Korey Rowe Plus Twenty

 The Washington Post has a surprisingly long and sympathetic look back at one of the Loose Change triplets, Korey Rowe, and his difficulties and challenges. Hopefully he gets his life together.

Looking back, Korey could see a fairly straight line between his wartime trauma, the distrust it elicited and the 9/11 Truth conspiracy theories he embraced. He also recalled in particular how “Fahrenheit 9/11,” the 2004 antiwar documentary by Michael Moore, shifted his thinking about the conflicts and his own role in them.

“That’s what led me to ‘Loose Change,’” he added. “People are surprised when they talk to me now and I’m not a crazy conspiracy theorist. But I’m not. I wasn’t into conspiracy theories before ‘Loose Change’ and I’m not into conspiracy theories now.”

The story Korey and his friends told through the videos — twisted with inaccuracy and fantasy as they were — felt like an act of reclamation. Helping Dylan brought a sense of control in a world that felt increasingly uncertain, not to mention a deep sense of camaraderie, Korey said. Slowly, from that crucible of conspiracy theories, he also began to aspire to make movies. Something good from something bad.

9/11 + 20 Looks Back on Loose Change

 On the twentieth anniversary, a look back on former Truthers.

“Loose Change was highly influential, because video is the most effective form of indoctrination and propaganda,” Mr Kay said. 

Up until then, “it was generally understood that that high-quality video propaganda was too expensive for ordinary people to create, and required too much in the way of specialized skills”, but “Loose Change showed people that an ideologically dedicated group of non-professionals now had access to desktop technology that would allow them to produce an effective propaganda film without spending a lot of money, or even creating much in the way of original footage”.

Esquire Looks Back at Loose Change

 Fifteen years later (can you believe it's been that long) Esquire takes a look back at the unfortunate legacy of Loose Change. Don't say we didn't warn you.

To truly understand how we’ve arrived at this place, we need to go back 15 years and revisit Loose Change, the first time a fringe Internet conspiracy theory percolated to the highest echelons of our cultural and political institutions.

Released on April 13, 2005, by Dylan Avery, a 21-year-old amateur filmmaker, Loose Change was a “documentary” that posited a radical thesis:

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(Note: The date on this post is intentional; it keeps this post pinned to the top. Thanks for asking!).

11/11/07 Update: Loose Change Final Cut has just been released and so we have not prepared a full debunking. Both James and I have many comments about the movie below and I started a thread over at JREF with some examples of mistakes in the film. Much of the rest of the information in this particular post concerns the earlier versions of Loose Change.

Because this blog is getting so much traffic from Google searches and referrals from various forums and Wikipedia, we decided to put one post up top to link to information our newest visitors are apparently looking for.

First, if you have not seen the film and want to watch it, be sure to watch the annotated version, which was named after this blog, Screw Loose Change. The creator did a terrific job on this, and we strongly recommend watching this version rather than Dylan Avery's cut.

James has put together a list of major lies in Loose Change. Here's Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

I compiled three very easily refuted lies in the movie. I also showed three tricks and distortions that are used throughout the film.

A friend of the blog named Mark Roberts (aka Gravy at the JREF forums) compiled this amazing Viewer's Guide to Loose Change, (now HTML) which includes a complete transcript of the movie, pictures and links that refute many of the claims, and which highlights the changes between Version 1 and Version 2.

The hot new film in 9-11 Denial is called 9-11 Mysteries. One of our JREF buddies, The Doc, has put together a rebuttal video called (you guessed it!) Screw 9-11 Mysteries, and assembled a viewers' guide to 9-11 Mysteries.

Many 9-11 Deniers focus on the collapse of World Trade Center 7, which fell at 5:20 PM on September 11, almost seven hours after the North Tower. If you want a really detailed analysis of WTC 7, I recommend Mark Robert's WTC 7 and the Lies of the 9/11 Truth Movement. I also recommend the BBC's terrific video on The Third Tower.

If you'd like to discuss the ideas about 9-11 you've encountered here or elsewhere, another friend of the blog started a Screw Loose Change Forum. It's a very lively place with lots of opinion back and forth between both sides. There's also a Screw Loose Change MySpace page, with some animated commentary. Of course, we also welcome comments on our posts.

If you're looking for detailed rebuttals of other aspects of 9-11 Denial, I heartily recommend 9-11 Myths, Debunking 9-11 and Internet Detectives.

Markyx has also put together a video (note: graphic images and strong language) called 9-11 Deniers Speak. If you think Dylan Avery and Jim Fetzer have any respect for the victims of 9-11, just watch this film. There are five parts. Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V.
There's also a Google Video which is all in one part.

This should be enough to get you started debunking Loose Change to your friends. We have a lot more content below this post.

Notes on unusual terms/abbreviations: Looser (not a misspelling of Loser)=Believer in Loose Change. CT=Conspiracy Theory, Conspiracy Theorist. Truther=9-11 Conspiracy Theorist (all Loosers are Truthers, not all Truthers are Loosers). OS=Official Story. CD= Controlled Demoliton. LIHOP: Let It Happen On Purpose; theory that the government knew the 9-11 attacks were coming but allowed them to happen to further other goals of theirs. MIHOP: Made It Happen On Purpose; theory that the government planned and orchestrated the attacks. Most Truthers are MIHOP.

Update: Comments closed on this post, which is intended solely as a pointer. Because Haloscan will not let us close comments on a particular post, be forewarned: Don't leave a comment in this post or it will be deleted.

Update II: Note on comments: Because some of our commenters have chosen to act like children, we are no longer allowing comments.

The World Trade Center Memorial

After all these years I finally got the opportunity to visit the Ground Zero and the World Trade Center Memorial. Thankfully, it was completely free of Truthers. I guess they died out years ago. The memorial was rather striking, and I must confess to a few tears while gazing over the names. The museum was also well worth visiting.

Truther Dating Advice

Apparently there are Truthers still out there and they are trying to reproduce. Who knew?

Q. Conspiracy theories: My cousin recently set me up on a date with a really great guy that she knew from work. At first, I was hesitant to go on a date with him as he is 43 and I am 27, however I decided to give him a chance and I was really glad I did. He’s smart, funny, and easy to hang out with. I am also very attracted to him physically. The only bad thing, so far, is that during a text conversation, he alluded to believing that 9/11 was an inside job. At first I thought he was joking, but further questions revealed that he was not. We discussed it in person the next time we met up, and he was joking about it with me but didn’t change his stance. Is this a deal breaker? I felt bad afterward because I was basically making fun of him to his face not realizing he actually believed what he was saying.

John Oliver on Alex Jones

HBO's John Oliver does an extended piece on our old friend Alex Jones. Pretty funny, but content warning, some of it does get a little... err... anatomical. Hey, it is HBO.