Well, the BBC aired its fair and impartial documentary on 9/11 conspiracies last night and, knock me down with a feather, it was a selectively-edited hatchet piece that accused anyone with doubts about what happened that day of being a racist lunatic, hell bent on tormenting the families of those who died that day. The documentary also managed to work in a connection between 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Hezbollah which was a nice, and unexpected, touch.
There were also some nice touches of sophistry and cack reasoning, including a repeated theme that people take to conspiracy theories because conspiracy theories are more comforting than harsh realities of the 'real' world.
Of course! Why didn't I realise that before. Some people are much more comfortable thinking that their governments might be infiltrated with liars and criminals. That really helps them get through the day.
Anyway, IMHO it was a PoS - which can be seen in all its glory here
Alex Jones and his crew have already rushed out a first draft rebuttal here
and someone else has started a blog on the subject here
My real issue is not that the documentary sought to demolish 9/11 Conspiracy Theories - fair play to anyone who tries to do that, if that's what their research leads them to conclude. My problem is that it was so full of sins and omissions that it is a real stretch to believe that they were honest mistakes. The makers knew full well what they were doing.
It's David 'I'll be found dead in the woods with a blunt penknife and signs that my body has been moved' Kelly's turn to receive the same treatment next week. And my super spooky psychic powers tell me (I can't quite explain why, it's just a feeling I get) that will probably be a load of old bollocks as well...
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12 comments:
When the BBC starts pushing out crap like this, you know the official conspiracy theory is in REAL trouble!
From Sin City [Screen play] ...
"Power don't come from a badge, or a gun
Power comes from lying
Lying big and getting the whole damn world to play along with you
Once you got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you get them by the balls
There's what, maybe people in this hospital
I could pump you full of bullets right now and I wouldn't be arrested
Everyone would lie for me, everyone who counts
Otherwise all their own lies, everything that runs Sin City, it all comes tumbling down like a pack of cards"
Sin City link. I'll try not to post the wrong like, as above, again.
For some reason that quote reminds me of how for something like 40 years the FBI under Hoover barely acknowledged the existence or impact of organised crime in America.
Everyone knew it was going on but because, for whatever reason, Hoover said it didn't exist nobody did anything about it...
\ adds Sin City to the shopping list
The link to the video is no longer working. I found this one that still works.
As to the BBC: 15 Saudis, lead by a Saudi and sponsored by Saudi money attack the US and the US retaliate against - Afghanistan and Iraq. Of course it is much more comforting to think that the US government is full of liars and criminals than the alternative that the people in power in the US are plain stupid and couldn't tell their ass from their head.
Thanks Tony. I've changed the link
Minute 44 and following:
Frank Spotnitz: "And we assemble bits of information and tell ourselves stories. And I think the world is so complicated, that conspiracy theories are very appealing because they take only a few bits of information and string them together in a way that seems logical and to certain people with a certain political or ideological bent pleasing in fact. Because it vindicates, it justifies what you already believe."
He has a point there, that conspiracy theorists (and I count myself in there) assimilate information only in a way that fits our view of the world (same as everybody else, btw). But he is wrong when he says that we take only "a few bits". The difference between conspiracy theorists and "normal people" is that conspiracy theorists suck in *every* piece of information they can get. The problem is that they misinterpret the information to make it fit their view of the world (again, same as the rest of the population).
Narator: "The act of terrorism is blamed on a anti-American dictator as a pretext for a war in the middle-east so big bucks can be made by the US arms industry."
Fits exactly into my view of the world. Just nicely. Go ahead, prove me wrong.
Frank Spotnitz: "I woke up late this morning, turned on the television and saw one of the tower of the world trade center on fire. And the first thought I had was the 'Lone Gunman'."
Frank Spotnitz: "I began to hear that there were rumours on the Internet linking the 'Lone Gunman' to the 9/11 hijacking. They were ridiculous on their face. ... People will believe the most outlandish things."
So his natural reaction to think of the 'Lone Gunman' is ridiculous on its face? I don't think there are any connections between the 'Lone Gunman' and the events of 9/11, except the fact that if the time is ripe for an idea, it emerges in several places. But the reaction to make a connection may be false, but it is natural and not ridiculous.
"And we assemble bits of information and tell ourselves stories. And I think the world is so complicated, that conspiracy theories are very appealing because they take only a few bits of information and string them together in a way that seems logical and to certain people with a certain political or ideological bent pleasing in fact. Because it vindicates, it justifies what you already believe."
This an example of the plausible sounding bullshit reasoning that I was talking about.
In what way exactly does that explanation not correspond to people believing the 'official' conspiracy theory of OBL, Al Qaeda and the 19 crazed hijackers? In what way does it only apply to the 'unofficial' conspiracy theories?
In fact, most of the conspiracy theories I encounter are more complicated than mainstream views so what the guy is saying is actually total crap
re. The Lone Gunman
The significance of that film lies in the fact that Condoleezza Rice claimed after 9/11 that no-one could possibly have imagined that people would hijack airliners and fly them into buildings and that is why the US was unprepared for the attacks and one of the reasons why there were so many apparent fuck ups that day.
The problem with that claim, of course, is that it is a lie.
There had been plenty of speculation that just such an attack could take place (eg Operation Bojinka) so much so that people were making TV shows about it
or how about movies - eg The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)...
Mitch: Your telling me that your gonna fake some terrorist thing just to scare some money out of Congress?
Leland Perkins: Well, unfortunately I have no idea how to fake killing 4,000 people - so we're just gonna have to do it for real. Blame it on the Muslims, naturally. Then I get my funding.
Hi tony
I've posted this link in the past. It is to "Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by Richards J. Heuer, Jr." Essentially it explains how the intelligence services are supposed to analyse intelligence; particularly chapter 8 "Analysis of Competing Hypotheses. By Frank's reckoning, the CIA are a bunch of conspiracy theorists.
I am surprised by the movie "The Long Kiss Goodnight" everytime I see it. The combination of Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, kick-ass one-lines, cheap "run away from the explosion" Hollywood action and a serious conspiracy theory that is mentioned en passant - just great.
And there are some more examples of the "Bomb wielding muslim extrimists will kill us all" make believe and the "US government, military and intelligence will fuck us over" theme-movies. It just resonates there in Hollywood.
Another one is "The Siege" that springs to my mind. Some of the parallels to things happening are just eerie.
If there is one thing that Hollywood tries to do is to think of new ways to blow things and people up. The hollywood authors follow the news, they follow every lunatic conspiracy theory, they suck up every piece of information, every idea, to pull something out, desperatly looking for new plots. So yes, many things that have happend have been thought up in Hollywood before. Or as well.
The main difference between Hollywood and conspiracy theorists is, that Hollywood wants to show you something that could be real but people think it isn't, while we try to describe what is actually real while trying to contradict what people think is real.
Sorry, I seem to have lost my point...
@anonymous: I will try to read this, seems interesting!
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