All of You, Who Once Believed in 9/11 Truth, Share Your Experiences

[MarkCorrigan]

Is the LIHOI position considered a "truther" position? I guess I can't answer the question either way because I'm still LIHOI (with qualifiers).

It's fascinating to read the stories of others though, so I'm subscribing to this thread.

 

[brumsen]

a) How did you once become a truther?

By being pigeonholed by "skeptics". I accidentally came across some truther arguments - I do not recall where - and thought some of it was not so easy to debunk. Most people I knew where very dismissive, and did not even want to discuss such stuff; they found it too far away from what they believed and were not willing to question their beliefs. Mostly as an exercise in skepticism, I began a blog asking people to debunk some of the evidence I thought was particularly interesting.
Then I came across Scholars for 9/11 Truth and joined out of interest - mistakenly thinking that in that group the evidence was going to be truly critically examined.

b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther?

When I set up a discussion forum on the papers of the Scholars' Journal - supposedly peer-reviewed - I got suspended from the club by uncle Fetzer. After consulting some other members I resigned, having become convinced that I did not want to be a member. Regardless of the merits of certain arguments, I came to the conclusion that truthers, for various reasons, were not people that I wanted to be associated with.
I still believe some kind of LIHOP might be true by the way, but I consider it bare of any practical or political interest.

c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther?

I see nothing to be ashamed of. I was never fully convinced, but merely pushing the conspiracist line in order to see how far it could go. Hardly anybody, here or elsewhere, understood that. It got me lots of flak from both sides. Indeed: the one thing that it has taught me is that the people debating this stuff are only ever comfortable in doing so when they have convinced themselves that you belong to one or the other side. I find that pretty stupid, and very unconstructive.

 

[Grizzly Bear]

a) How did you once become a truther?
I was quite young when the attacks happened... 14 or so. As far as the buildings go, I wasn't surprised at the results. At the time I was pretty agnostic as to whoever was responsible, I wasn't much into politics at that age


b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther?
I wasn't necessarily a truther to begin with, but I probably would have fallen for the controlled demolition mantra if I hadn't started my architecture education around 2002 or so in high school. I was unaware of any of the conspiracy theories until late last year, and I started watching Loose Change and listening to arguments such as the one our dear friend Spreston just posted. Much of their argumentation conflicted with the methodologies I've learned to take on in studying buildings for various applications; IE design, structures, materials, methods, etc. I found that many arguments they set forth make absolutely no effort to do any of the aforementioned to convince me why the towers should not have collapsed, and the train of thought that they use basing everything on apparent surface features that arbitrarily resemble certain characteristics, as well as their constant quote mining were more than enough to indicate to me that the movement did not have any intellectually honest intentions. I've refined my studies since joining here.


c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther?
Thankfully I didn't stoop to believing it any more than to a cosmetic level. It would have shamed me as a student pursuing a career in architecture, simple as that.

 

[Bell]

a) How did you once become a truther?

A few years ago the American Book Centre in Amsterdam gave away free DVD's at their counter. There was a picture of UA175 flying into the South Tower (and some text like "What is this?" pointing at the flash on the nose cone). I took it home because I wanted to know more about 9/11. Little did I know that it was a conspiracy movie (I can't recall the name). After watching it fast forwarding through it, I dumped it in the bin. A little later I came across Loose Change on the interweb, and after watching that trainwreck --->

b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther?

---> I Googled "debunk Loose Change" and ended up at Loose Change Guide. On that site, some guy named Mark refered to the JREF forums, and that's how I ended up here.

c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther?

The only conspiracy I ever believed, was the JFK one. But after finding out how the 9/11 conspiracy theories 'work' (ie, how 'proof' is found etc.) I concluded that the JFK conspiracies work the same way, and stopped believing in them after reading up on them on these boards, and also after watching a BBC documentary reconstructing how the magic bullet did in fact not traverse a magical path (had to do with the arrangement of the seats, ie. frontseat sat lower and more to the middle (iirc))

 

[MIKILLINI]

I spent about 6 months believing that the Neocons LIHOP to further the PNAC agenda. Thats when I started hearing about this forum, but didn't come on here until 2 months later. Coming here was the beginning of the end for my conspiracy ignorance.

