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9/11 See other 9/11 Articles Title: Michael Shermer, the Self-Described Skeptic Turns Gullible on 911 Thursday, January 31, 2008 Michael Shermer, the Self-Described Skeptic Turns Gullible on 911 Michael Shermer, of Skeptic Magazine, claims to have debunked the 911 Truth Movement. In fact, he doesn't understand it. Shermer tars the movement with a broad and fallacious brush, absurdly comparing the 911 truth movement with Holocaust denial, a fallacious smear that misstates the 911 position. Holocaust deniers, in fact, have more in common with Bush and his defenders: both deny the nature and the scope of the crime of 911. "No holes, no Holocaust. No melted steel, no Al-Qaeda attack. The parallels are equal, and equally flawed. And just as I never imagined that Holocaust denial would wend its way into the mainstream press (Irving's trial was front page news for months), after my above conversation with the filmmaker I never imagined that 9/11 denial would get media legs. But now it has legs for days, and so we have been forced to provide a public response. To read our complete analysis of the claims of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists, go here." At the very outset, Shermer's misstatement of fact discredits his article. Knowledgeable "truthers" have not denied the existence of "molten steel". It is the existing video tapes of molten steel that, in themselves, utterly disprove the official conspiracy theory of George W. Bush and those who would continue to cover up this crime. Steel melts at much higher temperatures than could possibly have been reached in the brief and relatively cool fires in all of the towers that fell that day. Shermer's analogy, likewise, collapses. Bush himself, the architect of what will ultimately prove to be the biggest cover up in history, is more to be compared with holocaust deniers than are the growing legion who demand that the 911 white wash be ended now! Bush defenders likewise persist in a common fallacy: labeling those who demand an investigation as "conspiracy theorists". Rather, the only theory that has been forward is the outlandish and absurdly improbable "official conspiracy" put forward by George W. Bush. Until recently, Shermer had played the role of the great skeptic. We can now put that to rest. No one who buys into the official 911 conspiracy theory could possibly be a skeptic. The better word is gullible. The dictum of a true skeptic is this: Shermer would have us ignore this important and prudent dictum. He calls himself a "skeptic". I call him, at best, naive. At worst --disingenuous. Bush and his partisans put forward a "theory", an "official conspiracy theory" for which there is not a shred of hard evidence in support of it --let alone a proof. The burden of proving --at least supporting --Bush's idiotic theory rests with Bush. Shermer, a self-professed "skeptic" should know that. He is no skeptic. Bush has opposed a Congressional investigation and when the 911 commission was created Bush tried to interfere with it. (CBS) President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11. Mr. Bush said the matter should be dealt with by congressional intelligence committeees. CBS News Correspondent Bill Plante reports that Mr. Bush said the investigation should be confined to Congress because it deals with sensitive information that could reveal sources and methods of intelligence. Therefore, he said, the congressional investigation is "the best place" to probe the events leading up to the terrorist attacks. --CBS News: Bush Opposes 9/11 Query Panel Just recently, it has been learned that former 9/11 Commission executive director Philip Zelikow interfered with the 9/11 report, now eschewed by the co-chairs of the committee. According to the book, Zelikow had failed to inform the commission at the time he was hired that he was instrumental in helping Condoleezza Rice set up Bush’s National Security Council in 2001. Some panel staffers believe Zelikow stopped them from submitting a report depicting Rice’s performance prior to 9/11 as “amount[ing] to incompetence.” ... In his book, Shenon also says that while working for the panel, Zelikow appears to have had private conversations with former White House political director Karl Rove, despite a ban on such communication, according to Holland. Shenon reports that Zelikow later ordered his assistant to stop keeping a log of his calls, although the commission’s general counsel overruled him, Holland wrote. --Key 9/11 Commission Staffer Held Secret Meetings With Rove, Scaled Back Criticisms of White House Earlier, evidence from the crime scenes in New York and the Pentagon was hauled off and disposed of. Last time I checked --the destruction of evidence was a felony. I am quite sure it still is. "Steel was the structural material of the buildings. As such it was the most important evidence to preserve in order to puzzle out how the structures held up to the impacts and fires, but then disintegrated into rubble. Since no steel-framed buildings had ever collapsed due to fires, the steel should have been subjected to detailed analysis. So what did the authorities do with this key evidence of the vast crime and unprecedented engineering failure? They recycled it! Some 185,101 tons of structural steel have been hauled away from Ground Zero. Most of the steel has been recycled as per the city's decision to swiftly send the wreckage to salvage yards in New Jersey. The city's hasty move has outraged many victims' families who believe the steel should have been examined more thoroughly. Last month, fire experts told Congress that about 80% of the steel was scrapped without being examined because investigators did not have the authority to preserve the wreckage. 1 The bulk of the steel was apparently shipped to China and India. The Chinese firm Baosteel purchased 50,000 tons at a rate of $120 per ton, compared to an average price of $160 paid by local mills in the previous year." A real investigation would have admitted this testimony in evidence. Real skeptics believe in the "burden of proof" and the burden of proof has always been on the Bush administration. A true skeptic would demand that this evidence be released immediately. A true skeptic would have insisted upon this evidence being examined publicly by experts in a way that would allow its public verification. Buying into propaganda is not skepticism. True skeptics are always suspicious of officialdom of any sort. Officialdom always has a stake in a slanted version; officialdom depends for its existence upon looking good, innocent, wise or authoritative. A real skeptic knows that that is rarely the case in fact. There are, in fact, New York fighters --on video tape --stating: 1) molten steel was found at the base of the collapsed towers; 2) they heard rapid explosions as the towers collapsed in a free fall. Bush Crimes on Video(Visit Link for Video) Even as forensic evidence was being destroyed, Bush seized the initiative, exploited the shock to ram through congress measures that flout the separation of powers, measures that rescind Due Process of Law, habeas corpus, the presumption