A Bestiary of the 9/11 Truth Movement
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SI July August 11_SI new design masters 5/25/11 12:17 PM Page 43 A Bestiary of the 9/11 Truth Movement: Notes from the Front Line Two social scientists describe their experience confronting the 9/11 Truth movement in the United Kingdom after they published a paper linking conspiracy theories with extremist ideology. They argue that the 9/11 Truth movement is composed of three groups and that each accepts the conspiracy meme for different reasons. JAMIE BARTLETT and CARL MILLER (Hardwig 1991); an ideological response “I was fifty-five years old when I began to understand the world in my view. ... I’m to structural inequalities (Fenster 1999); actually quite certain, and I don’t want to believe it . that the people we call the gov- 1 and a natural human tendency to seek ernment murder us in order to start wars that make money for them.” order in an ever more complex, confusing world (Popper [1945] 2006). Once im- n his article “The Conspiracy Meme: Why Conspiracy planted, it is incredibly difficult to shake. Theories Appeal and Persist” (SI, January/February Over the past year we have been watching and confronting one particu- I 2011), Ted Goetzel suggests conspiracy theorizing is a lar version of this meme: the 9/11 Truth meme—a way of thinking that spreads, survives, or dies ac- movement. In August 2010, we released cording to a process analogous to genetic (termed mimetic) a paper about conspiracy theories, “The Power of Unreason.” Within hours, the selection. The conspiracy meme competes with others, such online conspiricist community hit back. as the scientific meme or the fair debate meme, as a way of Our paper was featured, or mirrored, on describing and making sense of the world. literally thousands of websites, blogs, and discussion forums; appeared as a Conspiracy theorizing is, according entific evidence.” It is a surprisingly re- topic on conspiricist radio shows; was to Goetzel, a rhetorical meme that silient and successful meme, a growing mentioned in a dozen YouTube videos; “transforms scientific controversies into body of scholarly literature suggests, be- and attracted hundreds of pages of human dramas. ... It uses controversial cause of a growing mistrust in “experts” comments and critique from the 9/11 facts and speculations to undermine sci- and established sources of knowledge Truth movement.2 Skeptical Inquirer | July / August 2 01 1 4 3 SI July August 11_SI new design masters 5/25/11 12:17 PM Page 44 9 /11 : C on spiracy Theories Ten Years Later The crucial point is that “The Power Many of these comments came from ment is composed of different kinds of of Unreason” was not actually about the people who freely confessed that they people who are involved in the move- 9/11 Truth movement. As a study of had not read our paper. ment for different reasons and derive the role of conspiracy theories in ex- Quickly, the focus turned onto our different types of fulfillment and satis- tremist and terrorist groups, it mentions organization, Demos, a non-govern- faction from this engagement. This is a 9/11 Truth sparsely and incidentally. ment public education charity. The story of a dominant meme finding fertile That the 9/11 Truth movement re- Greek letter theta, taking the place of ground in several psychological habitats. sponded in such an aggressive manner the o in the Demos logo, became the We’ve observed groups from three of prompted us to analyze the response it- eye of the Illuminati.4 As authors, we these habitats. The first can be called self as a means of understanding this were roundly accused of being part of the “hardcore” group. Much of the noise broadly nonviolent movement that the conspiracy itself: at best unknowing, of the 9/11 Truth movement is caused nonetheless represents a damaging cul- naive, and myopic writers; at worst dis- by a relatively small, tight-knit group of tural habit. information specialists or government highly connected, highly motivated in- The response illustrated, and contin- agents openly supporting state terror- dividuals. They are prodigious produc- ues to illustrate, Goertzel’s conspiracy ism.5 This technique of folding any dis- ers of information and theories who theory meme in action. First, the online senters into an ever-growing conspiracy spot anomalies and technical inconsis- conspiracy community wrapped the re- is precisely what Goertzel predicts: cas- tencies. They are veterans of the John F. Ken nedy assasination and Moon-land- ing-hoax theories, and so their worldview favors the “super-conspiracy,” linking conspiracies to a hidden overarching, sin- The recommendation to teach ister master plan (Cline 2007). critical thinking in schools In our debates with them, hardcore 9/11 Truthers claim to be interested only became “pushing propaganda in “facts”: the physical “fact” of the free fall speed of the Twin Towers, the col- on our children.” The recommen- lapse