Democracy at work?

It is interesting to see that until a couple of years the simple story of 9/11 was accepted by almost all as the "truth" (with few exceptions of course, who at that time would be labeled 'crazy' at best or 'pro-terrorists' at worst)...About nine years later, Washington Post publishes this article questioning the accepted truth of that time. And skimming through the 100+ comments following the article, the majority seems to be sympathetic with the critics. What was is that made the story more believable then as opposed to now? Why do intelligent people fail to be critical and get swayed by the status quo? Maybe it is the risk of sticking one's neck out by being the first to break apart from the conventional norms.

Let's see if this effort succeeds in exposing more truth or gets tabled...