Washing My Hands of "The Truth"

(Please ignore any profanity in this post. I just saw Winnebago Man, and the rage is kinda contagious.)

So. I haven't posted anything about 9/11 Truther drama in a long time. Believe me, it's not because there isn't any. It's because I'm so motherfucking sick of the entire fucking movement and all its bullshit adolescent paranoid drama that some days I'll think I'll start hemorrhaging if I hear the words "inside job" or "building 7" even one more time. And since avoidance is a pretty reliable way to deal with shit, I went with it.

I'm not going to bore anyone with a lot of detail here. If you have friends or relations who are into any conspiracy theory or alternative belief system of any kind, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks easily. The bottom line is that Richard departed from the local Truth squad because he felt it was more or less taken over by people that like to harp on issues unrelated to 9/11. You know, tapwater sapping your precious fluids and whatnot.

But the local Truth website remains under his control alone, and our friend "Natalie" has an issue with that. She was under the mistaken impression that the site was some sort of group effort, even though Richard pays for it and has always been the sole moderator. So as soon as she saw something objectionable on the site, she fired off an email in ALL CAPS with just one sentence: "WE NEED TO TALK." No other info.

Naturally, being a friend to Natalie and knowing how incredibly stressful paranoid Truther drama bullshit can be for a kind and patient person like her, I gave her a call last night. She was very frustrated and ranted that Richard was perhaps trying to sabotage her group with the website. He hadn't posted something she wanted him to post. I couldn't speak for Richard, of course, but I tried to explain things for her the best I could and was sympathetic to her problems. Despite this, she really didn't calm down at all and the conversation ended abruptly when she shrieked, "He's trying to FUCK ME OVER!" and slammed down the phone.

I thought, okay, she's stressed. She's burned out. She's not herself today. That's understandable. So I sent her a short email completing my explanation of the website issue, basically telling her that if the group wants a website it can wholly control, it must get its own. I told her I just called to see how she was doing and to help in any way I could.
Then I had a good cry and went to Winnebago Man, which cheered me up a bit.

When I returned, this email message from Nataliewas waiting for me:

"OK...you phoned to see how I was doing. Fine. Pray tell, what did I need help with, that you felt the need to call and offer help with? Did someone tell you I needed help...or did you just have a 'gut feeling?'"

I was quite surprised by this. I knew Natalie was peeved with Richard, but this was the first indication that she was actually furious with me as well. What the hell did I do, except try to help?
I told her the truth: I called because she wrote a letter in ALL CAPS. I mean, that's a distress signal, is it not? Your friend starts emailing in ALL CAPS, and you check to see if she's okay or having a nervous breakdown or what. It's common courtesy.

Natalie was not content with this explanation. She sent another email, again demanding to know why I had called.

When Richard got home from work, I told him what Natalie was upset about and urged him to correct it ASAP. He did. It turned out to be a very minor issue; he had accidentally overlooked an email, nothing more.

So today Natalie sent an email of "apology":
"I still fail to see how if you knew nothing you felt the need to contact me and HELP me. With what? It seems apparent to me that you and [Richard] were talking.

Why didn't [Richard] contact me?

I will own up to the fact that I do need to apologize to you [SME] for my outbursts last night. I am so frustrated by this whole situation and I see it taking our group in a direction that is being labelled and dictated by one person. And we all should be careful of assumptions. It really muddies conversations and situations.

I am very sorry about last night [SME] and my anger should have been directed elsewhere, if indeed it was necessary. I also know anger is bad for the liver according to Traditional Chinese Medicine."

She went on to tell me that I should mind my own business. Which of course I will. I wash my hands of all this crazy crap. I do not need psycho bitchmonster from hell bullshit on top of all the other weirdness, drama, and abuse I have tolerated from Truthers over the past three years. They're on their own. I have shit to do.
In my opinion, Natalie and a lot of other people in the Truth movement need traditional Chinese psychiatrists to deal with this contagious paranoia disorder they have.