of World Trade Center (WTC) dation to introduce alternative 7—which to them proves a demoli- tion—or the “fact” that traces of super information into conspiracist sites thermite have been identified in the Lower Manhattan dust by Steven Jones. became a dark, Orwellian plot Their arguments, however, are not to end free speech. scientific at all, because the methods used are nonscientific: proponents de- cide on the answer and then search for corroborating evidence while ignoring the overwhelming peer-reviewed, inde- port around faulty preconceptions. The cade logic. Here, it was a spontaneous, pendent research that suggests that, for paper was misrepresented in an exag- semi-concerted effort to discredit the example, WTC 7 collapsed in a manner gerated, distorted, inaccurate way that report and its arguments. consistent with severe damage from was soon recycled and re-presented According to various polls, belief in falling debris and fire (National Institute within the conspiricist community. The the 9/11 conspiracy is incredibly high. In of Standards and Technology [NIST] recommendation to teach critical the United Kingdom, only 56 percent of 2008). This self-avowedly dispassionate thinking in schools became “pushing the population believes al-Qaeda was re- search for truth is emotional.7 The propaganda on our children.” The rec- sponsible for the attacks; some smaller hardcore group’s involvement in 9/11 ommendation to introduce alternative polling suggests that as many as one- Truth is monochrome and Mani chean: information into conspiracist sites be- third of Americans consider it “very it’s a “good/bad,” “black/white” struggle came a dark, Orwellian plot to end free likely” or “somewhat likely” that U.S. against an oppressive influence whose speech. The key finding that terrorist government officials either al lowed or existence hardcore members believe organizations often use conspiracy the- actually carried out the attacks on Sep- they are on the cusp of proving. ories as part of their propaganda be- tember 11, 2001.6 In fact, it is not quite The second layer could be called the came “Demos accuses the 9/11 Truth as simple as that. Based on our encoun- “critically turned” group. It is often a Movement as [sic] being terrorists.”3 ters, we believe the 9/11 Truth move- source of surprise that many young stu- 44 Volume 35 Issue 4 | Skeptical Inquirer SI July August 11_SI new design masters 5/25/11 12:17 PM Page 45 dents and political activists are part of journalism—accurate quotation, avoid- The hardcore group claims to share at the 9/11 Truth movement. Some are ance of misrepresentation, and fidelity least the same epistemological rules—ra- influenced heavily by that heady bundle of source—and their contributions, al- tionalism, empiricism, and a grounding of postmodern theory and the critical most entirely devoid of genuine intent of basic scholarly practice and conduct— turn that Geoffrey Elton so memorably to find truth, are almost always nakedly as skeptics. Yet the emotionalized sub- termed “the intellectual equivalent of and transparently propagandistic. For strate of this conduct makes broad at- crack” (Elton [1991] 2002). Their ap - them, it is the thrill of the chase and tempts at logical reasoning—such as proach and language center on the participating in a largely online struggle pointing out the cascade logic suggested dizzying ideas of relativism and subjec- that animates their involvement, not the by Goetzel—insufficient. Any chance to tive truth and the post-structural de- end result. believe conspirators exist is good enough construction they allow and demand Though the conspiracy theorizing for them. Any hanging anomalies or (Sokal and Brickmont 1998). meme is the same, its success within the unanswered challenges of the official But more than anything, the criti- 9/11 Truth movement depends on quite narrative will be taken as proof of the cally turned’s membership in 9/11 Truth different characteristics depending on its conspiracy. So the necessary response arises from anger at the political order adherent. These unlikely comrades in here is most painstaking: their claims they will soon inherit. It is too closed. arms have joined to make a formidable must, as far as is possible, be rebuffed fact There is too much power in the hands movement. The hardcore group supplies by fact, anomaly by anomaly, with the of too few. Their sense of justice and much of the physical organization and scientific tools they claim to be using. idealism is rudely confronted by a world structure: its members organize events, The critically turned might not ac- of state espionage, links between big discussions, and marches; distribute cept this approach, because conspiracy business and government, and lies over weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). These are as significant as any specific theories about WTC 7 or the size of the Though the conspiracy theorizing hole in the Pentagon outer wall.