Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories
My Creators Syndicate column for next week (August 14-18) will review Popular Mechanics new book Debunking 9/11 Myths.
I blurbed the book.
“This book is a victory for common sense; 9/11 conspiracy theorists beware: Popular Mechanics has popped your paranoid bubble world, using pointed facts and razor-sharp analysis.”
Richard Clarke blurbed it as well, calling it a “reliable and rational answer” to the conspiracy theorists.
The book puts into practice former Senator and genuine intellectual Daniel P. Moynihan’s exquisite quip “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. He is not entitled to his own facts.”
I especially like John McCain’s foreward, which includes this blunt observation:
Conspiracy mongering is no small phenomenon…These theories come in nearly infinite variety, but all reach essentially the same conclusion: that the US government, or some shadowy group that controls it, organized the attacks as part of a master plan for global domination. But the truth is more mundane. The philosopher Hannah Arendt described the banality of Nazi evil; the 9/11 hijackers were also ordinary, uninteresting men with twisted beliefs.
Editor in chief James Miegs “Afterword” is also excellent.
The Afterword’s first sentence sets the stage:
On February 7, 2005, I became a member of the Bush/Halliburton/Zionist/CIA/New World Order/Illuminati conspiracy for global domination
February 7, 2005 is the day the March 2005 PM edition (the original “debunking” issue) hit the stands. Meigs’ Afterword is a useful primer for print and internet editors evaluating the quality of arguments. He covers eight different “conspiracist” techniques.
Buy the book and read it. Send it to Michael Moore and Mahmoud Amadinejad. And Howard Dean.
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