Are 9/11 Truthers the new Hippies ?

Going through the DVDs in the Borders store in Sand City near Monterey (yes, I know.. I did just rail against these people. In my defense, let me just say that my local bookstore had run out of the Sunday NY Times, and I didn't drink the coffee.), I found a copy of Alex Jones' Terrorstorm DVD on the shelves.

Now Alex is an interesting guy... (If you've ever been to Austin, you'll see him on public access TV, and his ongoing feud with Perry Logan is a hoot), but if I close my eyes, he reminds me so much of Rush Limbaugh, it's kinda scary.. he has a similar voice, and uses the same kinds of phrases (esp. his use of the word folks), and has his own group of dittoheads. On the basis of just because you're a kook, doesn't mean you're wrong, I think he has a number of interesting and valid points regarding 9/11 and the ruling class. But he really doesn't do himself any favors by interweaving those ideas with his whole Bohemian Grove/Bilderburger/New World Order/Police State/Xenophobia screed. As someone once said, the best way to kill an idea is to defend it badly. Of course, if I were a cynical man, I'd probably be of the opinion that his whole shtick is just for shifting merchandise to his target audience.

Anyhoo, getting back to the point. I was a little taken aback in finding this DVD, because while I had a sense that while the 9/11 movement is it's own little cottage industry, and there certainly isn't anything wrong with that, it didn't dawn on me until that epiphanal moment as to just how big a business it is.

Some things occurred to me: firstly, the idealism of the Truthers mirrors in many ways the idealism of the Hippies: both groups have a strong tendency to enthusiastically proselytize their belief that if we could only uncover the truth, then we'd all be free. And then how both movements had become co-opted into being a consumer demographic.. just another market.

Now, this isn't surprising.. Barnes & Noble, among other have long made a living this way.. just look at the bargain books section next time to go to B&H to see many tomes on the various mysteries/conspiracy theories out there. In the Hippies' case, we ended up with Sonny & Cher, Peter Max, Charles Manson, the Jefferson Starship and the breakup of the Beatles.

However, the important question is how much of our paranoia and fear is being stoked just for the sake of a quick buck, especially now we live in a time that makes us prone to accepting those kinds of suggestion. I'd say it's a lot.

So, while I have some sympathy to the viewpoints of both the Hippies and the Truthers, it's close to impossible to sort out the essence of the message (the wheat from the chaff, so to speak), since it's all been buried in this whole self-feeding mass of books, t-shirts, websites and other initiatives designed to separate money from wallet.