Saturday, Jun. 19, 2004 - 11:46 a.m.

The Next September 11th

Last night I listened to this mp3, an interview with Joel Skousen of World Affairs Brief, who joins the chorus of conspiracy-heads claiming that another fake terrorist attack conducted by people within the U.S. government (like September 11th) is coming this month. This chorus just mirrors the chorus of government figures who have been reported in the mainstream media saying that a real terrorist attack is coming soon (such as Gary Hart who names Denver, Cleveland or Dallas as likely targets.) Skousen goes further than the others, naming a date for this event, and the date is June 20th. That's tomorrow. The date comes from a ham radio operator who claims to have intercepted a secret communication that was accidentally not encrypted. So that could be mallarky, potentially. More compelling, is that he says that there are a disproportionate number of put options on the stock market, signalling that some people have insider knowledge of a pending stock market crash. Either that, or investors are taking the public warnings of impending attacks seriously.

I dunno. I dearly hope something like that doesn't happen, and one certainly can't believe everything one hears on AM radio. But in case it's true, I want to know about it ahead of time. It's difficult for me to find the balance of remaining skeptical yet still interested enough to take the trouble to find out about this stuff.

And what if this prediction is accurate? Is it even worth knowing about such a disaster ahead of time? Do I want to invest any time or energy in lending creedence to a portention of mass death that could very well be completely unfounded? Do I, or anyone else, gain anything from this foreknowledge other than fear? I pondered this question for some time in light of the New Agey idea that whatever we focus our attention on manifests in the real world (I think that's true to a limited extent, through the purely mundane means of human action and physical causation.) Am I just manifesting dread here, or even the calamity itself? What would I rather be manifesting? Here's what I came up with:

I wish for the conspirators in any forthcoming attack, if there is one, be they American, Al Qaeda, or some combination of both, to awaken to the nags of doubt from their consciences, and then become aware that they are actively making choices at every moment, and realize that it is within their power to call off the attack, or at least do what they can to interfere with the plan.

If some kind of attack does occur, and it's used as the excuse to institute martial law and an overt dictatorship, or merely used to garner voters for Bush and perhaps support another avaricious foreign war, like happened the last time, I wish for all the people to tune into the nags of doubt from their intuitions and consciences. I wish for people to become aware that they are actively making choices at every moment, and realize that they don't have to believe the media, that they don't have to support the "president" in a time of crisis, and that they don't have to obey the dictates of FEMA. Crisis can be opportunity as well, and in that case, an opportunity for mass insurrection.

I recently attended a birthday party in which after blowing out the candles, the person with the birthday shouted to the powers that be, "I'm still alive! You haven't done me in yet, motherfuckers!!!!" It is in that spirit I bring you this entry.

Equanimity is the name of the game. May you be safe and happy, no matter what happens. :-)

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