Wake'N'Bake 101: Conspiracy

Woody wonders: Why does what Rosie O'Donnell thinks about the WTC/9-11 events matter?

A clip of her espousing learned theories about the causes and agents implicated in the events of Sept. 11, 2001, was going around on the "F-Book" this (Saturday) morning. The hed proclaimed "Rosie O'Donnell saying the truth about 9/11."

Well, this got ol' Dr. Woody to speculatin'--that and the furious assault on his reasoning faculties, sanity, and parentage by passionate 'truthers,' which ensued when he raised the question of why Ms. O'Donnell's saying it mattered. Folks of almost any persuasion seem to go all orgasmic when Celebs take up their cause. But, I wondered, what's the point?

Is Rosie O'Donnell a physicist or a chemist or an engineer whose perspective is formed and informed by expert knowledge and rigorous analysis? I am a kinda sorta expert; I don't distrust experts, until they demonstrate they aren't. Is Rosie an expert? In anything?

No? She's just another "half-stellar celebrity?"

A celebrity, I would remind you, is someone whose sole achievement is to have become recognizable. Okay, then; now why should ANYONE care what the vacuous bint thinks?

I mean, really! Whisky Tango Foxtrot! Why does it MATTER?

Why should the 'amateur' contribution of someone who has no first-hand knowledge of, or expertise in, ANY in the relevant fields of study/knowledge be attended to with any more regard than would those of a groundskeeper, or a waiter, or any other menial who happens to have an opinion?

Rosie, sad to say, doesn't know shit, of her own discovery or expertise. She's just parroting what she's heard elsewhere. There is noting in her CV that would lead me to trust or value HER opinions, or the script she's reading, any more than those of a telephone operator.

So, I was asked, why did I posted the thing; and part from the fact that I mainly post things about which I have something to say that I think to be either interesting or entertaingng, I replied:

To illustrate the spuriousness of authority seated in/ceded to "celebrity?

Why does it matter what "Rosie O'Donnell" thinks about it?

Her opinion does not add a jot or a scintilla of illumination. There is ONLY one reason that "Rosie O'Donnell" is the face on this, and that is because she is known as "Rosie O'Donnell," and "Rosie O'Donnell"-qua-celebrity's opinion is as close to irrelevance as human utterance can be. Victoria Jackson thinks the sun orbits earth. Does that enlarge your understanding of the issue any further? I don't accord Elizabeth Hasslebeck's, or Chris Matthews', or Bryan Williams' opinions any more weight. They're just reading cue-cards.

It just doesn't MATTER what she thinks; anymore than, frankly, it matters what I think, without the experience and training necessary to scientifically analyze the competing claims. My degrees are in literature, journalism and education. I am not competent to say one opinion or one analysis is correct and another is flawed. There is NO reason to listen to me should I articulate, or even assemble and present a theory. I command no authority in that community which deals with those matters--tensile strength, nano-particles, thermite (An aside: I was trained to USE thermite, in the USAF, to ignite it and walk hastily away; not to understand it).

(I have an opinion, but it is wrought from available sources, nothing esoteric. I am sure I hold no unique insight, no special knowledge.) I can add nothing to that conversation. So I mainly abstain.

If ya wanna read it, the whole thread's HERE.