How's this for a course?

On April 5th, we blogged about Professor Jane Christensen from the North Carolina Wesleyan College. Now, Front Page Magagazine has published an article about one of her wacky courses -- one looking at 'alternative' theories of 9/11. Here is a description of her course.

“The events of September 11, 2001, indisputably changed the course of American politics and history. This course is offered so students may examine various events and policies leading to 911. In particular, this course will focus largely on the specific destruction in lower Manhattan and the Pentagon. We will examine the official story and analyze it critically. We will consider alternative explanations of what occurrred (sic) as well. 911 was a catalyst for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the attack on civil liberties in the United States. We will examine each of these with a critical eye. The goal of this course is to arrive at a solid understanding of how 911 has shaped our political future and to promote critical analysis by students of this catastrophic event and its aftermath.”

“This course is outside the scope of traditional 'political science' in many ways. First it is 'unscientific' in that it relies much on eyewitness accounts and speculation. Secondly, there is not yet a solid literature on the September 11 'attacks' or on the war on terrorism. This literature is emerging, particularly on the latter. Thirdly, this course will rely somewhat extensively on alternative news media accounts and a variety of films and videos in lieu of literature.”

And, what kind of theories does the course look at? Well, here's just one:

From libertythink.com: Agents of “a little-known private company known as MITRE Corp” had “agents embedded within the U.S. military and intelligence organizations [who] conspired to carry out the terror attacks” and is in cahoots with Israel and Britian, “supporters and beneficiaries of the Bush administration's 'war on terror'”; also, “Some persons unknown are trying hard, very hard, to convince you that the top of World Trade Center South Tower was intact and tilting as the building fell. Only thing is....These commonly referenced photos below are fakes. Clear evidence that the official story of 9/11 is not true. Otherwise, why bother to fake these photos?”; and “There is a very active male homosexual ring operative at the very highest levels of 'our government'; my guess is that this is the blackmail link that facilitates entry into the Council on Foreign Relations and that, once in, one can never leave—alive” (reported under the headline “Fags R US”).

If you want to read more wacky theories, please read the entire article. You can also check out her web site, which is linked in my April 5th posting.