Strategy for Debunking 9-11 Conspiracy Theories
August 26th, 2007For this week’s Sunday morning strategy discussion I wanted to talk about the thorny subject of 9-11 conspiracy theories. Last night the history channel had a segment on 9-11 conspiracies, where it basically compared the claims of the 9-11 truth movement to testimony from witnesses. I haven’t seen loose change or any other information regarding these theories, but I do know a lot of people that have seen it and believe it. The history channel said something like 36% of Americans think that the current administration may have had something to due with 9-11. The 9-11 conspiracy theory is no longer fringe.
The segment was a brilliant and subtle, not for convincingly debunking the conspiracy theories, but for the presentation of information so that it appears objective while really promoting the debunker’s perspective. Their main strategy was to present conspiracy theories as young, unprofessional, generalists while the debunkers looked professional and presented more fact-based information.
Information is a key in any conflict or decision, but it’s the center of any effort to convince the populous of your point of view. Both sides have taken advantage of releasing information early and often.
The Situation
Lets set up the situation from either side. You can take the role of a government official in charge of confusing and dispersing the movement, or you can take the role of a conspiracy theorist fighting to get your message out. The 9-11 situation provides plenty of information for use in determining a strategy. Mine is below.
My Strategy
I’ll take the role of each side here just for fun.
Government
As the government trying to convince people that conspiracy theorists are wrong, you’re kind of in a sticky situation. People who already believe in the conspiracy are not going to believe anything you say, regardless of how true it is. There are two possible angles of attack that I see:
- Movement Leaders. Movements typically rely on a few passionate leaders who are responsible for motivating people and for disseminating information.
- New Members. If the number of new converts to a movement can be stemmed or stopped, the movement itself begins to shrink and lose influence.
My strategy to counter the movement would focus on these two aspects. Forceful removal of leaders can backfire severely, so I would encourage them to leave of their own free will. Perhaps co-opt some of them by offering participation in official processes, or examine their lives for individual weaknesses.
The number of new recruits is already limited by the stigma that surrounds conspiracy theorists. They are typically portrayed as fringe members of society at best. This marginalization could be intensified with funding and encouragement through studies and media.
The other strategy I would pursue, assuming I had nothing to hide, would be to release as much information as possible for independent verification. While there would always be accusations of modified documents, it would sharply reduce conspiracy theory believers.
Movement
Movement leaders benefit from the inherent confusion of the 9-11 attacks and a public that is highly dissatisfied with the government. The problem they face is that the public views any unusual and outrageous claims as inherently presented by fringe members of society. Disagreeing with the standard accepted view gets you labeled as fringe almost by definition.
The other issue at hand is that I’m not clear what the goals of the movement are. If the object is just to ‘get the truth out there,’ then the strategy is different from what it would be if the goal is to have members of the conspiracy indicted.
Regardless, there are at least two things that are essential to the 9-11 truth movement’s efforts:
- Credibility. Establishing credibility is paramount. Without it it will be impossible to gain the public moment needed to create any kind of change or spread information effectively.
- Information. Verifiable information that supports the movements view and that is indisputable would go a long way in accomplishing goals. Unfortunately this information is either non-existent (if the theories are wrong) or probably very closely guarded and/or destroyed (if the theories are right).
As a movement leader then, I would focus on revising my presentation of data to be as professional as possible. This includes how the movement dresses, actions it takes, press releases that are made, studies and videos that are released, etc…
I would also work on building inroads to highly respected institutions. Even if they disagreed or were unwilling to support the movements efforts, any debates or exchanges of information, especially if public, would help to popularize conspiracy concerns. Next steps would depend on what your long term goals were.
As before, leave me comments with your strategies, or critiques and suggestions of what I have presented here. I’ll post the revised strategies next Sunday.
-zot
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