Some people might remember this guy from here, if anyone wants to give his ass a truth-spanking feel free;
http://immortal-technique.com/forum/index.php/topic,149.msg1300.html#msg1300

9/11 "TRUTH" = WASTE OF TIME

I have been extremely busy, and it's refreshing to finally have time to sit down and write some things that I have been wrangling with for the last couple of weeks.

Last month was the five-year anniversary of 9/11, and with it came equally extreme reactions from the political right and left. The reactions on the right are well-documented by the corporate media, namely, the usage of that event to justify (unconvincingly) a war on an idea/tactic (terror) and America's continued imperial gallivanting throughout the world, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as roll-backs of domestic civil liberties. On the left, in particular the far-left, it was a moment to commemorate what some call "the big lie" or "the inside job" or even "the most important event in American history." Those that are convinced that 9/11 was an "inside job" are those that this piece will focus on. I will not address their "evidence," but rather why the energy spent trying to "expose" well-established truths is a political dead-end and a waste of time given the very real and very open criminal acts that are being perpetrated on black and brown people throughout the world.

Most of these thoughts come as a result of discussions on this website.. The specific discussions are in the "Politics" sub-forum. If you want to see what I would call the cutting edge in 9/11 "Truth" conspiracism, look under the sub-forum entitled "Crossing the Boundary." In a stroke of supreme irony, I have been banned from the site (which is probably the fifth ban I have received in the last two months for espousing unpopular beliefs regarding 9/11 and other things). As I will discuss later on, 9/11 Truth is an inflexible, and at times totalitarian movement, whose inability to tolerate the possibility that there was no direct conspiracy eerily mimics the "fascism" that it says is on the horizon if the "Truth" is not exposed.

Conspiracism is a common thread that runs fairly strong in far-left/progressive circles. It exists for what I think are several reasons: first, the left is well aware of the unconscionable things that the American government has done throughout its existence. Secondly, it exists because many leftists are entirely skeptical of power, especially the concentrated power that rests in the hands of America's ruling elite. Lastly, it exists because it is an easy solution to what are often complex, multi-layered problems and events. It is much easier to assign world events and conflicts to the machinations of a shadowy, Illuminati type organization, than it is to unpeel the onion of chaos, incompetence and luck that color intricate human interactions. The political effects on the left of the third reason are particularly disheartening and counterproductive as people waste precious time trying to “uncover” the works of a probably non-existent “New World Order” instead of fighting the open secrets that directly impact billions of the earth’s peoples.

I cannot speak directly to the ethnic, racial and class composition of the 9/11 "Truth" movement, however I can speak to it anecdotally. 9/11 “Truth” is a movement of largely white, middle-class college-aged to middle-aged individuals who are on the positive side of the digital divide. They have consistent access to the Internet and use it as their primary vehicle for organizing and the dissemination of information. The very nature of Internet activism precludes consistent participation in Internet-driven social movements by the poor. Needless to say, in the United States poverty and race are inextricably linked, and the doors to accessing this so-called movement are closed to an important segment of the population. Many discussion forums, both on the net and before live audiences are bereft of people of color and their perspectives, especially if those perspectives do not support the “inside-job” line that dominates the movement. They claim that a New World Order is emerging as a result of 9/11, however they fail to see, or admit, that this New World Order is certainly not new to people of color in the United States and around the world. American power has been projected into ghettoes, barrios and black and brown countries for more than two hundred years, yet it only becomes apparent to this movement when it is exposed by the events of September the 11th and put into the faces of those who have been sheltered from the dirty end of American politics.

