Summary: The guest this week is the author and activist Jon Gold. Jon Gold is the man who coined the term 9/11 Truther and he is a self-proclaimed Truther, but I would venture to say that he is a bit different from the image that we've come to associate with that term. Specifically, Jon Gold doesn't talk about or promote theories about controlled demolition. He is not interested in tales of living hijackers seen with Elvis on beaches in Tahiti. He does not make claims about fake cell phone calls. Gold tries not to speculate at all and isn't interested in making a career for himself in what he calls the conspiracy theory industry. Instead he focuses on the verifiable lies that have been told about that day and the hardest facts he can muster. He has written a memoir about his experiences in the 911 Truth movement called 9/11 Truther: The Fight for Peace Just and accountability. I want to thank everyone who is a regular subscriber and participant in the Philosophy Workshop. If you'd like to donate or subscribe to the podcast and Philosophy workshop the buttons are at dietsoap.podomatic.com and at douglaslain.com. Donors of $6 or more in the US or $15 internationally will receive a copy of my book "Pick Your Battle." Also, if you'd rather not receive a copy of "Pick Your Battle" you can get on the list for a copy of "The Doom that Came to LOLcats" which is a novella due out from Eraserhead press later this year. I should tell you all to follow me on twitter and friend me on Facebook. Also you can send me email through my webpage. That's douglaslain.com. For several years now I've held the opinion that there was US government complicity in the attacks of September 11th, but while in previous years I was fairly vocal about that opinion, I no longer feel compelled to speak out on that subject. One reason I don't talk about it much is self serving. Talking about holes in the official story of 9/11 doesn't win you many friends or at least almost none worth having. The so called Truth movement is a circus or a side show for the most part. Today's guest Jon Gold is one of the rare exceptions on that front, but there is a stigma associated with pursuing 9/11 Truth, and to some extent the stigma is deserved. The people whose family members were killed on that day 10 years ago, widows who are still demanding a new investigation and who want answers do not claim to know the Truth about 9/11, and are not Truthers. The other reason I've stepped away from 9/11 Truth is because I think the politics embedded in a movement that focuses on a singular crime is tepid at best and reactionary at worst. As I told Gold during our interview the unstated assumption behind efforts to expose the truth about 9/11 is that the society we're in could be made to work better if the corruption and crimes were to come to the surface, but this position accepts the objective violence of everyday normal life. To focus on the conspiracies and corruption is fundamentally apolitical. There is no systemic critique in the 9/11 Truth movement. Having said all that, I admire Jon Gold and will support anyone like him who has made his stand on this issue in this way. It may not be fundamentally political, but Gold demonstrates that it can be honorable.
