3/22: Different theories about 9/11
 

http://cellar.org/2002/pentagonscam.jpg

Often I check the Yahoo! Most Popular of other countries for IotD fodder, and sometimes that means I have to use Babelfish to translate. When I translated the text that goes along with this image, I learned that there is an author in France, Thierry Meyssan, who doesn't believe the official explanation of what happened at the Pentagon on 9/11. For example, he apparently claims that there is not enough wreckage to prove that it was a plane that crashed there.

The translation is terrible, but from what I could draw from it, like all conspiracy theorists, he is long on bizarre speculation and uses a few odd mysteries to encourage the reader's confusion.

The original link in French:

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/020313/108/2ih0t.html

Followup or something:

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/020318/108/2iodl.html

I really don't get why these people do this. First of all, if a plane didn't crash there, where'd the fucking plane go? What motive would the US Government have to blow up part of the Pentagon? If a car bomb did go off there, where is the plane? Man, I knew a guy that died in the Pentagon. It <b>definitely</b> happened. A plane definitely hit it. There were eyewitnesses that saw the plane coming in really low, hit the ground before the Pentagon and slide into it. People like this are just... retarded.

Here's a good debunking of this stupid stupid theory:

http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/pentagon.htm

I saw a link to this on bbspot a couple of days ago. It seems to be fairly well debunked <a href="http://paulboutin.weblogger.com/2002/03/14">here</a> (misleading photos, misleading questions, etc).

Cicada's link says it really well, but what's really silly to me about that silhouette overlay is that you can see the damage: There are large chunks precisely the width of the wings that are knocked out of the lower floors. I thought this thing was interesting at first, too, until I noticed that these people are only seeing what they want to see.

Thierry Meyssan should get indicted for conspiring to be a freaking idiot.

Wow! Is that a crime now?? Cool! I have a short list I'd like to submit...

Oh oh, should I be investing in Lawyers, Guns, and Money?

People will believe what they want to believe or what they fear to believe.

It turns out that Google has done it again, and that there is a tranlation tool on Google that is far better than Babelfish. From the main google page you click on "langauge tools". There you can beta test their translation. And translating a link is amazing; you can click around the site you're translating and have it appear in the language of your choice, even across links! And it's incredibly fast as well.

Google offers interface in the language of Elmer Fudd. Now THAT is funny!

Wizard's First Rule, a most excellent kickoff to a terrific series. I felt as though I were going insane during Richard's time with Denna.