Original article:
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=alben25&date=20070725
Debunking flights
of fancy that hover over 9/11
Special to The
Times
It was inevitable: As the events of Sept. 11, 2001, fade into
history, a disturbing number of conspiracy theories are gaining a toehold in
our collective consciousness.
As people who lived through that day and who now must make sense
of what it means to live in a post-9/11 universe, we owe a commitment to the
truth, both to those who perished and to ourselves.
The terrorists who perpetrated the horrors of that day claim their
actions were justified to serve a higher truth of jihad. The people behind conspiracy
theories spin a version of "truth" to blame targets of their choice.
While 9/11 theories began in the Arab media and incubated on the
Internet, they now have begun to creep into traditional media via
"documentaries," claiming that either elements of the American
government, or "Wall Street," or shadowy international coalitions
were behind the multiplane hijackings that led to more than 3,000 deaths in New
York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
In today's media environment, fueled by user-generated content
that is easily accessed on the Internet, conspiracy theories won't simply fade
away if we ignore them or dismiss them as "fringe" history. In fact,
if you do a Google search on "Flight 77," you will find that the
conspiracy Web sites in the first 100 search returns heavily outweigh official
news and government accounts. Lies perpetuate lies and gain a life of their own
— a principle observed by Joseph Goebbels' propaganda machine for the Third
Reich.
Cleverly, the new conspiracy theorists prey on areas of highly
specialized knowledge that most of us don't viscerally understand. The rapid
collapse of the World Trade Center towers involved the melting point of
structural steel pillars, the impact of the 767 jets on the structure of the
building columns and the weight load caused by floors that collapsed upon each
other. Few of us learn about structural engineering, so we are vulnerable to
the suggestion that evildoers secretly planted timed charges to collapse the
WTC after the planes hit each building. (For a comprehensive rebuttal of the
"timed charges" theory, visit the National Institute of Standards and
Technology Web site regarding the WTC collapse.)
Were Jews secretly alerted by Israeli intelligence to flee the
trade center on 9/11? Well, how many of us pored over the 2,823 published
obituaries to tally the Jewish names? (Approximately 400 — or 14 percent — of
the victims were Jewish.)
It's easy to dismiss these theories as cultural fallout or fringe
entertainment. Most theories, after all, will collapse on their own spindly
legs when enough reasonable people examine them and begin to ask basic
questions.
For example, a popular conspiracy theory holds that a cruise
missile, not American Airlines Flight 77, with 64 passengers aboard, hit the
Pentagon complex on 9/11. The "evidence" cited to support the cruise
missile is the size of holes inside the Pentagon walls that "could not
have been punched" by an aircraft with a 124-foot wingspan.
The claims, promulgated in the film "Loose Change," are
a classic example of straw-man rhetoric: Build up a statement of fact that no
one has made (that the jet's body made a 16-foot-diameter hole); then tear it
down. In fact, the "initial impact" pictures shown in that film are
pictures of damage within the interior walls of the Pentagon caused by the
landing gear.
And even if one tore down each conspiratorial straw man limb by
limb, as some experts have done, why doesn't anyone pose the basic question of
why the truth-seeking "documentary" makers don't cover the families
of those who perished in the crash of Flight 77? Or, are we expected to believe
that these "missing persons" are being held indefinitely in a remote
government compound for the rest of their lives?
In their flight of fancy, the ideology of conspiracy-mongers is in
sync with the ideology of terrorist groups, for both point to omnipotent
villains controlling world events. When we see falsehoods masquerading as
facts, it is our duty as free citizens to chime in: "Wait a minute — how
do you know that to be true?" That would be the best way to honor the
victims of the worst terror attack ever to occur on American soil.
Alex Alben, a high-tech executive based in Seattle, writes
regularly on technology, media and politics for The Seattle Times. E-mail him
at: alex_alben100@yahoo.com