There are now three things not allowed mentioned at the American dinner table: religion, politics and 9/11.
The engineering analysis I did of the collapse of the North Tower, led me to reexamine much that I’d always accepted as the legitimate background of American life. The engineering analysis I did of the collapse of the North Tower, led me to reexamine much that I’d always accepted as the legitimate background of American life. We have all been tragically misled by the formal explanation of the events of 9/11. In many ways I have become more alive and alert since the analysis. Life is beautiful. I understand the importance of identifying belief and fact, separating them and keeping them separate. This is difficult but muddle these and one is lost. I know better now what it means to understand a physics principle. The goal should be to savor it. I see that to change a person’s behavior, one must first address their beliefs. I understand better the extent to which the mainstream media shapes our image of the world. …And how important it is to control that media if a population is to be lead or controlled. Similarly, a question involving education has arisen for me: are we creating cogs for a machine or do we strive to empower students to think independently? I’m for personal empowerment. I find I agree with H.L. Mencken that: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.” I more deeply appreciate the engineer’s question behind due diligence: “Did you believe what they told you or did you go look for yourself?” There are now three things not allowed mentioned at the American dinner table: religion, politics and 9/11. Everybody knows. And the elephant in the room stinks.
Paul Kenyon
