AFAR

 Advanced Facility For Avian Research
   I have been a bit under the weather, but overhead the skies have been clear and the fall weather fine. That combination resulted in a loss in the  production of posts for MM, but I can’t say there has been an increase in the number of complaints from readers. The few who appear to stumble upon something in MM, do so whether I am writing or not and the royalties continue to roll into my offshore accounts.

 

  While high in the clear sky the birds have continued their migration south, there are some birds in London flying continuously, but going nowhere. Their wings are flapping at the Advanced Facility for Avian Research up at Western University. I told you about that place four years ago in “For The Birds” and the information there is still useful. 
    More is provided, and AFAR noticed, in a recent article in the New York Times. It is good that we can read some local news, even if it comes from afar. Online you will find it under, “What Flying in a Wind Tunnel Reveals About Birds,” on Oct 11. It appears in print in the NYT on Oct. 15, with the title, “Some Birds Migrate Thousands of Miles Every Autumn: How Exactly Do They To They Manage It? Scientists Built a Flight Chamber to Find Out.” Emily Anthes is the author. Here is a portion that provides some of the questions for which answers are sought by those up at Western. 

  "It is understandably difficult to monitor the internal workings of a wild bird while it is soaring thousands of feet in the air. So Dr. Guglielmo sends his avian test subjects on simulated journeys. At the Advanced Facility for Avian Research, he and his colleagues use a hypobaric wind tunnel, which functions, in essence, as a treadmill for airborne birds....

   Scientists can send air through the main test chamber at varying speeds, up to about 40 miles per hour. Not all birds take to the tunnel — “about half of them will be good fliers,” Dr. Guglielmo said — but those that do can flap their wings for hours at a time while remaining, conveniently, in one place.

Researchers can adjust not only the wind speed inside the tunnel but also the temperature, humidity and air pressure to simulate different flying conditions and altitudes. They can study the physics of flight, mapping how air flows around the bodies of different birds, or focus on avian physiology: How does a bird’s breathing change at higher altitudes? How does diet affect flight performance?"
For additional information see: AFAR. 

Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory
   The hypobaric wind tunnel at Western is not the only wind tunnel at Western. Back in the mid-1960s, UWO was "considered the birthplace of the modern practice of wind engineering."  For more details see this digital heritage plaque.      

Post Script
   It used to be the case that no one knew where the birds went when the weather turned cold. A clue was finally provided by a stork.
See: "The University of the Unusual (2) - The Mystery of Avian Migration."

Bowl Games Primer

   This is another rainy day effort created for those who want an excuse to not go Christmas shopping and who are not interested in watching all of those football games on TV, many of which are played in bowls. Here is a convenient list of them, only in that I have alphabetized it. It may be useful if you want to pretend to know something about what others are watching. It is not so useful if you do want to watch them since (spoiler alert) some of them have already been played. 

   Fifty are listed below, forty-four in the 'major' category and six lesser ones. There are many more. You can easily find information about them, but here are a few remarks for the perplexed. The first two numbered ones are a gas company and an investment firm from Daphne, Alabama. Food is often related and you will notice first the Avocados and then find that you can have Cheez-It with citrus or Chick-Fil-A with peaches, and also enjoy Potatoes and Mayo. Pop-Tarts, perhaps for dessert. The Wasabi one, however, is not about eating. Arranging the bowl names alphabetically leads one to recognize that two have military connections - Lockheed followed by the Military one, which encourages bowling. The Isleta one probably promotes gambling since it is the name of a New Mexico resort and casino.  Since we are nearing year's end, it is useful that two of the bowls are sponsored by companies that will help you with your taxes. Two of the bowls are "Famous." Glancing back up the list I noticed Bad Boy Mowers which allows one to "mow with an attitude." I will put some "local" information at the end, but will note here that London recently lost its "Bad Boy" store, but got its first Chick-Fil-A.

68 VENTURES BOWL 

76 BIRMINGHAM BOWL

ALLSTATE SUGAR BOWL

​​AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL  

AVOCADOS FROM MEXICO CURE BOWL

BAD BOY MOWERS PINSTRIPE BOWL 

BARSTOOL SPORTS ARIZONA BOWL 

CAMELLIA BOWL

CAPITAL ONE ORANGE BOWL 

CHEEZ-IT CITRUS BOWL     

CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL 

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP BY AT&T

CRICKET CELEBRATION BOWL

DIRECTV HOLIDAY BOWL 

DUKE'S MAYO BOWL

EAST-WEST SHRINE BOWL

EASYPOST HAWAI'I BOWL

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL

FAMOUS TOASTERY BOWL

GOODYEAR COTTON BOWL CLASSIC  

GUARANTEED RATE BOWL  ISLETA NEW MEXICO BOWL

LOCKHEED MARTIN ARMED FORCES BOWL MILITARY BOWL PRESENTED BY GOBOWLING.COM MYRTLE BEACH BOWL POP-TARTS BOWL QUICK LANE BOWL RADIANCE TECHNOLOGIES INDEPENDENCE BOWL RELIAQUEST BOWL ROOFCLAIM.COM BOCA RATON BOWL ROSE BOWL GAME PRESENTED BY PRUDENTIAL R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL SCOOTER'S COFFEE FRISCO BOWL SERVPRO FIRST RESPONDER BOWL SRS DISTRIBUTION LAS VEGAS BOWL STARCO BRANDS LA BOWL HOSTED BY GRONK TAXACT TEXAS BOWL

TAXSLAYER GATOR BOWL TONY THE TIGER SUN BOWL TRANSPERFECT MUSIC CITY BOWL UNION HOME MORTGAGE GASPARILLA BOWL VALERO ALAMO BOWL VRBO FIESTA BOW WASABI FENWAY BOWL

OTHER BOWLS

BAHAMAS BOWL

BIRMINGHAM BOWL

THE COUSINS SUBS LAKEFRONT BOWL

FLORIDA BEACH BOWL

HAWAII BOWL

TEXAS BOWL

Canadian Content:

Football is not so popular up here. Western University is a large one with a football stadium that would be considered small by many Texas football high school coaches. Still it is usually less than half full. Or, perhaps half empty.

Simon Fraser University out on the West Coast used to play some football down south in NCAA Division II, but last year it dropped its football program and plays not at all.

Source: The graph is from: "A Perfect Day For Football," Miles Bolton, The Gazette, Sept. 11, 2023.

GOOD BOOK AWARDS

 The Scotiabank Giller Prize and The Cundill History Prize

   There is a great deal written about the JUNOS, EMMYS and OSCARS, but not so much about awards given to the writers of books. As a Canadian you may have heard about "The Gillers", perhaps because the winner this year will be announced by Rick Mercer tomorrow night at 9 on the CBC. It is awarded for a work of fiction, whereas, the little-known, "The Cundill", is for a non-fictional historical work.

   You will be relieved that I will not write much more, mainly because the official websites of each provide all the information you need, so you can stop here if you wish: "The Scotiabank Giller Prize." "The Cundill History Prize."