In other words, it was the evidence of all of those I spoke with that shot down all the BS i accumulated from the conspiracy sites.
I have a deep appreciation for those here and this forum on just that reason alone.

 

[Mr.Herbert]

a) How did you once become a truther?

Okay, I was sitting at my kitchen table with 2 of my children. (teenagers) We were making prank phone calls with a Mr. Rogers soundboard I found on ebaums world.
(Yeah yeah I know...but screw it... us middle aged schmucks still like to have juvenile fun.)

Well, I came across the "Pentalawn" video. I believe it was from "Hunt The Boeing." This lead me to a google search for 911 conspiracies. I read a few sites, watched Avery's LC II, and I found it interesting. I brought this up to one of my staff members at work. He was one of those dudes that believes that there is a place in Virginia that has recordings of ALL cell phones and keeps them on record for 6 months. Oh, and he has a "friend" that actually works there. He was not a truther, but was telling me about the evil government and what they are capable of. He was going to do his own "research" and get back to me. Thank Christ I put him on the overnight shift soon after that!!

I was watching video after video. I was starting to see the B.S. pretty quickly. I so desperately wanted Bush to be a part of this, so I held on to the most teeniest amount of hope that he could still get busted for all this.

Unfortunately, while trying to debunk the Who Killed John O'Neil video, I stumbled across you folks here at Jref.

Since then you guys & gals have all but destroyed what little hope I did have in getting Bush thrown in jail.

Thanks a lot!

b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther?

Although I do not think I was a truther, I was looking for answers to questions that I had. Gravy, Mike from 911 Myths, and the rest of you slam dunked EVERY question I had regarding 911. This is why I don't believe I was a truther. I was asking question....and listening to the answers.

c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther?

I had fun. To be quite honest, I have to thank the truthers for allowing me to expand some of my interests. I now have a little knowledge in so many different fields that I never would have even considered. Heck, I had never heard the word thermite before Steven Jones! DNA extraction and identification was very interesting to me as well.

However, learning about the victims was the most rewarding of all that I have learned. Most of the world only saw the numbers, few saw the names, and far fewer saw the faces.

I looked into so many of the lives of those that perished. From Mark Bingham to David Charlebois to Nicole Miller. They were all real and they are all still so very missed.

 

[DaN K. StAnLeY]

A, B, and C)
I've told this story before but it's a good one so here it goes: The first time I can remember hearing that the government had something to do with 9/11 was when I saw "Fairy Tale 9/11" from Michael Moore. I thought to myself, "Self, if they made a movie about it, it has to be true, right?" I wanted to research more for myself but I didn't have a computer at the time and had a lot of stuff going on so it kinda just ended with me accepting that my government LIHOP'd it up. I brought some of this stuff up to my dad who turned me on to the Pop. Mechanics debunking site which seemed to have perfectly reasonable explainations to all of the CT's.

Fast Forward to last year or so: I was making my monthly trip to the local head shop to stock up on black light posters and random products made from hemp, when I saw a Ron Paul sign outside. Since I always vote for who the wise rasta-haired cashier tells me will legalize it, I asked "So whats the deal with Ron Paul, man?" to which he replied, "He's the only one that makes sense, man." As I waited for my friend to buy a giant hand-chair, the scruffy pothead walked around the counter and towards me. He motioned to hand me something and much to my disappointment it wasn't that sticky-icky, but a piece of paper that read, "Google: Zeitgeist, and learn the truth."

