Why do 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Persist?

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Even though a decade has passed since our nation was struck by Sept. 11, 2001's horrific tragedy, rumors about the events that took place on the disastrous day are still running wild. Conspiracy theories are rampant, and people calling themselves "9/11 truth activists" have thrived and multiplied in the years since the attacks.

Brad Reagan, a correspondent for The National noted in a recent report that these "truth activists" conform to a wide range of concepts about 9/11. Reagan, who wrote a widely-cited, in-depth report about conspiracy theorists in 2005 for Popular Mechanics , said that some speculators believe the attacks were "a right-wing plot to justify a war against Islam, others as a leftist campaign to further the reach of Big Government and still others as a vast Zionist conspiracy."

Though Reagan contends that these 9/11 conspiracy theories are "sheer fantasy," they seem to be prevalent among Americans. According to a poll of U.K. and U.S. residents by the BBC, 15 percent of Americans and 14 percent of Britons believe the past attacks were staged by the U.S. government.

Why do the theories persist even 10 years later? Well, there are many theories about that.

Author and Huffington Post political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson explained that many people hold on to claims of conspiracy because of the "the fury that many Americans had, and still have, toward Bush." He also noted that some people believe former President George W. Bush "hijacked" the White House in 2000 and 2004 by rigging votes, which "makes it easy to believe that government agencies will say and do anything to cover up and shield wrongdoing and misdirect Americans."

Tamara Lush , an Associated Press writer, recently asserted that many of these skeptics find consolation in their beliefs: "For many, conspiracy theories aren't terrifying; they're more comforting than the idea that an event as terrifying as Sept. 11 could be so – random," she wrote.

Prof. Patrick Leman, who researches 9/11 conspiracy theories at the University of London, told Lush that some people who question the facts around the events use their disbelief as a "security blanket" because "it stops us from having to confront the unpredictability of life."