I'm having major computer problems, but let's see if I can get through this post.
Abby, realitybites and I had another successful confrontation with the Ground Zeros yesterday. A particularly virulent strain of truther was out in force. These people really have to be seen to be believed. (Speaking of which, we could really use help. It's tough to compete when they outnumber us 4 to 1.) Several of them are completely batcrap crazy. Abby has a funny story about being mistaken for a truther, although it doesn't involve firemen. A Finnish camera crew was there for a while, and a reporter for U.S. News and World Report spent several hours observing and interviewing for a story on the 5th anniversary of the attacks.
Some highlights:
A crazy old truther lady tore a handful of our flyers out of Reality's hand and tore them up.
While we weren't looking, someone (I'm guessing the above nutter, because she disappeared after that) pulled several of our signs off the wall and threw them into a construction area. (I recovered them.)
I was told that no one could take me seriously because of the shoes I was wearing. I was wearing sports sandals, which served me well on the 8-mile walk I took afterwards. My critic was wearing heavy boots, on a hot day, and did not appear capable of walking far.
A tiny shrill woman demanded that I answer her question about WTC 7, and when I started to speak and show her the relevant photos and quotes I had, she immediately said that if I continued she was going to get the police and file a harrassment complaint against me. Honest.
Two truthers, including Les, the leader, said they had conclusive proof of explosives in the towers, and demanded that I refute it. They fired up a laptop and showed me a CNN video of the south tower collapsing. They were flummoxed by my response: "That's just a video of the south tower collapsing. That's your proof?" Then they left the laptop in the sun, where it died of heat stroke.
Truther Tom Foti had an ingenious plan: wherever I went, he would stand in front of me. If that happened in any other situation I would stop it, but at Ground Zero, it's exactly what I want. The more attention I can get from the truthers, the less they can interact with the public. Tom's plan suffered from some other flaws:
- His own people thought it was stupid.
- He bumped and frightened others with his leaping and gyrating to stay in front of me. ( I was using people as "picks.")
- He is short. See pics below.
I asked Les why he hadn't brought the six-pack of beer that I had won from him on a bet. The bet was that he used a photo of WTC 7 in his former pamphlet that he claimed was the tiny rubble left by WTC 7. And the comment next to the photo was "Photos don't lie, governments do." In reality, the photo was of rubble from WTC 1 and 6, and WTC 7 is clearly standing right there next to it. Les swore that he knows what photos he uses and that wasn't one of them. Abby alertly noticed what I had not: that the photo also appears in the current pamphlet, the ones Les was handing out! Beer is promised for next week. It should be two six-packs, since he was wrong twice.
I kept trying to introduce myself to the most verbose of the troof preachers, who I hadn't seen before, but he would'nt even look at me, much less shake my hand. But at the end of the day he came up to me and snarled, "I know
exactly who you are! I know who you work for! I can see into your
soul, and you are in
trouble! You are in
deep trouble!"
If anyone knows of people who might be wlling to hand out pamphlets at Ground Zero on Saturday afternoons, let me know. We can definitely use the help, and it's a fascinating experience.
Photo of realitybites would appear here, but I don't have his permission yet.
Ma-ma-ma-myyyy Remora! Note the "7 Hijackers Still Alive" poster.
edit: photo