Feeling very Matrix-ish at this point, I quickly loaded the oversized hand-chair into my truck and made a b-line for the interwebs. I watched Zeitgeist and thought it made sense. I was poor and unsuccessfull and here was why. The Federal Reserve, bilderbergers, NWO, CENTCOM, Henry Kissenger, and Carl Rove were all keeping me down. Now that I was on Google Video, I had a whole library of CT movies to watch for free. There was Endgame (and like 900 other Alex Jones Movies), 9/11 in Plane Site, The Truth and Lies of 9/11 w/ Ruppert, America: Freedom to Fascism, LC part 1,2,3, part 3 uncut, part 3 uncut edited and then cut again, etc. I literally spent 2 weeks watching what I thought was a worldwide conspiracy being unveiled before my very eyes. I listened to some of Alex Jones' Shows and heard him talking about credible things like the Trans Texas Corridor (which I was involved in protesting against in my states capitol) and I guess it kinda made all the waaaay out there 9/11 stuff seem..... not so crazy. I began talking to family and friends about what I had seen. I showed my friends some of the videos, and none of them are debunkers or physicists, and so they even started to get fired up too. I remember it being a feeling that our government had betrayed its people, killed 3000 of them, and then covered it up, so I was going to help. In some way I wanted to take part in righting this wrong that was somehow my fault. I felt that by me not caring, that I was somewhat responsible for letting a criminal government get out of hand and kill 3,000 people. Crazy right?!!?!

So right as I'm about to print out a thousand-million "9/11 was an inside Jobby Job" fliers to staple around my area, I remembered my dad saying the word "debunked" when he had last referred me to the Popular Mechanics site so I typed in "Debunk Loose Change". Once I sat through the "Hardfire" episode with Gravy pwning Bermas and Avery, my stomach felt sick! I then repeated the cycle I had gone through with the CT videos, but only this time it was debunking videos like "Screw Loose Change", "9/11 deniers speak", "Dylan Avery Shut UP" or whatever that Unsecured Coins video was called.

After the nausea passed, I was just pissed! I couldn't believe I had been lied to and at the expense of 3,000 dead victims. After learning just the basics about debunking 9/11, I began to call into the Alex Jones Show to confront him and Jason Bermas about the things they were saying. My calls led to AJ calling me back at home and going ape-poop on me about how "me, and Mark Roberts, and all my JREF buddies were going to be judged and hung by a jury of our peers for our crimes." This made me even more mad because he bothered me at work for something he didn't have the guts to answer on-air for his audience. After that call I got in touch with Marky X about the incident and he posted my story here on JREF. Ive been rocking out, with my you-know-what out here ever since.

Thinking back I really didn't do anything to regret, but I do have to admit that my credibility with my friends is shot. I had to let them all (or both) down and tell them we weren't going to change the world after all. I had to walk in a room in front of my friends and admit that I had been duped, and that's a crappy feeling man.....real crappy. I'd rather feel crappy than blindly accuse victims or victims family members of being murderers. After hearing Avery talk about Bernard Brown Sr. as if he had something to do with his sons death, I realized how mad/sad Mr. Brown would be if he ever heard that idiot say those things about him after losing his son. I still makes me soooo angry to think about it all.....

Thanks Again Marky X, Gravy, Pomeroo, Unsecured Coins, and the rest of you who saved me from further wasting my time and cred. I coulda been stuck "Metz'd" out in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Hourglassmemory]

a) How did you once become a truther? It actually did start with Youtube/Google videos of 9/11. During the afternoons I just couldn't stop watching that. And from Dylan Avery I went to Alex Jones whom I saw wondering around those kids, and I was curious about his claims, so I listened to him. And I just took in everything he said. From Info wars to skull and bones to Owl worshiping. I took it all in. I got to the Bildeberg group, then black helicopters interacting with lights near crop circles, then abductions and UFO videos to New Age interpretations of them, then 2012. I became a Raelean at one point, seeing design in nature (these aliens supposedly created every tree and bird and animal thanks to their creativity), and from the Elohim(the aliens of the Raelian cult) I went to grays and of course, the reptilians. Of course, the reptilians were behind every triangular architecture and ancient symbolics found ANYWHERE, including Mars, and probably were the Illuminati, thinking of taking over the world with a New World Order, using Fugifilm zeppelins with some occult technology to look into our houses and spread mind controlling poison through contrails. Obviously, 9/11 was just one step in their plan.
And yes, all of this reinforced this conviction I had in my mind that there was something going on.
And being a young person, still thinking that I had a long life ahead of me, where I could try and strive to do something great, this was a very nasty punch in the face. And I mean that. And all of this just fell on me in a matter of weeks. I was...what? 16, 17? It wasn't pleasant at all. You got this feeling of chronic frustration and powerlessness. All you could do was smile at your family and watch movies. I spoke of this to my mother and she was always "I'm telling you, watch movies." she would shake her head with laugh when I told her than I knew a lot more than her. Now I understand her.
I got to the point where I could just lie in bed all day. Only getting up of course, "wanting to know more" and watching more videos.

