In a speech sent to Al-Jazeera in 2004, Osama bin Laden revealed that a major goal in orchestrating the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 was “bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy.” While his economic mission successfully cost us over $8 trillion in our “War on Terror,” he was unlikely aware that the United States’ response to these attacks would also debase the country’s faith in its institutions, ushering in what experts are calling the Golden Age of Conspiracy.
For two decades, the American working class watched with a growing disillusionment as it held the bag for war profiteers. We sent 7,085 service members to sacrifice their lives (more than double the lives lost in the terrorist attacks) under the pretense of homeland security. Slowly, the fabric of what it means to be patriotic all but completely eroded. Many who once proudly flew the American flag started replacing Old Glory with the iconography of conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories offer comfort in the face of unbearably depressing facts. No one feels good in facing the reality that atrocities perpetrated by the United States government abroad motivated terrorists to carry out the brutal attacks of September 11, 2001. It is unpleasant to recognize that our government converted the largest tragedy in our nation’s history into a power grab: stealing foreign resources, writing blank checks to the military, and slashing civil liberties.
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