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I got an e-mail from Mike today. It read as follows:

Good day Gareth

On more than one occasion I have listened to how you have promoted the “truth” as it relates to various matters, and, in particular on this day, to the 9-11 saga. Regrettably, I disagree with you on the “facts” as presented and have included an article for your consideration written by a gentleman who has been involved in the highest level of the US Government, and presented on the website of another gentleman who also held a position within the US government (bio included). It seems to me that people are prepared to listen to and believe the government when it spins its stories about events but there is a distinct lack of desire on the part of people to do their own investigation into the stories themselves. Have we become so lazy that we are no longer willing to formulate our own opinions? Have we become so dependant that the version fed to us by the “presstitue” media is the only version we are willing to entertain?

I believe that your opinion in these matters is not truly known because you strike me as a man of more than average intelligence and I can only conclude that something else is at work preventing you from informing people about the possibility that our entire existence is being moulded by the lies and deceit of whatever organisation is out there that has an agenda to fulfil. I also find it very difficult to believe that you can be so dismissive of possibilities that do not conform to those that have been put forth through the mainstream media. Perhaps your research into these matters has not been as fulfilling as they might have been had you not been directed to sites where the people running those site might have somewhat less of a sterling reputation than some of those that I have looked into. The “evidence” presented for the “facts” of the September 11, 2001 attacks is so flawed and faulty that many questions have been asked and unanswered to this day. I think that these questions need to be addressed and answered as a matter of urgency. It is no longer sufficient to dismiss people as “conspiracy theorists” simply because they question and seek enlightenment on the issues being discussed. After all, evolution is still a theory and we subscribe to it so willingly. Also note that the issue of relativity is still called the Theory of Relativity.

Please note that there is no malicious intent in the forwarding of this information, merely a desire to determine the level of understanding that there is on issues that are vital to the life we are living. After all, if the government is indeed deceiving us about one thing, then about what else are we being deceived?

Many thanks

Mike

I like to respond to intelligent people when they write, in earnest, to me. So here’s my reply:

Hi Mike

I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories. Moreover, I find them especially insidious when they dishonour the lost lives of many thousands of people – not only those who died eleven years ago, but those who have died in the heinous aftermath. Whatever you like to believe to be the facts here, if you’re pointing fingers – as in a criminal case, I’d like some evidence – and the hearsay opinion and second-rate rapportage of a malcontent within the nebulous and organic structures of “the US Government” is scant evidence indeed. This man Roberts was a Treasury appointee, and seems to be more surprised about the failure of the security establishment than the security establishment were by the hubris of the men who put jet-airliners and skyscrapers into hostile apposition. Much like I was astonished by the way Reaganomics lead to the collapse of the banking sector in 2008. Maybe Mr. Roberts can explain that to us with some degree of candour. Conspiracies about wealth being generated out of thin air, the federal Reserve and the traders are rife too. If you subscribe to one kind of nonsense – like religion – you end up being lumped into the same group as a great many disparate fools.

I also don’t like people telling me not to trust what I saw and heard and what millions of people witnessed as they happened. We have only our 5 senses and reason with which to establish veracity. It is too big a stretch for the imagination to think that such events were manipulated into existence by the US government in a big game of “get us Iraqi oil” or “destroy the secret documents” or “Give us a pretext to invade miserable Afghanistan”. There may be people with these motives somewhere in the US government, but there are a whole boatload (or planeload) more Islamofascists who would do it just because they believe Allah would reward them for thwarting the Great Satan. Ockham’s Razor will remind us that we need not multiply possibilities beyond a rational root observation or cause. The first, best explanation is usually the right one – even if it doesn’t satisfy the very human craving for something bigger, scarier and more solipsistic. Many Americans still can’t believe what happened – so their imaginations fill the blanks for them. We’re pattern-seeking mammals. This is the same problem we have with people who refuse to see the plainfacts of evolution, or that there is probably no God.

The damage done to America is real. The lives lost are real. The buildings erased from the skyline were real. Conspiracy theories make a mockery of smart people and a brave city and do untold harm to any attempts by civilised people to deal with the very real dangers of Islamic terrorism. You may choose to watch YouTube videos that purport to show Satan’s face in the smoke over and over again, or dig around for pictures of shadowy figures on the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza, or pore over bunkum evidence on the world wide web, but until you or Mr. Roberts provide me with something more concrete than your cloudy, sinister alternate universe ideas; the intelligent position is to call 9-11 what it demonstrably was and is.

G