Many years ago I stumbled across something that was so horrific I couldn’t contain my thoughts and feelings on what I had discovered. I was overwhelmed with the need to talk about it. And you know, since then, that feeling hasn’t gone away. The power of a cause is too simple a definition to put on how I feel about 911 because I don’t look at the issues surrounding it as a cause. It’s not a cause, it’s a crime scene in need of protection at the same time in need of exposure. I look at it with urgency, driven by a dire feeling in my gut. Move over Chertoff, my gut talks too and it’s growing louder.
The Truth movement has been a series of battles with little triumph, with most of those battles taking place on the inside, within our own ranks and our own minds. A turf war of sorts maybe? I get the feeling we are unknowingly and sometimes knowingly fighting each other, I have yet to discover what the prize of winning that fight would be. It’s a strange dynamic when you take a bunch of enlightened, astounded, talented, and pissed off people and put them together fighting for some righteous stake in history.
What started as a small number of people openly questioning the events of September 11th, 2001 has grown into countless groups and individuals - not just across the country, but across the world. In fact many of the Truth groups outside of the US began before many if not most of the groups inside the US. The reality of this growth however, is that it has caused us fragmentation not cohesion. Instead of new groups forming due to growth factors and need, new groups have formed over relationships and growing pains within the movement. Ill feelings, misunderstandings, disagreements and starmanship have all played their parts in this fragmental process. It is almost as if we stopped feeding off of our desire to invoke Truth and began to feed off of each other in a frenzy to be the next best thing. The next cool kids for the camera.
I have serious issues with the truth movement, not as a whole, but with different aspects of the whole. Here comes the rant, I won’t apologize though, as I believe what I have to say is long over due in being said. I believe if people would be open to the message I hope to impart, cohesion can come of it and egos and fear can be set aside. I can only hope I say the right things in the right order so that we can move forward in our mission, together.
I have issues with those who desire and strive to make money off of being a Truther. If you sell something for a cause and say the proceeds are going to a charity, they damn well better go to that charity. It should also be made clear how much of the profits actually go to said charity and how much stays in the coffers and what exactly it will be used for. Accountability. We expect it from this Government, we should demand it from ourselves. Understandably, it is fair to recoup our own hard costs, but when we begin making it a business we have failed. Our “business” is Truth, remember? Let us not forget.
Another thing that really rubs me the wrong way is this leeriness amongst us. We have every reason to be wary, but we also need to not cross the lines into outright paranoia. We have become our own worst enemy, who needs to worry about Big Brother watching when the Truth movement is so stalled by our own inability and refusal to work together in an open and cohesive manner? Who are you? Do you have a name and face to the movement? Unlikely as most Truthers hide in the anonymity of the Internet, afraid for whatever reasons to let their names or faces be known. How does that strengthen us? Have we become hundreds of secret societies under the umbrella of the Truth movement? We do not need to disassociate ourselves from each other just because there is no unified agreement on the “how and who” of 911. Instead, we need to combine our strength and associate ourselves with each other under the common message of 911 Truth which in itself merely means that we want answers to our questions.
Do you have any idea how many of us there are? No one does. Do you know why? The answer to that is obvious. Fear. Get over it. There is nothing to fear from each other, nor is there anything to fear from outing yourselves in the public eye. How can we expose 911 Truth if we do not expose ourselves? Visibility keeps us safe. It is a part of our strength. It is also the only way to grow in a fluid manner versus this sluggish piece meal growth we have been experiencing. I am proud to be a 911 Truther. I do not hide. Additionally I have no need to be a star in this effort and if you do then you need to ask yourself why and then ask how you being a star is going to make our world one of Truth, ultimately generating the justice we all wish to see. A collective has no leader. A collective is a team. The movement itself is the coach.
http://www.mtrnews.com/
C Piper, Aka Cheri Roberts, lil...is a longtime activist and writer who has worked in mixed media for 15 yrs. With 911 Truth as her primary focus, she participates in and organizes for events both locally and nationally always striving to get people out of their chairs and in the streets. She believes the biggest strength of the 911 Truth movement is the one strength they have yet to embrace, unity.
While I'm certainly NOT a 911Truther and often post counter-arguments in the obvious need for "objectivity", I think those within the Truth movement should read fully and incorporate honestly Ms. Roberts' words.
by
Tom Murphy (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 1266 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 9:41:43 AM
As a Founder of the 9/11 Truth Movement - I Disagree
As a Founder of the 9/11 Truth Movement - I Disagree with the premise of this article.
The author complains about the movement infighting, and then proceeds to fight with the movement.
The author complains about 9/11 truth movements having fund raising DVDs, t-shirts, etc.
Apparently the author has never organized a movement, because, helloooooo??? It costs money.
Most of the people I worked with spent much of their life savings to help build the 9/11 truth movement. Fundraising ideas only came about after we all went broke!
It is obvious this author hasn't really done much to build a 9/11 truth movement.
Bill *this author* is not discouraging anyone from anything, but the incessant infighting that has created so much fragmentation the movement is diluted.
