Doug Henwood (who has an excellent radio show about economics from a left perspective on Pacifica affliates WBAI and KPFA) reports that Pacifica may seriously go off the deep end. A witch hunt proposal against Pacifica programmers who don’t believe the extremist 9/11 truther saga of epic conspiracy passed at KPFK in 2008 and may become national Pacifica policy. The rot and derangement now threatens the entire institution.
(Let me be clear. Some 9/11 stuff, like the Pentagon crash site story, doesn’t make sense. But hardcore Truthers then make a giant leap from that to George Bush and Shadowy Others were responsible. With what proof, please? KPKF has already been poisoned by vendettas by extremist Truthers against anyone who doesn’t believe as they do. This at a radio network founded on principles of free speech and open debate.)
This piece of idiocy is about to be voted on by the Pacifica National Board. It’s only going to make me intensify my on-air criticisms of 9/11 nuttery and conspiracism in general.
“No one expects the Pacifica Inquisition”
Pacifica National Board Motion on 911 Programming and Mission Compliance
Proposed 4-25-10 by Pacifica Foundation member Christopher Condon
Except during fund drives, key public affairs programming throughout the Pacifica Network has appeared to overwhelmingly accept the Official Story of 911, arguing from its assumptions, asserting the theory assigning culpability for these tragic attacks to Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaida without question.
The Official Story of 911 is found by many Pacifica Foundation members to be a propaganda fabrication designed to provide a pretext for the unleashing of aggressive war in Afghanistan and Iraq, while hiding the activity of a private, extra-legal, and anti-constitutional network of officials in the United States government, high ranking military officers, and individuals within private corporations and political institutions, who actively prepared, promoted, organized, assisted, fomented, and/or passively enabled the September 11 attacks and the cover-up that followed.
Pacifica Foundation members have made repeated and long standing accusations of censorship of 911 Truth issues by programmers who have advanced the official propaganda fabrication, and against staff, management, and governance who support them. This has created an atmosphere of corrosive distrust, profoundly harmful to working together in a democratic and collaborative environment. Thousands of former Pacifica Foundation members have left over this issue.
An identical motion was passed by the KPFK LSB on February 9, 2008. No action by management has been taken to implement this motion, and most public affairs programmers are in ongoing defiance of its provisions. The Pacifica National Board is requested to intervene in this impasse and establish policy in this critical area.
Cast out the infidels! Is burning at the stake optional?
1. This conflict is not in the interest of the Pacifica Foundation, programmers, staff, or governance. Management, staff, and programmers throughout the Pacifica network must explore ways of providing redress for these grievances of 911 Truth and allegations of censorship, and to initiate outreach strategies to reach those former listener/sponsors whom this conflict has alienated. This should include increasing support and air time for those programs which deal with this issue, and developing new programming for the specific purpose.
2. Programming which consistently and unquestioningly advances the “official story” of 911, by commission or omission, is not consistent with the Pacifica Mission and may be a breach of both the letter and spirit of the Mission.
3. The radio network of the Pacifica Foundation is an appropriate and important media for thorough examination of the 911 controversy. We must encourage good radio coverage by exploring comprehensively the many aspects of 911 with on-air voices expressing all sides (amendment by the late Don White).
Which is precisely what the Truthers don’t want, expressing all sides of the argument. They only want their view to be heard.
Respectfully Submitted,
Christopher Bayard Condon
The increasing derangement at Pacifica combined with the astounding inability of the left to organize on the current crisis of capitalism they say they’ve waited decades for, makes me wonder if many such groups haven’t been infiltrated and compromised. Like FBI did with CP-US in 50s. Rendered harmless / lunatic. Not that Pacifica needs much help being lunatic. Just a gentle nudge or two.
That such a piece of repressive nonsense is even being considered by national Pacifica and already passed at KPFK shows just how far a once-vital network has degenerated. Pacifica owns five radio stations in major markets. They could be a major voice for the left. But instead, they are collapsing into incoherence and purges.
I stopped listening to KPFK in 2004, when they went completely gaga over John Kerry. I guess it figures that from there they could only go downhill.
They seem to swing wildly back and forth between that kind of mild liberalism and over-the-cliff leftism. But their fund drives now primarily feature Truther and quack medicine gifts. They have some excellent shows to be sure, but the Truther thing is consuming them. Plus, fund drives are nearly constant now with the predictable result that listenership has cratered.
Bob,
I think you’re right on several points here — that this is a ridiculous proposal, that some of the 9/11 truth claims don’t make sense, and that Pacifica has degenerated.
In terms of evidence, indeed, the “no plane” stuff is nonsense and likely a portion of that is about infiltration.
I recommend the video of the collapse of Building 7 ( http://wtc7.net/videos.html). It wasn’t hit by a plane. And recently over 1000 architects and engineers (http://cms.ae911truth.org/) signed the petition calling for an independent investigation. The evidence which contradicts the official story is extremely powerful . . . but you have to take the time to look at it. And as long as you never look at it, the official story wins every time. And the way it wins is by easily turning you away from even considering that anything might be amiss, using the lunatic fringe to spin you around.
For example, in 2006, a so-called “truther” (Morgan Reynolds) who happened to be a former Bush Admin official (gee, who’d have guessed?) was given space on FOX News on the 5th Anniversary to explain how he was sure that the planes that hit the WTC were not commercial jets, but were actually cartoons. (http://www.911research.wtc7.net/essays/patriots_question/index.html)
Now why would he do that?
If the truthers are all just about nonsense, why even bother? It’s a lot of effort to go to to discredit what’s already just — apparently — worthless garbage, isn’t it?
It’s easy to sling mud at the “truthers”, the “conspiracy theorists”, the “9/11 deniers”, and certainly easy to be angry with the idiot that made this proposal.
But the truth is that real crimes happened that day that don’t point to the involvement of Arab hijackers alone, and they happened across a broad range of evidence — the insider trading, the effective “stand down” of the military to stop the Pentagon attack, the destruction of WTC7, etc.
A couple of resources I’d recommend which are not compromised —
http://www.911research.wtc7.net/index.html
http://stj911.org/
http://www.journalof911studies.com/
Unfortunately, Pacifica has served mainly as a tool to promote the worst “no plane” and “no hijacker” nonsense in regards to 9/11 truth, so I’m really not at all surprised by this proposal. It’s as bad for those trying to expose the real unanswered questions as it is for those who could care less, so no one wins with this.
Your comment was in my spam filter and I just saved it.
Have you read “Debunking 9/11 Myths” by Popular Mechanics (the book, not the article)?
The Pentagon is explained.