I know it’s tedious, but lately some of my friends have been doing this hallucinogenic drug called “Loose Change”. I’d like to stage an intervention.
I know that years ago there was a ban on this discussion over at Daily Kos. Please be aware that I am NOT a proponent of fantastical conspiracy theories. Quite the opposite, I want links to good resources to debunk 9/11 Truthers. I think it is good to maintain our commitment to being a reality-based community. From time to time it may be necessary to help others from falling into lunacy. Madness can be a slippery slope, and that movie is the gateway drug. (Mix metaphors much? Yes I do.)
Lately some of my friends are resurrecting the 9/11 Truther arguments found in the movie ‘Loose Change.’ (Apparently a new “Final Cut” version came out recently?) Even some of my most reasonable friends will say things like, “It makes you wonder…” They seem to think that “it doesn’t all add up” or that the things in the movie are intriguing. When I first saw it years ago I myself felt a bit unsure of the “official story.” We humans want everything to be simple, easily explained, to “make sense” in a satisfying way. And often life does not. The movie achieves its purpose if it only manages to sow a seed of doubt in the mind of a viewer. That’s the position some of my friends are in now, and I don’t want to lose them to delusional thinking.
I have found a great article called Loose Marbles at Daylight Atheism which takes the film apart piece by piece. And there is an entire site dedicated to the matter at screwloosechange.blogspot.com.
What I’m really trying to find is a succinct refutation which I can recall reading on one of the blogs I frequent. Basically, I don’t want to get down into the mire of a fact-by-fact rebuttal. Someone I read regularly posted (not too long ago) a short summary of why the 9/11 Truther movement held no sway with him/her. The main points, iirc, were approximately these:
(1) How could the incompetent Bush administration pull off something this complex and keep it secret?
(2) How many people must have been involved? NONE of them have ever come forward?
(3) Truthers don’t present a coherent version of what happened; they just say they doubt the official version. They present a hodgepodge of various curiosities that they say “don’t add up.” Well, things happen every day which seem impossible/ unlikely/ bizarre. But they happen every day.
So… it was something along those lines. Basically saying it is not up to us to prove our version of the events. All we have to do is point out how unlikely & illogical the is the point of view of the deniers.
I just wish I could recall who I’ve read who wrote a nice summation of this view. The blogs I read regularly are: Daily Kos, Booman, Balloon-Juice, Digby, Washington Monthly, Pharyngula, Roger Ebert. I’ve already done Google searches, so it probably is not one of those. It might be somebody I just stumbled upon.
Thought I’d throw it to the community: What are your top resources and counter-arguments when faced with a 9/11 Truther argument? Keep in mind, it’s creeping into my circle of friends, people I care about — so I don’t want to just say, “You fucks are fucking crazy fools!” I’d like to persuade with logic not ridicule. Well… I’m a little bit afraid to even post this, but: here goes!
PS: I’m not the type of guy to sit around my computer too long. I’ll check in and out over the next few hours. 🙂
