In an earlier post, I said that I don't trust conventional wisdom. The following illustrates why. According to conventional wisdom these days, the 9/11 attackers were extremists. But not necessarily, according to this editorial. They weren't bad boys, but good boys by the standards of their communities.
"The detail-rich book — which is endorsed by anti-war gadfly Seymour Hersh, no less — reveals that the 19 hijackers did not "hijack Islam," as conventional East Coast wisdom would have it. They weren't career criminals using the religion as an excuse to wantonly murder people. Nor were they misled into martyrdom by Osama bin Laden or other Svengali personalities."- from IBD editorial "Perfect Muslim Soldiers"
Conventional wisdom in this case appears to be a type of denial.
"Denial is an attempt to reject unacceptable feelings, needs, thoughts, wishes--or even a painful external reality that alters the perception of ourselves. This psychological defense mechanism protects us temporarily from:
-Knowledge (things we don’t want to know)
-Insight or awareness that threatens our self-esteem; or our mental or physical health; or our security (things we don't want to think about)
-Unacceptable feelings (things we don’t want to feel)"- from Dr. Sanity blog
The truth is a slippery word indeed.
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