A Time to Remember

First, a bit of football.

The Yellow Jackets managed to scrape by with a win over Clemson last night. After dominating the Tigers for a quarter and a half, the Wramblin' Wreck seemed to suffer from misfires and detonation. Clemson roared back and seemed poised to take it all when they were shut down by an admittedly bad call (but these things happen in college ball). Tech then kicked a field goal to win, and the D held on until the end.

In the pros, my man Troy Polamalu got injured after an amazing one-handed interception. The Steelers went on to win in overtime (the sudden death being much preferable to the whiny little girly rules of college ball).

Anyway, today is the second of our days which live in infamy. But it may come as a surprise that September 11th is important to me for reasons other than the obvious ones. Sure, I am still rattled by the thought that a bunch of radical murderers managed to pull off a plot that should only be found in movies, comic books, video games, and thriller novels. I am still awed by the heroism of ordinary Americans on Flight 93 and all those who responded to the emergencies in New York and the Pentagon. And I am still concerned for the safety of those who fight for me abroad.

But September 11th means so much more. Since entering college, I have developed a passion for knowing the truth. Deep down, we all know that there are things that are true, and things that are false. Those who claim that truth is relative are simply in denial of reality. Of course, in any search for the truth, one is bound to come upon falsehoods.

And this is where the events of September 11th intersect with my quest. There are many out there who believe the most outlandish claims about the events of that day. Generally known as the "9/11 Truth Movement" or "9/11 Truthers," these people believe almost anything except the most obvious - that 19 men working for Al Qaeda managed to change history by hijacking four airliners filled with innocent victims.

Like all conspiracy mongers, they bend the truth, misrepresent facts, tell half-truths, and generally do all they can to avoid dealing with the reality of that tragic day. They (whether purposefully or in ignorance, I don't know) misuse philosophical and scientific methods of inquiry, misquote scientific and engineering information, and engage in blatant abuses of logic and reason.

It is interesting on another level, since their behavior mimics those who are caught up in a cult-like enviroment. They believe they have the real truth, a truth that has been hidden and can only be revealed by secret knowledge. Having that knowledge helps them make sense out of a senseless world. But it isn't the truth. They're caught in a delusion that only leads them further from reality, and ultimately will damage the way they interact not only with history, but their fellow humans.

These people are dangerous, but not in the sense of national security. They're no threat to an orderly society - not in the traditional sense of maniacs with guns and knives. No, this is a more existential threat that exists for the entire Western world. There is a great battle underway, and the stakes couldn't be higher. On the one side is the insistence that all truth, and even reality itself, is merely relative - a byproduct of our own individual neurochemistry, and no two realities are congruent. On the other is the somewhat "old-fashioned" view that there is an objective reality, and that we use our senses and our minds to uncover what that reality is.

If the relativistic view wins out, then the end of Western civilization is assured (though by all means it may end through other mechanisms, as well). When we let go of our ability to connect in an organized, methodical manner to reality, then chaos follows shortly behind. A society divided in counteless ways over what is real will in short order rip itself apart.

Conspiracy theorists exist in the heart of this battle, not at the periphery. Allowing them to spew their nonsense unchallenged means that we give ground to the relativistic view of the universe, and edge one step closer to instability and chaos. Fortunately, organizations like Popular Science and the Skeptical Inquirer put a lot of time and effort into debunking 9/11 myths, as did many other individuals acting on their own. For now, the truth is alive and well in the West. But for how long? Crazy people will always be with us. Maintaining bastions of thought requires eternal vigilance.

Each 9/11 (and December 7th, for that matter), I think hard about ways I can help contribute to that vigilance, and combat the forces of deception and destruction in my own little sphere of influence.