Two Hit, Three Down - The Biggest Lie
National Academy of Science member and Distinguished Professor endorses
David Ray Griffin's work exposing the truth of 9/11
By Lynn Margulis
I comment here on the nanotechnology aspect of Jerry Mazza’s masterful review (Rock Creek Free Press, January 2010, page 6) of David Ray Griffin’s extraordinary 2009 book, The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report about 9/11 is Unscientific and False.
By the time we (Dorion Sagan – my eldest son and Sciencewriters partner – and I) met David Griffin in 2003 in his native habitat at the Center for Process Studies (which is on the campus of the Claremont School of Theology in southern California), he had written over two dozen books, none of which I had ever read or even heard of. We immensely enjoyed a three-day scientific-philosophical meeting on the Darwinian-evolutionary view of life that had been organized by Griffin’s sage mentor, the sweet-tempered but razor sharp, Jimmy Carter-sounding, octogenarian professor emeritus and director, John B. Cobb, Jr. The results of this fascinating meeting have since been published (Cobb, ed. 2008).
At that meeting, Griffin’s talk was sober, academic, competent, scholarly – and entirely new to me: Christian theology in a much broader philosophical context than any to which I had ever been exposed.The science-friendly philosophical outlook Griffin espoused apparently was developed by Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), the English mathematician-philosopher who became a Harvard professor, or by Cobb. Why would I have known anything about this theological-philosophical work? My own expertise after all is in protoctist and organellar genetics. With close colleagues I reconstruct the origin and evolution of nucleated cells in the Proterozoic Eon. Where I understood DRG’s talk at all, he made clear to me his honesty. Truth, especially scientifically/empirically established truth, seemed intrinsic to his Christianity. As a typical agnostic scientist overtly critical of organized, and even disorganized, religion, I was surprised by the scientific commitment to approaching empirical truth in a religious context rather than the usual authority-pleasing consensus.
Griffin went on to elaborate that, although as a Whiteheadian he embraces the methods and results of science, he is critical of the entire international scientific enterprise as generally practiced today. Not only do scientists extrapolate their intrinsically specialized empirical knowledge into intellectual territory where it does not belong, but they don’t heed Whitehead’s recognition that, after all, scientists –like all people – have an emotional life and an inner spirit. The acclaimed “objectivity of science,” on close scholarly inspection (by, say, Cobb, Griffin and other Whiteheadians), often translates into tribalism, jingoism, naiveté, denial of obvious truths, uncritical service to The State, and other forms of profoundly dangerous ignorance. Scientists, as do all groups of people, share unstated philosophical assumptions. For example, they not only have faith in the consistency and “knowability” of the real world, but they often assume that the concrete particulars of the world are adequately described by the abstractions that have proved useful for limited purposes in their own disciplines – an assumption that Whitehead called the “fallacy of misplaced concreteness.”
On the return trip east from this meeting, I read, non-stop, DRG’s seminal book on 9/11, The New Pearl Harbor. Since then I have watched the “aging theologian” (his self-description as quipped in the excellent video-graphed lecture “9/11 and Nationalist Faith” (or was it 9/11: Let’s Get Empirical? Both are highly recommended) metamorphose from a compelling, careful scholar to a brave and extraordinary orator (but still careful scholar). Griffin has become a superb politician with a single agenda item: We must re-open public inquiry into the events of September 11, 2001, especially the collapse of the World Trade Center.
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Isn't this Front Page News?
Isn't this Front Page News?
Radio show with Griffin and also Kurt Haskell
Building 7 is a wonderful entrance point for new people. David Ray Griffin talks about Building 7 on the Barry Shainbaum radio show and he is followed by an interview with Kurt Haskell.
http://www.barryshainbaum.com/podcasts.xml
Haskell Blog - http://haskellfamily.blogspot.com/2010/01/barry-shinbaum-show.html
This should be front page. - EDIT...This is front page- Thanks.
The Rock Free Press has always promoted the subject of 9/11 Truth. This is one of the few courageous, independent alternative hardcopy papers in the country. I like supporting that. The RFP has a nice article about Griffin, and how Griffin has done so much for 9/11 Truth.
...What gives?...why did this not go front page? EDIT- This is now front page. Thanks.
Also, Carol Brouillet's recent story about a 9/11 Truth heroine, Janette MacKinlay, should had made front page. http://www.911blogger.com/node/22460
Kevin O writes: "...she graciously took the time to tell me how the windows of her apartment imploded from the WTC debris cloud. She managed to survive by breathing through a wet towel.
And it takes courage to be the first person (I think) to give Prof. Jones a WTC dust sample. She did it publicly from the start, too, and did not wish to remain anonymous.
So we have a lot to thank Janette for. Thank you!"
The story of Janette MacKinlay is important 9/11 Truth news, and the story was told by Carol Brouillet, an icon for 9/11 Truth.
...What gives? ...why did this not go front page?
supporting one another
Tom, thanks for pointing out the article on Janette, who is super important to our campaigns for truth and justice. I recommend your posting this article by Carol in the comments of recent post Obama Admin. Opposes 9/11 Health Funding since the article on Janette deserves as much exposure as possible, and I will be linking to it, and had not noticed it on blogger until your link, above.
However, telling an editor-publisher what he should or should not do can be compared to Matt telling you that you SHOULD create your own independent publication near where you live.. to get the word out more. I assume that Matt does his best with the RCFP though i have had some complaints and suggestions, but rather than in a public forum, i thought it was best to email him directly.
i publish the online ezine Flyby News which i can afford to do, and can only imagine the investment and commitment for publishing a hard paper resource.. We are such a small community, and giving one another as much support as possible is key to surviving all the abuse we get elsewhere from truth deniers.
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Great points !
Great viewpoints - e.g. "...However, telling an editor-publisher what he should or should not do can be compared to Matt telling you that you SHOULD create your own independent publication near where you live.. "
THANK YOU for Flyby News
"i publish the online ezine Flyby News which i can afford to do, and can only imagine the investment and commitment for publishing a hard paper resource.. We are such a small community, and giving one another as much support as possible is key to surviving all the abuse we get elsewhere from truth deniers."
amen to that brother
Right now all we can be are voices in the wilderness, but this is a wilderness we WANT trampled.
One advantage is that the truth never changes; doesn't go away. We got that going for us at least.