b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther? Once again, I hope you do not respond something like "truthers are dumb".
It was this website actually. And from here to podcasts and Point of Inquiry to a whole myriad of articles and weekly stuff that just gets me thinking.
My God, were it not for James Randi and the people in these forums I would have lost my mind, I'm sure of it. Forever. Were it not for people like you I would have lost my mind.
These forums taught me common sense again. It's like you forget about common sense when you look into this stuff. But you still think you're using it. You're using it but with a conclusion already in mind. It's hard to explain.
I think something MORE than common sense got me ticking.
But yes, from these forums all my UFO/cryptozoology beliefs just went out the window, and even though I was sad in a way to learn that it wasn't true, I'm glad I'm more truthful to myself. I really try to be honest about stuff like this now.

c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther? What mistakes you made back then? Were you 100% convinced, agressively promoting the truth? Whatever comes to your mind.
My thoughts from back then...As I said, it wasn't pleasant.
But what a lesson, you know?...On human psychology and gullibility and the power of innocent misinterpretation, no matter where it comes from.
What's better to learn about their mentality than to actually believe a whole range of crazy stupid beliefs out there? And still come out of it with the drive and excitement to listen to skeptical podcasts every week and reading science news from time to time.
What mistakes? It really was an innocent mistake to just listen to these people, and not think it through. And only listening to their perspective.
I WAS 100% convinced, but I wasn't promoting it. I was aware that I might sound pretty nuts. And i mean nuts to the extreme. It wasn't just 9/11 was an inside job look at this video". That was heartfelt certainty that made you look out the window and feel angry at the world.
I recently went to a concert with a friend of mine and we were waiting for someone to pick us up there was this young man wondering around in the rain smoking, and after a while he came close to us, asking us if we had a cigarette, we said "no we don't smoke". He said "Cool, cool. So how are you?"
A bit cold I said and this rain could stop for a while.
this rain, yes." he said "You know that this rain (at this point I was thinking that he was a global warming denier or something similar), this rain s because extraterrestrials are fiddling with the (don't recall what he said now).
He went on about mind control and whatnot (REALLY crazy amount of blatant obvious non sequiturs) but......he didn't look crazy to me. I was listening to him and I didn't see insanity there.
I guess that's what you get from being "one of them" for a while. You understand them, in a way.

I hope this reply is worth anything.

 

[Oliver]

a) How did you once become a truther?

I was enjoying the possibility of watching documentaries for free at video.google.com when I stumbled over Loose Change. The possibillity of those allegations being true made me quite curious and as a result, I signed up at the LooseChange Forum.

b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther?

Well, I simply asked logical questions that contradicted some of the conspiracy claims and demanded answers at the Loose Change Forum. So I got banned for that - which really annoyed me and I signed up again asking why they banned me for bringing up evidence against the fake Osama video, which got me banned again. All in all I got banned a hundred times or so. And for quite a while I thought LIHOP could be true. But that vanished realizing the governments incompetence in many aspects - plus the huge pile of evidence and details regarding all the perpetrators.

c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther?

I wouldn't say that I was a real truther because while I didn't fully believe in the "rough official version I knew of" any longer after watching Loose Change and other conspiracy stuff, I also didn't take the Conspiracy Theories as face value. Simple research concerning the facts, logic and Mark's Loose Change Guide was quite helpful until I found the JREF-Forum, which also had a lot of people with reasonable/logical answers to my very specific questions.

