Conspiracy theories have been brought to my attention recently by one of my friends who showed me a youtube video on 9/11. So this week I read an article from the Times called “Why the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Won’t Go Away?” Lev Grossman explains in this article that there are two kinds of interpretations of the puffs of the “little puffs of dust spurting out from the sides of the towers.” The difference being the planes caused the destruction or they did not. He then presents the arguments conspiracy theorists make to justify the government planning the attack to the world trade center. I think he does this to try to lure the readers into considering the conspiracy theory as an option. He even tells us that 36% of a sample of adults admits that this could be “very likely” or “somewhat likely”. To present this data he is using psychology, by showing us that we wouldn’t be alone in believing this accusation.
Then the switch is made in his motives when he describes the video game, called “Loose Change.” He kind of implies that this is a joke, due to the fact that it is a video game, not made by professionals. Then he really jabs at this theory with giving the facts from www.nist.gov as a resource. The most concrete point in his article is when he talks about the psychological explanations of conspiracy theories. I felt like I was tricked into considering this possibility at the beginning of his article. These findings also answer the question in the title of the article, why won’t it go away?? The answer is…it is comforting for people.
I think the pitch is different throughout the article, at first he wants you to believe the conspiracy theory then he wants you to understand why it is bogus and why it is so popular now-a-days. The complaint is the increase in belief of this theory he stresses that A LOT more people than you think are starting to believe it. The first aspect that effects the moment is that 9/11 is the last major nationwide disaster and people are still affected by it. Also, the fact that it is still talked about partially because of the video game revolving around the conspiracy.
Lev Grossman responds to two different “They Say” points of view. He responds to the people that believe the conspiracy theory and the people who do not. It seems like he tries to prove both sides as well. He goes into more detail and provides more support for the plane crashing scenario, but that’s towards the end. This article was intriguing because you got both points of views, so after you read it you’re even more unsure then when you started it!!
Check out the article -- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304-1,00.html
I remember hearing a lot about the theory. I believe the idea that the Government planned the 9-11 attacks is bogus. I don't believe it to be possible. The amount of planning to go into planting explosives in the building would be extremely hard to do without going unnoticed. Plus if the Government really did do it, there would be no way to keep everyone quiet that was involved. There would be someone by now that would speak up and leak the info if the Government really did plan the blow up the trade center along with killing 1000s of innocent peoples lives.Not disagreeing with you article, just the theory ha
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