Buttonholed by a Believer

Later, outside, I met one of the reasons why we shouldn’t – a Reinvestigate 911 believer – who harangued me and misinformed me, and didn’t realise what a trap she was in.

Talk about missing the bigger picture ! First off, it was the American military that waged the assault on Iraq, not the government. And second of all, it is not necessary to invent a story of callousness. America’s leaders appear not to care about the lives of millions of their fellow men and women by denying them healthcare, decent incomes, affordable, decent housing, adequate social welfare; but let me declare myself on the side of the sane – the American ruling authorities did not conspire to cause the 9/11 atrocities.

It’s true that the right-wing conservatives in the United States of America have long been campaigning for the end of Big Government, reducing government spending, outsourcing obligations, reducing taxation and cutting regulations. They think this “small state solution” is for the best – for economic growth, for business success, for efficiency in public finances. It is hard for them to admit that the diminished state should bear responsibility for the deficiencies in disaster aid following Hurricane Katrina. It is hard for them to admit that the smaller state was the direct cause of the incompetence in intelligence and decisionmaking that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.

“Do you believe in God ?” I asked my 911 Truth inquisitor. She considered that this question was not relevant to the subject at hand. I said it was highly relevant. I told her what I thought : that she was a cultist without the religious element, and that she had a propagandised mindset, and I questioned her acceptance of wild surmises, and her lack of accurate evidence.

I told her she was wasting her time, and wasting my time, and that in fact she was wasting all of our time with her baseless accusations of conspiracy. I asked her to think about the possibility that it could be her commitment was misdirected. I explained to her that there is more than one America – the culture is not completely corporatised. I explained to her that the American Government and the American Military are different actors on the world scene. I explained that the world is not composed of two kinds of people – evil and not evil. I explained that in the USA, the Constitution guarantees complete Freedom of Speech, and that many people say the most outrageous things with no justification.

I said that information about the money trail for the 9/11 hijackers was well known, and I was surprised that she didn’t know about it. I said there have already been enough investigations into 9/11, and there is no need to do it all over again. I said I was surprised she was not aware of the connections between Saudis resident in the USA and the 9/11 hijackers. I said that I have read no well-researched evidence to suggest that an elaborate, frankly, unbelievable, plot was conducted by the American authorities against the American people. I said that, obviously, Building 7 came down because it was damaged as a side effect of the attacks on the Twin Towers. I said that at least a decade beforehand, there had been engineering reports expressing concern about the infrastructural integrity of tall buildings.

I said I would not exchange e-mails with her when she asked, and I would not send her links or documents as she requested. I’m not going to waste my or your time with this nonsense accusation.

I said my concerns lie in the subject of climate change, which is serious, and about which we are not hearing public accuracy and not seeing democratic action. I said my concerns include the global energy crisis, which is serious, and about which we are not being well-served in terms of information and workable solutions.

The people calling for a Reinvestigation of 911 are wasting time and dissipating activist energy. If I were a conspiracy theorist, which I’m not, I would even say that dark forces have colluded to invent the mythology that claims that “911 was an inside job”…

So remember this. If you ever meet me, don’t even bother to mention your belief that 9/11 was an attack on the American people by the American government. It’s ludicrous. It’s an insane suggestion.

And you, young woman, whatever your name is again, you have just made me dig my heels in against your demands, by applying pressure, by not letting me finish my sentences, by repeated demands for me to prove myself, and by your lack of critical analysis. No, Noam Chomsky and John Pilger do not support your crazy position; they are not saying what you think they are saying. And no, the American Government were not behind the assassination of JFK.

It is the willingness of the political “left” to believe unsupportable lines of argument that continually deflates the power of opposition to the unequal, unjust and ignorant world we live in.