The Search for Honest Truth: I think that I was just raised differently from most people. My folks taught me not so much to question everything, but that I should verify. This has really become one more of a lifestyle thing for me. I hear things and I kind of scratch my head and wonder what is true and what is not. Sometimes it just sounds so good that it has to be true, sometimes it just sounds too stupid to be true. I learned at a very early age that just because someone says something doesn't always make it true. I was taught, for instance, that when listening to a sermon that I should verify what the preacher says by actually having my Bible and reading it for myself. This is what Martin Luther taught way back when, and what Jim Jones spoke against at Jonestown. The results are that for Luther millions of Christians were set free from the tyranny of the church and for the members of the Peoples Temple they got to drink the Koolaid.
What set this off is two things that happened on the same day this week that caused me to realize how gullible some people are. They just believe something that they are told without considering whether or not that it is true. The first was an e-mail forward from a guy that I sometimes work with. It was for an Amber Alert for some kid in Wisconsin or Idaho. I first thought it odd that he would send this to me since it wasn't someone local, that would have made a little more sense. Then I figured it might be a family member or something like that. Nope, as I started looking at it I realized that it was a forward of a forward of a... you get the idea. Six degrees of separation. Well I spun the name in the Snopes.com search engine as I always do when I get these things and found that it was a total hoax, some kid trying to see how many times it will make it around the globe or something like that. He isn't missing, has been around, and this hoax has been around for a couple of years. Sick really. It makes it all the more difficult for when a true Amber Alert is sent out.
The second one though had an air of truth about it only because it was at first blush difficult to disprove. It was the mysterious plane circling over Washington DC on 9/11/2001 just after the planes hit the Wold Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. CNN did something on this week (on 9/11/2007) and the blurry zoomed in shot shows that it was the same plane type that the President uses for Air Force One. The conspiracy crowd says that it is a government plane that is controlling all of the jets that are crashing into things, asserting that he government is behind the whole thing. The government doesn't comment. This of course spools up the the conspiracy crowd to a fever pitch.
Sometimes a little common sense can be applied as well. Let's assume that this plane is indeed one of the same planes that are used as Air Force One. Now assume that you are the commander of this plane, or the outfit that oversees them and you have just received confirmation that two planes have attacked New York and another has just hit the Pentagon. You have heard rumors that others might be on the way (in fact Flight 93 was still airborn and off of its flight plan at the same time). Wouldn't one of these planes make a great target? Think about it from the terrorists perspective. You know that at a time such as this the first thing that they are going to do is shuttle off the President into this thing and get him out of there. Right? A terrorist would love that target. And where does this plane sit? Andrews Air Force Base, everyone in the world knows that without looking it up. So as the commander maybe it is a good idea to send one of these planes up to get the communications systems running. While this plane is in the air possibly one of the military heads asks them to give DC a quick flyover to confirm that there are no smoke plumes anywhere. Makes total sense. All of the media outlets are reporting every rumor they can grab.
Now why the government won't confirm anything 6 years later is a bit of a mystery, but I think that there are things we shouldn't have known to the general public. They just need to keep some things secret, it gives us an advantage in dealing with the enemy. But to assume that there is a plane load of people controlling other jets to crash them into buildings to kill thousands of people is insane.
Well all of this got me looking at some of the other 9/11 myths. One in particular had an "expert" on 9/11 who has published a couple of books from his log cabin showing how the building was exploded prior to the collapse. Footage "proved" that the explosions were set off 30 stories below the fire. Then he makes the categorical statement that anyone who says different is a liar and part of the conspiracy. Indeed a true engineering expert shows how the center structure being destroyed would have caused an extra load to the structure and the weight would have caused a collapse many floors below. The building collapsed exactly as it should have due to the fire and damage from the jets. But if you disagree with that scientific evidence you are a liar and a part of the conspiracy...just like me. The problem lies with emotion overtaking reason. If you disagree with the evidence you are considered a traitor to the cause.
There are some things that are not black and white, and there is so much room for conjecture that we just can't know, and may never know. Who shot JFK? There are some 50 different conspiracy theories and all of them can prove there case without a shadow of a doubt, but of course only one can be true. When it comes to faith I made a decision when I was very young to throw out all denominational beliefs built upon the thoughts of man and just stick with the Bible as my sole source of authority. When it comes to everything else I will look at scientific evidence. If I can find a uniform consensus I make my decisions. But, when that scientific evidence is not uniform I have a little more digging to do. And if one of the sides is screaming that we must believe or else we are liars and part of the conspiracy, I have an inkling that this is the guy who is wrong. And I will always welcome the guy who is willing to let me debate his science. He isn't afraid of what I will find.
