by Brianne Bilyeu aka biodork
In the Heart of the Beast Theater (HOBT) hosts an annual May Day Parade in Minneapolis. The first part of the parade consists of HOBT-chosen themes and elaborate masks and puppetry, and the second part is reserved for “Free Speech”. Anyone can present any message (as long as it is delivered in a peaceful manner and is appropriate for an audience that has young children present), and this May these guys marched:
Dude’s poster reads:
WANTED: THE TRUE CRIMINALS OF SEPTEMBER 11th
THE OFFICIAL STORY IS A BIG LIE
9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB
OUR NATION IS IN PERIL
ACT COURAGEOUSLY & QUICKLY
DEMAND 9/11 TRUTH & JUSTICE NOW
RESTORE OUR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
Which is a whole lot to fit on a tiny poster, so hats off to their designer.
I support their right to march, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get offended when they go by. I am offended on a rational level – the arguments for 9/11 being an inside job, as catalogued by 911truth.org, consist of unsubstantiated assertions, speculation and fallacious claims. And on an admittedly less rational level, as a human being and an American citizen I am offended that Truthers think that anyone – let alone an entire group of our own nation’s leaders – could accept the consequences of the worst terrorist attack on American soil and against the American people as a justifiable means to…shift more spending to military defense? Give us an excuse to attack Iraq? To acquire cheaper gas? To pass the Patriot Act?
I’m not writing to debunk 9/11 Truther claims – that’s been done already by scientists, investigators and awesome websites like Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories,which answers all of the legitimate questions raised by 9/11 Truthers. Rather, I’m writing to point out a local Truther Sighting, and to share a small success for those of us who are against conspiracy wingnuttery:
In April the MN Skeptics had a gentleman stop by who was very interested in 9/11 conspiracy theories. He had seen a movie called Loose Change, which questions the official 9/11 reports, and he came to our MN Skeptics meeting with a bunch of “inside job” ideas. I’m proud to say that he wasn’t heckled or laughed at by any of our members. People were very interested in speaking with him, but did insist that he support his assertions and were quick to point out when his arguments were weak.
I left long before the conversation wound down, and I thought that it was the last I’d see of him. But at our next meetup I learned that the gentleman had come to a MN Skeptics Newbie Night. He said that when he was hanging out with us people had given him lots of resources for looking into the arguments, and that after doing some more research he was rethinking a lot of the assertions made by Loose Change.
Critical thought, evaluating the evidence, and MN Skeptics FTW!
Minnesota Skeptics 