by James Corbett Remember when Democrat operative Van Jones was nearly run out of Washington for signing a petition demanding a deeper investigation of the events of September 11, 2001? And do you remember how his career was only saved when he completely disavowed the petition and had his name removed from it? And do you remember when bowtie-wearing, MSNBC-hosting Tucker Carlson refused to even air the footage of World Trade Center Building 7's collapse during his "debate" with Steven Jones over the demolition of the buildings on 9/11? And do you remember when crack Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi dismissed 9/11 truthers as idiots and engaged in a lengthy debate with David Ray Griffin, fiercely arguing against any hint of a conspiracy surrounding the events of 9/11? In short, do you remember when so much as asking questions about the official story of 9/11 was enough to get you fired from your job, ridiculed in the media and shunned by your friends and family? Well, guess what? All of that has changed now! That's right, as a series of remarkable "breakthroughs" in the public conversation on 9/11 demonstrate, it's official: you can now question what happened on 9/11! So, WT actual F is going on here? And what does it mean for those who have been advocating 9/11 Truth for decades? Let's find out. YOU'RE A FRINGE WINGNUT WEIRDO!
In case you weren't aware, for the past two decades the simple act of questioning the official story of 9/11 has been enough to get you branded as a lunatic and cast out of polite society. Take it from me. I should know. After all, I was one of Buzzfeed's featured "5 People Still Pushing 9/11 Conspiracy Theories" back in 2012. And I was honoured with an entry in the Encyclopedia of American Loons back in 2013 (despite being neither American nor a waterfowl) for pushing "9/11 conspiracy bullshit." And I was branded a "political extremist" by Mother Jones in 2018 for my "toxic ideas" and "conspiracy theories" and for using my "authoritative male voice" to entice people to believe that "9/11 was staged by the US government." (And that's not to mention my other "accolades," like when the shady, anonymous, Deep State-connected "PropOrNot" group added me to their naughty list for daring to oppose NATO or when Conspiracy Watch humiliated me with the most dreaded title of all: "climatosceptique"! Quelle horreur!) But while these epithets may have been hurled in my general direction, none of this vitriol was about me personally. Rather, the abuse was directed at anyone who dared publicly question the government's official 9/11 conspiracy theory. Witness Bill Maher dramatically throwing 9/11 truthers out of his studio during a taping of his HBO program, Real Time with Bill Maher. Witness Bill O'Reilly going on a tirade against the 9/11 truthers in academia who are really, in O'Reilly's knowledgeable opinion, "America haters hiding behind free speech." Or witness President Bush himself using the bully pulpit of the UN General Assembly to caution citizens of the world that we must "never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories" about how the Bush administration made 9/11 happen on purpose. Indeed, as we have already witnessed, all of the establishment media talking heads—from Mainstream Alternative Media upstarts like Tucker and Taibbi to legacy media stalwarts like Maddow and Mancow—were united in their denunciation of 9/11 truther "nutcases." . . . But in this topsy-turvy era, it seems that everything has changed. Now it's suddenly OK to question what happened on 9/11 because, as it turns out, you're only a deranged, bark-raving truther lunatic . . . . . . UNTIL YOU'RE NOT!
