In the weeks lead up to the anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks my social media was carpet bombed by the conspiracy theorists about the event. Like many conspiracy theories about a major event, they all have their own vision of who did this and how it was done. So on September 10th I was going to sit down when I got home from work and write about debunking them all. I mean it is so weird that almost a quarter century after the fact there are still people who haven't seen how so many of the nonsense statements about the attacks have been proven ridiculous and impossible. But there continues to be a tsunami of people willing to talk about how the "official narrative" in their mind is false. They don't have a shred of evidence but are willing to vomit their absurd notions for all to see.
But as I sat down and logged into the computer as I prepared for Hebrew School I got the alert that Charlie Kirk had been shot. To be clear I have never been a fan of Charlie Kirk nor did I think his style of debate was a net positive, however he shouldn't have been shot because someone didn't like what he said. It wasn't long until I learned he had died. So I thought writing about 9-11 and conspiracy theorists would be inappropriate. What I posted on Facebook was a condemnation of political violence and mentioned how some people are responding to murder. It included this quote, " And it wouldn't be our current culture is conspiracy theories haven't already developed and finding a home in cesspool of the social media community." I couldn't imagine how far afield these conspiracy theorists will go. There is some saying it was staged and that he is still alive. This was all staged. The worst is that his wife was a Mossad agent involved in child trafficking. (because all conspiracies theories tend to find its way back to the Jews.) I don't want to platform any of the nonsense but once again we have a major event that people can't accept.
There are two competing issues that drive modern conspiracy theorists. Historically, conspiracy theories were driven by people who wanted feel special. Often people who felt they were worth more than their lives turned out. Sometimes a brilliant person who was not seen as brilliant by peers or more likely someone who believed in their own brilliance that was not realized. Simply put people created wild and unsubstantiated explanations for world events to make themselves appear smarter than the general population and the people investigating the incidence. The results often have multiple results from different conspiracy theorists that are mutually exclusive. But everyone of the promoters of their theory will tell everyone they are right.
However today, with social media monetizing clicks and views, there are people performing on podcasts, YouTube and other platforms creating wild stories, often these are people who have already established a huge following from previous work. Two people have done this in the wake of Kirk's murder. Candace Owens, a woman who was once taken very seriously by the right wing noise machine, has gotten stranger and stranger in her assertions. In this case she says she has evidence of Israel is responsible as part of a world wide conspiracy. She has zero evidence but it drives viewership to her podcast so we will see her feeding at this trough. Megan Kelly, a former Fox News reader and once worked for NBC's Today show, has elevated a Jezebel satirical article into a new bone to chew. Jezebel had an article saying they were paying Etsy witches to curse Kirk for his misogyny. Kelly has decided that she was going to attack the notion of "the left" using demons and curses that resulted in Kirk's death. Again, riling up people to look into her performances online. And then there is Joe Rogan, a man who has turned being surprised and gullible into the most watched podcast ever. Joe and his minions challenge everything up to and including reality itself.
Both voices looking to elevate themselves over the truth recruit followers who begin to doubt everything. While questioning can be healthy, doing so without evidence or to simply create an audience is dangerous. It is also disgusting watching people use the murder of a man as a jumping off point for their own benefit. They are pissing on Kirk's grave.
The investigation into the events of September 10th will continue. If there was more than one person involved it will be discovered. (Even as the FBI is led by two former podcasters who would probably be on my list with Kelly, Owes, and Rogan if they weren't at the agency). But we will see. In the mean time we should focus on what is real, engage the world with facts and rational thought and hope that fewer people think violence is the answer to their problems.
