9/11 Conspiracy Theories: Inside The Lonely Lives Of Truthers, Still Looking For Their Big Break
http://www.ibtimes.com/911-conspiracy-theories-ins...
I didn’t know my local bartender was a 9/11 Truther. Boyishly handsome with dirty blond hair and wearing his T-shirt inside out, he appeared to be eavesdropping on me at a Brooklyn tavern last week as I told a friend that I was working on a piece about “Truthers†-- Americans who believe the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania were staged or executed not by terrorists but by the American government.
“Inside job,†the bartender piped up, without making eye contact. I asked him if he was just making fun or if he was truly a believer himself.
“Yeah, man, I’m a believer," he said, pouring me a drink.
“Yeah, man, I’m a believer."
Fourteen years after 9/11, Truthers, as they’ve been pejoratively labeled since 2001, have not gone away. Their conspiracy theories can be traced back to the first months after the attack, multiplying over the Internet through message boards, articles and, eventually, homemade documentaries such as the low-budget cult hit “Loose Change,†which racked up 10 million views and topped Google Video in 2006, an outstanding feat in the pre-YouTube era. Organizations like 911truth.org and Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth cropped up, bringing together like-minded skeptics of the official narrative that 19 Islamic extremists hijacked four commercial airplanes and carried out the most devastating terrorist attack in U.S. history.
There are even conferences dedicated to discussing a broader strategy to push the movement’s narrative into the mainstream.