Slide #26 - "Sounds/Sights of Explosions" Orientation

This slide is an outline slide.

Affirming the Consequent

This is the logical fallacy that Richard Gage will invite you to make with him in this section.

Premise 1: If explosives were in the buildings, people would report explosions.

Premise 2: People reported explosions.

Conclusion: Explosives were in the building.

Here, both premises are true. No one questions that. The fault is with the unsound argument. The premises do not logically lead to the conclusion.

And you can easily see why. Say it with me: "Explosions do not equal explosives."

Many Sources of Explosions

People heard explosions. People heard a great number of things that they compared to explosions and bombs. No one is denying this.

However, there are a great many things inside a burning building that can explode or sound like an explosion.

Electrical transformers were throughout the buildings, and 7 World Trade was built on top of an existing substation that provided power to a large chunk of lower Manhattan.

Pieces of floor slamming down to the next would make a loud sound similar to an explosion.

People in the North Tower staircases heard the South Tower falling, and not knowing what was happening, described it as an explosion.

As weakened structural steel fails and buckles, pieces can pull apart with a long bang.

And in one of the most grisly facts about 9/11, the impact of bodies on the pavement was often described as explosions.

The Towers had actually been bombed before, and this terrorist attack had many people thinking about the possibility of bombs in the Towers again. Explosives was a natural assumption to be made on that day for any explosions heard.

However, in such a horrific and chaotic event, actual judgment as to what happened should be withheld until all evidence is in and properly evaluated.

The stories of explosions are so numerous because this attack happened in one of the most populous areas on earth. With that many people terrified and numb, the possibility of error is quite high.

This is why physical evidence is much stronger than eyewitness testimony. Out of three huge office buildings, there has never been the slightest evidence of any controlled demolition explosive whatsoever. No leftover det cord was ever found, out of what must have been miles used to rig the buildings. No residue of explosives was ever discovered. Furthermore, videotapes recorded during the collapses never reveal the telltale audio signatures of explosives being used, and this is also true of seismographs in Manhattan being operated by several demolition sites.

There were no explosives used on these buildings. All reports of explosions, therefore, must be attributed to some other source. Gage's third point is rightfully denied.

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