Melissa Johansson illustration | The Northern Star

Ever since the band Iced Earth produced their album “The Glorious Burden” in 2004, they have been on my top list of musicians. Their fierce patriotic metal honors those lost in the name of freedom. In fact, their memorial song about the 9/11 tragedy was probably the most important and touching song on the album.

We need more patriots like Iced Earth to show true support for our glorious country. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support keeping an eye on our government. However, sometimes it can be taken too far.

It’s been five years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and yet many people find themselves lost when facing the issue. Just what happened on 9/11 is quite clear, yet many people claim it was more than a terrorist attack. Some conspiracy theorists want us to believe that our big, bad government is responsible for the deaths of more than 3,000 individuals. The theories range from President Bush knowing about the attacks in advance and letting them happen for political gain to the more popular theory espoused by the “Loose Change 9/11” video, that our own government engineered the 9/11 attacks. Not only that, but these people would like us to believe them solely on the basis of their evidence. Fortunately for freedom, we have the ability to look for all sources of evidence.

If you look hard enough you can find evidence against these conspiracy theories. Of course, if you want to take the easy road, there’s always the Internet. Web sites such as www.popularmechanics.com and www.loosechangeguide.com, another second-by-second debunking, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Web site have already beaten the ripe “truth” movement to a bloody pulp. Their point-by-point analyses of the 9/11 myths are like the blades on a lawn mower. After all, someone has to cut the grass sometimes, right?

If these sites don’t convince you of the truth, just take into consideration their credibility. How qualified are a few college-age individuals when it comes to the technical side of the 9/11 conspiracy argument? Just recently, the writer and researcher of Loose Change had a publicly televised debate with the editors of Popular Mechanics. It was hosted by Democracy Now, and the result was humorous. The Popular Mechanics editors consistently pointed out the flaws while the Loose Change crew had nothing but interruptions and insults. Their behavior is a clear example of their credibility.

Are you going to be the one to mindlessly spout these conspiracies in the faces of the victims? Is it acceptable to the families of the firefighters to insist on rubbish propaganda when they have clearly suffered more than their fair share? The 9/11 “Truth” movement did exactly this by protesting at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2006. Without a doubt, anyone who continues this intellectual dishonesty should be ashamed of themselves. Yet, some people will always be lost in a mess of kooky conspiracy compilations. The way conspiracy theories work, there’s no disproving them to those people; If you provide more evidence, it was clearly fabricated if you refuse to provide evidence, it’s a clear cover-up. It’s sad that the story surrounding 9/11 can be twisted to mislead innocent and hurt people. Hopefully, more political activists will rise up to embrace the real truth and honor those who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

Alex Ketay is an opinion columnist for the Northern Star.