate .
I heard later that the gun wasn’t loaded, but how was I to know. Afterwards he unfriended me on Facebook and left some really nasty tweets.
Hi A. Wright,
I stopped reading after I saw the words, “fake experience”.
I do honestly believe you are a real person. A real person obsessed with the truth movement. You seem overtly concerned with trying to convince not only other people, but yourself, that we are all wrong.
You seem to be awfully dedicated to making sure everyone of these blogs sees your fear based opinion.
You are afraid. If you weren’t you wouldn’t be so concerned about responding to these blogs. I understand your denial though. You are probably a soft individual. You’ve probably lived your life with little confrontation and oodles of arrogance and a self endowed superiority complex. Thiis is how you feel like you are in control and feel your constant efforts keep the information from being true… In your mind that is.
Thankfully, you don’t matter.
Happy New Year!
@Aldo Marquis
That post of mine was just a bit of light-hearted new years eve nonsense, and wasn’t intended to be anything other than that.
Your reading of me being someone with a superiority complex who has had some kind of easy life is so far from the truth, as is your idea that I’m in denial. Not being an american I don’t know what you think I’m afraid of, but if I were an american I would be afraid- of ever ending up in court and having my fate in the hands of jurors who judge evidence in the way that I see some people in the truth movement judge it. And the kind of half-baked and spurious evidence on which they base their assessments is just staggering to me. That’s maybe the main reason I take an interest in it, because the legal system has at the heart of it the idea of a group of ordinary people judging evidence and reaching conclusions, beyond a reasonable doubt. What I see in the truth movement are many people who seem to have lost the ability to judge evidence in an unbiased and objective way and have lost sight of the concept of what is reasonable- that to me is really concerning.
That you believe I am a real person is a bit of progress. That you believe I am a real person obsessed with the truth movement suggests to me that only people who are members of the truth movement are allowed to be obsessed with it, making DVDs, organising truther conferences and going on lecture tours etc spending far more time and effort on it than I do. I don’t criticise anyone for doing that but I expect them to be able to justitfy their claims and accusations. You can hardly think that finding the truth about something just involves some people deciding what the truth is and everyone else having to agree with them.
Happy New Year to you too.
For anyone who is still unconvinced that the “truth movement” could be anything more than the ranting of deranged unpatriotic individuals should really look at the following movies which looks at the very data supplied by the NTSB and interviews various witness without placing blame.
I found these two videos very informative and left me with more questions and very skeptical of the governments version of events.
Enjoy!
Pandora’s Black Box – Chapter Two – Flight of American 77
9/11: Attack on the Pentagon
Great article, Craig. Very honest. Thank you for laying your emotions and experiences on the line like that.
Thanks very much, Saman.
A.Wright says: “because the legal system has at the heart of it the idea of a group of ordinary people judging evidence and reaching conclusions, beyond a reasonable doubt.”
And if that had been allowed to happen, we wouldn’t be floundering in our own conclusions.
The official investigation is over, it wasn’t thorough, and you castigate us for theorizing? The government took our glasses and you laugh and mock the sightless? There are professional people, well qualified, that could take this lie and break it wide open. We’ll keep looking until a critical mass makes hiring these people a reality. Your snide comments only serve to steel our resolve. Play on Player.
@BigAl
To quote what I said previously
“Not being an american I don’t know what you think I’m afraid of, but if I were an american I would be afraid- of ever ending up in court and having my fate in the hands of jurors who judge evidence in the way that I see some people in the truth movement judge it. And the kind of half-baked and spurious evidence on which they base their assessments is just staggering to me. That’s maybe the main reason I take an interest in it, because the legal system has at the heart of it the idea of a group of ordinary people judging evidence and reaching conclusions, beyond a reasonable doubt. What I see in the truth movement are many people who seem to have lost the ability to judge evidence in an unbiased and objective way and have lost sight of the concept of what is reasonable- that to me is really concerning.”
Do you think it is wrong of me to be concerned if I see people judging evidence in the flawed way I have outlined above? Or maybe you think I should just go along with the crowd like someone on a jury who doesn’t think the accused is guilty but sees the other members of the jury not only declaring that they are quilty but doing so on the basis of what I regard as maybe the most seriously flawed, biased and distorted assessments of evidence I have ever come accross about any event.
“And if that had been allowed to happen, we wouldn’t be floundering in our own conclusions.”
That sounds like someone who thinks that the verdict of a jury determines what the truth is.
This article touched me in a deeply personal way. My very best friend and I can no longer speak to each other. She used to be open minded about everything. We both studied all the past conspiracies and saw the advent of the police state as it was coming even years ago.
But he psycho-trauma of 9/11 took her out as finally as if she had died in one of those towers.
About a week after the event she sent me an email, it said and I quote; “I have decided to give in and love Big Brother.” No joke, that’s the way she put it.
I was taken aback but could not believe she could do it…I mean with all she knew about the architecture of modern political power. Obviously it is in this time frame that I was convinced it was orchestrated by the System itself. I knew when I saw the first tower explode live on TV that the airplanes could have had nothing to do with that.
But she was successful and has become one of the worse shills and warmongers I have ever met, all because she bought into the fear and loathing of the phony “war on terrorism”…sheeeze.
Since then, I have talked the issue over with many friends, kin, and aquaintences. The proportions of cognizant individuals to the zombies are horrifying. And this has resulted in the exponential blooming of this panoptic maximum security state. Ten hears later the US is in some deep doodoo.
Also, I would like to mention that I have encountered this character A. Wright on a couple other blogs, always on the topic of 9/11 – rather like our infamous comedian Albury Smith…a one topic guy. Very much absorbed with the subject and having the standard toady MO. Of course this is just my personal opinion, and it may be taken as ad homey boy…which I admit it is…yup directed right “at the man” and not anything he has said. Just the general frame is what I refer to, textbook example.
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