September 11, 2003
September 11th Anger Still Alive
One thing is for sure, regardless of whether you’re angry at George Bush, or stand behind him faithfully, there is still a dark cloud of anger over what happened two years ago. On one hand, there are plenty of sites that bring up very good questions and documentation surrounding that fateful day, including two prominant sites, UnansweredQuestions.org and The Memory Hole, which also has an entire page devoted to 9/11 facts and papers (the political equivalent of The Smoking Gun website). Another side of me is torn by those who buy into theories without bothering to investigate at all, after all… a large portion of 1930’s Germany was convinced that Jews were taking over the world, even after The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was proven to be a hoax.
I'm still undecided. Many factors have influenced me away from the blind allegiance to the storyline that so many choose to cling to, either from apathy or a willingness to wholeheartedly believe in our government's infallibility and credibility. I won't go into too much depth, but to appoint Henry Kissinger to head the investigation (he later declined) has to set off the klaxons in people who know his shady past.
Certainly, I'm pissed off that 2,792 innocent people died, and no philosophy in the world can justify such abhorrent murder. I want someone to answer for that, and if it's Bin Laden: FIND AND CAPTURE/KILL HIM! If our own government had a hand in things, or willfully ignored verifiable signals: JAIL THEM FOR TREASON!
Is it too much to ask for?
Posted by Stephen VanDyke at September 11, 2003 07:50 PMSo let me get this clear… you’re suggesting our own government may have been behind the murder of thousands of innocent people?
Is there a single piece of credible evidence that someone in our government did this?
This is the kind of irresponsible blogging that can destroy the credibility of this site.
Let’s take this stupid theory a little further. To what ends did our own government attack us. So we could go to war? So we could pass the Patriot Act? So we could start the Department of Homeland Security? So we could destroy our own economy?
What would the point have been? If our own governement was behind it, why would our own governemnt have dropped a plane into the Pentagon? Wouldn’t the WTC have made enough of a point?
Do you see how stupid this kind of a suggestion is? Every time I hear someone talk about 9-11 in this way it makes me more and more angry.
Many times, this irresponsible thinking leads back to “the Jews did it.” The first site you link to has a series of qustiosns. Only one is in large blue letters: “What part did Israel and their American friends play in the 9-11 disaster?” Later, this one is in red: “My question is: Did the Israelis do it?”
That’s where a lot of these conspiracy theories are coming from. People who hate Israel. That you give them any kind of credence on a respectable site like this makes me sick.
Posted by: CJ at September 12, 2003 01:46 PMCJ: For your questions, I obviously don’t have the answers, and I never claimed to know the complete story. The reason I give any whit of credence to any alternative theories is because I consider myself scientifically-minded, and as such, all theories have equal footing until they are disproven. If they defy logic or reality, then of course we can relegate them to the dustbin of theoretical failures.
But to wave your hand and claim that entertaining any ideas at all other than that handed down from the government is “the kind of irresponsible blogging that can destroy the credibility of this site”, is naive and shows your unwillingness to consider alternatives.
No case has been proven, and I tried to convey that. I don’t believe in an Israeli plot myself, but if one did exist and was proven, should I cover my eyes and ignore it, denouncing myself as anti-semitic? I speak hypothetical and in theory, but the official version is merely theory and speculation as well, albeit with more acceptance.
This is also a philosophical question… If the majority believes whole-heartedly in something, can it be true by sheer will alone? I think not, and history is on my side: the earth is not flat and does not revolve around the sun. Am I a heretic for saying that perhaps we could be mistaken and that our government is wrong? Am I a heretic for discovering flaws in the fabric of this nation… and wanting to fix the problem rather than ignore it?
We must realize that our government is not infallible, and that all theories (for I think they are all theories) should be investigated. That is all I asked for in my post; I will make a point of being clearer on our readers’ behalf in the future.
Posted by: Stephen VanDyke at September 12, 2003 04:27 PMYou give credence to those who claim 9-11 was some great Jewish conspiracy, despite zero evidence to back up that claim.
On top of that, these Jewish conspiracy theories are based in anti-semitism, plain and simple.
To give them credence is irresponsible. I don’t plan on posting a manifesto of the KKK anytime soon. I doubt anyone would consider it legimate fodder for discussion. Why give these people any credibility?
Posted by: CJ at September 12, 2003 05:41 PMLook CJ, the sites I linked to have the opinions of other people who are on the internet, expressing opinions, just like us. Some of those opinions are wrong, and we should investigate and expose them as wrong if they are. This attitude that I should don blinders and ignore everything you find distasteful flies in the face of my convictions. I will not censor myself because 1% of those ideas are pernicious; It’s throwing out the baby with the bath-water and it’s deplorable.
I already acknowledged that I did not have faith in any Israeli conspiracy from the beginning, but now you are just becoming annoying and rhetorical with your allusion to posting KKK manifestos.
I warn you, you are dangerously approaching a precipice with regard to slander.
Posted by: Stephen VanDyke at September 12, 2003 06:18 PMWho have I slandered? Where have I even come close to slander?
I suggested this “unansweredquestions.org” site is from a fringe element with some basis in anti-semitism. Am I wrong?
Those behind that website want us to ultimately decide that Jews were behind the attack with the help of a complicit government.
I am not in favor of censorship. I would merely hope that those posting here would use a little more discretion when sending our readers elsewhere for information.
Posted by: CJ at September 12, 2003 07:05 PMAs much as I would love to debate you tirelessly on this subject, I am afraid I will have to ignore your reproaches from here on.
Any dimwit could see for themself that unansweredquestions.org is not a front for anti-semitism. I was also unaware that Jews and Israelis were freely interchangeable in your opinion. Does this also mean that all Americans are white Christians with 2.5 children? This is as absurd as someone from the left claiming that Bush hates Iraqis because of Saddam. The failure of one man or government is not a generalized depiction of a country or it’s people. I think your interpretation of anti-semitism itself is what is flawed.
That said, I will post whatever opinion and news that I consider newsworthy and apropos to the site, even if it disturbs some of you who are overtly sensitive to such phantasms of racism.
As for discretion? I certainly know what is appropriate to discuss and what is licentious, but to censor sites because it may injure your conceptions of the world and require you to consider alternative viewpoints, I refuse to do.
I repeat my opening line that I will ignore future inquiries from you, I do not think you have an open-mind to debate this in the spirit of truth, instead focusing on a single flawed argument that I have already answered twice, and now three times with this comment.
I do not waste my time repeating myself to someone who simply refuses to listen to reason.
Posted by: Stephen VanDyke at September 12, 2003 07:51 PM
