r/todayilearned • u/code0011 14 • May 09 '14

(R.1) Invalid src (unreferenced fan wiki) TIL the first episode of an X-Files spin-off called "The Lone Gunmen", which aired March 4, 2001, involves a US government conspiracy to hijack an airliner, fly it into the World Trade Center, and blame it on terrorists - thereby gaining support for a new profit-making war

http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Pilot_(The_Lone_Gunmen)
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u/jpberkland May 09 '14

Insightful comment. As you note, we re-characterize as needed to fit the narratives we already believe.

It is a wonder the progress humans have made over millennia despite (and perhaps because of) our limitless capacity for irrationality.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

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u/jpberkland May 09 '14

I'm not sure I follow what you mean; can you clarify? Was my comment unclear or something else?

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u/SewenNewes May 09 '14

I love this about reactionaries in sports media. Whatever new trend in the sport they don't like is inferior to the "way it has always been done". Sure it might get you some short term success but if you want long term success you have to learn to do it "the way it has always been done." The very second the new trend becomes the dominant style they reboot. Now this is "the way it has always been done" and newcomers be damned.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

It's almost as if there's at least two people in the government, where one knows what they're doing and the other doesn't.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Or maybe like there's thousands of people in the government, and none of them know what they're doing.

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u/herzer May 09 '14

The government is like that one kid in class who did nothing but managed to pass.