   The longlist for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize consisted of 145 titles and the 5 finalists were announced on September 6 and they are:

"Sarah Bernstein for her novel Study For Obedience, published by Knopf Canada

Eleanor Catton for her novel Birnam Wood, published by McClelland & Stewart

Kevin Chong for his novel The Double Life of Benson Yu, published by Simon & Schuster

Dionne Irving for her short story collection, The Islands: Stories, published by Catapult

CS Richardson for his novel All The Colour in the World, published by Knopf Canada."

   The one bit of information I will call to your attention is that the author of the work bolded above, Eleanor Catton, was born in London, Ontario. That fact was reported by the Associated Press and published by CTV News ten years ago when she won "The Man Booker Prize" for The Luminaries " ("London, Ont.-born Writer Eleanor Catton Wins Man Booker Prize," CTV NEWS, Oct. 15, 2023.)

  Why was she born in London? The answer to such a question is the reason why you are reading MM. Her father, Philip, was a part-time instructor at UWO, got his Ph.D and later taught there as you will see from his Curriculum Vitae. His dissertation, if you must know: Science and the Systematicity of Nature : A Critique of Nancy Cartwright's Doctrine of Nature and Natural Science. If you are now curious about Nancy Cartwright, you are on your own. Apparently he has since moved on from philosophy to civil engineering! Kudos to both of them.

   Information about "The Cundill History Prize" is hosted by McGill and if you look at the link provided, do also view, "The Cundill History Hub." Back in 2017 I discussed this prize, which at that time was the richest one in the world for a work of non-fiction (and probably still is - $75,000) See, "Christmas Shopping for Historians."

   The winner does not have to be Canadian, by the way, and this year she is: Tania Branigan for, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China's Cultural Revolution." It may even be readable, given that:

"The prize reminds academic historians that there is a general reading public that wants to read serious history. So much scholarship nowadays is written for purely professional purposes: articles and books written for other specialists who then proceed to cite it in their own works. The more citations and downloads you have, the more “impact” you have, even if no schoolteacher of history (let alone a bank manager, engineer, or dentist) is ever going to read a word you have written. To some extent, this is right and proper: academics do need to satisfy their peers. But history as a discipline shouldn’t, in my view, take refuge in academe. The Cundill History Prize encourages historians who write for a general audience. Long may it continue!"

The Grapefruit Effect

    Although I do not have to take any prescribed drugs and do not pay much attention to health-related articles, I was vaguely aware that the word "grapefruit" is often mentioned near the word "medicine." Basically it appears that this citrus fruit can react with many drugs in ways which are not helpful.

   I was not aware at all that the "Grapefruit Effect" was one of those "accidental scientific discoveries" and that the discovery occurred here in London when Dr. David Bailey was trying to figure out ways to hide the taste of alcohol from those who were participating in a study he was doing on a blood pressure drug. The solution was grapefruit juice and it was a suggestion from his wife that led to an accidental discovery of considerable significance:

“It was really my wife Barbara and I, one Saturday night, we decided to try everything in the refrigerator,” says Bailey. They mixed pharmaceutical-grade booze with all kinds of juices, but nothing was really working; the alcohol always came through. “Finally at the very end, she said, ‘You know, we’ve got a can of grapefruit juice. Why don’t you try that?’ And by golly, you couldn’t tell!” says Bailey. So he decided to give his experimental subjects a cocktail of alcohol and grapefruit juice (a greyhound, when made with vodka), and his control group a glass of unadulterated grapefruit juice.
The blinding worked, but the results of the study were … strange. There was a slight difference in blood pressure between the groups, which isn’t that unusual, but then Bailey looked at the amount of the drug in the subjects’ bloodstreams. “The levels were about four times higher than I would have expected for the doses they were taking,” he says. This was true of both the control and experimental groups. Bailey checked every possible thing that could have gone wrong—his figures, whether the pharmacist gave him the wrong dosage—but nothing was off. Except the grapefruit juice."

Mrs. Bailey died in 2020. Dr. Bailey died on August 27, 2022, both in London, Ontario. 

Dr. David Bailey and Western University

   London, Ontario is not alone in being a "local news desert." There is still one  newspaper in the city, but there is little in it that is concerned with London, where the owners of it no longer reside and where it is no longer printed. The few remaining local reporters do a good job, but they can't cover everything. There are a couple of publications up at Western University, but I have not noticed anything about the death of Dr. Bailey and the writers there have no shortage of crucial issues to report upon. 

   I admitted at the beginning, my general lack of awareness and I may have missed some stories about Dr. Bailey and the "accidental discovery", but just in case there are none, I have gathered some information from which additional articles could later be constructed by others. Dr. Bailey, like Dr. Barr, is a name Londoners should recognize. 

   If you are more interested in athletics than pharmacology, I should mention that Dr. Bailey is Canada's Bannister, in that he was the first Canadian to run a mile in under four minutes. Information about Dr. Bailey, the Olympian, is also provided below.

  I became aware of Dr. Bailey because of an article in the American magazine, The Atlantic Monthly. I received it via email in December: "No One Can Decide if Grapefruit is Dangerous: The Citrus Can Raise the Level of Dozens of Drugs in the Body -- Sometimes to a Worrying Degree, Sometimes Very Much Not," Katherine J. Wu, Dec. 26, 2022. Dr. Bailey's discovery is discussed and, Dr. Dresser, who was mentored by Bailey is quoted. Dr. George Dresser is in the Department of Medicine at Western. Here is a portion of the article that mentions both of them:

"Grapefruit’s medication-concentrating powers were discovered only because of a culinary accident. Some three decades ago, the clinical pharmacologist David Bailey (who died earlier this year) was running a trial testing the effects of alcohol consumption on a blood-pressure medication called felodipine. Hoping to mask the distinctive taste of booze for his volunteers, Bailey mixed it with grapefruit juice, and was shocked to discover that blood levels of felodipine were suddenly skyrocketing in everyone—even those in the control group, who were drinking virgin grapefruit juice.
After running experiments on himself, Bailey confirmed that the juice was to blame. Some chemical in grapefruit was messing with the body’s natural ability to break down felodipine in the hours after it was taken, causing the drug to accumulate in the blood. It’s the rough physiological equivalent of jamming a garbage disposal: Waste that normally gets flushed just builds, and builds, and builds. In this case, the garbage disposal is an enzyme called cytochrome P450 3A4—CYP3A4 for short—capable of breaking down a whole slate of potentially harmful chemicals found in foods and meds. And the jamming culprit is a compound found in the pulp and peel of grapefruit and related citrus, including pomelos and Seville oranges. It doesn’t take much: Even half a grapefruit can be enough to trigger a noticeable interaction, says George Dresser, a pharmacologist at Western University, in Ontario."

Additional information about the "Grapefruit Effect" and Bailey is provided below.

Also An Athlete   

Bailey is on the right. Medalists in the 1500-metre run at the
Winnipeg Pan Am Games.

