The national survey of 1,010 adults also found that anger against the federal government is at record levels, with 54 percent saying they "personally are more angry" at the government than they used to be.I get e-mails from some group that contends the Bush administration was behind the 9/11 attacks, and they go into the trash before they even make it to my in-box.
Widespread resentment and alienation toward the national government appears to be fueling a growing acceptance of conspiracy theories about the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were "an inside job" - the common phrase used by conspiracy theorists on the Internet - quickly have become nearly as popular as decades-old conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy's assassination and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.
Thirty-six percent of respondents overall said it is "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them "because they wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East."
There are two reasons why conspiracy theories fail the laugh test. First, it assumes that the federal government is competent enough to pull off something like that; our recent history is proof enough that that's not likely. The second is that it assumes that everyone involved can keep a secret. Again, recent history shows that our government leaks like an incontinent pig. So if there really was some vast conspiracy of the federal government behind all of this, it is the best-kept secret since Elvis went to work at the Burger King in Grand Rapids.
It also requires a certain level of distrust and hatred of the basic elements of our nation; one being that the government that we have instituted and is truly in our hands -- after all, no one has yet to prove that the people who work in government are all from another planet (yet) -- is some malevolent entity that is out to get us in ways that go far beyond the demonstrated incidents of warrantless wiretapping and military tribunals. That's a great plot outline for a Sci-Fi channel series, but in reality, we're just not that clever. The "us" versus "them" mentality that is the driving force behind conspiracy theories doesn't allow for the practical realities of human error and the inability for some people just to keep their mouths shut.
