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A must don't-readJun 25 '02 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line The bottom line is too cheap and dirty in this case... I have been a contributing member of the Epinions community for almost exactly one year; June 20th was my anniversary. And in that time, I have managed to stay mostly outside of the true politics of the site, though I have rocked the boat mildly at times. Now I will make enemies, and I am not in the least bit apologetic about it. I have no alternative and if I offend anyone with what I am now asking, that is a price I am not unhappy to pay. In the very near future, a book will be published in the USA and Canada. Likely it will also be published worldwide. On US soil, it will be entitled “9-11, the Big Lie.” It was written by French author Thierry Meyssan, whose work I don’t know. I won’t know it, either. The premise of this book is simple. The events of September 11, 2001 were sparked by the US Government. Meyssan alleges that the Pentagon wasn’t struck by a plane at all; instead, a missile did the damaged there. All official reports of the tragedy were manipulated and manufactured by the US military. In an Associate Press article, written by Angela Doland (June 25, 2002), Meyssan is quoted - "I don't claim to have definitively resolved all these enigmas. But the central theme of the book is that the official version of events is incomplete, and false." I will not speak further about the allegations of Mr. Meyssan. I don’t own the book and I did not read it. I gathered my information off of news sites on-line. If you think me ill-informed to write this, I disagree. However, I must tell you that Meyssan admits that most of his information was gathered from the internet and he didn’t go to US to conduct any interviews or physically observe any of the evidence that he questions, so I feel we’re on even ground. I will not, for any reason, give financial support to this piece of filth. And I ask that you refrain for purchasing it as well. The book sits on the best sellers list in France, though panned by critics and virtually the entire French media. However, it sells. Curiosity is likely the biggest selling point, but I am not in a position to make that determination. And I am not in the habit of book banning, book burning, or censorship in general. ‘What?’ you ask. I am not an advocate for censorship, yet I am calling for a boycott of this soon to be released book? Yes. Judge me as you will. Too many lives were changed through pain and loss for me to look the other way in this case. In my humble opinion, Meyssan is a grave robber. He is making money that is only available to him because of great human suffering. He is also calling on the population at large to rethink the tragedy, using that anti-American agenda to gain support in a most offensive and vulgar attack on the memories of those who lost their lives on that fateful day. If I am wrong for asking all of you to avoid this book, I am happy to be wrong. I will stay wrong for the rest of my life, because to contribute even one penny to this man would leave me with a broken conscience. There is too much wrong with patronizing this author and I cannot and will not condone it. And I ask you all to think about the survivors who must endure the nightmare of seeing this fool make his millions, and worse, his mark, at the expense of their losses. I will not defend myself much longer. If you think me soulless, a narrow-minded fascist, a right-wing witch-hunter; that is your right and I’d be the first to support it. But I have a line that is clearly drawn and this crosses it in a way which I could not foresee. I tell you that among my favorite authors are Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski, and Vladimir Nabokov; I am not a man who believes in denying a writer his/her forum. So I agree that this trash should have the right to be published. But I hope that we exercise OUR collective rights as human beings to ignore it and let it wilt away on bookstore shelves, unread. In my opinion, this drivel is on par with anything written in defense of Hitler or denying the Holocaust. Is it art? It doesn’t matter. Not all art is good art, and while I stand by the rights of the artist, I don’t have to like his work. In this case, which is obviously a simple ruse to make quick dollars and accomplish little else, I think the book, the publisher (The book is published by Editions Carnot), and the distributors should all be avoided in protest. I don’t see it as book burning and I won’t change my stance, regardless of the strong arguments that I’m sure many people suppose to make against me. This may be the first review of an item not yet released, and I may deserve a NH for failing to actually read the book before giving an opinion, but I stand by my decision to publish this review. The author is taking advantage of innocent people who have suffered and others who are still mourning. If I stop one dollar from going into Meyssan’s pocket, I attain something of value. If I turned you off to the old Eskimo, caused you to remove my from your WOT or block me, or to have simply written me off, it was a price I felt I had to pay and I stand firm in my belief. For those of you who support my position, I thank you. Those who remain on the fence, I only ask that you consider what you are saying when you plop down your hard-earned cash for a book that aims to educate you with vicious, false attacks on not only the US Government, but on all of those whose lives were scarred some nine months ago. Thank you all for taking the time to read this. - Mike Lynsky  |
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