   At the age of nine, David Bailey lost an eye in an accident and his participation in sports was limited to running. He became quite good at it. His athletic achievements are noted in his Globe and Mail obituary and are provided here:

"He became the first Canadian to run a mile in under four minutes, and represented Canada in the event, which is rarely staged any more, at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City – after overcoming considerable adversity as a youngster.

David struggled through his early teens and lacked a sense of identity as a result of the eye injury and exclusion from contact sports, according to Harvey Mitro, a runner, writer and long-time friend. But a high-school coach recognized David’s running talent and, in 1961, placed him in the East York Track Club.

The club was led by legendary coach Fred Foot, who later mentored him at the University of Toronto and also worked in the Canadian Olympic program. David flourished under Mr. Foot’s guidance and the opportunity to train, and compete occasionally, with two older athletes: Bruce Kidd and Bill Crothers, who specialized in other distances and would become running legends.

While the three runners trained together, Mr. Kidd, won the 1962 Commonwealth Games six-mile event and competed in the 1964 Olympics. Mr. Crothers, a two-time Olympian during those years, earned an 800-metre silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

In 1962 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, David set a world record in the mile for his age group, as a 17-year-old. And, late one Saturday night in June, 1966, in San Diego, he became the first Canadian to run a mile in under four minutes, posting a time of 3:59.1.

But Mr. Foot wanted him to break four minutes in Canada, too, Mr. Kidd recalled. So the coach organized another race, in July of 1967 at Varsity Stadium – without revealing the goal to David so that he would not feel extra pressure.

Mr. Foot instructed Bryan Emery to set a fast first-lap pace and secretly told Mr. Crothers to drop out at the three-quarter mark, according to Mr. Kidd. David was hot on Mr. Crothers’s heels when he quit running.

“I will never forget the look on [David’s] face when he realized what was happening,” Mr. Kidd said. “Bill just stepped off the track after taking the second step in this superb pace-setting job. Dave looked at him with the expression ‘Oh, my God,’ and then just put his shoulder down and just barrelled ahead to that fabulous time.”

He crossed the finish line in 3:57.7, becoming the first Canadian to break the four-minute-mile barrier in Canada.

Individually and as a team member, he garnered multiple conference and Canadian championships at the university level and berths in the U of T and Ontario sports halls of fame, among other accolades. He also captured silver medals in 1,500-metre races at the 1967 Oslo Bislett Games and 1967 World University Games (now Universiade) in Tokyo, and bronze in the mile at the 1967 Pan-Pacific Games in Winnipeg.

In addition, David ran the mile at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, and the 1968 Olympics but did not medal."

A Brief Bailey Bibliography

Obituaries: (with some excerpts)

1.  Dr. David George Bailey, PhD, Mar. 17, 1945 - Aug. 27, 2022,
Westview Funeral Chapel
"David distinguished himself for two very different reasons in the world of international running, as well as food-drug research.  On June 11th, 1966, in San Diego, CA, he became Canada’s first sub-four minute miler in a time of 3:59.1.  He sought to top this a year later on July 22, 1967, this time in his home town of Toronto, ON, in a time of 3:57.7.  Later in his life, while working on a clinical pharmacology study between a blood pressure lowering drug and alcohol, he discovered the bizarre reaction between some medications and grapefruit juice.  So if you ever see a little sticker on your medicine bottle saying “don’t take with grapefruit juice” you can thank Dr. Bailey."

2.   "David Bailey, Olympian and Pharmacologist Who Discovered the Grapefruit Effect, Dead at Age 77," Monte Stewart, Globe and Mail, Sept. 23, 2022.

"In the late 1980s, Dr. Bailey, an Olympic runner-turned-pharmacologist, was researching the effects of alcohol on the blood-pressure medication felodipine. Seeking to disguise the alcohol’s taste in his experiment, he tried combining it with grapefruit juice and stumbled upon the fact that his subjects’ consumption of the juice resulted in a greater concentration of the drug in their bloodstreams. He went on to discover that grapefruit juice has this effect because it inhibits an enzyme (CYP3A4) in the human gut that breaks down the medication, so the body consequently absorbs a larger than normal amount of the medication."

   At the end of 2022, Dr. Bailey is also mentioned in this G&M article:
"22 Influential People Who Died in 2022..." Dec. 31, 2022.

"David Bailey improved countless lives because of a discovery he made by accident.

3.  "Pharmacologist and Olympian David Bailey Dies at 77," Lisa Winter, The Scientist, Oct. 7, 2022.

"A few years later, Bailey was studying the interactions between alcohol and felodipine, a blood pressure medication. In one clinical trial, he tried using fruit juice to cover up the sharp taste of the alcohol before giving it to participants. He noticed that those who had the juice had much higher concentrations of the drug in their blood afterward, though it wasn’t clear at first whether it was the alcohol or the juice creating the odd reaction.

“So I decided to do a pilot study, on me, to find out,” he told Inside, a publication of the London Health Services Centre, in 2013. “Once I took the drug with water, then I took it with grapefruit juice. My drug levels were five times higher with grapefruit juice. That was a big eureka moment.”

   For a good, long article about grapefruit and Dr. Bailey see this interesting article:

"Grapefruit Is One Of The Weirdest Fruits on The Planet: From Its Name, To Its Hazy Origins, To Its Drug Interactions, There's A Lot Going On Beneath That Thick Rind," Dan Nosowitz, Atlas Obscura, Oct. 6, 2020. It begins this way:

"IN 1989, DAVID BAILEY, A researcher in the field of clinical pharmacology (the study of how drugs affect humans), accidentally stumbled on perhaps the biggest discovery of his career, in his lab in London, Ontario. Follow-up testing confirmed his findings, and today there is not really any doubt that he was correct. “The hard part about it was that most people didn’t believe our data, because it was so unexpected,” he says. “A food had never been shown to produce a drug interaction like this, as large as this, ever.”

Some Local Articles:

  There is not yet a notice about Dr. Bailey's death on the Western website, but there have been articles about him over the years. Here are some samples.

"Grapefruit-Medication Interactions Increasing," London Health Sciences Centre, Nov. 6, 2012.

"The number of prescription drugs that can have serious adverse effects from interactions with grapefruit are markedly increasing, yet many physicians may be unaware of these effects, states an article published in CMAJ.  The article, a review by the researchers who discovered the interactions more than 20 years ago, summarizes evidence to help clinicians better understand the serious effects this common food can have when consumed with certain prescription drugs."

"Grapefruit Part of a Deadly Mix," Adela Talbot, Western News, Dec. 6, 2012.

"That glass of grapefruit juice you usually have with breakfast isn’t as healthy as you think – if you’re taking certain medications, that is. Perhaps you already knew that.“We discovered the interaction 20 years ago. The science of grapefruit-drug interaction has been extensively studied.The science of the (interaction) is well known, but I don’t think it has been applied the way it needs to be now,” said David

Bailey, professor emeritus in the Schulich School of Medicine& Dentistry’s Division of Clinical Pharmacology.Bailey, along with colleagues George Dresser 

and J. Malcolm Arnold, recently published "Grapefruit-medication interactions: Forbidden fruit or avoidable consequences?"

