Conspirituality Bonus Sample: The 9/11 Rorschach Test

Host: Julian Walker
Date: September 15, 2025
Episode Theme:
This episode explores how the 9/11 attacks serve as a Rorschach test for understanding political, psychological, and cultural patterns—particularly in the context of conspiracy, religious narrative, and U.S. foreign policy. Host Julian Walker uses the attacks to expose the multifaceted and often contradictory human need for meaning, security, and moral certainty. The episode interrogates how different worldviews—especially those inclined toward conspiratorial thinking—interpret such vast, traumatic events, and how those interpretations reveal our deepest anxieties, cognitive biases, and historical blind spots.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trauma, Memory, and Pattern Recognition

• Opening reflection (00:03–06:30): Walker sets a somber tone, acknowledging the trauma of 9/11 and the personal, collective shock it produced.
• He references the widespread circulation of images from 9/11—particularly the “Satan in the Smoke” photo—and relates this to the psychological phenomena of apophenia and pareidolia:
  • “We are hardwired to look for faces and to see them very easily in clouds or on trees or something like the headlights and the radiator grill of a car.” (04:20)
• Walker connects the urge to find meaning (faces, signs) in random chaos to our inclination toward both religiosity and conspiracism.

2. 9/11 as a Political and Ideological Rorschach Test

• Walker argues that our reactions to 9/11 reveal our psychological and political orientations:
  • “How we react to 9/11 is also a kind of Rorschach test. You know, what you see in the ink blot image tells the psychologist about your hidden depths, fears, desires, preoccupations, trauma. But I’m not getting psychological today. It's more of a political Rorschach test.” (07:12)
• He notes his own non-American upbringing, which, along with early experiences of unrest in South Africa and England, shaped a less America-centric, but still empathetic, reaction to 9/11.

3. Conspiracy Theories and the Search for Alternative Explanations

• Walker summarizes the proliferation of 9/11 conspiracy narratives and “truther” movements.
  • He describes personally engaging with these theories through a close friend, but ultimately finding them implausible:
    • “Occam’s Razor applies here—meaning the alternative explanations are simply much less plausible than the official narrative.” (21:10)
  • Cites Noam Chomsky’s rationale for dismissing the truther claims:
    • The need for scientific rigor, improbability of secrecy, and how such theories distract from genuine, documented atrocities. (22:30)
  • Notes how, when debunked, his friend immediately pivots to other conspiracies (e.g., JFK), illustrating a psychological need for alternative, hidden explanations:
    • “The moment I effectively debunked something about 9/11 that he was compelled by in a conspiratorial way, he would quickly default to turning to the JFK assassination.” (24:00)

4. Exploitation of 9/11 for Geopolitical Agendas

• Explores how real-world political actors (Bush administration, neoconservatives) used 9/11 to justify wars and expand power.
  • Reference to the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) and its chilling talk of a “new Pearl Harbor” (28:15)
  • The role of fabricated intelligence and figures like Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney (32:00)
  • Observes, “The hard push toward toppling Saddam Hussein seems in hindsight to have been the by-any-means-necessary agenda of the power circle... weapons of mass destruction being the path of least resistance they all could agree on as the rationale.” (34:17)

5. War, Occupation, and Blowback

• Detailed recounting of Iraq and Afghanistan wars—their justifications, dubious rationales, staggering casualties, and public opinion both American and local (40:00–44:00)
• Points to the complex reality of public support and subsequent disillusionment with American intervention.

6. Cold War Roots and Proxy Wars

• Through scholarship (Mahmood Mamdani, “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim”), Walker connects 9/11’s roots to America’s Cold War policy of supporting right-wing regimes and funding insurgents (especially in Afghanistan).
  • “These include adjusting to the hugely unpopular and failed Vietnam War by America, partnering with drug lords in order to fund covert military operations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. It’s staggering.” (46:00)
• Argues that terrorism itself was normalized and optimized through US foreign policy before later returning as “blowback” in 2001.
• Details the tangled history of Soviet and US involvement in Afghanistan, noting that the US, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China were all involved at different times in supporting the militants who became today's jihadists. (49:00)

7. The Complexity of Islamist Ideology & Misreadings of 9/11

• Critiques the simplistic view that jihadist terror is mainly a reaction to Western colonialism; instead, emphasizes deep ideological and theological factors.
  • “Salafi jihadism is not only anti democracy but also anti communist and opposed to the idea of secular government.” (54:20)
• Traces influence on Osama bin Laden of figures like Hassan Al-Banna, Abu’l A‘la Maududi, and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, highlighting the ambition for a pan-Islamic caliphate as a key motivator.
• Discusses the fluid alliance and subsequent conflict between Western nations and Muslim insurgent groups, especially during and after the Cold War.

