1. The appeal to intellectual and moral vanity. The 9/11 conspiracy theorists have the delicious feeling of being “in the know” about what is going on – smarter and more astute than the unwashed heathen who do not believe. It is a kind of secular cult where the truth must always give way to the Truth.

2. The confirmation of a certain world-view. For all their airs about disinterested intellectual pursuit of the truth, the 9/11 conspiracy theorists are confined by a very stark and simplistic view of the world. They feel that they represent all goodness and light, whereas critics represent all darkness and evil. They hate Bush, so therefore that proves he was behind the 9/11 attacks.

3. The Cassandra Principle. From Greek mythology, Cassandra was a daughter of Priam, the king of Troy, endowed with the gift of prophecy but fated by god Apollo never to be believed. 9/11 conspiracy theorists believe themselves not only to be historically right and morally and intellectually superior, but downright heroic for standing up to the Evil Overlords that they imagine actually control history behind the scenes.

Thus, putting evidence in front of them that proves they are wrong is like pouring gasoline on a fire. They will simply become more enraged (since you have profaned the Truth) – and more certain they are right.

In this case, how do you deal with the 9/11 conspiracy theorists? I think that you must debunk them whenever they surface, and never ever underestimate them. Keeping the facts before the public is the best weapon we have.

If I were a liberal I’d be calling on these people at the top of my lungs to cut it out and be civil. Alternative view points are acceptable but not the behavior of these people.

The LACK of me hearing others condemning these nutjobs on the left is really dissappointing.

There may be people on the left doing so but it isn’t loud enough and often enough and it needs to be louder and more often. Period.

- Bang