Debunkers: Did 9/11 Truth galvanize you towards skepticism?

[Praktik]

I guess I always thought of myself as something of a skeptic, but I didn't really "get into" skepticism until the tentacles of 9/11 Truth hit my personal life. Researching the subject brought the SGU, various skeptical blogs and a host of books into my life that I maybe would not have discovered otherwise. Now I know a lot more about other things like mediums, anti-Big Pharma, chemtrails, UFOs and apocalyptic religious views than I otherwise would have.

How many others can say the same?

How many are old hands at this and were in on "the ground floor" prior to the rise of the Truthers?

[Praktik]

I would also say that the other factor that broadened my skepticism to other areas was the fact that the Truthers I knew in my personal life were "meta-conspiracists". The two most ardent Truthers really have bought into the whole deal:

-chemtrails
-aspartame and fluoridation conspiracies
-anti-vaccination
-anti-big pharma
-masonic conspiracies
-moon hoax
-oklahoma
-tax protest movement
-NWO and NAU conspiracies

So as all this other woo started coming into their claims I found myself having to rebutt a whole lot more than 9/11 specific conspiracies. And here I am today, armed with more knowledge of this rabbit hole and the various interconnecting conspiracies than I ever would have expected at the outset.

[Bobert]

I used to work with Ranke and had to listen to his BS everyday.
He was the one who actually mentioned JREF to me and at one point they thought he and I was the same person because our IP's matched.

[Sabrina]

Poll fail.

No planet X option. :p

ETA: But I voted anyways.

[Gorgonian]

Apollo hoax theory did that for me.

[twinstead]

Apollo hoax theory did that for me.

Yup. The moon hoax was the genesis for me as well. Spent a lot of time mostly lurking on apollohoax and the old bad astronomy forum just after the Fox TV show.

[OldTigerCub]

I never really considered myself a debunker, but I like to think I can recognize BS when I hear it. When 9/11 conspiracies were brought up by a friend who believed them, I sought the truth, and quickly found way more information than I could ask for here at the JREF and other sites like the ScrewLooseChange Blog. Admittedly, the 9/11 conspiracy theories were the most entertaining of the many CTs out there, so I'd have to say it piqued my interest, and studying them did give me a new insight into how to listen to those that propose them.
To answer the question, I would have to say that, yes, 9/11 conspiracy theories prompted me to learn to be a more skeptical thinker.

[Zorglub]

Definitely. Through truthers i've come to appreciate and finetune my skeptic thinking. I guess i've been a skeptic for many years. I've just never thought of it as being a way of thinking with a name.

I'd like to take the moment and thank Heiwa, Bill Smith, U1 and Gallileo for their efforts to make me freeze and ask myself "wait a minute. This is insane!"
Without your patience and fierce stance of never admitting a wrong or deliberate misunderstanding i've would probably never would have spent so much time reading about facts and scientific methods.

[alienentity]

I've been following James Randi since I was a young man, starting with his book 'Flim Flam' about the paranormal, occult, and pseudoscience.
I later was a regular reader of Skeptic magazine.

If you follow magic seriously (I have) you soon get introduced to the con-artists who use techniques like cold reading and sleight-of-hand but pass it off as psychic abilities. I didn't pay any attention to 9/11 truth until earlier this year, when a close associate started sending me endless youtube videos after a brief conversation.

I'm intending to go back to ignoring 9/11 'truth' as soon as possible. For me it's in the same validity catagory as alien abductions, Sasquatch and pet psychics, except that it attempts to apply cult revisionism to historical events which happened only a few years ago, and which are well documented (and thus fairly easy to debunk). And it's attempting to foment a political upheaval based on the cult, but is going to fail, precisely because it is so demonstrably silly and untrue.

There will always be 9/11 Truthers, but then there will always be people who believe in Sasquatch, dowsing and homeopathy, too. Oh well.

[Praktik]

judging by the results of the poll so far - was the Truth Movement the best thing to happen to skepticism in a while??

[Hokulele]

judging by the results of the poll so far - was the Truth Movement the best thing to happen to skepticism in a while??


I am sure that if you try the same poll in other fora, you would have different results.

It might be interesting to try it in Politics where there are a number of people who post in CT, as well as many who do not.

