Oh, brother.
Last night Katie and I watched the 9-11 conspiracy video, Loose Change, that's been circulating on the internet for awhile now. I had never heard of it, but a co-worker of Katie's said it changed the way she viewed everything. I doubted I would agree, but my interest was definitely piqued. So we sat down and watched the hour long video which went point by point through the Twin Tower attacks, the Pentagon attack, the hijackers, Osama's confession tape, etc etc. And I have to give it to him, I was calling bullshit, but I couldn't stop watching it either. Conspiracys are fascinating, and I almost wouldn't put it past the Bush administration. Almost.
from The Best Page in the Universe
While many of the points were so stupid that even I could explain them, just as many were not. It did seem like the hole where the plane entered the Pentagon was too small to ever fit a passenger plane. It is strange that so many cellphone calls got through to familes from Flight 93 when the chances of getting through from 32,000 feet are like .06%. I couldn't explain how a hijacker's passport made it out of the plane crash safely when nothing else did. And coupled with intense music, I did have an uneasy feeling when it was over. I didn't believe it, but I felt uneasy anyway. So I did what any of us would do, I Wikipediaed it. I wouldsay about half of the entry is critisms of the movie. For example, they movie stated that steel melts at 1525° C, and jet fuel burns only at 825° C, so there's no way the towers could have collapsed without planted bombs being detonated. The arguement is that steel doesn't have to burn hot enough to melt to cause the buildings to collapse, since steel loses 50% of its strength at 648 ° C. Zing! There's a hilarious and delightful article on this at The Best Page in the Universe which I highly recommend. I've been reading him for ever and I think his site might be the funniest thing I've ever read.Screw Loose Change is an entire websiite devoted to hating on Loose Change, and Popular Mechanics has a great point-by-point debunking that was researched by actual experts.
Anyway, I recommend watching it, because it's pretty darn interesting. And then read the Popular Mechanics article. Because that's even better.
Has anyone else seen it? What did you think?
Michelle,
I don't know much about the Pentagon attack, but the book 102 Minutes, written by two reporters from the New York Times, is a fascinating minute by minute account of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Not only does the book painstakingly piece together various personal stories of some who made it out and some who didn't, but it also gives background on how and why the towers fell, from a metallurgical/engineering standpoint.
The conspiracy lies decades ago, when the PANY/NJ decided to build two immense towers at a discount. They did the bare minimum on everything.
The book's out in paperback now, I think, and readable in a day.
The pentagon also just released the footage of the plane flying into the pentegon, and guess what it shows... the plane flying into the pentegon.
This is a great Blog!