Steve Alten's Perceptive Criticism of the 9/11 Truth Movement
By Arabesque
In an interview with Michael Wolsey, Shell Game author Steve Alten supplied a relevant and important criticism of the 9/11 truth movement. Wolsey's asked, "Do you personally believe that the attacks were allowed to succeed... or do you believe that there was participation... 'inside job'... and if the latter is the case, did you intentionally tone that down to invite other people in who might be hostile to that idea?" Alten criticized the 9/11 truth movement while supplying his answer:
Steve Alten: "...My take on this is that if a real investigation were to happen--a real one, that the trail of evidence would lead directly back to the white house... they would be found guilty of treason. For me to say "let it happen" versus "made it happen"... my objective is to stay above the fray of the 9/11 truth movement.... the 9/11 truth movement, for the terrific work it has done is fragmented. That doesn't help anybody... We need to spread this information out to the masses... let's put it this way. A crime happened. The biggest crime in the history of the world. The perpetrators got away with it so far. The trap has been placed within the movement... I've had people email me and... I've been attacked on blogs... 'Alten doesn't believe in this and Alten doesn't believe in that, so how could we possibly support his book?'... That's a trap.The 9/11 truth "it must be bad because you don't agree 100% with what I believe, therefore you are a shill" syndrome is very apparent in some quarters. Ultimately, if the book can get people asking questions and doing research (along with presenting credible facts of its own), I think that would make it successful for what it is. Ultimately, we need many types of media getting people to look at the facts for themselves and get educated.
Michael Wolsey: If you don't agree with everything I say, you must be bad... I've been attacked ruthlessly for that, so I can relate.
Steve Alten: ...it doesn't solve anything to force your opinion on one group or another where you have to accept everyone's opinion... A crime happened. There was a reason for that crime....
As I wrote in an essay on the false MIHOP/LIHOP dichotomy:
Clearly, the 9/11 attacks were both ‘made’ and ‘allowed’ to happen in a carefully planned, complex, psychological operation—they would have been impossible without the use of both of these components. The misleading and false LIHOP/ MIHOP paradigm avoids the obvious and meaningful subtleties of reality. As Blogger Jeff Wells comments, “Binary thinking is a mind cancer that retards insight, and unfortunately flourishes in conspiracy culture. ‘The beginning of wisdom,’ said Terrence McKenna, ‘is our ability to accept an inherent messiness in our explanation of what's going on.’”This false dichotomy in my opinion could be deliberately exploited to control and disrupt the 9/11 truth movement by creating fabricated divisiveness through the inaccurate and misleading use of language, as I detail in my articles Disinformation and the False LIHOP/MIHOP Dichotomy and 9/11 Truth and Division: Disinformation, Agent Provocateurs, and False Adversaries.
I came across Michael Ruppert's praise of Atlen's Shell Game on Amazon.com:
Steve's absolute genius is in his ability to make the unpalatable irresistible. It lies also in his ability to separate research "ice cream" from research "bs". "Children", hucksters and some with more sinister motives have hijacked the so-called 9-11 "truth movement." That clear thinking is what makes "The Shell Game" slice through consciousness and reach the soul like a hot scalpel through butter.Mr. Ruppert's opinion is respected by many and I know that he does not give praise easily. According to Alten, Mr. Ruppert met with him after reading his book to advise him on the dark aspects of the 9/11 truth movement and the dangers of speaking out for 9/11 truth. Not too long after the announcement of his book, Alten was attacked by dubious "members" of the 9/11 truth movement. Ruppert's praise was enough to encourage me to get a copy and I will write a review of Alten's Shell Game after I get a chance to read it.