[Tricky]

Derail moved to AAH (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=154614). There are plenty of other threads to discuss this. Cut and paste your posts to the relevant thread if you like.

[DGM]

JFK did it for me back in the early 70's. I didn't find this site until after Popular Mechanics directed me to Screw Loose Change.

[triforcharity]

This is somewhat confusing for me.

I am not really a skeptic. But, I don't believe everything I hear.

I typically trust what people say, and take their opinions and statements as fact, UNLESS something tell me otherwise.

So, I did not vote in this poll.

I don't believe in Conspiracy theories of any kind really. I also don't trust our government to do as they say they will. Politicians lie.

Def: Politicians

poli- From Latin, meaning MANY.
Tics-blood sucking creatures.

I trust our government to do what is right for the entire country. Sometimes they fail. This is evident in the 9/11 thing. Incompetence. This is only human. Terribly, many people paid with their lives. We have made changes, and most for the betterment of the USA.

I will not speak of religion, as that is "to each their own". I don't talk religion with many people. I just won't do it. I think there are good points and bad points to any and all religions.

So, if someone would like to help me define skeptic, please feel free.

[Dave Rogers]

I think it was the alt.folklore.urban Usenet group, back in the late Nineties, that got me seriously into using the tools of skeptical thought. When I first came across 9/11 conspiracy theories, I found that a very small amount of research was necessary to see the holes in them, but I came late to the party and the likes of Mark Roberts and Mike Williams had already covered the vast majority of the field.

Triforcharity, I don't think you need much help defining skeptic.

Dave

[JoeyDonuts]

I used to be sort of a CT-er. Nothing heavy, mostly just JFK stuff. I didn't know why, but the assassination conspiracy theories just HAD to be right. I did find them fascinating, as well. Also, I was brought up by strict fundies in a bizarre conspiracy-heavy church denomination. Ere go, my pre-teen and teenage formative years were steeped in Illuminati/Vatican/Jack Chick/Satanic Ritual Abuse garbage. I rebelled against all religion, so that kept me clear of the really kooky stuff for a while.

When 9/11 happened, I was on the phone to a military recruiter and on my way to join the service within a month. Apparently the whole 9/11 Truth Movement took form during this time. Loose Change and everything like it just blew right past me. Being active duty on a fighting warship and having precious little time to spend with my family as it was gave me no time to bother with the likes of conspiracy theorists. Oh, we'd see the occasional protest group outside the gates of the naval station, but I never knew what they were about. I was far too busy to listen to their message.

Well, I've been out for about two years now. I have far more time to spend online, and this time last year one of my friends who had just "woken up" e-mail bombed me about Loose Change, Silverstein, and directed me to InfoWars. In googling for more information about this subject, I found this site and tore right into Gravy's links. To be fair, I also explored a lot of the claims of the Truth Movement at length.

I found them to be completely lacking in evidence, reprehensible in their execution, and absolutely at odds with everything I'd learned in my capacity as a cryptologist/intelligence professional.

Met some great people here, and heard some viewpoints I wouldn't have otherwise. Good experience all around - and it made me a proud veteran of the ULTIMA1 campaign.

[EnJaySee]

One of my pet peeves has always been deliberate ignorance. That in itself wasn't enough to get me fired up about anything, but as soon as my inbox started getting bombarded by email hoaxes and scams it kind of lit a fire for me.

If you're going to be deliberately ignorant, fine. As soon as you start trying spread your foolishness to other people, that's when I get annoyed.

I got specifically into 9/11 because two people I respect and admire got caught in the web of lies. One of them surprised me because he's actually a paid researcher and holds a PhD (in chemistry). I immediately started my investigoogling and had a few debates with them and have since convinced them both the worst the Bush Administration and intelligence agencies can be accused of is incompetency and bureaucratic red tape preventing any action to stop the atrocity.

What I do find interesting is that the both of them have a particular hatred (probably too strong a word but I can't think of a better one at the moment) for the Bush Administration which opened them up to believing in the conspiracy theories. I believe this is a common gateway for many ct-ists, particularly those outside of the USA.

Anyway, I've never really considered myself a skeptic or debunker until I came across JREF.