Brief comment on 9-11 Conspiracy Theories

Academics who study conspiracy theories say they meet a basic human need to make sense of major catastrophic events. It is the notion that great events spawn from great origins. Thus 9-11 could not be the result of 19 determined men on a mission who met with the good fortune of a nation asleep at the wheel; it must be the result of a grand conspiracy. Much like a president can be killed by a determined man with a gun; a popular princess can't die in a routine auto accident; and world wars can't start because of the assassination of a minor monarch or one country's successful duplicity over another. It must be the result of something greater or life truly is random, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. A world in which tiny causes can have huge consequences feels scary and unreliable. Therefore a grand disaster like Sept. 11 needs a grand conspiracy behind it.