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July 12, 2006
Where Have I Been?
Sorry for my lack of posts over here; those who've been paying attention lately have probably noticed that I've been pretty lax about posting over at Brainster's as well.
About 70 days ago, I was looking forward to seeing the movie, United 93. I've always been a fan of the heroes of that flight--Beamer, Bingham, Burnett, Glick and Nacke (among others)--who probably saved the US Capitol building or the White House from attack on September 11, 2001.
So when a couple of posts about the film's debut at the Tribeca Film Festival over at the Huffington Post, I devoured them. And noticed that some nutbars had spammed the comments section, saying that everybody had to watch this new film called Loose Change, that it blew the lid off 9-11 and exposed United 93 as government propaganda.
So I Googled Loose Change and watched it. Now if you have not seen the movie, I'm going to spoil it right here. It's a slick MTV-style piece of garbage that posits that the neocons plotted 9-11, that none of the four planes were hijacked that day, that military planes were flown into the World Trade Center, which was later destroyed by pre-planted charges. The Pentagon was hit with a missile, not American Airlines Flight 77. And whatever came down in Shanksville, it wasn't Flight 93, which Loose Change claims landed in Cleveland.
So I tossed off a quick post about this stupid little film. But it bugged me. The creators of Loose Change are a bunch of snot-nosed kids, and yet they cared to mock the passengers who died on the flights that crashed that day, saying they couldn't have made the phonecalls attributed to them, and even if they had, they would not have said the stupid things they did.
So when my old buddy James from the Chief Brief sent me an email suggesting that we team up on a blog solely dedicated to debunking Loose Change, he found fertile soil. I was ready to go after these punks hammer and tongs. I suggested the name, Screw Loose Change, which turned out to be a great idea, especially when we submitted our blog for inclusion in the 101st Fighting Keyboardists. Because we were on hundreds of blogrolls, we surged up the Google rankings for the search term "Loose Change" which meant that we were appearing on that crucial first page of results.
And we started getting a ton of hits. Getting post-linked by Little Green Footballs and Hot Air on our second day or so didn't hurt either. But the most encouraging thing was seeing how many times we got hit by Google searches for "debunking Loose Change" and "Loose Change lies"; we get a thousand or more of those per week. This told us we were filling a need.
We also started getting linked by an amazing number of forums across the web, from Dutch bodybuilders to crossdressers to Warcraft gamers to knife afficionados, everybody very quickly learned to respond to the viral marketing of Loose Change by linking our blog.
Now you may think, okay, so they're getting a lot of hits, so what? Well, we get frequent testimonials from readers whose roommate/son/cousin has been badgering them about the movie, and because of our extensive debunking has been able to refute the major points. We've had comments from people who found Loose Change compelling until they saw the evidence we were able to present.
And Loose Change is not going away. It is the subject of a four page story in Vanity Fair this month that is highlighted on the cover. Amazingly, the writer actually mentioned Screw Loose Change in an article that wound up being more of a story about the young men who produced Loose Change than their theories (for obvious reasons). The 9-11 conspiracy theorists have had an amazing summer already, with Jim Fetzer and Kevin Barrett appearing on Hannity & Colmes and radio shows several times. I don't think there's any doubt that during the slow news days leading up to 9-11's fifth anniversary these idiots are going to be front and center.
Debunking them requires a lot of research--watching film, reading long reports, searching for photos and primary sources. So instead of following politics, my usual beat, I've been immersing myself in stuff that I hope 90% of you people never bother to read about. As Gertrude Stein said about Oakland, "There's no there, there." But there are a lot of people who need to be reassured about it.
Posted by pat at July 12, 2006 01:23 AM
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Comments
I watched both movies. A waste of time for me, since my research is ten times more extensive than both films. 9/11 is the most obvious inside job one can research, and Loose Change at least brings attention to how insane a story the "official" one is. It only scratches the surface, and I would not consider it that well done. Considering that some young men did this, and it's free- it is a very valuable piece of work.
The counter points in Screwloosechange were pathetic. To document the inaccuracies would take too long. There were in fact 2 relevant and accurate comments, however, neither one do anything to "debunk" LooseChange. The rest of the commentary was not researched or was irrelevant whining.
The POINT of Loose Change, I thought, was to raise awareness enough, to make the public demand a "real" investigation- they made their point very well. The POINT of ScrewLooseChange, I thought, was to 'debunk' LooseChange as full of misinformation. This was not done at all. What amazes me, is the amount of effort that goes into supporting a gov. story that is full of holes, stinky holes at that, by attacking those who think.
Posted by: me at July 12, 2006 05:55 AM
Hey, don't apologize!
Posted by: aaron at July 12, 2006 06:02 AM
Here is the main problem with ScrewLooseChange. It is not the fact that it attempts to use another's work to gain fame, or that it is full of immature whining about the music or the producers of LC. It is this:
The official conspiracy theory was issued by the gov. whereby:
19 arab hijackers with boxcutters, took over 4 airplanes, compromised US air defenses for up to 1.5 hours, caused Steel framed buildings to collapse symetrically with jet fuel. They were poor pilots with suicidal tendencies. the results of these attacks did nothing to help their cause.
black boxes, airplane wreckage, crime scene evidence, pentagon videos- where are they. a delayed investigation- why? proven lies in NORAD testimony, and BUSH/CHENEY never under oath. No one held accountable.
Loose Change tries to show 2 things: the story of the gov is full of holes, and the most obvious suspect would be 'insiders'. This is laid out- and is undeniable. Anyone who looks over the evidence themselves see this immediately. Because of the farce called the "911 commission", they makers of this film just want a "real investigation".
