RE: [Marxism] Marxism and Conspiracy

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Andy A. wrote:
> I'm surprised by your arguments, Louis.  First, the question 
> concerned the photographs of the fire damage prior to the collapse 
> of WTC-7 that Popular Mechanics saw.

Then I am not sure what photos you are referring to. These were the 
ones that showed heavy structural damage.

> All that to one side, here's what I think, and I base this on the 
> character of the counterarguments presented.  I think that some 
> (most?) Marxists believe that if they allow other Marxists to ask 
> rational questions of the official 9-11 account without calling them 
> "idiots" or "lunatics" that the enemies of Marxism will paint 
> Marxists as crazy.  Whether they admit it, or even whether they 
> realize it, it's something of a political-practical move to distance 
> the community from those whom the bourgeois authorities and media 
> would label crazy and thus avoid tarnishing the whole community with 
> the label.  "Let the right wingers believe in conspiracy 
> theories.  Marxists use structural analysis.  We can't be accused of 
> conspiracism."

I don't think it is a rational question to ask whether the WTC 
buildings were brought down by a controlled demolition. I worked in 
the Wall Street area in buildings just like these and visited the WTC 
hundreds of times. The idea that you can bring in demolition experts 
without anybody noticing is silly.

>   (I am still trying to decide if the cry is at least noble in its 
> intention. Theoretically it's impoverished because it leads to a 
> type of functionalism when practiced in the formulaic way it too 
> often is in e-mail discussions.)  In any case, I think we should 
> realize that, for many of our critics, we're already 
> crazy.  Marxists believe the entire capitalist system is premised 
> on the systematic exploitation of the working class - and everybody 
> knows that's not true.

I don't think this analogy makes much sense at all. Columbia 
University has Marxist professors in every department, but nobody 
writes articles proposing that there was a 9/11 conspiracy. The 9/11 
conspiracy movement is conspicuous by the absence of academic 
support, especially from scientists and engineers.



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