9/11 Truth Movement

About

The 9/11 Truth Movement is a loosely-affiliated network of conspiracy theorist groups and individuals who believe that the United States government was either responsible for or complicit in the terrorist attacks that took place on September 11th, 2001.

Online History

Initial Development

During the hours immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., various speculations and conjectures regarding the circumstances of the events began to surface online, many of which cast skepticism towards the prevailing mainstream interpretation that the collapse of the three World Trade Center buildings and partial destruction of the Pentagon were caused by the impact of hijacked commercial airliners that crashed into them. According to various sources, within six hours of the breaking news on September 11th, an unnamed participant in an online chatroom suggested that collapse of the World Trade Center towers bore similarities in appearance to a controlled-demolition:

"If, in a few days, not one official has mentioned anything about the controlled demolition part, I think we have a REALLY serious problem."

Continued Development

While the initial flurry of largely unfounded theories was in part driven by similar speculations based on incomplete information in the news media, the momentum behind alternative interpretations of the 9/11 account continued to grow even after the U.S. government named Al-Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden as the primary suspects later that same week. Soon, the online skepticism gave way to an "insider's job" conspiracy theory that one or more agency within the U.S. government were involved or complicit in the plotting of the terrorist attacks. In response, on November 10th, 2001, the-then U.S. President George W. Bush denounced the online circulation of conspiracy theories as an "attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty" during an address to the United Nations.

Mobilization

In the following years, the leading conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks gradually evolved into the basis for a widespread movement that came to be known as the "9/11 Truth movement," despite the subsequent launch of official investigations into the attacks and the activities of the U.S. intelligence communities leading up to September 11th, as well as the publication of the 9/11 Commission's official account in July 2004. Furthermore, many of the core tenets behind 9/11 conspiracy theories were strengthened by what the adherents perceived as inconsistencies and anomalies of the official account.

Online Presence

Loose Change

On April 13th, 2005, the first installment of the Loose Change film series was released on YouTube. One of the first major investigative documentaries on the subject to be distributed online, the series became notorious for its allegations that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were secretly orchestrated by the U.S. government, claiming that the burning fires within the World Trade Center towers started by the commercial airliners' jet fuel would not have been hot enough to compromise its structural integrity, while offering a controlled demolition as the more plausible explanation for the collapse of the buildings.

Leading Theories

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Fringe Theories

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Reception

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Related Memes

Truthers

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"Bush Did 9/11"

"Bush Did 9/11" is a catchphrase often used to assign responsibility to the 9/11 attacks to the former president of the United States George W. Bush. Online, the phrase is most commonly used in jest or to ridicule the adherents of 9/11 conspiracy theories.

"9/11 Was an Insider Job"

"911 Was an Inside Job" is a slogan associated with the 9/11 Truth movement and other related conspiracy theories that accuse the United States government of orchestrating the September 11th, 2001 attacks as part of a large-scale false flag operation.

"Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams"

"Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" is an assertion made by 9/11 conspiracy theorists that the burning fuel from crashed planes would not have been able to melt the supporting beams of the World Trade Center. The claim is widely mocked online for being based on flawed evidence.

Search Interest

External References