So why does ScrewLooseChange try to 'debunk' Loose Change? Trying to "fill in the holes" left by the gov. story is a wasteful activity. Loose Change was not asking some internet moron to answer their questions, they want GOV OFFICIALS to do this. The gov. needs to defend their version, and they CAN'T!.
To the makers of ScrewLC, please do more objective research. If you still believe the gov. explanation, then fine. But you did NOT debunk Loose Change. You avoided dozens of issues, and the ones you did address were simply misleading captions placed on top of the original film lol. There were a few points that one could describe as accurate, however, they provided little relevance to the actual point being made in LC.
The points made about Airline Piloting, Building Construction, Physics, etc are among the most indicative of an uninformed commentating.
one small example:
Instead of saying "do you have a better picture" in the pentagon scenes for example- try considering that NO PLANE is seen, NO VIDEOS have been released, and that a commerical jet liner flying at 450 mph over a highway would have been SEEN especially considering the fact that cars would have been throws all over the roadway from the engines. You cant do the maneuver due to a HIGH SPEED STALL, and flying close to the ground, at that speed is impossible to believe as well.
Some people feel that in a sovereign nation, accountability should be given to the people. Some people blindly fall victim to false flag psy ops, become good little nazi brown shirts, in love with a father figure who will protect them from "terrorists". If the makers of ScrewLooseChange are so upset with the film Loose Change, they should also call for a "real" investigation.
Posted by: xpat at July 12, 2006 06:18 AM
I think these commenters are confusing your blog (ScrewLooseChange.blogspot.com) with the Screw Loose Change movie.
DKK
Posted by: Lifetrek at July 12, 2006 07:40 AM
It is not the fact that it attempts to use another's work to gain fame....
Gee.... isn't that the same thing Dylan Avery did? Boosting all that footage that wasn't theirs? I believe some people had something to say about that.
Posted by: Chad at July 12, 2006 09:02 AM
The conspiracy theorists above make it sound as if "Loose Change" has some validity. It doesn't. Every single claim in the movie is wrong, and most of them are hideously, laughably wrong, things that any 8th grader could correct with a few minutes on the internet. Loose Changte is that bad.
I have advised the creators of every error in the movie, but they aren't interested in listening to critics. To see just how stupid, nasty, and disrespectful the creeps who made "LC" are, read my compilation of their quotes, "Loose Change Creators Speak." http://tinyurl.com/s8ouv
Pat and I are not political bedfellows, but he's done great work with "Screw Loose Change," and his critiques are spot-on.
"Me," you wrote, "A waste of time for me, since my research is ten times more extensive than both films."
Where can I find the results of your intensive research?
"XPat," you are pathetically poorly-informed. The answers to the questions posed in "Loose Change' were right in front of its creators, and they're right in front of you. Ignoring those answers doesn't make them go away,
Posted by: Mark Roberts at July 12, 2006 10:14 AM
For those not aware, Mark Roberts is the premiere debunker of Loose Change, whose work has made ours at SLC much easier.
Posted by: Brainster at July 12, 2006 11:00 AM
I just started it for the groupies. Wild drunken young women throwing themselves at me and all...
Posted by: James at July 12, 2006 06:45 PM
The screwloose change blog has been listed as "deployed" by the Captain's Quarter's so-called right wing site. Many of members of these so-called "right-wing"(actually a misnomer) sites and affiliated (but purposefully attenuated) 911 debunking sites have received letters from CENTCOM, which say the following:
Subject: Exclusive Contact from the Army
Hi, [XXXXX]. I’m writing from a PR firm on behalf of the U.S. Army. We’re contacting a few bloggers to test a new outlet for public information. The Army believes that military blogs are a valuable medium for reaching out to soldiers. To that end, the Army plans to offer you and selected bloggers exclusive editorial content on a few issues you’re likely to be interested in. If you do decide you are interested in receiving this material, whether you choose to write about what we send you is, of course, entirely up to you. (I notice you’ve been on a blog sabbatical for a while so am not sure where you stand there.)
Like I said, we’re only contacting a handful of bloggers at this time. If you are interested, please let me know, and we’ll send you further information as it becomes available. Either way, thanks for your time.
[XXXXX]
Account Executive
Web Producer
Hass MS&L
The bottom line is that the Army has hired PR firm Hass MSL of Detroit to offer exclusive editorial content to blogs willing to run government propaganda. I haven't given in yet, and I am a conservative. here is another letter:
current CENTCOM policy is to release information on our website (www.centcom.mil) and not give any one blog a “scoop” by giving it to them first. If a blogger enquires about an issue, and it’s on the site, we’ve tried to direct them to it.
Beyond that, if there is information or material needed to help with a post that a blogger is working on, I’m happy to assist as I am able. We’re just trying to make our site a reliable source of info. Some bloggers choose to focus on the casualty reports that we post. Others are interested in the humanitarian projects occuring in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom which we document on our site. Whatever the slant, that’s an editorial choice on the part of the individual blogger.
[XXXXXXX]
CENTCOM Public Affairs
Posted by: Tempest at July 28, 2006 01:16 AM
Hi, [XXXX]:
...I’m not sure if you have been to the US Central Command website but we regularly post news, photos, audio and video from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. You (and your fellow bloggers) are welcome to use any materials you find on our site. If you’d like to receive the weekly electronic newsletter and monthly Coalition Bulletin, just ask.
If you could add a link to CENTCOM, it’d be appreciated (I’m trying to spread the word about our site!). I’ve attached the CENTCOM logo, should you want to use it with the link. Thanks!
[XXXXXXX]
CENTCOM Public Affairs
Posted by: Tempest at August 6, 2006 04:17 PM