WRT fundraising, that is what I do for a living and as an activist. Everyone knows it costs money, but when you have someone selling a t-shirt that cost them $4 or less to have made for $20, and stating that the proceeds/profits go to a charity only to find out that a mere $1 of that $16 profit goes to the charity...that's a falsehood and makes all Truthers trying to raise funds look bad. That was the point, and it is unfortunate you missed it.
Additionally, you as a *founder*? I would have to qualify myself also as a founder then as I have been a part of the Truth movement since Dec. of 2001. I don't see your reasoning for mentioning that. A one-upmanship? More of *turf wars* I mentioned in my Op-ed?
I do not belong to a specific group, but am affiliated with many of the ones you mention in your reply. I work with many groups as an individual helping to pull them together and helping them organize events. As a matter of fact, contact Richard Gage of AE911Truth if you so desire, he'd vouch for me. So will Peter Phillips of Project Censored.
This wasn't a pissing contest, but it is somewhat amusing yet thoroughly disheartening that your post nails my point home perfectly.
Together in the struggle...
by
Cheri Roberts-Piper (16 articles, 15 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 430 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 10:58:30 AM
Buy an Architect/Engineer Lunch and Feed them 9/11 Truth
Buy an Architect/Engineer Lunch and Feed them 9/11 Truth
Sponsor an Architect or Engineer!
Buy the A/E's Lunch and feed them the 9/11 Truth!
Every sandwich we put in front of an Architect or Engineer also feeds them the 9/11 truth – that is, the solid evidence of controlled demolition in our 1 hour multimedia PowerPoint presentation. Remember our AE911Truth.org Mission: to bring the truth about the 9/11 "collapses" of all 3 WTC high-rise buildings to every architect and engineer in the S.F. Bay Area and beyond. Here’s how we do it:
1. We offer to bring to the A/E firm our fascinating technical presentation on the "collapses" of the WTC high-rise buildings. (This ensures their presence. )
2. We bring a good lunch and give the noon-hour presentation – sticking to the technical points.
3. We usually get about 100% who agree with us that there are very serious questions about the official story.
4. And we get about 90% who agree with us that the buildings were indeed brought down by controlled demolition.
5. Of those, about 70 to 80% feel comfortable enough joining us by signing our petition "calling upon Congress for a truly independent investigation into the collapses". (That's all there is to joining AE911Truth.org!)
6. This is the process we have used to attract our members — and its success is proven because the evidence itself is solid and convincing.
7. All that is ask of you is that you buy a sandwich for an architect or engineer! We'll do the rest! This gives you tremendous leverage to expand the 9/11 Truth Movement with those that will make the most impact — the building professionals!
Here are the simple options:
If you would prefer to write a check for your donation please mail a check payable to AE911Truth.org to:
Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth 2 Civic Center Dr. San Rafael, CA 94913-4434
Thank you very much for you support of the 9/11 Truth!
If you go to an Earth Day Event, if you go to any altruistic event, or political event, T-shirts are sold for alot more than they cost to print. They are FUND RAISERS.
If you want a free movement, then build a website, and get a professional email system, and print signs and distribute them around the nation, and do it all out of your own pocket.
by
Bill Douglas (68 articles, 2 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 434 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 11:03:22 AM
If it costs $4 to make, it sells for $20, you SAY to all those buying that the PROCEEDS/PROFITS go to a charity, yet only a tiny percentage actually goes to the charity does that not make those saying such a thing liars? That sort of stuff rubs off on the whole movement.
Why not say the Truth, after all that is what we stand for right? Why not say when pushing your wares that only $1 goes to the charity and the rest is for whatever? You know why they don't? It's because when they lead people to believe they are sending all the money to the charity they sell more. So if someone has a $16 profit and sells say 20 of the products at that profit margin, the group telling the lie makes $300 for their pockets and the charity gets only $20...
I have nothing more to say on the rest of your postings here as they are geared to perpetuate the lie apparently, and actually make little sense wrt the OP. Additionally your comments seem geared to divide, not unify.
Have a great day Bill. I wish you success in all you do.
by
Cheri Roberts-Piper (16 articles, 15 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 430 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 11:20:46 AM
...as can be expected. Nobody is perfect, not even "the movement". Personally speaking, I hate it when anyone asks for "donations". We have a lot of honest people walking around....
in Nebraska & Kansas & maybe even Iowa
but the moment a guy dressed as a priest comes up to you in, at, around or near any major airport in the US of A, ......shut down and shut up or get ready for a royal visitation ! The same philosophy applies to any URL on the www. yip.
by
Tony Forest (4 articles, 10 quicklinks, 115 diaries, 996 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 3:26:45 PM
From Bill's own keyboard...involvement since *2006* apparently makes him a *founder* of the 911 Truth movement? Geez Louise Bill....take a breath buddy and maybe re-read what I wrote because your interpretation is certainly not what I said.
I am aware of who you are and enjoy reading your pieces when I come across them. I encourage others to read your stuff, because it's all good. I know you do good work within the movemwent, but here today I see little more than that *starmanship* and *paranoia* I was talking about. To immediately try to trump me and my op-ed by beginning with false facts stating you are a *founder* of the 911 Truth movement?
