August 11, 2004
911truth.org & Septembereleventh.org have encouraged a campaign of people writing in their negative reviews of the
911 Commission's report on Amazon.com's forum-like system where users can rate books in the hopes that these negative reviews
would be seen by the public. This is a typical sound byte activist campaign of theirs (see topic "sound byte activism
on this website).
However, many people's negative Report reviews which were submitted to Amazon were not displayed on the Amazon site, and
others were up for only a short time & then pulled. I understand they've now taken down the ratings system altogether.
Reminds me of the forum system at 911truth.org and the 9-11 Visibility - SeptemberEleventh.org's webpages (both link
to the same forum). On Sunday, before I told anyone of the existence of my website, I posted comments on two of their forums,
both comments totally relevant to the forum's respective subjects. To the "tools for outreach" forum intended
to grow the movement, I posted the substance of my "What happened to 911 Meetups" piece - the contents of which
should alarm anyone interested in growing the movement; and to the Strategy forum, I posted the substance of my 'promoting
Sibel Edmonds story is bad strategy' piece. (See Meetup and Sibel Edmonds topics on this website: Angieon911.com)
Two other forum participants commented favorably on the Sibel Edmonds piece, as follows:
"Angie, I think you are correct about the Sibel Edmonds story. Edmonds has been used to co-opt the 9-11 truth movement
and use it to spread disinformation.
As a rule of thumb, I think it is safe to say that EVERYTHING that comes out of the major media must be viewed with suspicion,
including the Edmonds story. Good for you, Angie! Keep it up!"
"I agree, ditto. Based on what you've said, certainly thoughts I've had, I'm going to stop pointing at Edmonds info
as useful. Good followup and critical thinkin'. Perhaps the removal of the firefighters oral histories from the record by
the court is a better instance of the same type of use of authority to hide and obscure culpability."
The next day, and still before I told anyone about my website, I tried to log onto the forum system
and instead got this message: "We cannot proceed. Your account has been banned or locked: Here we go again".
What I didn't mention in my Sibel Edmonds piece which I had posted to the 911truth group's strategy forum - although it's
very evident - is that 911 Truth.org and 9-11Visibility-SeptemberEleventh.org (and their sister organization, 911 Citizens
Watch) have and continue to be saturated with this Sibel Edmonds story, the promotion of which I believe harms the truth movement.
Consequently, this banning not only reminds me of how Amazon is keeping people from posting their negative reviews but
also how the 911 Truth Alliance list banned me because of my criticism of these groups' strategies as well.
I emailed the website about the banning but have not received any resonse. I inquired of one of the website's other forum
administrator-moderators who had contacted me on an unrelated issue about the banning, even inquiring as to whether it was
a technical glitch which was locking out all forum users, and got the response of "I haven't been on that forum in ages.
I have no idea. I say let's stop so much yapping amongst ourselves and get out there and *reach people*!"
Everyone should therefore know that the forums at 911Truth.org and September 11th.org websites are not to be trusted.
They don't permit honest debate of strategy, and stifle that with which they disagree, like Amazon. Amazon is to be expected
to act that way. When our alternative media act that way, however, they should lose our respect and support.
Angie
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