A few weeks ago, a friend of mine on the GeeksOn forums posted a link to another 9/11 conspiracy theory. My comment turned into a little rant that I will re-post here:

Though I am a little tired of 9/11 conspiracy theories as they just make me depressed, I will comment.

Do I think the government would senselessly kill thousands of people to start a war that would be profitable for them? Yes. If they are okay with sending off thousands of soldiers to die and they are okay with senseless Iraqi deaths (soldiers and civilians), then a few more are no problem. A single death is a tragedy, but a million deaths is a statistic, right?

Do I think the government would use television shows or other popular media to advance a particular doctrine? Yes. This should not be a surprise. Superman was employed for all kinds of anti-Nazi propaganda. Today we don’t use Superman, we use Jack Bauer.

The reality is that we live in a world where horrible things happen every day, some of it committed by national governments. Having the greatest number of iPods and grande lattes has not purchased a moral high ground for the United States. Our government is corrupt because it is populated by the same corrupt human beings that live on this planet. Laying blame elsewhere has replaced responsibility. DIGGing up conspiracy theories has become the poor man’s activism. We are numbed into complacency by the constant CNN news ticker of tragedy because if we stopped for long enough to actually let the headlines into our hearts, our interstates would clog up with weeping, shattered people.

It would not matter if the government made a formal announcement that they had assassinated JFK using mind-control rays broadcast by reverse-engineered alien technology and that they penciled in the order for the towers to crumble in between a meeting with the Bavarian Illuminati and the Secret Cthulhu Fan Club. We would just be outraged that the baseball game was interrupted and we’d make brave, impotent proclamations in forums and call for heads to roll. We would point and point and point, standing in a forest of mirrors and still wondering why no one was doing anything to make the world softer so we could get back to our nap.

There is no “Them.” There is only “Us.” There’s just you and me. The guy who cut you off in traffic? It was me. I had to get to work as soon as possible so that my job could kill me quicker. The guy that shit on you in the forum because you actually liked Matrix 2 & 3? That was me. It’s easier to ignore my own hatefulness when I’m making you feel small. The person that is eating up your blue sky and blue ocean and blue tomorrow? Me. I need the SUV and plastic bags and aerosol to protect me from ever encountering your dirty human soul.

But I still want you to love me. I still want you to hold me and say “there, there.” I still want your forgiveness. So let’s not talk about me. Let’s talk about “Them” and “They.” Those guys are fucking everything up. Not you and me. We’re going to clean up this town.

Right after we watch this awesome YouTube video.