  In 2015 there was a contest by the Council of Ontario Universities' Research Matters to determine research that was "Game-Changing". Here are the ones suggested for UWO and Bailey's is among them:

Dr. Charles Drake (1958) - Developed surgical techniques on the repair of ruptured brain aneurysms.

Dr. David Bailey (1991) - Discovered the dangerous interactions between grapefruit and certain medications.

Dr. Fred Possmayer (1981) - Developed a safe way to extract, purify and sterilize surfactant from animals for use in humans, in particular premature babies suffering from respiratory distress.

Dr. Murray Barr (1948) - Co-discovered an inactive chromatin, known as the Barr Body, linked to genetic disorders such as Down’s, Klinefelter’s and Turner syndromes. This led to a simple diagnostic test for certain genetic abnormalities.

Dr. Henry Barnett (1978) - Led a large international clinical trial to show that Aspirin prevents strokes, changing the way doctors managed heart disease.

Drs. Charles Beer and Robert Noble (1958) - Isolated vincaleukablastine, a powerful anti-cancer drug, from the Madagascar periwinkle plant. The drug turned out to be one of the most useful chemotherapeutic agents.

It should be noted that this bibliography is far from complete and is focused more on articles about Dr. Bailey and not on those articles which he authored.

The Bonus:

   If you on prescribed meds and want to learn more see:

Canadian - "The Effects of Grapefruit and Its Juice On Certain Drugs."
U.S. - "Grapefruit Juice and Some Drugs Don't Mix."
   "Grapefruit and Medication: A Cautionary Note," Harvard Health Publishing, Mar. 30, 2021. 

   The Wikipedia entry is under - "Grapefruit -- Drug Interactions."

Western and the Hilborn Issue

 

   Professor Kenneth Hilborn was a member of the History Department at the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) for many years. When he died, he bequeathed a significant amount of money to the University, most of which is used to fund scholarships for prospective students of history. To those scholarships, his name is attached. 

  Two recent articles indicate that Western University has undertaken a court action to have his name removed from those scholarships. The reprehensible Professor Emeritus held views that are now not acceptable.

   If there is any debate about the action of the University, up at the University, I am unaware of it. It could simply be that Professor Hilborn was an awful person, or perhaps it is that no one wants to publicly challenge those who think Hilborn horrible. It is not a good time to come to the defence of someone whose views are so at odds with the Zeitgeist which exists, at least on college campuses. Hilborn’s always were.

   There is no doubt that Professor Hilborn was a zealous, right-wing, very anti-communist conservative. The degree to which he was a ‘racist’ is more debatable as is the contention that he opposed LGBTQ rights, as well as the assertion that he caused “epistemic violence by suppressing, dismissing and trivializing people who were oppressed, vulnerable or discriminated against.” 

   Apparently those words are found in a document produced by a research group in Western’s history department, which is at odds with another history department document produced a few years ago when Hilborn first became an issue. It has been suggested that the new criticism from within the department is what led the University to seek to remove Hilborn’s name.

   The first two simple paragraphs are basically correct, but the issue is a complex one better examined by others. I think it is worth doing so and will provide all you need to proceed. Background about Hilborn and the donation is included below, as well as the articles which attack Hilborn. The response to those attacks by Professor Francine McKenzie, a professor at Western, is a good one I think, and, among other things, indicates that there are no stipulations with the scholarships that suggest that students have to devote themselves to studying only the types of revolting ideas promoted by Professor Hilborn. I also don’t think it likely that Professor Hilborn insisted that the Department agree with his ideas when the money was given or that it endorse his ideas after he was gone.

   I am interested in this because I am assuming that the University is asking for Hilborn’s name to be removed, but has no intention of relinquishing the money. I find that baffling and wonder if Western would have pursued this course if Hilborn had any remaining relatives. If his name is unacceptable, then his money should be as well.

   I also will declare an interest. I was a student in the History Department at Western and also was an employee of the University. I knew Hilborn as well as anybody, which means I knew him not at all. He lived alone and was regarded by many as a rather “odd duck.” He walked from south London to the north with a briefcase in one hand and the newspaper in the other which he read as he walked. He was thought to be wealthy (and obviously was), knew about Kurgerrands, but clearly never spent any to update his wardrobe.

   He was outspoken and frequently confronted those who were opposed to the Vietnam war or those who wished to divest from South Africa. If you want to know what he thought you simply have to look at his letters to Western News and I have included one sample from the hundreds he wrote. If you would like to examine some of his arguments, they are plainly on display and you will see also from the many rejoinders he produced, that he was a tough guy to argue with. His views were well known, but I am sure that if he had pushed and promoted them excessively in the classroom or inflicted punishing grades on those who disagreed, purely on ideological grounds, the department would have heard about it. 

   He taught a course on “Totalitarianism” and I am pretty sure he was against it. One has to at least admire his prescience and if he were alive today he would have a chance to see it in action on campus.

Sources:

Information About Professor Hilborn and the Scholarships:

In Memoriam: 2013
In memoriam - Kenneth Hilborn (posted Dec. 11)
Professor Emeritus Kenneth Hilborn, who retired in 1997 from Western's Department of History, died peacefully at home in London, Ontario, on Thursday, November 21 in his 79th year. Prior to his retirement Professor Hilborn had 36 years of service at Western where he taught courses in International Relations. Professor Hilborn was a graduate of Queen's University (Kingston) and the University of Oxford. He was the son of the late Harry W. Hilborn and the late Marguerite Mary Carr Hilborn. Cremation has taken place. Internment at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Expressions of sympathy may be made through London Cremation Services (519) 672-0459 or online at www.londoncremation.com

The Donation Announcement, 2016. 

The Donation Announcement, Sept, 1, 2016

“Donation From the Estate of Professor Ken Hilborn Creates Awards for History Students,” Western Social Science News and Updates, Sept.1, 2016.

The Recent Articles about "The Hilborn Issue:"

“Western University Seeks Court Approval to Rename Scholarships Honouring 'racist' Professor: Late London Prof Spoke out Against Multiculturalism, Feminism, Student Activism, LGBTQ Rights,” by Colin Butler, CBC NEWS, Sept. 7, 2022.

"Western University is seeking permission from an Ontario court to remove the name of an emeritus history professor from six academic prizes funded by his estate following criticism that he espoused radical, racist views."

“Western Seeking to Remove ‘racist’ Professor’s Name From 6 Scholarships,” Estella Ren, The Gazette, Sept. 8, 2022

The Criticism of Hilborn and the Scholarships:

“University Donations and the Legitimization of Far-Right Views,” Asa McKercher, Active History, Sept. 14, 2019.
This article is cited in the CBC article noted above. Professor McKercher is in the History Department at the Royal Military College.  He notes that Hilborn did not publish enough and that what he did publish would not have been accepted in respected academic publications. He does make a good point at the conclusion about universities having to be careful of donors with "questionable motives", but apparently Hilborn's was to "reward academic achievement amongst history students."