Appropriately enough for a podcast entitled "The Interview That Changed Everything," the host begins talking in a Serious Tone such as one would use to inform someone of a relative's death or to tell a child that Santa Claus doesn't exist. "We recorded the interview you’re about to watch five days ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since," he begins. He then immediately reassures his audience that, while the information they are about to hear is mind-blowing, the guest who is imparting that information "is not a crazy person." So, what life-altering, electrifying information does this interview deal with? That the earth is neither round nor flat but conical? That the moon is not made of Swiss cheese but American cheddar? That Oasis is not a massively overrated Beatles wannabe band? No, the "mind-blowing" information is . . . drum roll, please . . . that the truth about 9/11 has been covered up for the past 24 years! Oh, what's that? As a follower of The Corbett Report, are you saying that your cranium has not, in fact, been exploded by the incredible revelation that the official 9/11 conspiracy theory is a lie? OK, then how about this: the host of the podcast we're talking about is Tucker Carlson. That might be somewhat surprising even to us old hands in the 9/11 Truth movement who remember when, as a TV talking head on CNN and MSNBC and Fox News, he was vehemently and vociferously opposed to the very idea of 9/11 Truth. (Of course, it's less surprising when we learn that the former US congressman imparting this "mind-blowing" information to Tucker is former congressman Curt Weldon. We old-timers remember Weldon's passionate defense of Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer during his tirade about the Able Danger cover up on the floor of the House in 2005. But our shock at Tucker's turnaround still stands.) And it's not just Tucker. It's Matt "Truthers are like brain-damaged dogs" Taibbi, who, on a recent podcast appearance (again, on Tucker Carlson's show) agreed that there's "never actually been anyone covering" the unanswered questions of 9/11. And it's US Senator Ron Johnson, who, after nearly 15 years in the Senate, has just appeared on The Benny Johnson Show to announce his sudden "discovery" that there are problems with the official 9/11 story. (Did you know that a third building was destroyed on that day? Or that you can't find a structural engineer who "would say that thing didn't come down in any other way than a controlled demolition"? Well, you do now!) So, what on earth is happening? Why is the information blockade that has been keeping these basic facts out of the public discourse about 9/11 for nearly 25 years suddenly crumbling? Why now? Perhaps it's related to "Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." As viewers of The Corbett Report know by now, that's the recently penned Executive Order from Trump (or his robopen) that is supposedly opening Uncle Sam's kimono on the US government's JFK files, its RFK files, its MLK files . . . and its 9/11 files? Yes, indeed, the "Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets" recently created to execute the EO exposing the three assassination files has also been given the mandate to comb the government's archives for unreleased information related to "UAPs/USOs, the Epstein client list, COVID-19 origins, and the 9/11 files." And now, the floodgates are opening! Sitting senators and ex-congressmen and retired FDNY fire captains are all calling for a new investigation of 9/11! Long-hidden documents are about to come to light! 9/11 Truth is finally about to be revealed! . . . or maybe not. As Robbyn Swan details in her recent report for Florida Bulldog, there is as yet no sign that the task force members are even familiar with the numerous 9/11 documents that we know the US government is hiding, let alone any sign that the task force is going to release them. These documents include:
And, as Swann also reports, even if the task force were serious about releasing any of these or other 9/11-related records, it's unlikely that it would happen without a concerted, bipartisan political effort. After all, "NARA doesn’t have the authority to declassify other agency's files, nor sufficient staff to meet even current demand for declassifications." That being said, it's important to note that the 9/11 Files are not going to expose the bedrock truth of 9/11 any more than the JFK Files are going to expose the bedrock truth about the JFK assassination. These files, if they are released, may give us more insight into what did or did not happen that day, or they may provide yet another opportunity to demonstrate that the official 9/11 story is a demonstrable lie from start to finish, but we are about as likely to get some shocking new evidence about Cheney with his demolition plunger in the PEOC from the US government's 9/11 records as we are to get a signed letter from Allen Dulles ordering a hit on JFK from the US government's JFK records. The real point here is that the fight for 9/11 Truth is going to be adjudicated where it always has been: in the court of public opinion. As long as the establishment and its media lapdogs were able to maintain the illusion that 9/11 Truth was a crazy idea only held by nutjobs, the much-needed public conversation about the topic was simply unbroachable in the minds of the majority of the population. So, even if this latest push toward 9/11 Truth ends up being more smoke and mirrors, perhaps the more important point is that the stigma that has long surrounded 9/11 Truth is finally disappearing. Make no mistake, the Overton window on 9/11 Truth is moving. That's good news, right? YOU WERE WRONG BEFORE AND YOU'RE EVEN WRONGER NOW THAT WE'RE ADMITTING YOU WERE RIGHT!
