I made the mistake of attending the gathering of tinfoil-hatters who celebrated Rosie O'Donnell's birthday and her second coming-out-of-the-closet, this time as a 911 fantasist.
Nico Haupt was there. I asked him if he was himself or one of his impersonators. He is pretty affable and was kind enough to sort out the various factions that have emerged in Twooferdom. Somewhat ungraciously, I made a remark about "no-planer no-brainers," and was reminded that he does not believe that commercial airliners struck the WTC, the images seared into the memories of milllions of viewers being examples of "video fakery." Again displaying my characteristic tactlessness, I commented that the thousands of New Yorkers who actually watched the second plane hit from the street and their office windows know that he isn't telling the truth. He muttered something about conflicting eyewitness accounts and liars, at which point our conversation trailed off.
The rest of the small crowd (twenty or so) contained the usual loons. These strange people cling tenaciously to their thoroughly debunked factoids, each having his or her particular favorite. One guy swallows Fetzer's nonsensical fable about the "missing" 2.3 trillions dollars. I tried explaining that there's nothing to debate: he could simply read Rumsfeld's speech for himself. But he didn't want to be confused. An attractive young woman is firmly convinced that Osama continues to deny any involvement in the attacks of 9/11. Another guy said that the suspicious trading in airline stocks proves that it was an inside job. Several believe that demolition experts are incapable of recognizing a top-down demolition. And two or three of them went on and on about the molten "steel."
Mark Roberts has made it his mission to hurl facts at some of the hardest heads since the heyday of Jake LaMotta. He has more stamina than I. The whole phenomenon is amazing--and very sad.
Nico Haupt was there. I asked him if he was himself or one of his impersonators. He is pretty affable and was kind enough to sort out the various factions that have emerged in Twooferdom. Somewhat ungraciously, I made a remark about "no-planer no-brainers," and was reminded that he does not believe that commercial airliners struck the WTC, the images seared into the memories of milllions of viewers being examples of "video fakery." Again displaying my characteristic tactlessness, I commented that the thousands of New Yorkers who actually watched the second plane hit from the street and their office windows know that he isn't telling the truth. He muttered something about conflicting eyewitness accounts and liars, at which point our conversation trailed off.
The rest of the small crowd (twenty or so) contained the usual loons. These strange people cling tenaciously to their thoroughly debunked factoids, each having his or her particular favorite. One guy swallows Fetzer's nonsensical fable about the "missing" 2.3 trillions dollars. I tried explaining that there's nothing to debate: he could simply read Rumsfeld's speech for himself. But he didn't want to be confused. An attractive young woman is firmly convinced that Osama continues to deny any involvement in the attacks of 9/11. Another guy said that the suspicious trading in airline stocks proves that it was an inside job. Several believe that demolition experts are incapable of recognizing a top-down demolition. And two or three of them went on and on about the molten "steel."
Mark Roberts has made it his mission to hurl facts at some of the hardest heads since the heyday of Jake LaMotta. He has more stamina than I. The whole phenomenon is amazing--and very sad.
