> Carrol, I am surprised at you for being so ahistorical about this. I
> was going to let this pass by with Chuck but since I am one of your
> ardent readers on this list I can't let it pass with you.
>
> First, I don't think that 9/11 conspiracy stories are necessarily
> racist. Some may be. But as a counter I would ask you to think back
> a few years to the first time you heard these stories. After 9/11 in
> NYC and NJ I only heard them from African-American acquaintances and
> in rap music. I don't think it didn't caught on to middle class white
> "left-liberals" until later on. (One of the usual tracks of cultural
> transmission in our culture, from Afican-Americans to white liberals.)
> Some of the stories, though not all, were tinged with anti-Semitism,
> but the latest 9/11 conspiracy stories are not. I don't think that,
> at origins there was a bit of anti-Arab racism.
I want to make it clear that I don't think that the 9/11 conspiracy movement is racist or that their theories are fundamentally racist. My point was that racism may play a role in these theories, either consciously or unconsciously. There are multiple conspiracy theories which play on different dynamics, such as the anti-semitism that you mention. I agree that similar arguments can be made about the Official Story (sic) or arguments made by people who agree with the mainstream consensus.
I don't know what the intelligence level of the skyjackers were. I would think that the actual planning, logistics and recruiting for the attacks were the hardest part of the attacks. On the day of the attacks, taking over the planes was probably the hardest task. As we know, the skyjackers weren't able to fully take over the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania.
I think that the 9/11 conspiracy movement relies primarily on liberal beliefs about government, imperialism and terrorism.
Chuck