Don't Take The Red Pill

[poliphilo]

I spent much of yesterday researching 911 conspiracy theory.

I don't like what it's done to my head. 

Are the secret chiefs who run our world really so sneaky, smart and super-efficient? 

What about the fuck-up theory of history?

Conspiracyland is such an unhealthy place to live. Ooh, the paranoia!

Frankly, I'd rather forget all about it.

But maybe that's what the secret chiefs are counting on...

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if this is a conspiracy or not, but I had reason to look up Werner Herzog on IMDB yesterday, and came across a quote that reminded me of you. (But also, I guess it's appropriate to conspiracy theory.)

"I have the impression that the images that surround us today are worn out, they are abused and useless and exhausted. They are limping and dragging themselves behind the rest of our cultural evolution. When I look at the postcards in tourist shops and the images and advertisements that surround us in magazines, or I turn on the television, or if I walk into a travel agency and see those huge posters with that same tedious and rickety image of the Grand Canyon on them, I truly feel there is something dangerous emerging here. The biggest danger, in my opinion, is television because to a certain degree it ruins our vision and makes us very sad and lonesome. Our grandchildren will blame us for not having tossing hand-grenades into TV stations because of commercials. Television kills our imagination and what we end up with are worn out images because of the inability of too many people to seek out fresh ones."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's a great quote. Thanks.

I've been thinking quite a lot about the banality of TV- how there's so little on any channel that stretches the mind or the imagination, how the TV news casts (even here in the UK) just trot along behind the Murdoch agenda.

And these lines of John Lennon's keep popping into my mind.

"Keep you drugged on religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see....."

[algabal.livejournal.com]

One of the things most disturbing about conspiracy theory is how it manages to attract the most extreme ends of both the left and the right, both left-wing extremists and neo-Nazis. It's not just unhealthy, it's almost always wrong. I highly recommend you read this (http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html), lest you get caught up in that ugly maelstrom.

This radio broadcast (http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1201) is also worth listening to, where a survivor of the London Subway Bombings desperately tries to convince a bunch of conspiracy theorists that her story is true, who then proceed to dismiss her as a liar and a government shill.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The problem is that I don't know enough- few of us do- to assess the value of expert testimony on either side. One guy with letters after his name says burning aviation fuel couldn't have brought the towers down, another says it could. Which do I believe?

You're right about the extremists. I just read what intially seemed like a commonsensical piece about The New World Order and by the time I got to the end it was clear it was coming from some place on the far far right

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I wonder if we can pin the last 20 years of Hollywood on TV's ability to kill the imagination. Sequel after sequel, remakes of older films, or movies based off television series. The lack of creativity is appalling.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I worked on the Lockerbie Project here at my place of employment, and there was a gentleman who called and called - former employee of someone - the airline, maybe? - who filled my ears with his version of conspiracy theory. He was discounted by the Feds, and I was told next time he called I should refer him to them. He never did call back...

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the popular mechanics link, I'd been looking for it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

TV and film- it's the same industry, more or less- with the same suits in charge of things.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've always suspected the guy who's in prison for the Lockerbie bombing is a patsy. Libya was the world's number 1 pariah state at the time of the atrocity- so nobody asked too many awkward questions when the crime got pinned on Gaddafi.

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

That radio broadcast was wonderful--and made me feel immense relief as one with personal experience surrounding 9/11 (as well as many conspiracy theorists). I recommend it to anyone who verges on the edge of becoming a conspiracy theorist, ha!

My personal opinion is there very well may be a conspiracy, but it isn't anywhere near the one people are focussed on. How convenient to the conspirators that might be, don't you think?

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

Here's my response (http://sculptruth.livejournal.com/304219.html") to several conspiracy theorists who had broadsided me on the issue. Along with that post are some links you might find interesting.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well argued.

There are very few people out there who have any right to pronounce on how very tall buildings behave when you throw airplanes at them. Even they may be wrong. After all, what precedents do we have?

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

Oh yikes, did the link work for you? It seems broken. If so, then thank you---and you're absolutely right. There are few, if any, precedents at all.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The link didn't work, but I went and riffled through your back pages until I found the relevant post.

This stuff interests me.

It will certainly always be interesting!

[sculptruth.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness for tags! :)