“Congress 2020, Interrupted: Racism and Commemoration in Western University’s Department of History,” Will Langford, Active History, May 5, 2020.
This essay is also cited in the CBC article. Professor Langford thinks Hilborn was a racist, associated too closely with unsavoury characters on the far right, and a supporter of "Western Civ." Prof. Langford argues that those on the right, mix up and conflate academic freedom and free speech. It is worth reading his related articles which touch upon Rushton and Jordan Peterson. 
See: “Congress 2020, Interrupted: Racism, Academic Freedom, and the Far Right, 1970s-1990s,” Active History, 28 April 2020, https://activehistory.ca/2020/04/congress-2020-interrupted-racism-academic-freedom-and-the-far-right-1970s-1990s/ 
“Congress 2020, Interrupted: A Brief History of University Codes of Conduct,” Active History, 21 April 2020, https://activehistory.ca/2020/04/congress-2020-a-brief-history-of-university-codes-of-conduct/

I did not and do not agree with most of Hilborn's views, but feel strongly that he had the right to express them. My views about free speech and academic freedom are less nuanced than Professor Langford's and they are expressed here: "Free Speech & Ontario Universities."

The Response to the Criticisms by Professor McKenzie:

“Western’s History Department and the Hilborn Student Awards,” Francine McKenzie, Active History, May 7, 2020.
"While Hilborn was a faculty member, his controversial and objectionable views provoked critical responses from faculty and students.  Few current members of the History Department knew Ken Hilborn or were aware of his political and personal beliefs. After Asa McKercher’s essay appeared in Active History in September 2019, the department discussed the implications of having student awards created through his bequest and decided that the awards should stay."

A Sample of One of Hilborn's Letters to Western News:
    

   Those who wish to examine Hilborn's opinions have the opportunity to do so by visiting the Western News website. The folks at Western Libraries' Archives and Special Collections are to be commended for digitizing the print issues which go back to the early 1970s. 

    The issues are searchable and the results are always interesting. The "Letters to the Editor" section is particularly useful for those interested in the thoughts and ideas expressed by faculty and students in the latter part of the last century and the first part of this one. The "Letters" seem to have ceased around the time the Western News became digital in 2018.

    That may not be such a loss. I doubt that those on campus would feel as free to express themselves these days. Plus it may also be the case that faculty have less time to write letters which help not at all in advancing careers. The Hilborn critics often attack him for his polemicizing and for not publishing more academic articles, but students surely learned more from the letters published and rebutted than the academic articles printed and they were more widely read.

   

   Here is an example of an exchange between Hilborn and another faculty member over the South African issue. Presented first is a letter challenging one of Hilborn's earlier letters. Hilborn's rejoinder follows. There are many such letters and rejoinders and they are usually even longer.

   Here is the link to the Western News Archive. 

Baguley Letter _ Nov. 3, 1988, p.4.
Both 'a sustained argument' and 'a source of wonder...'

 Dear Sir: New readers of Western News should be warned that periodically dull and predictable letters from Kenneth H. W. Hilborn appear in this column defending the regime of South Africa as a bulwark against communism. Hilborn's recent effort (20 October 1988) has at least the merit of presenting a sustained argument (against 'divestment'), for what it is worth. It also has the merit of containing an analysis of the plight of what he calls the 'economically vulnerable mass' of black South Africans. Yet it is a source of wonder why, with the economically and politically invulnerable advantages of a professor's salary, tenure and a free society, he should not be more sympathetic to their plight and should be so resolute in justifying the status quo in the regime that oppresses them. David Baguley, French Department.

Hilborn Letter Nov. 10, 1988, p.4

Critics fail to challenge accuracy, logic of case 

Dear Sir: To borrow some of the phraseology used by David Baguley in attacking me (letter, Nov. 3), "new readers of Western News should be warned" that letters like Baguley's, criticizing me and misrepresenting what! have written, "periodically ... appear in this column." 

   The most conspicuous characteristic shared by most (if not all) of these letters is their authors' failure to challenge either the accuracy of the information I cite or the logic I use in drawing conclusions from the evidence presented. My critics prefer instead to condemn me, as Baguley does, for being "dull" — or something equally irrelevant to the issue under discussion. At least in a university, if not on a political platform, it is surely more important to be accurate and logical than to avoid being dull. 

   Occasionally, critics also condemn me for "defending" somebody wicked —even when I have said nothing whatever about the actually or allegedly wicked people in question. Thus Baguley accuses me of "defending the regime of South Africa" and "justifying the status quo in the regime," even though my two recent letters opposing "divestment" (published by Western News on Sept. 29 and Oct. 20) contain not a single reference to that government, nor a single argument "justifying" South Africa's domestic status quo.

    In the 1950s, some American politicians used to suggest that any opponent of various hard-line anti-Communist policies must be a supporter of communism. Baguley has borrowed this McCarthyite technique and adapted it to his own purposes, by implying that opposition to divestment means support for apartheid. It is disappointing to find an academic displaying no more respect than politicians do for intellectual distinctions. I am mystified by Baguley's contention that I should be "more sympathetic" to the plight of economically vulnerable South African blacks. I have argued repeatedly against economic sanctions, including bans on investment that would inevitably inflict further hardships on these vulnerable people — sanctions that they themselves (as distinct from well-fed "leaders") clearly oppose. Does Baguley imagine that those willing to see blacks suffer from greater unemployment are expressing sympathy for them more effectively? 

   Finally, I hope that Baguley (whose specialty is French) will endeavor to improve his style in English. His letter contains this sequence of words: ". . that periodically dull and predictable letters from Kenneth H. W. Hilborn appear in this column. . ." I believe Baguley meant not that my letters are periodically dull and predictable, but rather that my dull and predictable letters appear periodically. When an adverb is intended to modify a verb, I think it better to place the adverb in close proximity to the verb rather than before an adjective more than half a dozen words away. We faculty members should set the students a good example in these matters.

Kenneth H.W. Hilborn

Department of History 

Post Script:

  If the old issues relating to the Vietnam war and South Africa are not of interest to you, but newer ones like the BDS Movement and the Middle East are, then do a search for "Hilborn and Chomsky." In 1987, Chomsky was invited to speak as an alternative to Henry Kissinger who wanted the USC to pay him $31,000. The debate that ensued between groups such as Hillel, UWO Canadians Concerned For the Middle East and others, will be of interest to those concerned with more recent political problems.

The Bonus:

  For two assessments of members of the UWO History Department whose characters are not questioned see: N.S.B.Gras and Wallace Klippert Ferguson.

  As for the matter of character questioning, here are two quotes I provided in a post about "Historical Censoriousness":

" Yet we need to be charitable about the moral failings of our ancestors - not as an act of charity to them but as an act of charity to ourselves.  Our own unconscious assumptions and cultural habits are doubtless just as impregnated with bias as theirs were. We should be kind to them, as we ask the future to be kind to us."

and

“The dispensing of moral judgments upon people or upon actions in retrospect,” wrote Butterfield, is the “most useless and unproductive of all forms of reflection.”

