Many smart people, scientists, especially, pride themselves on being what they call “skeptics.”

Well, they shouldn’t puff up about that, because a true scientist can not be a skeptic, in my opinion. A real scientist has a truly open mind. They look at a mystery and thinks, “hmmm…what’s that all about? What could be causing that?”

They wouldn’t eliminate any particular idea by saying, “Oh, I don’t believe it’s….(fill in the blank).

Not without evidence.

Their response to a mystery is more likely to be “I wonder what it is. It could be (fill in the blank) or it could be something else.”

Because they don’t know. It could be anything.

Yes, even something that seems far-fetched. Not believeable.

That don’t impress me much (thanks, Shania Twain!)

So ho-hum…. I’m not all that impressed when someone tells me they are a skeptic.

There’ve been quite a few mysteries in my lifetime. The JFK assassination, for example. Immediately after, 87% of Americans believed the official story that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone shooter. Today, most Americans (65%) believe there was a conspiracy to kill JFK.

Why is that? Well, over the past 60 years, more information has come out. Facts. The story we were told by the Warren Commission just didn’t make sense. It wasn’t logical in terms of other variables. Today, a majority of people believe the government covered up the truth. But it took time for people to get there. To understand that yes, the government will lie.

“Conspiracy Theory”

Some say it’s a term coined by the CIA in the 1960s and meant to denigrate things the government didn’t want people to pursue. Like UFOs. Things that could be true. Or not. But that could be a coverup, too.

See?

What’s the truth?

We don’t know. When we don’t know, there is no terra firma. Nothing to stand on and that’s not very comforting. Which is why we buy comforting lies. They provide the illusion of terra firma. That’s what’s been going on in our current situation. (But no more)

So I don’t use the term conspiracy theory. Because it’s too easy to brush the truth off with it. And anyone with deductive reasoning skills and a modicum of logic can tell when things don’t make sense.

So let’s take Sept. 11. It’s been more than 20 years but people still believe the official story, despite many, many discontinuities. Here are a few:

• We are expected to believe that among the millions of scraps of paper that littered Manhattan, two of the hijacker’s passports were found intact in the litter….or mostly intact. I can’t help it: that’s just crazy. 
• A BBC commentator announced the collapse of Building 7 at 4:54pm a half hour before it actually fell at 5:20pm and there’s video to prove it.  Yes, it could be a reporting error. That’s what they say and I’m willing to believe it. But. There are so many other reasons to be suspicious of the official story. So.  Who knows? 
• A large group of professional engineers insist the buildings fell like a controlled demolition. I am not an engineer. I don’t know. But I’m paying attention. And a large group of pilots don’t believe the official story, either. 
• There was very little debris after the Shanksville crash. And very little after the Pentagon “crash.” Have you ever seen a crash site without debris? Even the remains of the Challenger astronauts were found after that explosion. Could these “crash stories” be true? OH WAIT. Here’s what else survived that Shanksville crash: two passports belonging to two other accused hijackers. Recognizable as such. Isn’t that amazing??? What luck! Another two! Sure, I could believe it. But I’m not that gullible… my spidey sense says something else. And no one who knows stuff thinks a plane flew that low into the Pentagon, especially without debris. Even certain generals have gone on record saying it isn’t possible.
• Lots of cell phone calls were made on those flights. Have you ever tried to call out from a flight on your cell phone? I can text if we are below 10,000 feet. Maybe. But we are supposed to believe a whole bunch of people were able to place lengthy calls and leave voicemails as the planes were zooming to their fate. And so calmly! Umm. Logic and personal experience tell me otherwise.
• Others were said to have used the seatback phones that were installed at the time. I remember them. They took credit cards. How would this not have attracted the notice of hijackers?
• So much more to question. I won’t even try to list all the things that are simply illogical.

Oh sure, there are “official explanations.” As there were after Nov. 22, 1963. As there were for the Trump “asssassination” attempt. Which was clearly fake.

I’m not a “conspiracy theorist,” whatever that is. But I’m not gullible either. I’m a seeker of truth and I know when something isn’t logical. I think questions from the public are a good thing and should be encouraged, in the interest of full transparency. Not shut down as a crazy “conspiracy theory.”

I have no idea what exactly happened on Sept. 11, 2001. Something terrible, for sure. But did it happen the way we were told? Nope, not IMO. There are just too many things that don’t add up.

 “Leave her to recover in peace!”

Yep, I’m going there.

Princess Kate. The public figure and member of the Royal Family who vanished from public view for months.

So did her parents. And her kids. Oh wait, George was seen at a soccer game. Maybe at a one other sporting event with his Dad. But the other two weren’t seen. Even at school.

We were told the Princess was in preventive treatment for cancer. No details. Not even to provide support for similar sufferers.

And. All “official” photos and sightings were shown to be fakes. AI. Yes, even the video during which she explained she “had surgery.”

At the time the lay public got really good at figuring stuff out. But here’s what most agree on:

There was no evidence for anything the Palace told the public. None. Kate’s whereabouts remained a mystery.

It’s unlikely that she wrote the letter to the Irish Guards attributed to her–the one ridden with mistakes, remember that? She did not photoshop the family picture (her excuse), she did not appear striding across sidewalks at farm shops or chocolate shops or at a Houston cancer center. Nothing we were shown had anything to do with her whereabouts.

No visits to the hospital from the Royals. No public encouragement for other patients.

One would have to be really gullible to think that she disappeared because she actually had a “minor case of cancer” and had adjuvant treatment.

Real proof of life would have shut down all of the speculation. But none was offered. I believe that whatever happened to her must have been pretty bad for PR or the Palace wouldn’t have shut speculation down with facts. But logic tells me it wasn’t cancer.

So here’s my bottom line.

We’re fed a lot of B.S these days, politically and otherwise. And people like their comforting lies.

But.

It’s not smart to be so quick to buy official stories in the face of discontinuities–when things don’t fit the story. Like for example, finding a couple of intact passports. Or being shown video of a princess who had recent abdominal surgery practically galloping across shop sidewalks. Or thinking that some shmuck accused of an assassination attempt on dT isn’t a patsy.

In the absence of facts, it’s never a mistake to consider all the options. An official story could be true. Or something else could be true. And then look critically at that something else, no matter how far out it might seem.

Because the truth is often hiding in plain sight.