of innocence, measures that violate US Constitutional obligations to Geneva, Nuremberg and other principles of International Law. "Our reporters were initially avoided by Moore, but he subsequently decided to approach We Are Change.org/ Infowars.com reporters for a discussion. Moore brought up his lingering questions on 9/11, which are a clear departure from the 'government negligence' picture he painted in his film Fahrenheit 9/11, released some three years ago. Moore told reporters, "I've had a number of firefighters tell me over the years and since Fahrenheit 9/11 that they heard these explosions-- that they believe there's MUCH more to the story than we've been told. I don't think the official investigations have told us the complete truth-- they haven't even told us half the truth." --Michael Moore: 9/11 Could Be Inside Job Moore's interest in 911 may have been peaked by the established fact: no identifiable airliner wreckage was ever found in the Pentagon debris. Moreover, as I detailed in a previous article, the "official" account of the burials at Arlington National Cemetary is shot through with inaccuracies, internal inconsistencies and inconsistencies with forensic accounts. As far as we know, none of those said to have been buried at Arlington were! Additionally, witnesses described a much smaller aircraft --certainly not an airliner, certainly not Flight 77! I submit that if Bush and his guilty minions truly want to put this issue to rest they need only release all of the footage from all of the cameras that had been trained on the Pentagon and, in fact, photographed whatever it was that crashed and disappeared into the tiny little hole! I challenge the Bush administration to release all of that footage! Let us find out --once and for all time --what it was that crashed into the Pentagon. Let us find out if the Bush administration is innocent of mass murder and high treason --capital crimes! If the Bush administration were innocent, it would release every photograph. If the Bush administration were innocent of the capital crimes for which there is probable cause now to try them, it would respond positively to my challenge. It would release all of the footage. It would --if it were innocent --put this issue to rest. The following remarks, I address directly to Mr. Shermer. Mr. Shermer, your analogy is transparently fallacious! You deny the crime of 911, as both Holocaust deniers and minions of the Third Reich denied the crimes of Adolph Hitler. "It is against such a background that these defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring to commit this long list of crimes and wrongs. They stand before the record of this Trial as bloodstained Gloucester stood by the body of his slain king. He begged of the widow, as they beg of you: "Say I slew them not." And the Queen replied, "Then say they were not slain. But dead they are..." If you were to say of these men that they are not guilty, it would be as true to say that there has been no war, there are no slain, there has been no crime." --Justice Robert Jackson, Summation for the Prosecution by Justice Robert Jackson Mr. Shermer, if you subscribe to the official story, if you support Bush's decision not to investigate, if you dare compare those demanding truth with those who historically sought to cover it up, you become the new Gloucester! You would have us say: there have been no official lies, there are no slain, there has been no crime! Additional resources * Did Mole on 9/11 Commission Tattle to Rove? Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: christine, Peppa, Cynicom, Zipporah, robin, TwentyTwelve, Wudidiz, James Deffenbach, Percy Dovetonsils, FormerLurker, Pinguinite, Palo Verde, aristeides, all (#0)
(Edited)
I have long detested the so-called "Skeptics" crowd because they are not - skeptics that is. They are advocates for specific positions in opposition to other positions and often in the face of hard data. The "leadership" of the "movement" such as "The Less than Amazing Randi", Michael Schermer, et. al., generally show all the hallmarks of disinformation agents. They specialize in innuendo, Argumentum Ad Hominem, Strawman Arguments, Red Herrings, etc., ... I first got interested in them because of my interest in Archaeology, the JFK Assassination, the Anomalous Structures found on NASA photos, and a passing interest in UFO's and Psychic Phenomena. One thing I have noted about the Septics is that they are invariably "skeptics" FOR the official government position and seem most actively involved in attacking unapproved thought and people who are saying things which are contrary to the desired official viewpoint. In short I suspect, because of their behavior, and their reliance on disinformation tactics, that the leadership and prime movers in the "septic" community largely consists of Intelligence Agency Assets whose primary function is as very public shills and disinformation agents.
"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken
It's nobody else's fault that zionists have to work so hard covering up what really happened on 9/11.
i didn't have to read any further than that. shermer's agenda is quite clear. you want to stifle or shut down legitimate and rightful inquiry, investigation, or questioning of something the government wants hidden, deal the old holocaust card. it's so damn obvious, i'm really amazed shermer et al continue to resort to the tactic.
The only solution to this mess is to dig a hole big enough to nudge them all in and cover quickly
The reason they use it is that it still works. Some people, more than just a few years ago, are wise to it. However, the conditioned reflex to try and avoid being accused of the dreaded "anti-semitism" still works to stifle debate - in some quarters. People have been programmed by media to react in horror at such an assertion and accusation. So, the faint of heart, the timid, are cowed and sent back to graze some more. As well they don't have a lot of cards left as the information is becoming too widely available and anyone who takes the time to read even a little bit is forced to conclude that the "Official Conspiracy Theory" does not fit. The same thing applies to people who try to think and follow the evidence outside of the "approved" paradigm. If you look at the Sphinx and the heavy water erosion and observe that the last time there was sufficient rainfall on the Giza Plateau to cause such erosion was prior to 8,000 BC (the Sphinx is asserted to be 3500 years old by lamestream Egyptologists) you are called a "kook" by Lamestream Archaeologists. If you don't beeeeeeeeeeeeelievvvvvvvvvvvvve in the "Magic Bullet" then you are a (shudder) "Conspiracy Theorist". Such techniques are used because not everyone has the intellectual curiosity and resilience to accept what the evidence tells them rather than the "authority".
"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken
That looks like good tagline material.
Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. Thank you. It is always an honor to be considered quotable.
"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken
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