Why I Don't Plan to Defeat the Truthers for All Time

 You may recall that Guitar Bill made some comment along those lines a week or two ago.  We didn't want to defeat the Truthers forever because we got some sort of reflected glory and fame from their continued existence.

But really, it's not that.  Look, the BBC probably spent tens of thousands of dollars on that Road Trip documentary, and how successful were they?  They flipped one out of five Truthers to the rational cause.  And that's actually phenomenally successful.

Jonathan Swift observed centuries ago that you cannot reason a man out of an idea that he was never reasoned into in the first place.  Truthers do not  construct their arguments rationally, building evidence and seeing where that evidence takes them.  They start with the conclusion: Bush/Cheney did it and work backwards, seeking little facts that would appear to prop up that deduction.  Remember the guy who compared the building collapses to the Jenga game?  Well, Truthers are playing the Jenga game in reverse.  Instead of pulling a piece out here or there, and seeing if the whole thing falls apart, they are putting pieces in place and marveling that the whole thing never falls over.  Well, duh!

We can see this in the way the conclusion never changes, even though the evidence cited may.  I pointed out awhile ago, that Jon Gold's second review on Amazon was a rave for Kevin Fenton's new book, which argues the LIHOP theory.  His first review was for one of David Ray Griffin's MIHOP books, and there again, Gold was rapturous.

Of course, Gold has become much more skeptical about Griffin over the past few years, to his credit.  But... the conclusion didn't change significantly.  Yes, you can say that LIHOP is quite a shift from MIHOP, but it's really just a fallback position, and given what he said to Matt Taibbi on Facebook about elements in the government more than earning the title of suspect for the crimes of 9-11, it's not a stretch to believe that Gold is still clinging to the more extreme conspiracy theory, just being a little less honest about it.

For more evidence, look at Gold's reaction to Charlie Veitch's apostasy from the party line.  Now remember, Veitch's rationale for supporting the Truthers was that he bought into the controlled demolition arguments, as he cited when given his chance on the Road Trip bus.  And Gold has often lamented that the Truth Movement has evolved into the Controlled Demolition movement.  So you might think that Gold's response would be something along the lines of "Well, that's what happens when you lead with the CD arguments."

Nope:

Whether or not he's an "infiltrator" or not, he denounced this cause using the officially designated issue that has been made synonymous with this cause through other infiltration.

 I'm not even sure what the heck that means.  Is Richard Gage an infiltrator?  Is Steven Jones?

Jim D pointed out in a post that Gold seems to defend the Truth Movement from any attacks, even those that cite the weakest crap, like Griffin's endless claims that nine of the hijackers are alive:

You are proving that you care more about your church than the salvation of it's members. In short you truthers are promoting the cult like fringe aspects that are such a turn off to people myself included. I have seen lie after lie put out immediately by members of the 9-11 truth church in regards to this book because the authors do not worship at your 9-11 truth church. I don't either and this is why. After 10 years one might think you would have gained a little insight in what makes a movement successful. Your movement is extremely unsuccessful and you yourselves are exposing why.

 Gold responds:

By the way... I love Jim's dishonest portrayal of us being apart of the "cult." Douchebag. Nah... the people here haven't spoken out against the stupidity more than anyone else... constantly writing pointers on how to approach people... constantly trying to promote the most credible information... calling out lunacy where its found... yea... we are so apart of the cult. Douchebag.

Yes, they occasionally point out the lunacy; after we rub their faces in it enough times.  But where was this sensible Gold five years ago, when he wrote that review on Amazon about how one day people would be comparing David Ray Griffin to Martin Luther King and Gandhi?  Answer: He's been beaten back from that crap, but not so far that he's changed any conclusions; he's just changed the evidence he cites.



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