As Flag Day is now behind us and the Fourth of July is fast approaching, we here at Flagstuff.com are focusing most of our attention on American flags. And the dicussions we have often revolve around the symbolism of the American flag, what it means to be an American and traits we view to be peculiar to Americans.
There is one trait in particular that I think was once more common among Americans than it is now, and I think it should be revived. That trait is one of healthy skepticism. My father used to say, "Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see." And while I thought that his admontion was mostly humourous, as I grew older, I came to realize that there is a lot of truth in it.
Now we find out that there is a guy who is a professor emeritus of Texas A&M University by the name of Morgan Reynolds who is voicing his opinion that the colapse of the Twin Towers in New York was probably controlled demolitian carried out by the US government.
But my point here is not to examine the merits of his argument – I personally don’t think there are any merits to his argument – but rather, to make a statement about the veracity of stories we read in the newspapers, etc. The following is a statement on Mr. Reynolds that was quoted in a UPI news service story. Please take note of the portion that was written by a UPI reporter – it’s the line that is in bold and underlined.
‘ "If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an ‘inside job’ and a government attack on America would be compelling." Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M office, "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government’s collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings." ‘
Now read the official response from Texas A&M’s website to this and other stories about Reynold’s comments. Again, please pay particular attention to the bold and underlined sentence:
‘The following is a statement from Texas A&M University regarding recent news reports about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Dr. Morgan Reynolds is retired from Texas A&M University, but holds the title of Professor Emeritus-an honorary title bestowed upon select tenured faculty, who have retired with ten or more years of service. Additionally, contrary to some written reports, while some faculty emeriti are allocated office space at Texas A&M, Dr. Reynolds does not have an office on the Texas A&M campus. Any statements made by Dr. Reynolds are in his capacity as a private citizen and do not represent the views of Texas A&M University. Below is a statement released yesterday by Dr. Robert M. Gates, President of Texas A&M University:
"The American people know what they saw with their own eyes on September 11, 2001. To suggest any kind of government conspiracy in the events of that day goes beyond the pale.†‘
The whole point is that the reporter, in his or her zeal to punch-up this story, plays fast and loose with the facts, which, in effect, kills the credibility of the entire story.
Moral of the story – Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.