What set this off is two things that happened on the same day this week that caused me to realize how gullible some people are. They just believe something that they are told without considering whether or not that it is true. The first was an e-mail forward from a guy that I sometimes work with. It was for an Amber Alert for some kid in Wisconsin or Idaho. I first thought it odd that he would send this to me since it wasn't someone local, that would have made a little more sense. Then I figured it might be a family member or something like that. Nope, as I started looking at it I realized that it was a forward of a forward of a... you get the idea. Six degrees of separation. Well I spun the name in the Snopes.com search engine as I always do when I get these things and found that it was a total hoax, some kid trying to see how many times it will make it around the globe or something like that. He isn't missing, has been around, and this hoax has been around for a couple of years. Sick really. It makes it all the more difficult for when a true Amber Alert is sent out.
The second one though had an air of truth about it only because it was at first blush difficult to disprove. It was the mysterious plane circling over Washington DC on 9/11/2001 just after the planes hit the Wold Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. CNN did something on this week (on 9/11/2007) and the blurry zoomed in shot shows that it was the same plane type that the President uses for Air Force One. The conspiracy crowd says that it is a government plane that is controlling all of the jets that are crashing into things, asserting that he government is behind the whole thing. The government doesn't comment. This of course spools up the the conspiracy crowd to a fever pitch.
Sometimes a little common sense can be applied as well. Let's assume that this plane is indeed one of the same planes that are used as Air Force One. Now assume that you are the commander of this plane, or the outfit that oversees them and you have just received confirmation that two planes have attacked New York and another has just hit the Pentagon. You have heard rumors that others might be on the way (in fact Flight 93 was still airborn and off of its flight plan at the same time). Wouldn't one of these planes make a great target? Think about it from the terrorists perspective. You know that at a time such as this the first thing that they are going to do is shuttle off the President into this thing and get him out of there. Right? A terrorist would love that target. And where does this plane sit? Andrews Air Force Base, everyone in the world knows that without looking it up. So as the commander maybe it is a good idea to send one of these planes up to get the communications systems running. While this plane is in the air possibly one of the military heads asks them to give DC a quick flyover to confirm that there are no smoke plumes anywhere. Makes total sense. All of the media outlets are reporting every rumor they can grab.
Now why the government won't confirm anything 6 years later is a bit of a mystery, but I think that there are things we shouldn't have known to the general public. They just need to keep some things secret, it gives us an advantage in dealing with the enemy. But to assume that there is a plane load of people controlling other jets to crash them into buildings to kill thousands of people is insane.
Well all of this got me looking at some of the other 9/11 myths. One in particular had an "expert" on 9/11 who has published a couple of books from his log cabin showing how the building was exploded prior to the collapse. Footage "proved" that the explosions were set off 30 stories below the fire. Then he makes the categorical statement that anyone who says different is a liar and part of the conspiracy. Indeed a true engineering expert shows how the center structure being destroyed would have caused an extra load to the structure and the weight would have caused a collapse many floors below. The building collapsed exactly as it should have due to the fire and damage from the jets. But if you disagree with that scientific evidence you are a liar and a part of the conspiracy...just like me. The problem lies with emotion overtaking reason. If you disagree with the evidence you are considered a traitor to the cause.
There are some things that are not black and white, and there is so much room for conjecture that we just can't know, and may never know. Who shot JFK? There are some 50 different conspiracy theories and all of them can prove there case without a shadow of a doubt, but of course only one can be true. When it comes to faith I made a decision when I was very young to throw out all denominational beliefs built upon the thoughts of man and just stick with the Bible as my sole source of authority. When it comes to everything else I will look at scientific evidence. If I can find a uniform consensus I make my decisions. But, when that scientific evidence is not uniform I have a little more digging to do. And if one of the sides is screaming that we must believe or else we are liars and part of the conspiracy, I have an inkling that this is the guy who is wrong. And I will always welcome the guy who is willing to let me debate his science. He isn't afraid of what I will find.
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