Ok man, good. I'm glad to see you're with me on the spirit/consciousness side of this because it will help you understand my position better, and I'd much rather have understanding than convincing.
What do you mean by "shells?" I want people to come out of their shells, but to me that means I want for people to realize that we're all in this together and that at the end of the day we're all dependent upon each other for survival: personally and globally. How does "being fed lies" affect our ability to break out of that shell? How does believing one way or the other about 911 or anything else affect our capacity to do good in our lives and to live with integrity: to be honest, loving, caring, and humanitarian?
Again, it's not going to come from the top down because the leaders have a lot invested in perpetuating conflict. And you know what, as far as I'm concerned I'm prepared to let them. If I can't operate with integrity, why should I expect my leadership to? That's really what I'm on about. When I know I'm leading a life worthy of happiness I know those around me will take cue, and that's all I can really do to influence other people.
For every person that's "woken up" to conspiracies or whatever else through an Alex Jones documentary or whatever else, there's thousands who won't ever be reached in that way. The people who don't believe the conspiracies and have their own evidence against the credence of them have just as hard a time convincing believers of their position. How inefficient! It's a waste of time, wouldn't you say? Just a look at any of the myriad threads in A&P (not just on 911, but on the war in Iraq and whatever else [mostly j-wonder and dub of course, but their opinion is as valid and hard to sway as anyone else's]) is enough to prove that discussions like this amount to nothing beyond dead horse beating and talking-point masturbation.
I like this example because if I twist it a bit it helps me explain my point.
Let's say we live in a very large pet store with 300,000,000 fish all living in separate little bowls. It doesn't take long for our water to get dirty, and when it does we just wait around for our owner to come and clean it. It takes a while sometimes, and a lot of us get upset and start complaining. Some have even begun to think that he's keeping the water dirty just to fuck with us and keep us in line for one reason or another.
One such fish though the pet store owner was keeping his and the other fish's water dirty to achieve some personal gain, and he spent most of his time trying to convince enough fish of his beliefs that they could confront the owner collectively and impose a more fair cleaning schedule. But a lot of the fish didn't seem to care. They went about their business day after day, paying no mind to the dirty conditions he felt so strongly about. He felt helpless, and feared that the quality of his life would forever be at the mercy of his negligent owner.
One day he finally realized that all the arguments in the world couldn't force the other fish to unite with him: that the only person he had any real influence over whatsoever was himself and that the only water he had any control over was his own. So he set about enacting a really marvelous idea: he started cleaning his own water! "Too bad for those other fish," he said, able to plainly see their deplorable condition through the clear water in his clean bowl. "They can do as I have, but must be choosing differently. Oh well! I have no control over them. Let them be."
But then something incredible, and quite unexpected, happened: those fish near him saw what he had done and started doing the same! Then the fish near those fish saw and in no time the entire shop full of fish had sparkling clean water. They no longer even had to depend on the owner. They gave up their griping and turned to more enjoyable pursuits and lived happy, clean lives from then on; teaching their children to do the same and thereby beginning what fish historians have referred to as the "Rinseaissance."
The owner thought it was quite uncanny that he no longer had to clean his fishbowls. In fact, he reported this strange circumstance to the local newspaper, which in turn brought these fish to the attention of Ripley's believe it or not. This exposure eventually caused all fish to adopt the practice of keeping themselves clean, and no fish ever had to choke on dirty water again.
I got a little silly with that but I think my point is clear. When you're living something that everyone wants -- happiness -- by taking responsibility, care, and integrity in all you do, people can't help but notice. This is the meaning of "be the change you want to see in the world," because as you said it all comes from within: an outer reflection of what you transmit to the world and those around you. We can be sheeple as long as we want, and complaining about the shepherd doesn't make you the shepherd. Take control of your life where you can and the rest will take care of itself.