The Blog @ Spolitics

New York Times Reports on “Something”

by Heywood U. Reedmore -- June 5, 2006 at 12:38 pm | In No, Seriously | No Comments

The New York Times ran a story about the “9/11 Truth” conference—a gathering of conspiracy theorists who believe the U.S. government caused 9/11: “500 Conspiracy Buffs Meet to Seek the Truth of 9/11.”

Whatever one thinks of the claim that the state would plan, then execute, a scheme to murder thousands of its own, there was something to the fact that more than 500 people — from Italy to Northern California — gathered for the weekend at a major chain hotel near the runways of O’Hare International. 

There you have it. You may think their theory is complete junk, but you have to admit that the fact that 500 of them got together in a nice hotel was “something.” That in itself is enough for the New York Times to write about it and lend credence to it. The “something” was also big enough for AOL to carry it on their welcome page with a photo of the smoldering remains of the twin towers.

It’s worth pointing out that when the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to Bush, the media noted his implication that the official story on 9/11 was suspicious. What they didn’t cover what Ahmadinejad’s attack on the media itself:

After 9.11, instead of healing and tending to the emotional wounds of the survivors and the American people — who had been immensely traumatized by the attacks — some Western media only intensified the climate of fear and insecurity — some constantly talked about the possibility of new terror attacks and kept the people in fear. Is that service to the American people? Is it possible to calculate the damages incurred from fear and panic? American citizens lived in constant fear of fresh attacks that could come at any moment and in any place. They felt insecure in the street, in their place of work and at home. Who would be happy with this situation? Why was the media, instead of conveying a feeling of security and providing peace of mind, giving rise to a feeling of insecurity?

A little later he writes:

In media charters, correct dissemination of information and honest reporting of a story are established tenets. I express my deep regret about the disregard shown by certain Western media for these principles.

Whatever you may think of Ahmadinejad’s claim that the media intentionally tries to prevent Americans from attaining peace of mind, you have to admit that it’s “something.”