Truth Revolution Radio, August 1, 2007: Truthmove, the General Strike, and Disinformation

Truth Revolution Radio, August 1, 2007: Truthmove, the General Strike, and Disinformation

Synopsis: "Julian and Max from truthmove.org are the guests and we discuss the upcoming General Strike on 9/11/2007, outreach to first responders and disinfo in the truth movement."

Listen: Mp3

Final segment on the topic of 9/11 disinformation
Transcript by Arabesque

Cosmos of Truthaction.org:

We've been talking with Julian and Max from truthmove.org... one thing that I've seen you guys have jumped head first into is the topic of disinformation of the truth movement. You guy guys have a pretty cool page on truthmove.org summarizing your thoughts on this. This is something that--I won't say it drives me crazy--it certainly can be infuriating. I know that they would like to drive all of us crazy with these disinfo shenanigans. Would you like to say any words on the topic of disinformation?

Max and Julian of Truthmove.org:

I think that people should definitely recognize the clear distinction between the rational critique that we offer one another, [which is] an engine for our own growth, and the kind of seething and derogatory rhetoric that we find from people who make it clear that they don't really have the same educational, positive priorities. The reason I say that is because I feel like people do make that mistake unfortunately; which is to say that the honest and logically based critique that we're going to offer ourselves in a movement in which facts, truth, and debate are very important factors--we shouldn't feel that's the same thing as identifying people who have very different priorities than the rest of us.

We have a summary page like all our pages on our site [where] we try to boil things down into the essential elements. We thought it was time to release a page on disinformation, trying to sum up the whole issue [as] concisely as possible. Some things we see as misinformation where [false information] is spread unintentionally and people genuinely believe it, and they're not trying to damage the movement--and other things may be disinformation, and that's where it's intentional. It's a divisive topic, but you really see within the reasonable core of the movement, there's not that much controversy over the 'whacko' stuff. And the speculation--is this going to be a movement about speculation, or facts?

Cosmos of Truthaction.org:

There's almost complete 100% consensus on certain areas and then there's this phenomenon that I'm just dying to talk about. You guys start you page on disinformation saying, 'This is a very sensitive topic' and indeed it is, because that is pretty much the whole point of intentional disinformation: to cause division, to exploit differences... It can be a very tricky thing to deal with.

Max and Julian of Truthmove.org:

You have to get back to your basic, fundamental priorities. There are certain things in this movement as you said that we can all agree on. When we focus on the things that we can agree on--certain basic priorities [and] facts, we find that we are able to work together. That should be a very important priority for us. But, when we find that people are promoting things that are outright fallacies--first of all we have to be willing to question it, but secondly, we have to be willing to ask these people, 'Do you have the same priorities as me? Why are you representing this information?' Because to me, that says that you are going after a different goal here. As Max said a second ago, speculation is an important part of our research community. Absolutely essential. When it comes to street activism and promoting the best that we have to offer, some of the things that end up on the cutting room floor don't weigh in with as much strength and we need to be willing to look at that candidly and we need to be able to ask one another, 'Why are you promoting this information?' I really feel like people need to recognize that if their position doesn't stand up to some degree of scrutiny that it may not be that strong. This is a debaters movement in some ways. We have to be willing to ask each other strong questions and be willing to make strong answers.

This is an issue that kind of strains your fortitude. Once you get into 9/11 you find out that there's sources you can't trust and you start doubting everything, and you think everyone's an agent... it's something that you really have to dedicate yourself to facing and to trust your instincts in some ways. People have called us disinformation, or people have called us agents [like] 'Killtown'. People say that we're promoting lies on our site because we're not into 'no planes' [theories] or because we promote environmental issues. It's really up to people and we think it's clear that you can tell who is genuine about this and who is trying to manipulate you, [and] who is genuinely interested in a unified social quest for the truth.

Cosmos of Truthaction.org:

Indeed. The idea that's really interesting me right now... I'll try to do this without naming names--but the idea of the 'sane moderate'; the person inserted perhaps to keep those who have been kind of further and further to the fringe of the movement because people recognize that what they are promoting is flat out bollocks, trash, [and] discredited information--but they are kind of kept in the picture by certain people who don't promote these ideas that much on the surface, but keep these other characters involved. And then there comes a time when this supposedly 'sane moderate' flips and reveals that they too are really promoting these [discredited] ideas. I'm just bringing it up because it pisses me the hell off--I'm just sick of seeing it.

Max and Julian of Truthmove.org:

We're dealing with a really sophisticated campaign here. We [should] expect nothing less from these people. I'm sure they know how to insert an agent that we cannot pick out easily that doesn't promote the crazy stuff [and] seems just as authentic as a real 'truther'. But, you gotta wonder in the way people forward the movement or the way they sabotage it. Sometimes those [editor: possibly posing as] crazy people promoting the towers were hit by holograms could just be a distraction from the more subtle agent[s].

Cosmos of Truthaction.org:

Indeed. People will say at certain times, 'The topic of disinformation is a distraction'--I'm afraid it's not because the whole issue that we're dealing with; 9/11 and the promotion of the lie, the mythology of 9/11 is at heart disinformation. The whole thing really is like a huge COINTELPRO operation writ large. So it really is the tactics, the methods at the heart of this myth [about 9/11] really are disinformation. So it kind of goes hand in hand.

Max and Julian of Truthmove.org:

Shouldn't we expect that these people who you are suggesting have perpetrated this incredible disinformation campaign [about 9/11] would not have anticipated the aftermath of 9/11 in our culture and community?

Cosmos of Truthaction.org:

It seems that they did, and it seems that they inserted key people right in there from the beginning.

Relevant links:
Truthmove.org
Truthaction.org

Truthmove.org Disinformation Page
Truthmove: 2008 Declaration: Standards and Strategies for 9/11 Truth
Truthaction: Mission Statement and Guiding Principles