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A Conspiracy of Crackpots
The world watched as the horror of September 11 unfolded. The attacks were filmed in real time; mass murder played out on our televisions and computer screens in what must be the most digitally documented loss of human life in history. Yet an Internet-driven conspiracy theory soon emerged, maintaining that the American government, and not al-Qaida, was behind the attacks. To quote from one online screed: "The actual forces behind the conception, planning, and execution of this seminal event came not from bearded Islamic extremists living in a cave in Afghanistan, but from within high-level rogue elements of our own government."Such claims would be dismissible, somewhere between offensive and absurd, if not for the fact that in the seven years since the attacks, the conspiracy theory has steadily won converts. In a September 2007 Scripps Howard poll, 62 percent of Americans surveyed said that it was either "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that the federal government "had specific warnings of the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, but chose to ignore those warnings"--phrasing that might include government incompetence as well as outright conspiracy. But in another poll in July 2006, Scripps had already found that 36 percent of Americans believed the federal government "either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action" because it "wanted to go to war in the Middle East." Sixteen percent, meanwhile, thought that it might have been secret explosives that brought down the World Trade Center, while 12 percent said that a U.S. cruise missile--and not a hijacked airplane--hit the Pentagon. Type "9/11" and "conspiracy" into Google and you'll get over 8 million page matches. Purple bumper stickers reading 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB have become ubiquitous. The documentary Loose Change, an account of the supposed conspiracy produced by upstate New York twentysomethings, has been viewed on YouTube more than 1.5 million times. And this summer, petitioners have been stopping New Yorkers on street corners, seeking signatures for a ballot initiative that would create "a new, independent investigation of the attacks" to "follow the evidence wherever it might lead." These folks seem more earnest and engaged than the grim, grizzled, Lyndon LaRouche--inspired conspiracists of the past, perhaps because they're surfing a pop-culture wave of validation. Like characters in The X Files, they believe that "the truth is out there." Posted by: tu3031 2008-09-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=249716 |