Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Me & Mr. Jones (what kind of f***ery is this?)

So Richard convinced me to accompany him to a small 9/11 Truth meeting in the 'burbs last night. Four guys who had met online were going to get together at a Boston Pizza to discuss local activism/education, and perhaps form an alliance. Naturally, I didn't know what to expect out of this. Tinfoil hats? Large angry men who live in their mothers' basements? Redneck, psychobilly tax protestors who will someday go down in a hail of law-enforcement gunfire because they've holed up in the foothills with a cache of automatic weapons and a dog named Lee Harvey?

Well, not quite. What we found, quietly sipping Pepsis in a corner booth, was a group of very presentable and articulate people: Two 20something cousins, a girlfriend who is studying English at university, and a gregarious Muslim engineer. (The girlfriend is, like me, a bit of a fence-sitter and we exchanged some sympathetic looks throughout the meeting.) There was absolutely no talk of the Reptilian Satanist agenda - in fact, the girlfriend is just as wary of Alex Jones's occult world order theories as I am. No talk of holographic airplanes or lasers from outer space. Minimal concern about martial law or FEMA concentration camps, maybe because Katrina finally proved to everyone that FEMA is about as efficient as a thumbless masturbater. Just a firm conviction that the official story of 9/11 is not the true one, that there was some sort of U.S. governmental complicity, and that people everywhere deserve to know what really happened. I was reminded of Bible studies at which everyone is on the same page and ecumenical differences have been put aside for an hour. These are very bright, very devoted, highly functional citizens, just like Richard. Are their conclusions about 9/11 correct? I have no idea. I do have questions; I'm sure we all do. I also have a newfound respect for the Truth Movement.

(My title is an Amy Winehouse song. I've been listening to her Back to Black all week - it rocks. Her voice is a perfect mix of Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday.)

11 comments:

tshsmom said...

He DID know that I was teasing about the tinfoil hat, didn't he?

S.M. Elliott said...

Yes, I told him you were teasing. But I wasn't. ;D

tweetey30 said...

When I saw those hats on here just now I wasnt so sure what to do. I could just picture though you walking into a restaurant and seeing some people in the back of it with these high pointed tinfoil hats.

Laura said...

I find it hard to believe the conspiracies. I think our government was not focused enough on the topic at hand and was, therefore, completely ineffective. But deliberately allowing 9/11 to happen, I find that hard to buy.

S.M. Elliott said...

Tweets, if I'd seen even a single tinfoil hat, I think I would have turned right around the bolted for the door. I'm a curious person - but not that curious. ;D

Laura, I tend to think the same way about 9/11. Given the choice between believing an event was precipitated by chaos or conspiracy, I'll choose chaos 99% of the time.

Anonymous said...

maybe because Katrina finally proved to everyone that FEMA is about as efficient as a thumbless masturbater.

Lol! I've actually seen some of his videos. he's a heck of a speaker, but most of his conspiracies go overboard. it's sad, because he has some valid points. I think all in all, the guy's slightly mad. We didn't cause 9/11 and our gov't is not effective enough to be scary.

tshsmom said...

What happened to the picture?

S.M. Elliott said...

I don't know! It vanished, and when I reposted it the dang thing vanished again. :(

S.M. Elliott said...

ZS, Alex Jones is an excellent speaker. His rant in "Waking Life" is right on. When other people try to imitate him, his exuberance just comes across as abrasiveness and they fall flat. But, Satanists rule the planet? Scary stuff happens at Bohemian Grove? Please. Not unless you consider heavy drinking and cavorting with the occasional call girl scary.

La Cremiere said...

You used a lot of new words in this post and I'm not sure I got the gist of it. But I love that album. Amy Winehouse is very cool and very talented. She gets all sorts of wrong attention here because she's really an alcoholic (so young) and features in trashy tabloids passed out every week. Shame.

S.M. Elliott said...

Heh heh, I had the feeling her songs were very autobiographical! Generally folks don't sing about rehab until they have a reason to go there. ;D
There was a photo on tmz.com of her answering her front door in her bra, so you know what they say...you're not a celebrity until people get paid good money to take crappy pictures of you.