Another important feature of the movement is that its basic premise is dismissive of people of color. A common argument is that the operation was far too complex for a small cadre of Arabs and Muslims, whose handlers were cave bound in faraway Afghanistan, to pull off. It is automatically dismissive of the very tangible reaction that people of color have to white imperialism and American (white) foreign policy. It is dismissive of the agency that those individuals took on that day in order to carry out a task that they believe was orchestrated by the Bush administration. It is beyond the realm of possibility that everything that happened on that day, even with its myriad anomalies, was done by brown skinned people directly in reaction to the political policies of the United States government (which is largely, I would argue, 98% controlled by white men). This movement is entirely dismissive of the power of individual action in the face of perceived tyranny. It attributes the events of that day not to the ingenious plans of politically savvy Muslims who took advantage of the weakness of a white-run government whose own hubris made the mental possibility of a domestic “terrorist” attack slim to none. It attributes them to the actions of those largely white neo-conservative idealists whose unabashed conceit has landed American military power in a quagmire on two fronts; to men (and a few women) who cannot admit that their plans and estimations of the people they sought to conquer were far from realistic. They deny the very strong possibility that Osama bin Laden and what has come to be known as Al Qaeda actually outsmarted the richest and most powerful country in the world and struck at its very heart. They cannot accept that the men who more than likely carried out the acts witnessed by millions of people were in fact highly trained warriors who had fought in countless guerilla-style battles. Nor can they accept the fact that the CIA or CIA operatives trained the trainers of the hijackers in how to carry out actions like those taken on 9/11. All of this very real, and very loud resistance is swept under the rug and out of the realm of possibility by the 9/11 “Truth” movement. This dismissiveness is reflected most keenly in the fact that there are very few prominent people of color in the movement.

Coupled with the patronizing paternalism of the movement and its inability to accept acts of violent resistance by brown skinned peoples, is its total ignorance of the struggles of people of color in the United States and the United States’ own history of severe, proto-fascist legislation that pre-dates the events of 9/11 by many decades. Many in the 9/11 “Truth” movement think that 9/11 was staged as a pretext to introduce draconian legislation aimed at suppressing domestic dissent and to hasten the rise of a fascist state in the wake of the destruction of our oh-so-perfect current one. They believe that the “elite” saw 9/11 as the perfect opportunity to roll back all of the gains that have been made over the last thirty five years, and to do it in one fell swoop. Many others argue that 9/11 is the most important event in recent history and that it presents a singular opportunity to expose just how down and dirty the US government is willing to get. These beliefs are particularly shallow because they ignore the history of the US government and how war has always been used as a pretext to roll back civil liberties.

One need only look at the history of African Americans to see that many of the hyperbolic, chicken-little, “the sky is falling” arguments are but repetitions of common themes in US history. Black people are well aware of the underhandedness with which the US government often carries out its agenda. They were brought here in chains, forced to build the economy of their enslavers without compensation, be raped and murdered, have their languages and histories erased and taught to hate themselves by the very men who represented the highest levels of that government. The political and social effects of slavery are still felt today and are a stain on any moral legitimacy that the US might ever try to claim. Meld this with the histories of Native Americans, women and the poor and there exists a smorgasbord of events to choose from that display the sickening depths that the powerful will sink to further their own agendas and maintain their grips on their ill begotten gains. Yet all of this is lost on the 9/11 “Truth” movement. In their zealousness to prove the “Truth” they ignore the very real fact that often amoral and downright evil acts committed by the US government are not secrets and that even if 9/11 was an inside job, it merely falls into a larger pattern of domestic and international abuse perpetrated by a sociopathic state entity.

This “world changing” movement was non-existent during the decades when urban police forces were being militarized to fight a “War on Drugs.” They were silent as thousands of black men were sent to jail while their communities became essential police states. They say that the “War on Terror” is a possibly endless war and that US civil liberties are being rolled. True, however, these are merely the latest in a long line of possibly endless wars that the US has decided to fight. The “War on Drugs” is a miserable failure, resulting in nothing more than the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of poor and people of color (some might argue that the point of that war was to do just that) and an increase profitability and purity of drugs. The “Cold War” was seen as something that would never end, and it did. The point is that these wars are never permanent, and never met without resistance. They are usually spectacular failures that are merely mid-range subsidies of defense contractors. Yet, all of these points are ignored and the problem becomes real only when a camera is installed at an intersection in a white neighborhood or the latest piece of legislation used to consolidate the political class’s power is passed. Again, the short-term historical memory of the 9/11 “Truth” movement blinds its followers because they are so convinced that there particular historical moment is the most important ever.

One need only look at US history when there is a threat to see that things like the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act are typical and that as long as people are vigilant that they never last. If people are not complacent, and are willing to struggle, then they will not stand, and history shows this to be true time and time again. For example, there were the Alien and Sedition Acts, or the 1917 Espionage Act or the 1917 Sedition Act. These things were challenged and they were defeated. People do not just sit silently when these things happen, and certainly are not silent now. The times and actors in history change, and therefore the possibility of change is constant. However, these examples might as well not exist in the minds of the 9/11 “Truth” zealots.