8. Challenging the ‘Colonialism vs. Resistance’ Narrative

• Walker insists that limiting the analysis to the theme of Western imposition versus native resistance misses the regional ideological heterogeneity and historical nuance:
  • “The sheer number of potent regional religious ideological conflicts in the Middle East make it complicated way beyond a simple colonizers versus resisters template.” (59:10)
• Emphasizes that both Western and Soviet imperialism, regional power dynamics, and long-standing religious-political ambitions must be considered.

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On conspiracy thinking:

  • “It cannot be as it seems. It must have happened for other reasons. There are too many coincidences for them not to be pulling the wool over our eyes. Man, ever since JFK, I’ve been determined not to be fooled again. It just feels off.” (27:10)

• On war and moral complexity:

  • “It is all one big complicated mess and I abhor war in all its forms. I’m also not whitewashing American imperialism or attempts under the Bush Doctrine to strong arm the region so as to maintain power, influence and access to resources or the war crimes that were never adequately prosecuted.” (45:40)

• On the origins of jihadist terrorism:

  • “When the US along with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China got involved in 1980s Afghanistan, it was on the side of the prototypical jihadis as we’d come to know them in later decades… They also happened to be ultra conservative religious extremists, but I don’t think anyone in the west was taking that seriously enough yet.” (50:42)

• On historiographical bias:

  • “As distasteful as it is for me to ask, a real world question is also what would the world look like today… if the Soviets had gained control of most of the oil also as these hypothetical communist Middle Eastern states ended up collapsing along with the doomed ussr… That’s not a cheery thought.” (54:00)

• Final reflection:

  • “I don’t by any stretch see the West and America in particular as blameless. I don’t know how we as humanity break these cycles while also being realistic about the immense number of conflicting factors, factors that add up to the world we live in right now, which seems perpetually poised on the edge of descending into absolute chaos. But I do think that naming the host of factors at play historically and ideologically might be a good starting point for trying to come to grips with our many dilemmas.” (1:07:20)

Key Timestamps

• 00:03 — Personal and collective memory of 9/11; psychological triggers
• 04:20 — Pareidolia and pattern-seeking in crisis
• 07:12 — 9/11 as political Rorschach
• 21:10 — Occam’s Razor and conspiracy theory skepticism
• 22:35 — Noam Chomsky on 9/11 conspiracism
• 27:10 — Emotional drivers behind conspiracy thinking
• 28:15 — Project for a New American Century, political exploitation of 9/11
• 34:20 — Bush Administration, war motives, and Iraq invasion
• 40:00–44:00 — Casualties, public opinion, and the reality of occupation
• 46:00 — Mahmood Mamdani and Cold War blowback analysis
• 49:00–54:00 — The Soviet-Afghan war and the creation of international jihadism
• 59:10 — Regional complexity beyond “colonialism vs. resistance”
• 1:07:20 — Conclusion: finding a way forward through honest historical reckoning

Overall Tone and Takeaways

Julian Walker’s delivery is measured, deeply researched, and reflective, blending personal anecdote, historical analysis, and a critical philosophical lens. He avoids simplistic narratives, instead offering a “complicated mess” anchored by humility and a plea for deeper, more inclusive understanding. Conspirituality’s underlying commitment—to resist the seduction of black-and-white thinking whether in the form of conspiracism or moral grandstanding—pervades the episode. The big lesson is the necessity of wrestling with complexity and resisting reductive Rorschach readings, whether they surface as conspiracy, political polemic, or uncritical zeal.

“Thank you for your support. Until next time. Peace be upon you, wherever you’re from.” (1:09:10)