 

[Jonnyclueless]

A) Watching some video like In Plane Site. They provided data, I found it comprelling and saw no reason to disagree.

b) Someone showed me data that proved beyond doubt that the information provided in the video was in fact lies. For example, video says there was no plane debris, shows pictures that show no plane debris. I comes to conclusion there was no plane debris since there was none in any of the pictures there. In discussion, someone provides 100s of pictures of plane debris, comparison charts that compare the debris to the parts used in the plane, etc. Thus proving the original claim 100% wrong.

c) I don't consider it wasted time. In the search for truth we can't be expected to get the right answers the first time. For me it was simply a rational conclusion based on an unknown lack of complete data. Once the missing data was provided, the conclusion changed. What DOES scare me are the people who are given this missing data and continue to withhold a belief that could not possibly be correct.

 

[ref]

Incredible stories. Thanks for sharing them. And Dan + Hourglassmemory, welcome back from the dark side! Your examples show, that people with the deepest conspiracy beliefs still have hope of changing their course

I wrote a thread about this topic: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131026

I wrote it before Dan's post, after reading these latest contributions I might make a couple of additions. Thanks a million.

 

[zaphod2016]

a) How did you once become a truther?

9-11-2001, I was working in NYC. Mngmt had pulled out a few TVs so we could watch the news. A co-worker muttered to me: "I smell a rat. Something about this just doesn't add up", and I agreed with them, although I honestly had no idea why.

Fast forward: when I was about 22, I had gone back to school to get my B.S., while simultaneously launching a start-up company. After 2-3 years of a 20 hour / 6-day-per-week work/school schedule, I started to burn out. One night, after smoking some pot to relax, I was surfing the web and came across an Alex Jones video. Before this I was a big George Carlin fan, and I wrongly assumed Jones was coming from the same anti-establishment pov as Carlin, which made me a lot more receptive to his message.

The combo of weed + lack of sleep + work overload + seeds of doubt planted years before created a short-circuit in my brain. It was an epiphany, and I took the "inside job" bait hook, line and sinker.

b) What convinced you back from truther to non-truther?

Unlike my "epiphany moment" on the way to crazyville, the trip back was much slower, and much more deliberate.

It began as I noticed a shocking lack of consistency among the truth movement. Everyone had their own pet theory (who did it, how they did it), and argued bitterly about this. Some theories (i.e. remote-controlled planes) were asinine, but others remained rather reasonable to me.

For example: the my pet goat footage from Michael Moore's documentary still gives me chills. (In this clip, Bill Maher explains more or less what I was thinking when I first saw it).

And then, I reexamined this footage with a cliche in mind:

Never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to incompetence.

Slowly but surely I researched and debunked specific claims. For example: jet fuel does not burn hot enough to melt steel, however, steel warps long before it gets hot enough to melt. When I began placing the facts into context, the claims of "inside job" were far less convincing.

c) What are your thoughts nowadays about your time as a truther?

Today when asked I say that: "9-11 was the JFK assassination of my generation". By this I mean: I remain somewhat agnostic about it, but have yet to see actual proof of any conspiracy. It is possible that multiple gunmen shot JFK; it is possible that some explosives were planted in the Twin Towers; it is possible there is a God- but I have no proof, and these theories seem less plausible to me the more I study them.

At the same time- never say never. For example: once upon a time, the giant squid was considered folklore; an urban legend passed on by drunk sailors. However, it was eventually shown to be real- one day, one of these monsters washed up on shore, and the debate was over. For all I know, a UFO will crash into the White House someday, Bigfoot will be found in a bear trap, and Dick Cheney will make a deathbed confession.

Do I expect this will happen? No. I maintain it is a remote possibility- just like it is possible I will win the lottery, despite it being extremely unlikely.

All said, I am grateful for my experience. It allowed me to strengthen my critical thinking skills, and expose myself to some legitimate political issues. It forced me to reevaluate the quality of our media, and to better understand the nuances of the current political climate.

Like my signature says: I remain a conspiracy theorist to this day. For example: I believe that several competing oligarchies have undue influence in the modern world. However, this is not to say I believe this to be an illuminati/Zionist/alien lizard plot. Most importantly: I now understand the threshold of evidence required to prove my case. Eg: I cannot prove that George Bush is an alien lizard, but I can demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that people who attend Ivy League schools tend to network with one another, and cooperate on various projects (just like I once worked with several classmates when launching my business).

