Article misconstrues film screening

As the co-organizer of the screening of "Improbable Collapse", I believe the Feb. 22 article "Controversial 9/11 film draws curious crowd" misrepresented the purpose of the film screening. The focus of the film is not a U.S. government conspiracy. Rather, it focuses on scientific evidence that suggests the buildings could not have collapsed due to structural damage and fire alone. It contends that explosives may have been used in controlled demolition of the three buildings, citing evidence involving analysis of World Trade Center steel and paint samples, inconsistencies and unanswered questions in the official reports on the events, as well as the fact that no steel structure has ever collapsed due to fire before. Acceptance of this controlled demolition hypothesis does not necessarily place responsibility on the U.S. government. Although the film does make this implication, it is not its focus. The misplaced emphasis in [last week's] article on U.S. government involvement detracts from the real purpose of the film screening, which was to review scientific evidence in an attempt to answer questions about why the buildings collapsed.

Additionally, I do not see how Stephen Miller, executive director of the Duke Conservative Union and a source in the article, has any basis to comment on the film, the screening or the students who organized it, given that he did not even attend the event. If Miller or anyone else wants to criticize or disprove the arguments made in this film, they must critically examine them in a scientific context. Until then, it is Miller who has "disgraced our university" by refusing to acknowledge an important academic inquiry and criticizing those who ask questions. Miller's claims that supporters of the film "have a deep-seated hatred of America" and that they may "deny the Holocaust" and "say the Earth is flat" are disrespectful and offensive. The only way one could support such claims is by being closed-minded and ignorant of the issues in question.

Ross Cunning

Trinity '07