With the eighth anniversary of 9/11 approaching next week, talk radio phone lines and Internet blogs will no doubt soon be full of individuals telling anyone who will listen about the numerous conspiracy theories still circulating about that tragic day.
For example, did you know that the neocons in the Bush Administration brought down the World Trade Center towers with controlled explosions? Or, that it wasn't a passenger jet that slammed into the Pentagon but a cruise missile? Or, that the Israeli government warned all its citizens living in New York City not to go to work that day?
You will hear all these theories and dozens more explained by people who have no doubt they know "what really happened" that day. These folks will join other conspiracy theorists who have made news recently, from the "Birthers" who refuse to accept that the United States of America can elect an African-American to be President, to those town hall patriots who shout warnings against the "Obama Death Panels" that will soon be judging which elderly Americans to kill under the president's proposed health care reform plan. The 9/11 "Truthers" will be the perfect ending to our summer of conspiracies.
The 9/11 attacks were such an emotional shock that I can understand why so many people hold on to their conspiracy beliefs. They probably never moved past the denial stage of grief. One powerful way to cope with feelings of sadness, anger and helplessness brought about by that day was to latch onto conspiracy theories. If these people think they know the 9/11 "truth" then they can regain their perceived loss of control brought on by the events of that day. For these people, knowing "what really happened" is a way to regain the power over their own lives that was taken away by the terrorists.
There is also an element of racism to some of these 9/11 conspiracies, particularly those that involve the U.S. Government or the Bush Administration being secretly responsible. Some people refuse to accept that brown-skinned men from the Middle East could have planned and executed such an enormous attack. This reminds me of the old conspiracy theory that aliens from another planet must have helped the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids because we still can't figure out exactly how they did it.
Speaking of racism, it was racism pure and simple that was behind the recent "Birther" movement. Of course, questions about Barack Obama's origin and religion are nothing new; they began as soon as he announced his candidacy for the presidency. But the "Birther" movement found new traction and became the top story for a few days simply because cable news networks decided not to spend time or money trying to explain the extremely complex health care reform issue to their viewers, or actually try and understand it themselves.
When the "Birther" rebellion mellowed out it was replaced by the wrath of health care reform opponents. These freedom fighters memorize their conservative talking points, strap on their guns, draw Hitler mustaches on their Obama posters and proceed to the nearest town hall meetings to try and shout everybody down while jockeying for the best position in front of the cameras. Real Americans like Alaska's ex-Governor Sarah Palin also added her folksy, winky, intellectual charm to the debate by claiming the "Death Panels" were going to force her to choose between her elderly mother and her handicapped son. By the way, this was her first public statement after she proclaimed she wasn't a quitter during her press conference announcing she was quitting.
One of the fundamental problems with fighting conspiracy theories, of course, is that sometimes they turn out to be true. The Gulf of Tonkin, the bombing of Cambodia, Watergate. (I've always been puzzled about why some people deny the moon landing, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary on July 20, but I just figured it out: it happened during Nixon's first administration!)
Many Americans were suspicious of those color-coded terrorist threat level warnings back in 2004. The threat level was raised several times during the presidential campaigns that year, and, coincidentally, was never raised again after Bush was reelected in November. Just this week, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge revealed that he was pressured to raise the threat level by Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft, claims that Rumsfeld and Ashcroft immediately denied.
The consequences of these blantantly political conspiracy theories are that they can distract people from having really important conversations. If we're talking about whether President Obama is really an American or whether "Death Panels" are really in his health care plan, then we're not talking about his domestic and foreign policy ideas or how to reform health care. If we're still talking about who really attacked the United States on 9/11 then we're not talking about why Islamic fundamentalist terrorists attacked us and how to prevent them from doing it again.
Sometimes it seems like there are people in this country who don't want us to be having these conversations. But maybe I'm just being paranoid.[[In-content Ad]]
