So tonight Richard and I are going to be on the 9/11-themed Nanaimo radio show Unbought and Unbossed to discuss what it's like for a skeptic to live with a 9/11 Truther. I'll let you know how it goes. The show should be available online a day or two after the broadcast.

I don't know exactly what will be discussed, but if possible I want to stress that people with opposing viewpoints can live together peaceably and happily in this world if they respect each others' freedom to believe anything they damn well please. I mean, 9/11 isn't the only difference Richard and I have... he's a meat-eater, I'm vegan; I like Spongebob, he wants to murder Spongebob; he's old, I'm not (heh heh heh). Yet we have a mutually respectful, mutually supportive relationship. I'm convinced that if we can swing this, so can the rest of the world. What we all need right now is some more civility, some more dialogue, and a lot less hating/name-calling/insulting. We should not be elevating our political affiliations or special interests to the status of pseudo-religions, being dogmatic and judgmental to the point of zealotry, getting mired in my-way-or-the-highway mentality. Let's foster the free exhange of information and opinion. Let's learn things from one another. Let's get along.

Update: The show went A-OK, though I was quite nervous at first because I haven't been on the radio for years. I slipped in most of the things I wanted to say about the need for dialogue, civility, and restraint. The host, Raymond Geisler, was surprised that I don't wholeheartedly accept every government-sponsored word about 9/11 or live in front of a TV set - he was under the impression that I'm a hard-hearted skeptic who eats and breathes CNN or something like that - and admitted that he sometimes doesn't know how to talk to "people who haven't gotten 9/11" (as if we're from different planets). There are a lot of misconceptions between Truthers and non-Truthers, just as there are between Muslims and Christians, Christians and other Christians, conservs and liberals, etc. etc. I hope we can all learn to bridge these gaps. It's not easy, I know, but we've gotta try.