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It just so happens I ran into a 9/11 "Truther" demonstration, at Union Square, in NYC, last night, (March 28). For my own, morbid amusement I decided to listen in on what they had to say, and perhaps probe them with some questions. (Even if it meant catching a later train home than I was planning for.)
It should come as no surprise to anyone that they are all incredibly paranoid, and crave attention. (Duh.) However, I wondered what the root of such mentality could be.
I am not, by any means, a psychological professional. However, I felt as though they were presenting themselves in a manner closely akin to mental illness. I will not get into specifics of diagnosis – I will leave that to the professionals. But, I would like to know if anyone else feels the same way.
If so, can "conspiracy theorism" be treated as a mental illness?
As I said, these guys are paranoid, but not "tin hat" paranoid nor "they're out to get me" paranoid. They seem to get a rush of bravery when they shout through their megaphones. And, they are "not afraid" of anyone who might try to shut them up.
And yet, they also think "The People in Power" are scheming to control the world, and that Bush, and his ilk, engineered 9/11 to help achieve that. They also think "Zionist Industrial Leaders" (which should not be confused with regular, "innocent Jews") were responsible for putting Hitler in power. But, that's besides the point.
I wanted to see how far they think the conspiracy goes, so I asked them to try to give a ball park estimate of how many engineers are either in on the conspiracy, or feel threatened by it, enough to lie to all the media. After some discussion, the numbers that eventually emerged, from them, were about 80%. One guy said it was probably 99%. Somehow that seemed awfully unrealistic...
And yet, that is how they view the world. They are not, the least bit, interested in engineering details, or carefully evaluating evidence, at all. They simply wallow in the "knowledge" that most engineers are lying, and most of the evidence is faked.
I know most of the folks on this board like to hit these guys hard with the real evidence. But, I doubt that will ever get through to them, any more. As an alternative, it might be worth thinking about what sorts of therapy could help them gain a more realistic grasp of human nature and history, etc.Not that I pretend to know what would help, in this manner, myself.
But, clearly, the problems are deeper rooted than the specifics in the case of 9/11.
Unfortunately, I did not have a video camera nor even much paper to take any notes, at the time, so everything I am writing here is out of my own memory. And, no, I don't recall any of their names, at the moment, either.