Bookless University "Libraries"

 

Weldon Library

   The picture above was captured from Western Libraries and it may not do justice to the extensive renovations underway in the Weldon Library. I don't think, however, that I will mischaracterize the project by saying that it has improved and enlarged the spaces available to students and reduced the areas where books used to be stored. 

  I will keep this short since I have raised this subject often, and repeatedly apologized for raising it again (see, for example, "Books & Libraries (Again)"). But, I just read an article and while doing so, thought of a question which can be phrased this way: "When alumni or the parents of potential students go on a campus tour, which type of facility would they find most impressive: a study area for students or a library filled with books?" Currently one would think that many would vote for the former, but the snippet that follows scores some points for the latter.

   After visiting the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, the author of the sentences below offers these observations:

"Curiosities aside, what makes the Fair so special is that it is about books. Books with covers and pages have, in a society dominated by social media and other sorts of online detritus, become functionally obsolete.  Perhaps the term “antiquarian,” which traditionally referred to old, valuable books, often first editions and manuscripts, now seems to me to apply to all books. Books, by definition, have become, if not antiquarian, antiquated in their material form. They have become artifacts.  Indeed, one could argue that even books that are not in themselves valuable, have begun to have acquired an “aura.” …. I suspect that in a generation or two, to walk into a home with bookshelves filled with books will be akin to walking into a home with original art on the walls. Both will be rare occurrences — even if the art is not by an old master or even if the books are not first editions or even classics. Their material presence on the shelves will provide aura enough."

Post Script:

   Years ago, even the old Business Library at Western University had a lot of books. It even had a collection of "GREAT BOOKS." While such a collection is now questioned and would even be prohibited by some, the rationale for having such books back then is outlined in the introduction to that collection which is provided here:

"Back before the "age of political correctness" and Allan Bloom, the Business Library was the recipient of a large donation of "classics". Apparently the books were purchased by Walter Thompson who is regarded by many as the "founder of management education in Canada". It was Professor Thompson's belief that students seeking a business education should also be exposed to great ideas and literature.

The "collection" actually consists of several hundred volumes that are kept in the Main Reference Room. The first 50+ volumes are part of the "Great Books of the Western World" series edited by Robert Maynard Hutchins (the call number for these volumes is AC1.M63A33). A great deal has been written about this project. See, for example, Robert M. Hutchins: Portrait of an Educator, by Mary Ann Dzuback and Unseasonable Truths: The Life of Robert Maynard Hutchins, by Harry S. Ashmore. The next 10 volumes were edited by Mortimer Adler in an attempt to "provide a way into the "Great Books..." These volumes are adjacent to the main collection under the call number AC1.G74.

Update: For additional historical context see the new book by Alex Beam: A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall, and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books. DBW E169.12.B333 2008

The rest of the collection consists of the distinctive Modern Library edition of the "World's Best Books". The authors range from Henry Adams (The Education of Henry Adams) to Alfred Zimmern (The Greek Commonwealth: Politics and Economics in Fifth Century Athens)....

   A new Business Library was constructed and it apparently contains some books. This  collection didn't make the cut, and given the current political milieu, that is not a bad thing.  The late Dean Thompson's notion that students should be exposed to "Great Books" now seems rather quaint. The books have been placed in storage where new students will not be harmed by them.

 The introduction to the "Great Books Collection" above is found in a newsletter produced by the staff in the old Business Library. That newsletter, The Bottom Feeder, no longer exists at Western and can only be found stored in the Internet Archive.

Sources: 

   The quotation about the "aura" of books is found here: "The Status of the Book in the Age of Digital Media: A Trip to the New York Antiquarian Book Fair," Paula Marantz Cohen, The Smart Set, June 27, 2022.  This The Smart Set" is not the one edited by Mencken. For more about it and him see: "Mencken on Politics."

The Bonus: 

  In some cases, university libraries with limited budgets and space are considering the sale of rare books and manuscripts. See: "Sacking of the Libraries: Alexander Larman Questions Whether Libraries Should Sell Historic Manuscripts to Solve Short-term Financial Problems," Alexander Larman, The Critic, Jan./Feb. 2021. The picture above is from that article.

Morley Safer

 

    Many people will remember Morley Safer as a reporter who was often on the CBS program, 60 Minutes. Fewer know that he also had been a war correspondent and that he passed through the University of Western Ontario. I was aware that he attended Western and that he had worked briefly at the Woodstock Sentinel Review and The London Free Press.  That is confirmed by an interview that I happened to stumble upon. It is provided below.

At the University of Western Ontario

   On September 13, 2012, Brian Lamb interviewed Morley Safer and it is available on C-Span. A portion of the interview relates to his experiences in Southwestern Ontario and that part of the transcript is provided here. The bolded Q & As relate to Western, but there are additional remarks pertaining to London and Woodstock.

LAMB: Let me go back to your upbringing. You - how much schooling did you get in Canada?

SAFER: I was not a great student. I got through high school; there were five years of high school. So the fifth year; fifth form, as it was called, was kind of like the first year of college. So I - and it was - you had to matriculate. It was like a baccalaureate exam that you had to pass and I scraped through. I was a pretty good athlete and I got sort of recruited by University of Western Ontario. I mean it was not an athletic scholarship.

LAMB: What sport?

SAFER: Football. I...

LAMB: What position?

SAFER: I played halfback. It was not an athletic scholarship. I was encouraged to come and what they did, which was important to me at the time, was that during the football season, you got full board, so that was one way of ...

LAMB: How long did you stay?

SAFER: I think three months.

LAMB: So you didn't get a college degree.

SAFER: I did not; I did not, no. I did not even finish freshman year.

LAMB: So how did you get into the information business?

SAFER: I knew exactly what I wanted to do. That was how I got into it. I knew I wanted to be a journalist. I had - I was, like a lot of people of my era; I was Hemingway bit. I'd read a - I was always a great reader, my whole family was a family of readers, and I read everything of Hemingway's up to that point. And he had been a foreign correspondent, Kansas City Star; also the Toronto Star. He covered the Spanish Civil War I think for the Toronto Star.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do and tried to get a job here, the you know all of the - all of the big metropolitan papers would just laugh me out of their offices. Ended up in a place called Woodstock, Ontario; it was a daily newspaper, Woodstock Sentinel Review. And the - my editor there was a wonderful man named Alf Berman and he said to me on my first day, "Safer, you have no experience at all at this; do you?" And I said "Yes, sir; I have no experience."

"You can't even type; can you?" I said, "Sir, I can't type." And he said "Well you'll learn to type here. And once you are typing in any kind of proficient way, do you know what the first thing you're going to be typing is?" I said, "No, sir; I don't know." He said "A letter of application to a bigger newspaper." And he was almost right.

So I moved on from the Woodstock paper to the London Free Press in London, Ontario. That was a major metropolitan, morning and evening. We had I think five or six editions of the paper, back in the days when papers were actually putting out five and six editions, and did everything. They had police beats; they had feature stories, breaking news, crime, overnight shifts. I really got a lot of really good experience there.

Sources:

 In early 2022 the interview with Morley Safer is available on C-Span. 

