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According to the website PatriotsQuestion911.com, hundreds of professors have publicly questioned the official story of September 11, 2001. (Disclosure: I’m on that list.) Also, two thousand architects and engineers have signed a petition calling for a new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building 7. Further, David Ray Griffin, a very accomplished scholar, has written ten books challenging the official 9/11 account. His books, full of extensive and rigorous argumentation and clear presentation of evidence, have been endorsed by a long list of significant people, including Howard Zinn. In addition, Peter Dale Scott’s Road to 9/11, published by the University of California Press, is a meticulously documented analysis of the “deep state” aspect of 9/11. And, technical scientific papers challenging key elements of the official story have appeared in peer-reviewed scientific journals. (For a list of select academic articles see: http://911inacademia.com/journal-papers/.)

Nevertheless, on campus, it is as if none of this has happened. Textbooks that address issues of war, torture, international relations, or any other subject to which the events of 9/11 are relevant, treat the official story as an unquestioned fact. And the great majority of academics, likewise, simply assume the standard account is true, and reason on that basis. They make no effort to deal with critiques of the official story in any serious way. This is not because they are armed with robust evidence against such critiques. On the contrary, they are largely ignorant of the pertinent details. And they don’t seem at all troubled by that.

It’s strange. After all, academics seem to enjoy engaging with other subjects, even when they are of relatively little practical significance. But, when it comes to the defining event of this century, the justification for war abroad and the continuing degradation of rights at home, there is no curiosity.

Perhaps academics think there is no need for them to discuss 9/11, or to think too hard about it. Presumably they trust that others have already objectively and exhaustively considered these issues, and have judiciously concluded that the evidence overwhelmingly supports the official story.