'What were the causes of 9/11?'

[midcan5]

Interesting speculative piece on the causes of 911.

by Peter Bergen

"Everyone has a theory about the real causes of 9/11. They range from the nutty (it was the US government) to the plausible but flawed (a response to foreign occupation) to the credible (collateral damage from a clash within Islam)."

What were the causes of 9/11?


"Terrorism require alienated individuals, a complicit community, and a legitimizing ideology motivated by a desire for revenge, renown, and reaction from the enemy." Louise Richardson

"Since suicide terrorism is mainly a response to foreign occupation and not Islamic fundamentalism, the use of heavy military force to transform Muslim societies over there, if you would, is only likely to increase the number of suicide terrorists coming at us." Robert Pape The Logic of Suicide Terrorism | The American Conservative

"I consider Bush's decision to call for a war against terrorism a serious mistake. He is elevating these criminals to the status of war enemies, and one cannot lead a war against a network if the term war is to retain any definite meaning." Jurgen Habermas

 

[midcan5]

A bit of the why of conspiracy thinking.

"If you know the truth and others don’t, that’s one way you can reassert feelings of having agency,” Swami says. It can be comforting to do your own research even if that research is flawed. It feels good to be the wise old goat in a flock of sheep."

"Consider this: 63 percent of registered American voters believe in at least one political conspiracy theory, according to a recent poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University."

"While psychologists can’t know exactly what goes on inside our heads, they have, through surveys and laboratory studies, come up with a set of traits that correlate well with conspiracy belief. In 2010, Swami and a co-author summarized this research in The Psychologist, a scientific journal. They found, perhaps surprisingly, that believers are more likely to be cynical about the world in general and politics in particular. Conspiracy theories also seem to be more compelling to those with low self-worth, especially with regard to their sense of agency in the world at large. Conspiracy theories appear to be a way of reacting to uncertainty and powerlessness."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html

 

[SAYIT]

A bit of the why of conspiracy thinking.

"If you know the truth and others don’t, that’s one way you can reassert feelings of having agency,” Swami says. It can be comforting to do your own research even if that research is flawed. It feels good to be the wise old goat in a flock of sheep."

"Consider this: 63 percent of registered American voters believe in at least one political conspiracy theory, according to a recent poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University."

"While psychologists can’t know exactly what goes on inside our heads, they have, through surveys and laboratory studies, come up with a set of traits that correlate well with conspiracy belief. In 2010, Swami and a co-author summarized this research in The Psychologist, a scientific journal. They found, perhaps surprisingly, that believers are more likely to be cynical about the world in general and politics in particular. Conspiracy theories also seem to be more compelling to those with low self-worth, especially with regard to their sense of agency in the world at large. Conspiracy theories appear to be a way of reacting to uncertainty and powerlessness."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html

The physcology of the CT is far more interesting (and far more real) than the theories they promote.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Whatever you hear the US Government couldn't have possibly stood down on 9/11.

They only did that in Benghazi.

 

[CMike]

A bunch of crazy psychos hate that we exist.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

A bunch of crazy psychos hate that we exist.

yeah that would be Bush,cheney,the Bushs long time pals the clintons ,and the neocons in the Bush administration and Israel.

 

[Katzndogz]

The terrorists have been trying to convince us for decades what the causes of terrorist really are. We just refuse to pay attention to what they say, and make up our own causes. This unfortunately makes it certain that we will never face islam as we should but always find reasons why we shouldn't.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Why not use 3D printers to produce components to make models to test to destruction?

If a printer can produce 2 ft by 2 ft components then a 1% scale model could be made 13.6 ft tall. Printers can produce one level at a time and weights added and assembled. The computer precision could control the strength of each level.

If it turns out no model can be made to completely collapse then...

psik

 

[LA RAM FAN]

The terrorists have been trying to convince us for decades what the causes of terrorist really are. We just refuse to pay attention to what they say, and make up our own causes. This unfortunately makes it certain that we will never face islam as we should but always find reasons why we shouldn't.

again the terrorists are the neocons in the Bush administration and most members of congress and israel.

 

[Foxfyre]

There are always a myriad schools of thought and theories. You have a member here who blames the U.S. government 100% for 9/11. You have those who blame U.S. involvement overseas--these seem to be oblivious to Islamic extremist terrorist acts in many/most other countries. Does anybody believe that if every country just stayed home and minded its own business, Islam would become a peaceful, docile, citizen of the world? Even though so many of the attacks are Islamic extremists within our own populations?

Personally I get weary of trying to be tolerant and understanding of evil that exists in any form in any place. I get tired of looking for reasons and justifications and people to blame for it.

I think we have arrived at a point we need to set aside political correctness, see it for what it is, and reject and repel it. I think that needs to happen all across the Earth.

Yes, people who refuse to assimilate and become compatible citizens of where they are will always be discriminated against. And they will use that discrimination to justify terrorist acts that they call 'justified retaliation.'

We have to stop excusing it and/or being afraid of being labeled 'racist' or some such term by calling it what it is: Evil that no civilized society should have to tolerate.

 

[PredFan]

Attacking the US is a recruitment scheme.

The theory that they hate US because we "occupy" what they think we shouldn't evaporates when you understand that countries like Thailand suffered horrendous attacks from Islamic radicals as well.

Osama Bin Laden once said that they wouldn't stop until the whole world was under islamic rule and that is probably the closest to the truth.

 

[Foxfyre]

Attacking the US is a recruitment scheme.

The theory that they hate US because we "occupy" what they think we shouldn't evaporates when you understand that countries like Thailand suffered horrendous attacks from Islamic radicals as well.

Osama Bin Laden once said that they wouldn't stop until the whole world was under islamic rule is probably the closest to the truth.

Of course it is closest to the truth. And we have two choices. Defend that because that is what they believe. Or defend ourselves against having to accept, tolerate, understand, appreciate, and/or accommodate their intent to force us to accept Islamic rule.