The sixth anniversary of the September 11th attacks should have inspired remembrance and gratitude, since we’ve so far been spared the horror of another terrorist assault on American soil.
But unfortunately, commemorations this year were marred by a disturbing trend in our culture: polls show more than 30% of our fellow citizens believe 9/11 was an “inside job.” The so-called “9/11 Truth Movement” obsesses on a range of ludicrous suspicions about Building Seven, a missile—not a plane—striking the Pentagon, dynamite charges at the base of the twin towers, and so forth.
Aside from the poisonous impact on public discourse of such lunatic notions, the people who focus on these theories do incalculable damage to themselves. Someone who entertains the idea that his own government is part of a mass-murdering conspiracy will not only destroy his political effectiveness, but also make success in career and marriage far less likely.
Normal, productive individuals prefer to avoid long-term association with paranoid nuts.