Let's imagine your neighbour was warning you about a gang of criminals that were behind a rash of break-and-enter burglaries in the neighbourhood. And let's imagine that you told your neighbour that all the burglaries in the neighbourhood were random and unrelated, that there was no such thing as a "gang of criminals" and that even suggesting such a thing made you doubt his sanity. Now, let's imagine that the gang of criminals was caught red-handed committing a new burglary, and the police found the burglar's headquarters, where all of the neighbourhood's stolen items were stored. Finally, let's imagine the end of this hypothetical tale: you'd tell your neighbour he was still crazy, insist that you had been right even when you were wrong, and dismiss anything your neighbour had to say in the future, right? What, you think that sounds ridiculous? Are you asking why you would write your neighbour off as a crank even after everything he said had been proven correct? Do you find it hard to believe that you would insist you were right and reasonable even when you had clearly been wrong all along? As ridiculous as it sounds, exactly this type of scenario unfolds in real life all the time. In fact, it happens again and again and again and no one bats an eyelid. Want an example? OK, remember when the Bilderberg Group "didn't exist"—and it was the height of conspiracy lunacy to suggest it did? And remember when Bilderberg finally caved in, admitted its existence and started its official website? Did you notice how the same people who were right about Bilderberg's existence are still written off as oddballs and cranks, while those who lied about its non-existence are still seen as "serious mainstream journalists"? And remember when those crazy tinfoil hat-wearing nutjobs warned that the government is spying on everything you say and everything you do? And remember when those "nutjobs" were proven spectacularly correct over and over and over again? And notice how the same people who were right about the government surveillance are still denigrated as nutjobs? And remember when those "crazy conspiracy kooks" warned about the toxic chemicals that the government was spraying in the sky and were mercilessly mocked by the establishment repeaters and lapdog journalists? And remember when mainstream academics began urging governments to spray toxic chemicals in the sky and companies began openly bragging about doing it themselves? Notice how the people who have been talking about this problem for decades are still "crazy conspiracy kooks," whereas the media mouthpieces continue to post article after article announcing the "possibility" that some "research project" that might test the "viability" of this idea is about to be greenlit? And remember when those conspiritard wingnuts warned about the creation of a New World Order and were summarily excluded from Serious Geopolitical Discussion? And remember when politician after politician after politician after politician began talking about the New World Order and globalist technocract after globalist technocrat after royal family member began talking about the "Great Reset" and politician after politician after politician began announcing plans to "Build Back Better"? Notice how those of us who were correctly warning of this globalist plan for global control are still excluded from the realm of Serious Geopolitical Discussion? Yes, in case you haven't noticed, the burglary theorists—errr, I mean "conspiracy theorists"—have often correctly identified and warned about real problems and covert programs. But those same now-vindicated conspiracy realists continue to be mocked, denigrated and silenced by the establishment cronies who have always sought to monopolize public discussion of these issues. The public, rather than giving credence to those of us who were right all along, are now lauding the legacy-media-cum-mainstream-alternative "journalists" who are only now "discovering" the self-evident truth about 9/11 (and other issues) that has been sitting under their nose for decades. Well, if you have noticed this phenomenon, I'm here to tell you the specific term for this type of psychological manipulation. 9/11, GASLIGHTING AND YOU
"Gaslighting" is when someone is manipulated into questioning their own sanity. It comes from the 1938 British stage play, which was adapted for the screen in the UK in 1940 and in the US in 1944. If you'd like to hear a discussion of the British version of the movie, check out Gaslight – FLNWO #08, my 2013 podcast on the subject with guest Thomas Sheridan. Long story short: a scheming sociopath can play tricks on a target to make that target start doubting his own senses, and, ultimately, his sense of reality itself. This is precisely what is happening when the establishment media tells you, for example, that you're crazy for believing the government is spying on you and then admits that the government is spying on you . . . but without acknowledging they had it wrong before. For today's purposes, the quintessential explanation of gaslighting as it related 9/11 Truth was provided by Anthony Lawson in a now decade-and-a-half-old video, "This Is An Orange."  