 Wikipedia provides a good profile of Morley Safer, along with additional references. He was buried in Toronto. His papers, like the papers of many other famous people, are at the University of Texas. 

The Bonus:

   Note that London used to have a local newspaper and that it put "out five or six editions, and did everything."

   The Wikipedia entry indicates that: 
He was the longest-serving reporter on 60 Minutes, the most watched and most profitable program in television history.

The Hudson River School

 

Autumn Landscape With Cattle 
by 
Jasper Francis Cropsey 

   It is a rather dreary day here, so I will provide some pretty pictures. Just as my thoughts are unfashionable, so are my aesthetic judgements. I prefer romantic landscapes such as the one above, done by Cropsey who was a member of the Hudson River School of Art. I noticed it recently in an exhibition catalogue. It is for sale and if you have $325,000 American dollars, it could be yours. One of his paintings, The Backwoods of America, used to be found up on the Western campus. It no longer is. If you want to see the painting and read about the controversy that ensued when it was sold, see this post: JASPER CROPSEY. 

 The Pretty Pictures: 
   You can begin at Questroyal Fine Art, LLC where the painting above is found in the current exhibition of "American Masters." There are many additional paintings in the Questroyal inventory. 
   Then have a look at the essay about "The Hudson River School" by Kevin J. Avery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 
   The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art has a large collection. 

The Bonus:
   If the U.S. border re-opens, you can explore the Hudson River School Art Trail. 

     

9/11

    As September 11, 2021 approached, there were many articles and programs about September 11, 2001. I watched none of the programs since I remember too well what I saw on that earlier date.  You likely have had enough of the 9/11 commemorations, so I will turn to a 9/11-related event that happened ten years ago in 2011 in London, Ontario.

   Perhaps I was prompted by the title of an article (cited below) which indicates that "False, Toxic Sept. 1l Conspiracy Theories Are Still Widespread Today", which caused me to wonder if that was true. If you are innocent of such matters, you should know that what you saw on 9/11 was not necessarily what was seen by many others. Or, that what was seen, has been explained in ways of which you may be unaware. There are those who believe, for example, that a plane did not hit the Pentagon and that the planes did not cause the destruction of the buildings in New York. Some of them are likely to live in London, Ontario. 

Conspiratorial Thinking Close By

   In early March of 2011 the Western News announced that "9/11 Truther Brings Message to Campus." Here is the description of the event:
“Niels Harrit, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, will offer a critique of the official account of the destruction of the World Trade Centres on Sept. 11, 2001, focusing on Building 7. Harrit published an article in 2009 about the discovery of nano-thermite, an incendiary and explosive, in the WTC dust. The free lecture takes place 7 p.m. today, March 3 in Social Science Centre, Room 2050. The lecture will be moderated by Dr. Paul McArthur, Western adjunct professor of family medicine.”

   I was not in London at the time and was sorry to have missed the talk, and I was surprised when I returned not to find any mention of it.  I was surprised because, even in 2011, universities were not generally welcoming places, and many speakers with, shall we say "eccentric" views, were being deplatformed. Apparently the talk was well-attended and no one objected. I, by the way, think it is a fine thing when notorious thinkers and obnoxious speakers are allowed on campus. 

   As the summary above implies, the collapse of the buildings was not caused by the airplanes. This is the view of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and apparently that view is still held in 2021. I am not sure what the attendees of the London talk believe now. It would be interesting to know. 

  A careful reader will have noticed that I said the talk was "well-attended", even though I was not there and found no accounts of the lecture. I have now found one, however, and it is provided by the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth. Back in 2011, the lecture at Western was one of several given on Canadian campuses and a full report is found in this post: "Nanothermite Co-Discoverer Adds Canada to Lecture Tour," Mike Bondi, PEng.  Here is the complete account about the event at Western.

At the University of Western Ontario in London, a city with a population of approximately 350,000 located about two hours west of Toronto, attendance for Professor Harrit’s talk was somewhere between 60 and 75 people, according to Dr. Sharon Baker, a palliative care physician and long-time London-area peace activist. Dr. Baker, who brought along her two teenage sons and one of their friends, and “hadn’t really heard of [WTC] Building 7,” was very affected by the presentation and felt compelled to do something.

The London event was organized by Dr. Paul McArthur, an adjunct professor of family medicine at UWO, and a practicing physician in Walkerton, Ontario. Dr. McArthur led the introductions, and before introducing Dr. Harrit, I presented a trailer for a documentary that is currently in production called “9/11 in the Academic Community” which is being directed and produced by Adnan Zuberi. In early production, the documentary will be narrated by well-known actor and 9/11 activist Ed Asner, and will feature a number of distinguished academics in Canada and the United States. The film will explore the difficulties faced by professors and students in broaching the subject of 9/11 within their respective academic circles. This documentary was inspired by a class in 2008 at the University of Lethbridge by Professor Anthony Hall that involved many academics in Ontario and discussed important issues surrounding the academy’s response to 9/11. Consisting of three parts – the nature and the dimensions of the taboo of expressing critical perspectives of the events of 9/11 in academia, scholarly scrutiny and the official reports, and ways activists might overcome barriers in academic institutions to examining this subject – the film will explore these issues through the experiences of university students, professors and presidents.

Professor A.K. (Kee) Dewdney remarked “Harrit gives a very methodical lecture, building his case like a lawyer and closing off the exits for deniers one by one. I had never heard such a damning discussion of the anomalies at the WTC and was especially pleased to think of the explanation of the very long time that molten material resided at the bottom of the ‘bathtub’ for weeks.” A graduate student who was reporting on the event and interviewed Dr. Harrit mentioned that in the past, she had experienced that “teachers aware of students who were promoting dangerous alternative theories of 9/11 were obliged to ‘report’ them.”

A theme that ran throughout the tour is the notion that “9/11 is key.” Of Harrit and Grumme, Dr. McArthur remarked that “we are all humbled and inspired by the pair of you, a real team – bringing your own talents to the cause of truth and justice, even beyond the 9/11 issue (though it is KEY).” It was interesting to note that during Dr. Harrit’s tour of Canada, the nanothermite paper he authored with eight other researchers was not available on the Internet for a period of at least a few days. Whether this was mere coincidence or not, one can only speculate.

   Careful readers from the London area will have recognized the name of one prominent London family in the account above.  Professor A.K. (Kee) Dewdney was in attendance and he was (and perhaps still is) an active 9/11 denier. He used to live around the corner from us here in "Old South" and may still be close by. I would have been afraid to approach him in any case, since he was a professor and my knowledge of nanothermite is slim. 

   I first learned of Professor Dewdney in the book: Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History.  I learned more from Among the Truthers, where this is found on p. 89: 

   "Of all the 9/11 conspiracy theories I have encountered, perhaps the most elaborate is that of Alexander Keewatin Dewdney, a retired Canadian mathematician, who believes there were no Arab hijackers on September 11, 2001: The passengers of the four planes were killed using sarin gas, and the planes were flown into their targets by government-programmed computers.

