UC Berkeley linguistics professor, George Lakoff teaches how selective use of words or "frames" can empower propaganda. In an interview with Lakoff [1], Lorna Tychostup summarizes Lakoff's thesis "The definition behind any particular frame may or may not represent the actual truth, but after hearing or reading that frame enough times, the set of beliefs the frame evokes becomes the truth. The real truth dissipates as it is replaced by a false truth—or in some cases, more simply put, a lie."

When Cynthia McKinney was in Tucson recently, she told us that Congress-men and -women were given talking points just after 9/11 instructing them to tell their baffled constituents that we were attacked by Islamic fanatics on 9/11 because "they hate our freedom." This frame appeared at the beginning of the cover operation designed to thwart the crimes of 9/11 from being investigated and prosecuted. Subsequently, public figures and politicians have used a set of frames to justify their resistance to inquiry into the crimes of 9/11. Planners of covert operations appear to have learned that studied use of frames can make the cover-up somewhat self-sustaining. In hopes that others will confirm or add to my list and to establish that these frames did not appear as if by magic, here is a list of frames (para-phrased without exaggeration) that I've heard recur in public speech by politicos, prominent people and academics to justify what appears to be a coordinated lack of curiosity about what happened on 9/11.

1. It's a given.... we all know what happened on 9/11.
2. Everyone knows that 9/11 happened just like we saw on TV.
3. I've watched some DVDs and read some books but (to be fair and balanced) I also checked out the counter-arguments ([Popular Mechanics], [Wikipedia], etc.) and I think the counter-arguments are better than the evidence of a rogue government/corporate conspiracy.
4. I watched the DVDs with my wife. She's an ordinary person (i.e., not a politico like me) and she also thinks the evidence for a rogue government/corporate conspiracy is bogus.
5. The DVD (e.g., September 11th, Revisited) raises some interesting engineering questions.
6. Because there are so many "proven" ills and deprivations that flow from the Bush administration, you hurt our (liberal/progressive/Democrat) causes
by talking about matters that can't be proven. Why don't you work on something substantive?
7. I've looked at both sides and I'm agnostic about what happened on 9/11.
8. If the evidence for a rogue government/corporate 9/11 conspiracy is so good then why hasn't some enterprising prosecutor (like Elliot Spitzer) taken up the case?
9. If the evidence for a rogue government/corporate 9/11 conspiracy is so good then why doesn't some enterprising reporter (like Amy Goodman) reveal this to us?
10. If the evidence for a rogue government/corporate 9/11 conspiracy is so good, then why doesn't some tough liberal Congressman (like Raul Grijalva) mount an investigation?
11. I don't buy the 9/11 conspiracy theories because the Bush administration is too incompetent to have carried out 9/11.
12. I don't question the official story about 9/11 because what you are telling me sounds like a giant conspiracy theory.
13. It is impossible that a complicated 9/11 conspiracy could have taken place because someone always blabs or squeals.
14. All the important people I know accept the official story about 9/11.
15. What happened on 9/11 is debatable.
16. Bad things have happened in the U.S. and elsewhere because of 9/11, but that's no reason to think that 9/11 was a part of a bigger plan.
17. If you can't tell me the names of the people who attacked us on 9/11, then why should I consider your information? The official story provides the answer to this question.
18. I agree that FOX News is biased and probably tells lies, but how can all of the media be like FOX News?
19. Just because the trumped-up Gulf of Tonkin incident served to escalate the Vietnam War does not mean that 9/11 was a similar staged event.
20. Ok, I'll read [Debunking 9/11 Debunking] but then there will be a book titled [Debunking - Debunking 9/11 Debunking] - - when will this cycle ever end?
21. Don't tell me your conspiracy theories, I lost a friend/relative on Flight xxx - have some respect for the dead. A common variant of this is - I know so-and-so who died in the towers, so back off and have some respect. Another variant of this is - I know someone who knows someone who died on 9/11, so knock off the conspiracy talk -

[1] Interview with George Lakoff by Lorna Tychostup
http://www.chelseagreen.com/about/politicsandpractice/news/2006/july1

The aide said that guys like me were in "what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." ... "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." an un-named aid to George W. Bush quoted by Ron Suskind, 10/17/04 New York Times Magazine