Paramount Theatre
On Conspiracy Theories
RECEIVED Mon., Sept. 18, 2006
Dear Editor,
I agree with Michael Ventura that 9/11 conspiracy theories should be taken with a grain of salt until a team of unbiased experts has taken a hard look at the facts ["Letters @ 3am," Sept. 15]. But who knows what the facts are? The Bush administration's opaque information-sharing policy in the weeks after 9/11 has fed conspiracy theorists' imaginations. This does not validate conspiracy theories, but until the experts are made privy to all the information available, the nutcases have just as much right to their opinions as anyone else. Also, Mr. Ventura (like Walter Sobchak) reminds us that "the more complex a plan, the more it is vulnerable to mistake and accident." But it is also true that the more complex a plan, the less likely the skeptic community will be to believe it once the plot is uncovered. Let's not be duped by our own confidence in the odds.
I agree with Michael Ventura that 9/11 conspiracy theories should be taken with a grain of salt until a team of unbiased experts has taken a hard look at the facts ["Letters @ 3am," Sept. 15]. But who knows what the facts are? The Bush administration's opaque information-sharing policy in the weeks after 9/11 has fed conspiracy theorists' imaginations. This does not validate conspiracy theories, but until the experts are made privy to all the information available, the nutcases have just as much right to their opinions as anyone else. Also, Mr. Ventura (like Walter Sobchak) reminds us that "the more complex a plan, the more it is vulnerable to mistake and accident." But it is also true that the more complex a plan, the less likely the skeptic community will be to believe it once the plot is uncovered. Let's not be duped by our own confidence in the odds.
John Hooker