In this video, Lawson lays out exactly how we're convinced to doubt the judgment of our own eyes—which see a controlled demolition—and instead believe that the collapse of the 47-story WTC7 was the result of ordinary office fires. We are then gaslit by being told we're crazy to think the footage of WTC7 falling looks anything like the visually identical footage of other high-rises being purposely demolished by explosives. In other words, the gaslighters are trying to fool us into thinking that we're idiots for believing what is obvious to our eyes and what is confirmed by numerous architects, engineers and academics. It seems inconceivable that such a crass manipulation tactic could be so effective, but as the past 25 years have shown us, gaslighting is not just effective, it is incredibly effective. Most people are desperate to signal their sanity, their compliance and their status as a member of the in crowd. Thus, they'll happily repeat: "Yes, of course Building 7 looks like a typical, sudden-onset, complete progressive office fire collapse," even though they've never heard those terms before and even though the phenomenon has never been seen by anyone. And they'll dutifully attest that its destruction "looks nothing at all like a controlled demolition," even though they've seen that phenomenon many times. In fact, so eager are they to signal their assent to the official narrative that they—like Picard seeing the five lights—will honestly believe they are seeing whatever they're told to see. As a result, they will truly believe that anyone who questions the official story is crazy. At long last, we have reached the final stage of this 9/11 deception, in which the official 9/11 conspiracy theory—no longer able to stand up under the weight of the lies upon which it is constructed—begins to self-destruct. In this final phase of the gaslighting ruse, some partial truths about the self-evident reality of what did and didn't happen that day are finally being admitted to the public. We will then be asked to continue to believe the people who lied to us about those truths for a quarter of a century and to continue to dismiss the people who tried to tell us those truths. This is the 9/11 gaslighting operation, and we are seeing it play out in front of our very eyes. To be fair, I couldn't and wouldn't say that everyone involved in this current stage of the gaslighting operation is a knowing and witting participant in the deception. For whatever it's worth, Tucker Carlson in his recent conversation with Curt Weldon does not mince words in calling himself an idiot for dismissing 9/11 Truth in the past:
We could question his sincerity here, of course. Likewise, we could question the sincerity of those on the new task force who are looking into the 9/11 files. We could also question the motives of any of the congressmen, senators, journalists and others who are suddenly coming out and admitting they were wrong about 9/11. And we could question whether these partial admissions are themselves in service of a limited hangout designed to lead us to a watered-down version of 9/11 Truth that completely avoids assigning actual blame for these events to any identifiable individuals. Yes, we could do all that, and no doubt we should. But perhaps that misses the point. The point being that there is an opportunity here not to denigrate these (partial) 9/11 Truths, but instead to accept them and to get in front of the public conversation that is about to take place around them. Like a good improv actor, we can "Yes, and . . ." these statements and use them as a conversation starter to ease the public into the broader world of 9/11 Truth. There is no doubt the Overton window is shifting on the 9/11 conversation. There is also no doubt the public is being gaslit to believe that the 9/11 liars can now be trusted and the 9/11 truthers who were right all along are still cranks and weirdos. But if there is any moment in which the average Joe or Jane might realize they've been lied to and and any moment in which they can correctly identify the liars, this is that moment. First, however, we must make sure we don't fall victim to the gaslighting ourselves. Never forget: you were right about 9/11 Truth even when they tried to insist you were wrong about it. Don't forget, either, that their admission you were right changes nothing except the position of the Overton window. So, stop letting them set the window. To even get excited about the fact that "the truth is finally coming to light" is to give the establishment mouthpieces too much credit. They're not shedding light on anything. They're just admitting that they can't stop the light from shining anymore. 9/11 was an inside job. Always has been. Who cares what the gaslighters said for 24 years straight, and who cares what they're saying now? Like this type of essay? Then you’ll love The Corbett Report Subscriber newsletter, which contains my weekly editorial as well as recommended reading, viewing and listening. If you’re a Corbett Report member, you can sign in to corbettreport.com and read the newsletter today. Not a member yet? Sign up today to access the newsletter and support this work. You're currently a free subscriber to The Corbett Report. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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