23rd anniversary, and things are quiet, aren't they?

[ElMondoHummus]

It's been a long time since I've treated Sept. 11 as anything other than just another day. I didn't even think of today's date until I flipped through channels tonight and saw the Nat Geo channel documentaries.

Tough stories. The one I saw was 9/11: One Day in America. Specifically episode 6: "It's All Gone, Kid". Interviewees talked about their experiences in the rubble. Some rescuers, but one interviewee was someone who was trapped and eventually rescued. He was the one who was told "It's all gone, kid" when they finally got him free and he didn't see the towers standing.

They're just playing through those episodes.

And it's striking how little I see of 9/11 truther fantasy anymore.

I'm not sure that's completely a good a thing, though. It seems like so many other lunacies have become prominent. Near mainstream, even. And they all seem like descendants, of a sort, from the whole pathology of 9/11 conspiracy fantasy: A flimsy concatenation of otherwise weak "evidence", a desire to be different from the mainstream, and a concurrent desire to be difficult about that desire.

It's like truther fantasy ended up being part of the internet age template for this.

Then again, the real roots predate the internet, don't they? JFK theories didn't need the web to survive. Neither did the Apollo Hoax beliefs. The pathologies go beyond the 'net.

But the 'net has been such an enabler.

Still, though, while other idiocies have reared their heads, it's still striking that 9/11 conspiracy fantasy is not even background noise at this point.

And in a very real way, that's a relief. We can watch documentaries like the one I mentioned and not have online discussions be overrun by the jet fuel/steel junk, the explosions stupidities, the "Dancing Jews", and all that.

We can treat September 11th, 2001 as history.

And we can treat September 11, 2024 as another day. One with a major, impactful, historical event from the past, but still... in a way, we can be normal.

Things are quiet about 9/11 conspiracy fantasy. That's not a bad thing. Sure, it's hardly dead, but it's hardly dynamic or evolving.

Things are quiet about 9/11. We can treat the date as something to remember, and hold moments of silene for. Not as something that needs debunking.

 

[Grizzly Bear]

As I pointed out in another thread yesterday. It's not so much that it's died out as much as it is newer conspiracies have superseded the headlines for them, and are more popular. The fact that it's dead as a topic here doesn't really have any bearing on how little or much it's discussed elsewhere.

 

[ElMondoHummus]

Ha! I opened my big mouth too soon.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/12/politics/laura-loomer-donald-trump-influence/index.html

As I pointed out in another thread yesterday. It's not so much that it's died out as much as it is newer conspiracies have superseded the headlines for them, and are more popular. The fact that it's dead as a topic here doesn't really have any bearing on how little or much it's discussed elsewhere.

There may not be any connection between the outside world and this forum, but in my experience, I've been seeing less as time goes on. Especially compared to the 2006-2013 period. And what I see is often swiftly mocked.

Granted, that's just my perspective, and it can be different for many reasons - geography, social circles, and that sort of thing. But my perception has been that it's lessened quite a bit from the already low, marginal levels it had during its heyday.

 

[Andy_Ross]

The couple of 9/11 conspiracy believers I know personaly have moved on.
One is now in to anti-vax and 5G/nanoparticles, the other is on the WEF is controlling everything.

9/11 is old.

 

[Allen773]

And the role of the Saudi government in the attacks has become more undeniable with revelations over the past few years.

But the news media--and the so-called "truth" movement---have mostly moved on.

 

[Oystein]

AE911Truth streamed a 7:40 hours long series of live video interviews on YouTube a few days befor this year's anniversary.

They had the gall to call this stay-at-home production of many words their "most ambitious" anniversary event yet.

Yawn.

The interviewees include some of AE's own veterans (their current president Roland Angle, long-time supporter Kamal Obeid, both engineers), and then a string of C-list "celebrities". Best know among those probably Jill Stein, formerly a presidential candidate for the greens, and this year running privately. Then there wass podcaster Jimmy Dore, comedian Alex Stein, Oliver Stone's son Sean, and some even lesser known nobodies.
It turns out that Sean Stone has been on Russia's payroll as a contributor to Russia Today, and another guy is co-host of the show that's recently been indicted to have accepted a few million $$$ to parrot Russia's propaganda.

Go figure.

The stream, and its subsequent video recording, has been viewed by only like 6,000 people. Which is the order of magnitude in views that all of AE's videos receive lately. Obviously, there is a hardcore of a few thousand fans that will view anything they churn out, and beyond that, no one takes notice (except me).

This is in line with my observation that their largest social media presence by far, the Facebook page, has been losing "Likes" steadily, constantly, for about five years now. In the last four years, it used to be that they's lose "likes" every single months - except in Septembers, when they gained "likes" particularly on and around the 11th.
But this year is the first when September will see a decrease of "Likes". They gained 46 on the 11th, 2 on the 12th, and since then have already lost those gains.

You might object that Facebook is kinda old-school and the new conspiracists on the block turn to newer, alternative social media sites.
Well, I have been monitoring all that AE uses: They do indeed gain followers elsewhere - but at a vanishingly low level! The old YouTube, Xitter and Instagram have 5-digit numbers of followers and have growth rates in the low 1-digit % - that's a few hundred annually.
All the real "alternative" sites, they add up to under a hundred new followers, and they have total numbers of followers in the hundreds or low thousands.

That is simply nothing.

Several years ago, my monitoring of social media and petitions of all sorts indicated that 9/11 Truth had only a few tens of thousands followers with >zero engagement.
It appears that this has dropped to only a few thousands.

I have asked in several Facebook groups if anyone knows of any "9/11 Truth" activities around the anniversary in the real world.

No reply.

 

[Brainster]

9-11 Denial was not about 9-11, it was about what happened as a result of 9-11 (Iraq and Afghanistan wars), just as Holocaust Denial is not really about Auschwitz, it's about Israel.

 

[a_unique_person]

It's just as much about rehabilitating Hitler, isn't it?

 

[Allen773]

It's just as much about rehabilitating Hitler, isn't it?

Considerably more so.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

As I pointed out in another thread yesterday. It's not so much that it's died out as much as it is newer conspiracies have superseded the headlines for them, and are more popular. The fact that it's dead as a topic here doesn't really have any bearing on how little or much it's discussed elsewhere.

They ran out of steam a long time ago. But yeah, I imagine 'classic' conspiracy theories must be boring to them now, CTs have gone mainstream a long time ago. The former president of the USA is standing in front of audiences claiming that he won the 2020 election and that black people are eating cats. Who needs CTs like the moon landing, 9/11, etc. anymore, they can be edgy just by repeating Dump's claims on autopilot.