An Open Letter to Michael Goodwin Of the New York Post

Dear Mr. Goodwin –

Allow me to introduce myself. I have been a member of the 9/11 Truth movement since late 2003. I have appeared on national TV on FoxNews’ cable news network show The Big Story, owned by the current owner of the New York Post, Ruppert Murdoch. My film, ‘Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime’ premiered in 2006 at the Tribeca Screening Room during the Tribeca Film Festival as an independent film. My film was downloaded over half a million times in the first year alone, after which time I stopped keeping track of its progress. It has been duplicated and translated into numerous languages around the world. In these last 7 years I have continued my activism in support of 9/11Truth having spoken publicly in numerous venues in various states across the USA on the importance of this subject.

I have read your editorial 9/11 Myths: “A growing Muslim menace” and I have some shocking news to share with you. Please prepare yourself for this shocking news:

I agree with you.

Partially, anyway.

It is with great sadness that I have, over these last 7 years, watched the subject of 9/11 Truth devolve into a series of loosely knit conspiracy theories and myths that have, in my opinion, hurt our efforts to define ourselves as a movement, and a nation, predicated on finding truth and justice.

In these last 7 years I have watched helplessly as the solemn issue of 9/11 was turned, by a small but loud minority, into a vehicle for spreading hatred and cultural intolerance. I have watched in horror as people, marching under the banner of 9/11 Truth, and those who would oppose them, promoting myths that are demonstrably untrue, essentially turning 9/11 Truth into a sideshow of competing political agendas. And I have watched as fear and paranoia has led publications, such as your own, into promoting rabid anti-Muslim bigotry of the worst kind.

What a sad fix we are in as a nation.

How did we come to such a place Mr. Goodwin?

And as I watched the holocaust deniers on one side of me attempting to invent ties between 9/11 and Israel with lies and disinformation seemingly invented out of whole cloth, I have also seen many editorials and media inventions, such as your own, that seek to stir up fear and hatred of an entire people, and loosely tie terrorism to those of us who still care enough to dare to ask questions about 9/11.

Unfortunately, life is not that simple, and the black and white anachronisms from the Bush administration that tell us that “you are either with us – or you are with the terrorists” no longer make sense in a world where our investigative journalists have checked out on us, reneged on their social contract with the American public, and failed to ask the most important fundamental questions associated with the most important historical event of our time.

It is important for you to understand that extremism comes in many different flavors Mr. Goodwin. Whether you are a “truther” spreading disinformation about Israeli involvement in 9/11, or an editorialist for the New York Post fanning the flames of bigotry and anger against Muslims or sincere 9/11 Truth activists, it all adds up to the same in the end, a dangerous and deteriorating mix of hate speech where violent ‘final solutions’ may one day become legitimized.

And so I partially agree with you, Mr. Goodwin. Hate speech and lies can be dangerous. But I remind you that hate speech and lies are dangerous – whether they aim to distort the truth about the holocaust and Israeli involvement in 9/11 – or they fan the flames of bigotry and fear of Muslims – or they are used to distort the intentions of self-professed 9/11 Truth activists, such as myself, who seek only to peacefully lobby our elected leaders for accountability and answers.

It is important for you to understand, Mr. Goodwin, that not all those who question the events of 9/11 are conspiracy theorists. 9/11 Truth started, ostensibly, with the victim’s families and the Family Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission which compiled questions in the wake of that tragedy. Many of these questions, to this day, remain unresolved.

Even the 9/11 Commission itself had questions that remain unresolved, as the Washington Post reported on August 2, 2006:

Some staff members and commissioners of the Sept. 11 panel concluded that the Pentagon’s initial story of how it reacted to the 2001 terrorist attacks may have been part of a deliberate effort to mislead the commission and the public rather than a reflection of the fog of events on that day, according to sources involved in the debate.

“We to this day don’t know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us,” said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. “It was just so far from the truth. . . . It’s one of those loose ends that never got tied.”

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s population, approximately 1.27 billion people, are adherents of Islam. Similarly, millions of world citizens have legitimate concerns about the facts, as they have been presented to us, associated with the attacks of 9/11. As two men who concern ourselves with the power of language – I suggest you reconsider the wisdom of using inflammatory terms like “A growing Muslim menace” when referring to the issue of 9/11 myths and conspiracy theories.

The only enemy here is ignorance Mr. Goodwin. And in this regard you need only look in the mirror to understand the reasons why.