Source:
http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-11-Myths-Conspiracy-Theories/product-reviews/1588165477/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R21XROM24OW63X
Popular Mechanic's revised edition of their book "Debunking 9/11 Myths" will
surely impress those who already believe the 9/11 Truth Movement has no
credibility. It will likely serve as reassurance that the so called "conspiracy
theories" about the September 11th attacks have officially been put to rest.
However, for those of us who have actually taken the time to analyze the claims
made by both truthers and debunkers alike, one finds that PM not only gets the
facts wrong, but also engages in deliberate misrepresentations of the Truth
Movement's arguments. Granted, I do believe that
a plane hit the Pentagon and
that
Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville. So as far as that's concerned, PM is more
or less right. However, their discussion of the WTC controlled demolition theory
is one of the most disgustingly flawed things I've ever read.
Even after
5 years of addressing PM's many flawed arguments, they still continue to rehash
many of the same claims that have long been debunked by members of the Truth
Movement. For example, they continue parrot NIST's claim that the molten flow
seen coming from the 81st floor of the South Tower was molten aluminum, a claim
that has long been refuted. (Google:
Experiments to test NIST "orange glow" hypothesis... ) Also, PM's assessment of the Truth Movement is disgustingly
misrepresentative, and even downright deceptive. For on pages 28-29 of their
2011 book, they actually claim that "not one of the leading conspiracy theorists
has a background in engineering, construction, or related fields." Of course!
Never mind that fact that there are currently over 1600 architects, engineers,
and other building professionals who believe that the Twin Towers and Building 7
were destroyed with explosives. See: ae911truth.org In fact, in all of PM's
216 page book, there is not a single mention of the group Architects and
Engineers for 9/11 Truth, or its founder architect Richard Gage. (Google:
The 9/11 Truth Movement has no credentialed experts... ) Despite the fact that PM
claims to be taking on the Truth Movement and its arguments, PM somehow missed
the largest group of credentialed experts who agrees with the Movement. Either
this is extremely bad journalism on PM's part, or simply shear
deception.
And PM is fond of doing this on a smaller scale in their new
book as well. While attempting to debunk truther claims of "free fall" for the
Twin Towers, they mention a scientific paper by Dr. Keith Seffen supporting the
"plane impact/fire" theory, and then quotes one random truther claiming that
Seffen is "an accessory after the fact in the crime of mass-murder." However,
when reading this part of PM's book, you might notice that they don't provide a
direct source for this particular quote. They provide us with this person's
personal website, yet nowhere is this quote found on said site. When one takes
the time to track down PM's source, you'll find that the quote comes from a
random blogspot site discussing Keith Seffen's paper. This truther's quote was
merely a comment posted on the blog. (Google:
9-11 Anniversary Propaganda Special! WTC Demolition theory challenged by Cambridge University engineer ) In
their attempt to portray truthers as irrational individuals, PM actually goes so
low as to pull a random quote off a blogspot site that many in the Movement
probably have never heard of. Were there any other members of the Movement PM
could have quoted in regards to Keith Seffen's paper? Apparently not, unless you
count Dr. Crockett Grabbe's detailed refutation of Seffen's paper (Google:
sealane response to Seffen )
By far PM's saddest attempt at "debunking"
the Truth Movement is their section on the nanothermite discovered in the WTC
dust. Rather than actually trying to "debunk" this evidence, PM simply attempts
to discredit the findings of the scientists who made this discovery by trying to
cast doubt on the peer review of the study. This of course is nothing more than
a dodge on PM's part. Rather than engage in an actual scientific debate, PM
apparently prefers to smear their opponents with lies.
The structure of
the book matches the poor quality of the information provided. In virtually
every case where PM quotes a member of the Movement, they provide no direct
source for where the quote came from. At most, PM will provide the reader with a
website URL that the quote might have come from, but they apparently feel no
need to provide the reader with a direct link to where the quote came from on
that site. They provide no endnotes that take the reader to direct sources
either. Basically, because their information is sourced so poorly, it's
impossible to know whether they've got something right or not without going back
and essentially redoing all their work. This basically makes their book useless,
for why even bother reading the book when you're just going to end up redoing
all their work anyway?
PM's book is by far one of the poorest attempts at
discrediting the extensive research done by the members of the 9/11 Truth
Movement. If you're a debunker or any other type of defender of the official
story, this book will no doubt tickle your funny bone as you continue to mock
and laugh at the "twoofers." However, if you actually take the time to review
PM's information and their methods, you will find that these are not laughing
matters, and that a new investigation into the events of 9/11 is desperately
still needed.
For detailed refutations of PM's book, Google: "
Debunking the REAL 9/11 Myths: Why Popular Mechanics Can't Face Up to Reality."