We are on the same team Bill. Did you forget that or are you just not a team player?
Exposing the 9/11 Conspiracy Wingnuts
By Bill Douglas
07/13/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- I began researching the mainstream media coverage of the controversy regarding the attacks of 9/11/2001, when reading an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Newspaper, dated June 29th, 2006. ...
I have never corresponded with Mr. Douglas, but since finding out about the lies Summer 05, i've come across many, many articles he's written, and articles documenting constructive actions he's taken or been part of
Bill, thanks for everything you've done and will do for truth and justice
by
Better World Order (4 articles, 219 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 628 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 1:17:06 PM
Thank you! I appreciate the heads up and apologize to Bill for my mistake on that timeline. Kudos to Bill for hanging in there all these years. I know if it has been anywhere near as difficult for him and his family as it has been for me and mine then he has been through a lot. I am grateful to my children for understanding the sacrifices. My family itself has never understood.
Bill out of curiousity, why did it take you til then to research the msm? I would have thought you as a writer would have began there...I believe there is a way to crack the system wrt the msm.
by
Cheri Roberts-Piper (16 articles, 15 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 430 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 1:34:49 PM
As a relatively new 9/11 truth seeker that has become totally committed to the movement, I wrote my recent article that is still rumbling through the Internet "9/11 Truth Manifesto" because it seemed clear to me that the movement had not yet come together behind specific political strategies to achieve success. As a Ph.D. engineer, I am totally convinced that extremely sound technical analyses have shown that the official story is a lie. But technical truth must help produce political truth. I urge all truth seekers, for example, to see the wisdom of the movement coming together to draft and lobby for passage of a bill to get the first honest 9/11 investigation funded by Congress.
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (113 articles, 20 quicklinks, 46 diaries, 428 comments)
on Friday, December 21, 2007 at 12:37:20 PM
There are all sorts of things traveling through Congress. Wilke I agree in thought with what you say - and of course it would hold truer in an ordinary America, I find it quite disconcerting now.
How do we get Congress to do anything in relation to 911 when they support things like the Patriot Act and HR 1959, S1955? Rep. Henry Waxman wont even hold public hearings under oath for Sibel Edmonds. THAT, would be a hell of a start, don't you think?
Many of us have been at this for a long time and we have tried many avenues. I think if there were an OVERWHELMING show of support in an undeniable and unignorable way then we could make something positive happen.
by
Cheri Roberts-Piper (16 articles, 15 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 430 comments)
on Tuesday, December 25, 2007 at 9:37:19 AM
i agree that people should put aside their egos (esp. Tom Murphy) to further larger objectives, but i think the spontaneous and decentralized nature of the "9/11 Truth Movement" is great, as it is harder for the neo-COINTELPRO to subvert/control it. Many of the supposed divisions are being caused by people who are agents of disinformation, if not active disinformation agents. I'm not concerned by it.
I'd say the movement is growing fast, not sluggishly- the most recent poll on 9/11, from Scripps-Howard found that 62% of Americans think people in the govt knew the attacks were coming and did nothing- this huge number is not because the MSM have been criticizing the official story- they've been actively shilling for it- it's because the official story falls apart when it's examined, cuz the govt has never answered the major questions and told so many lies, cuz we have the Web and activists are daily posting info and handing out DVDs and flyers.
A paradigm shift is happening, and eventually the wall that the elites have build between the People and Our government is going to come down- and if martial law is declared and activists are rounded up into camps, even more people will oppose the Republocrats, including the entire civilized world.
What are these elites thinking? Hitler, Franco, Mussolini, Stalin, etc.- they all fell. As Ghandi noted, the tyrants always fall, always.
People want to be free, and the truth has a way of coming out
by
Better World Order (4 articles, 219 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 628 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 1:04:14 PM
Converting people into seeing the Truth is different then converting them into the movement. A million new believers does not make the movement any more powerful or visable if those million more are silent...that's more what I was saying there.
by
Cheri Roberts-Piper (16 articles, 15 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 430 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 1:26:26 PM
Thank you for taking my personal inventory, BWO. I will endeavor to work on the obvious character defect that you so graciously pointed out. Additionally, I will also endeavor to avoid harboring a resentment toward you for so graciously pointing out the character defect.
Knowingly, though, my expectation was high that such comments would be made about me and my positions here; therefore, my acceptance on the issue was readily capable of handling your "critque". Again, thank you!
by
Tom Murphy (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 1266 comments)
on Thursday, December 20, 2007 at 3:03:02 PM
and i'd still like to hear your thoughts on the evidence of the Saudi's involvement in the 9/11 attacks- i've repeatedly asked you, but you've never responded- should this not be investigated? Does this not change what we've been told, i.e. al Qaeda alone?
Sen. Graham's comments to Gwen Ifill on PBS
www.thememoryhole.org/911/911-graham-admits.htm
for more background, spend some time on the Complete 9/11 Timeline
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