Strange experience

Have you ever encountered a “9/11 truther?” A legit one? Not people who just yell out the “Bush did 9/11” meme. I hadn’t until today, I spoke with a co-worker. He’s Hungarian, has a doctorate in Chemistry, and comes off as someone tethered to reality. He’s taught at Tulane, and a University in Florida. Now he’s delivering pizzas. We discussed Russian culture, which we both have an interest in. His face lit up when we discussed Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoyevsky. I threw in Borzois (the Russian Wolfhound that I love.) Anyhow, he began telling me his story. He grew up in Communist Hungary. His mother and aunt were members of the party, and worked in a factory. They were both very bright girls, and offered a chance to go to university, but they said they were happy with their life and jobs as it was. One day at the factory, they were called out at a meeting for having been seen going to Catholic church (big no-no). Given a 6 month revocation of Party membership, and ended up not returning to the party because they wanted to continue going to mass. Anyhow, he was a very bright student himself, and was at University. One day the secret police called him in, and wanted him to become a snitch. This is where our conversation veered into conspiratorial, murky, uncouth waters. As we were making comparisons to the secret police, Homeland Security was brought up. No-fly list, threats against high-ranking people, these subjects. Then he said, in his thick Hungarian accent “Oh yes, these are the people who did 9/11” Anyhow, I began laughing because this came right out of left fucking field. I was like “Homeland Security did 9/11?” And he said “Oh yes, you didn’t know this?” very matter-of-factly. The plane we saw run into the tower was actually a hologram. The calls made by the passengers of the hijacked plane were a computerized voice. He’s a scientist. Aren’t they supposed to believe the easiest explanation is the most likely or some shit like that? He seemed very sincere about it though. He said he had a nervous breakdown when he learned the “truth” about 9/11. What a crazy fucking world we live in.