   Among the many inconvenient facts casting doubts on Dewdney's thesis are the various telephone calls from passengers on the hijacked 9/11 aircraft to their loved ones. And so, Dewdney has made it his life's work to prove that the people who originated these calls actually were actors and actresses pretending to be hijacked victims. Dewdney has even gone up in rented aircraft with a bag full of cell phones so that he can prove to the world that the alleged phone calls never took place."

   Although the summary provided by the Architects & Engineers suggests that professors and students can face some difficulties when broaching the subject of 9/11 within their respective academic circles, they apparently didn't face any when they visited campuses across Canada. I find that odd, given how ''touchy" those on campus are, and were even then. If the buildings were destroyed from within, then who did it? Some of us think the buildings were destroyed by terrorists and airplanes. Others, twenty years after the event, are still arguing about whether the Jews or Bush and the neocons, brought down the buildings and whether those in the U.S. government knew about what was going to happen or made it happen. I fear that the answers are whatever you want them to be and depend upon which channel you watch or what you choose to read on social media.

Sources: 
   If you are not a "Truther" and do not think 9/11 a "False Flag" operation, these resources will be of interest.

"9//11 Conspiracy Theories" Wikipedia.
   The article is thorough and well-arranged. If you need more:

"How 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Fueled the War on Reality: Twenty Years After Osama bin Laden Terrorized the United States, Evidentiary Thinking is Under Attack From the Inside."
Opinion by Kate Woodsome and David Byler, Washington Post, Sept. 8, 2021
Discusses a film by Evan Laine and Raju Parakkal. 
"When terrorists flew two jetliners into the World Trade Center on a clear blue morning 20 years ago — and a third plane into the Pentagon — Americans’ belief that they were invulnerable to attack was shattered. That belief, of course, was false. The War of 1812. Pearl Harbor. We’d been attacked before. But not while we had such a modern, well-funded military and intelligence networks. The system failed us — a reality too stressful for many Americans to bear. Evan Laine, a former trial lawyer-turned-academic whose home city — New York — was attacked, believes that people carrying the stress had two options. They could accept that the system failed us, or change the narrative. He eventually paired up with political economist Raju Parakkal to study what motivated people to change the narrative, i.e., believe in conspiracy theories blaming George W. Bush for 9/11 instead of the terrorists who planned and executed the attacks....In this short film, Laine and Parakkal reflect on why people are inclined to adopt a narrative unsupported by evidence. Their explanation draws a chilling line between 9/11 “trutherism” and the “Big Lie” of 2020."

"False, Toxic Sept. 11 Conspiracy Theories are Still Widespread Today," David Byler and Kate Woodsome, Washington Post, September 10, 2021. 
"The facts of Sept. 11, 2001, are uncontested: Terrorists hijacked four jetliners, flew two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon, while passengers on the fourth plane helped crash it in Pennsylvania.
After the attacks, conspiracy theories spread quickly. By the middle of George W. Bush’s presidency, a third of the public either believed that the U.S. government assisted in the attacks or took no action to stop them.
Today, 9/11 conspiracy theories remain widespread: 1 in 6 Americans think Bush administration officials knew about the attacks and intentionally let them happen so they could wage war in the Middle East. Others go further, arguing that the government planned and executed the attacks.
These groundless theories — commonly known as “Trutherism” — raise important questions. How does a conspiracy theory take hold? And why, 20 years after the attack, does it endure?

"How the 9/11 Attacks Helped Shape the Modern Misinformation, Conspiracy Theory Industry," PolitFact. From the Poynter Institute.  Here is the synopsis they provide:
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
*The sudden terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, seemed to defy explanation and occurred just as the internet started to boom. That combination spawned various conspiracy theories and made them accessible in new ways.
*The attacks also fueled distrust in government and fears of real and perceived enemies. Experts said the feeling of lost trust and security likely made some Americans more susceptible to conspiracy theories about 9/11 and other topics.
*One key accelerator of the 9/11 truth movement was an amateur documentary released online in 2005, which created a template for future videos, such as “Plandemic.”

"Two Decades Later, the Enduring Legacy of 9/11," by Hannah Hartig and Carroll Doherty.
From the Pew Research Center. 
"The enduring power of the Sept. 11 attacks is clear: An overwhelming share of Americans who are old enough to recall the day remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Yet an ever-growing number of Americans have no personal memory of that day, either because they were too young or not yet born."

"Seven Resources Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories: With the twentieth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks approaching, we recommend sources for better understanding 9/11 and its aftermath. This week: seven resources that debunk 9/11 conspiracy theories." Blog Post by James M. Lindsay and Anna Shortridge, September 1, 2021. From the Council on Foreign Relations. 

"9/11 Conspiracy Theories Debunked: 20 Years Later, Engineering Experts Explain How the Twin Towers Collapsed,"  .September 8, 2021.From: The Conversation: (Academic rigour, journalistic flair.). 

"How a Viral Video Bent Reality: The Opening Moments of "Loose Change;" A Conspiracy Film Energized the "9/11 Truther" Movement. It Also Supplied the Template for the Current Age of Disinformation." New York Times, Sept. 12, 2021. 
But millions of Americans were seduced. After watching it, they disappeared down rabbit holes and emerged days or weeks later as, if not full-fledged 9/11 truthers, at least passionate skeptics. They had opinions about obscure topics like nano-thermites and controlled demolition, and they could recite the melting temperatures of various construction materials. Some believed the government was actively involved; others merely thought Bush administration officials knew about the attacks in advance and allowed them to happen.
Today, the Sept. 11 truther movement is often mocked or reduced to a sad historical footnote. It’s easy to forget how successful it was. More than 100 million people watched “Loose Change,” by its director’s estimate, making it one of the most popular independent documentaries of all time. And while conspiracy theory videos now routinely go viral, “Loose Change” was an early example of the internet’s ability to accelerate their spread.
What I found, in short, was that 16 years after its release, “Loose Change” is still bizarrely relevant. Its DNA is all over the internet — from TikTok videos about child sex trafficking to Facebook threads about Covid-19 miracle cures — and many of its false claims still get a surprising amount of airtime. (Just last month, the director Spike Lee drew criticism for indulging Sept. 11 conspiracy theories in a new HBO documentary series.) The film’s message that people could discover the truth about the attacks for themselves also became a core tactic for groups like QAnon and the anti-vaccine crowd, which urge their followers to ignore the experts and “do their own research” online.

If you now wish to read an entire book on the subject, see Jonathan Kay's, Among the Truthers: A Journey through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground.

Post Script:

   Those who witnessed the event will soon be gone and, as we have seen, the testimony of the witnesses varies. Currently, many distrust the government, even more the media and somewhere on social media one can find exactly what it is one wants to believe. Besides, we are now not only entitled to our own opinions, but as well to our own facts. One only hopes that things will have changed considerably before the historians arrive.

The Bonus:
   At the risk of leading some of you to the dark side, I will provide here a link to a video of the charismatic and convincing Professor Harrit from the website TRUTH COMES TO LIGHT: "World War III Started 20 Years Ago:" The Psychological War on Humanity - From 9/11 to Covid - 19."