A large number of “Truthers” claim that the events of that day were singular in American history, when they most certainly were not, not even in comparison with modern US history. One example that should temper the indignation of these crusaders are the events that took place at the Gulf of Tonkin. This event preceded what, until now, was the biggest US foreign policy disaster of the last seventy-five years. Tonkin followed others like that of the USS Maine or the Lusitania. Some of the more savvy members of the 9/11 “Truth” movement say that all of these events were false flag operations and that they were orchestrated by the very governments who claimed to be victimized by them. This may very well be true (more often than not it is not), but what matters more is how these events were taken advantage of by those governments, which takes me to my last and most important point: proving that 9/11 was an “inside job” does nothing to establish that the US government is willing to do anything to its citizens to further its domestic and foreign policy goals, nor does it do anything to stop the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of black and brown people around the world who are dying as a result of US foreign policy.

I have been in many arguments with members of the 9/11 “Truth” movement who say that this event will “make Americans wake up” and maybe even push for revolution. They say that throwing the Bush administration will change the world forever. These are both naïve concepts to say the least. The grip that corporate controlled news has on the flow of information into the lives of many Americans is almost unchallenged. The Internet is a valuable tool, but not one that is as nearly accessed like television. Merely showing that corporate media conglomerates and the government work together does nothing to change the structures that allow them to do this. The same goes for throwing the Bush administration out. It does nothing to change the fundamental core of the system. In fact a democratic regime would not be under the kind of scrutiny by the left that a conservative regime would be. One need only look at Bill Clinton to see this and how the left was silent as he expanded the federal death penalty, destroyed welfare, and supported a level of unprecedented corporate malfeasance. At the very least, a conservative regime keeps the progressive left honest and on its toes. Knowledge without a plan of action is merely edifying and not world changing and that is what a main argument for 9/11 “Truth” is. They have a magical faith in knowledge not backed with a detailed course of action. It is fairytale politics. Magically, one day people will wake up, and only showing that the government is shady will do this. They ignore the fact that most people who are lethargic are that way because they have a level of material comfort that shelters them from having to face hard reality. Unless 9/11 “Truth” changes material reality, none of that is going to change and no one is going to “wake up” and see the system for what it is.

Lastly, 9/11 “Truth” is a waste of time given the heinous acts that need to be fought on a fulltime basis and that it is a movement that does not tolerate heterodoxy. The orthodox viewpoint is that the whole event was orchestrated by the Bush administration and other, greater, and magically unknown “elites.” Anyone who argues for government complicity, incompetence, or the fact that they should be spending more time planning a course of action to resist and fight the policies that have come after 9/11 than proving that the government did it is shouted down. The fervor with which many approach the subject is almost religious in nature. Attacks on respected leftists occur with common frequency. Noam Chomsky is a favorite target because he thinks that it is a waste of time and energy to pursue investigation of an event that does not serve to further resistance to American global policy. In other words, Chomsky sees it as moot. As a result, he has seen no small share of mudsling and name-calling, “gatekeeper” being a favorite. It’s as if the movement is so desperate for his, and other highly respected academics’, approval that they will do anything to get it, and when they don’t they will stop just short of physically attacking them. But Chomsky and other critics of the movement have a point. Let’s look at Darfur, Sudan, where more than 200,000 civilians have died; or the aftermath of the earthquake in Pakistan that killed nearly 75,000, or the tsunami that killed upwards of 500,000 people. These are things that the 9/11 “Truth movement” ignore in their zealous rush to prove that the Bush administration was responsible for the “Big Lie.” They oppose the policies that came after 9/11, but have not put together a political platform or course of action that will tangibly change anything other than people’s minds. They think that merely exposing the “catalyzing event” for what it is will set things in motion. Well, that is not how real activism works and how real change is made. Real change is acknowledging that your personal crusade is one of many, that other people have suffered injustices far greater than those that happened on 9/11 (if one believes it is an inside job) and that proving something that a great number of the world’s population already understands (that the US government is capable of anything) is a waste of time. Until this “movement” sees that a plan of action for the present and future is better than proving a crime that happened in the past, then they will merely be causing a welcome distraction in the eyes of those who need fractured resistance and wild goose chases to have opposition to their agenda reduced.