Former 9/11 Truther Charlie Veitch on What Convinced Him it Wasn't an Inside Job

In 2011, the BBC went on a mission: to take a minibus load of 9/11 conspiracy theorists on a trip across America in the hopes of convincing members of the troupe with scientific evidence and expert testimony that the terrorist attack was not an "inside job."

The BBC's 9/11 Conspiracy Road Trip

Charlie Veitch, one of five British participants in the documentary-style 9/11 Conspiracy Road Trip, with Irish comedian Andrew Maxwell, was approached by the BBC because of his high profile within the “Truther” community.

However, about three days into filming, something started to happen: Charlie began to change his mind, the only member of the group to do so.

Veitch's story has drawn the interest of skeptics and debunkers who are keen to understand how the he transformed from ardent "truther," to having, with humility, accepted the facts and testimonies he heard during his nine-day ride across America.

“I found my personal truth and you don’t have to agree with me,” Veitch told Maxwell during filming, “but I can’t push propaganda for ideas I no longer believe ... So, I just basically have to take it on the chin and admit I was wrong, be humble about it and just carry on.”

Veitch has since faced a backlash from the very people and community he once identified with and even counted as friends. In a recent interview with Myles Powers, he talked about what led him to change to his mind during filming, as well as how conspiracy theorists reacted to losing one of their more vocal advocates.



“[W]hat I thought when I was in New York on this BBC trip was that to me, the truth was the most important thing. Hence, the “truth” movement, but oh how wrong I was,” says Veitch.

Paranormal Reality TV: Harmless Entertainment or Cultivation at Work? Part I

In Part I, I discuss the ubiquity of both paranormal reality shows and America's enduring beliefs and interest in paranormal phenomenon, as well as the power of the story to cultivate attitudes and opinions that more closely resemble the distorted narrative world provided through the window of television. What role does paranormal reality TV play in harming viewer's understanding of science? And how does paranormal programming reinforce belief in Woo?

Whether it's hunting ghosts, having adventures with ghosts, chasing UFOs, or just Big Foot, chances are there is a reality show about it, featuring a crack team of investigators and night-vision cameras.
 

Do You Believe? Infographic source R. Toro/LiveScience.com

Ever since the early success of shows like Ghost Hunters, the genre has seemingly exploded over the past decade, as some of TV's biggest networks have hopped onto the paranormal reality show bandwagon, including SyFy, National Geographic Channel, The Travel Channel, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, A&E, Biography, and TruTV.

While belief in certain phenomenon, such as devil possession, have waned since the early 1990s, Gallup polling, in particular, has shown that widespread beliefs in paranormal phenomenon have remained incredibly consistent. The growing ranks of atheists, agnostics and the otherwise non-religious, have seemingly not put much of a dent in the overall trend of America being a rather superstitious country, with a healthy majority of the population believing they have experienced a paranormal event, and a comfortable plurality believing in phenomenon such as ghosts and ESP.

However, the business of TV, is well, just that -a highly lucrative business, one that provides entertainment and escapism to mass audiences through the power of visual storytelling. And of course, paranormal programming of all stripes has never been more in vogue. But is paranormal reality TV harmless entertainment or is there a process of cultivation at work?

The power of storytelling

Chasing UFO's, Psychic Detectives, The Haunted Collector, and the mother of them all, Ghost Hunters, all have a strand of continuity, says Paul Brewer, Professor of communication at the University of Delaware and author of the study The Trappings of Science: Media Messages, Scientifc Authority, and Beliefs About Paranormal Investigators, and it isn’t just the shaky-cam, night vision scenes, over-the-top theme music and cheesy special effects: It's sounding and looking sciencey.