EDIT: Just read your "5 steps" article, and I think it is absolutely fantastic. In my "epiphany moment" I made it to step 3, got right to the edge of step 4, and then returned to step 2. I have been stuck in step 2 ever since (I would argue step 2 is where all skeptics belong).

 

[dtugg]

<snippity snip>

I hope this reply is worth anything.

Although I had nothing to do with the debunking of 9/11 fantasies on this forum early on like Gravy and others, it made my day to see that there are people like you who can be converted by seeing the rational arguments seen here. I wonder how many people were convinced by the" OCT" and then forever converted only after joining the twoofer forums. I would be willing to bet my life vs. a ham sandwich that the answer is zero.

 

[jhunter1163]

I simply asked logical questions that contradicted some of the conspiracy claims and demanded answers at the Loose Change Forum. So I got banned for that - which really annoyed me and I signed up again asking why they banned me for bringing up evidence against the fake Osama video, which got me banned again. All in all I got banned a hundred times or so.

This is probably not an exaggeration. Oliver, all by himself, got most of Germany banned from LCF (they got so pissed that they IP range-banned him). Thinking about that still brings a smile to my face.

A beautiful piece of work, Oliver. You should be proud. I hope the NWO put a nice token of their appreciation in your pay envelope.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Great thread.

Thanks, ref, and thanks everyone who has replied.

I was wondering how you all feel about people who think truthers are idiots, and who say so. I'm wondering if I should tone down some of my comments.

I liked johnnyclueless' post:

In the search for truth we can't be expected to get the right answers the first time. For me it was simply a rational conclusion based on an unknown lack of complete data. Once the missing data was provided, the conclusion changed. What DOES scare me are the people who are given this missing data and continue to withhold a belief that could not possibly be correct.

 

[stilicho]

The only thing I ever thought in the way of 'trutherism' was the fate of Flight 93. Until more information was released I had considered strongly that it was shot down. It seemed logical at the time. It was the last of the hijacked airplanes that day and I truly believed that there was a possibility that it was intercepted.

I don't feel at all embarrassed about considering that. There are probably a few non-'truthers' even today who think Flight 93 actually was shot down.

 

[DaN K. StAnLeY]

I was wondering how you all feel about people who think truthers are idiots, and who say so. I'm wondering if I should tone down some of my comments.

I think most "hardcore" truthers are a little on the unstable side. The ones who continue to ignore evidence and believe outlandish theories always seem like they could also be scientologists if 9/11 truth wasn't around. In my experience, laziness and being new to the internet at the time were both huge factors in my lapse in judgement. Once I finally found some good evidence (like the 9/11 commission report online) and saw a couple videos ( like SLC) I was whipped back to reality and mad as hell. All of the debunking stuff I have read all makes sense to me and is a sound explaination for the events of 9/11. If you continue to ignore solid evidence just so you can make a niche for yourself in CT radio shows, then I think you are an idiot. It's all about finding the debunking websites and not being too lazy to read the 9/11 commission report or at least the NIST FAQ's page.

I don't think ALL truthers are idiots. I just think most of them haven't heard of JREF yet,LOL!!

 

[zaphod2016]

I was wondering how you all feel about people who think truthers are idiots, and who say so. I'm wondering if I should tone down some of my comments.

Some truthers are idiots, some are brilliant, yet misguided. The same could be said of skeptics, or any other group.

As far as your question goes: what is your goal?

If your goal is to help truthers overcome their misconceptions, I'd argue you'll get more flies with honey than with vinegar.

If your goal is to amuse yourself and your fellow skeptics, flame on- just don't expect to change any opinions.

Off topic: where is your avatar from? It looks eerily familiar to me, but I can't place it.

 

[chillzero]

Off topic: where is your avatar from? It looks eerily familiar to me, but I can't place it.

Think the following to yourself:

Noo ne noo ne noo noo noo ne noo (*sound of squeaky wheels*)

 

[Bobert]

SEVERAL of you have posted and it has led me to believe that you are not Government Loyalists.
I was under the impression that EVERYONE who posts in the CT forum is a GL^TM!