This we read the article Popular and Official Responses to 9/11 in Germany and The United States written by scholar Peter Knight. The article critically analyzes the conspiracy theories that emerged in American society years after the tragic events of 9/11. Knight’s main assertion through out the article, is that 9/11 conspiracy theories have more in common with the official reports of the events of 9/11 than many people would assume. He does this my showing comparing and contrasting the two accounts, highlighting the similarities in their narratives. Firstly, the author supports his claim by showing how they both reinforce an essentialist framework of thinking. Firstly, there was a rejection of any blame or accountability, as president Bush …show more content…
For example, the class also read the article Belief and Disbelief by Gordon Arnold. In his piece he puts forth that the Y2K discourse, which stated that we are too dependent on technology and that it was going to take over, was a real concern at the turn of the millennia and created a environment of paranoia. Furthermore, as we can see in Knight’s piece the advancement of technology in the early twenty-first century, was instrumental in what he saw as a change in conspiracy theories, as people had greater access to knowledge. Additionally, in his article Gordon talks about the many different conspiracy theories that came about during this time. Namely, the Arab conspiracy which says that Arab-Americans already knew that 9/11 was going to happen, but did nothing to stop it. The Israeli conspiracy, which says that the Jewish community knew that 9/11 was happening, and therefore had orchestrated the attack, and lastly the government conspiracy, which said that American government allowed for the events of 9/11 to happen so that they could go to war. Knight, also touches upon different conspiracy theories. He says that 9/11 conspiracies can be divided into two camps. LIHOP who believe that the American government let the events of 9/11 happen, and MIHOP who believe that the government made the events of 9/11 on …show more content…
I also agree that the both the conspiracy and official narrative of events that occurred are very essentialist. There is only evil and good, innocent and guilty. We can see this with the discussions of muslims in the news. I that this is a super dangerous way to think, and that it glosses over a lot of the nuances of the events that occurred during 9/11. I would assert that the idea of American essentialism is still very much engrained in our society. From a very young age we are taught that no matter where you come from in society, you can make yourself successful. Conspiracy plays into this by perpetuating the idea that if only we were to expose the problem within our government, then we would have an flawless free and democratic system that works for the people. And as discussed in conspiracy nation, learning that there are social forces beyond our control that help to mold our place within society could challenge a lot of people’s conception of the world making them more prone to paranoia, and encouraging belief in conspiracy