this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
65 points (76.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26707 readers
1420 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics.


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

It's a bit shocking to me when I see people online putting 9/11 conspiracies in the same box as "MAGA" conspiracies (for lack of a better term, sorry).

For reference, I was 24 in 2001 living in central NJ. Even without social media or fake news websites or what cable news has become today, I have vivid memories of people having the firm belief that there was something up with the attack on 9/11. Was this just my social circle?

Jet fuel melting steel beams was one of the more fringe and unfounded (and quickly debunked) ideas but the rest of everything on that day was questionable. Tower seven falling, the missing plane debris at the pentagon and central PA, the military / president not responding to known threats, if a person with limited flight time could hit a tower, the fact that Bush attacked a country that had nothing to do with the event, and so much more are still, I thought, reasonable questions - especially when looked at together.

This is not about rehashing each theory. Or maybe it is? Have I missed that everything has been debunked?

I mean, I still believe 9/11 was an inside job or at least high level officials, including Bush, were aware it was going to happen and did nothing to stop it. I thought this was still a common opinion of most or many Americans over the age of forty.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 55 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Seriously, it was pretty fringe to be openly truther back then.

It wasn't till Obama that we started getting all these batshit insane morons on parade.

Birtherism really pushed it, but basically losing 2008 made the right desperate, they were willing to recruit from anybody, anywhere, right when social media started its upswing.

I think we can say most of our modern conspiracitardacy was fairly quiet till the social media wave.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That is not what I recall. What I do recall was both republicans and democrats having serious concerns that the government knew something we didn't and that we were attacking a country for the president's personal vendetta. This is based on my personal interactions with friends, family, and coworkers, as well as national and local news and newspapers. Granted, I'm from central NJ so perhaps we on higher alert and more "purple" than the rest of the country.

batshit insane morons

Was it birtherism or just Sarah Palin?

I think we can say most of our modern conspiracitardacy was fairly quiet till the social media wave.

I fully agree that social media has made things worse in this, and almost every, regard. Though, I'm trying to understand the mindset of Americans in 2001, not today, not post 2008.

The conspiracy around 9/11 was that the government knew more than they were telling us. That perhaps they were well aware of the event, possibly took part in it, and/or used it to manipulate public sentiment for invading Iraq for no other good reason or perhaps (ok, this I admit is crazy) setting up a new world order where we give up our rights for the sake of "national defense". There would be no Wikileaks if there was no 9/11.

I admit this are a bit fringe-sounding but we were all aware of this back then. Didn't most people believe there was some plausibility in these theories?

Don't most people today believe the government knows more about 9/11 than they've told us?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

we were attacking a country for the president’s personal vendetta

This had nothing to do with 9/11. Invading Iraq was much later. You're conflating the two.

"Bush did 9/11" is crazy talk. "Bush invaded Iraq because he wanted to get back at Saddam Hussein and make money for Halliburton" is not.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If it's your understanding that Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2002 "had nothing to do with 9/11", you are grossly mistaken.

https://www.congress.gov/107/plaws/publ243/PLAW-107publ243.pdf

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My brother in christ, I'm not talking about the pretext the government used to attack Iraq. I'm talking about the fact that the two things had nothing to do with each other.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. The fact that the government used that as a pretext doesn't magically link the two things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I see.
Iraq - the country, had nothing to do with 9/11 - the attack.
Not, Iraq - the invasion of, was disassociated with 9/11 - the attack or national moment.

I mean, 9/11 and Iraq are indeed magically linked, thanks to Bush. "Magically" is actually a great word to define the link between the two. Look - Cheney just pulled a Saddam out of a Bush!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah it had something to do with it in that it was used as an excuse to invade iraq - not in that iraq had any legitimate ties to 9/11.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/9-11-and-iraq-the-making-of-a-tragedy/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/19/george-bush-iraq-ukraine-speech