Author Topic: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?  (Read 46435 times)

Offline Gene DiGennaro

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Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« on: 04/16/2008 03:04 pm »
Throwing this one out for general comments.

It's been getting to me lately. Some of the younger adults that I associate with really bought into that goofy Fox "documentary" and now express a small degree of doubt that humans did indeed walk on the moon.

Is it that it was so long in the past? Or is it that today's public is accustomed to hearing the mainstream media constant negativity regarding human spaceflight which leads them to believe that NASA couldn't do it, but had to fake it?

I'd like to know what fellow astro-geeks think.


Offline CessnaDriver

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #1 on: 04/16/2008 03:20 pm »
Human nature, do NOT let it get to you.There is always a segment of society that believes strange things because they *want* to believe them, and of course plenty of people happy to exploit that. Simply provide the facts and oppose the nonsense in a calm way. It can get old, but view it as a chance to educate about science and skeptical thinking.

Offline charlieb

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #2 on: 04/16/2008 03:24 pm »
It's easy to 'sell' young adults anything.  They don't 'think'.   If they buy MTV and it's 'message', then they will easily buy the 'fact' that moon-walks were staged at Area 51..    Just like 9-11 is a total hoax.  Man don't get me and others started.....
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Offline vt_hokie

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RE: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #3 on: 04/16/2008 03:47 pm »
Because if Fox airs it on some lame television special, it must be true!  :laugh:

Offline khallow

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #4 on: 04/16/2008 03:50 pm »
I see a couple of sources. The distrust of government particularly the US government and the fact that we haven't tried since then.
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Offline j2_

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #5 on: 04/16/2008 03:55 pm »
Scientific and technical ignorance.

Offline Chris Bergin

Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #6 on: 04/16/2008 04:21 pm »
It's the dark and dumb side of human nature, with a large dose of ignorance and lack of intelligence.

Same as those idiots that can't comprehend that 9/11 was as it happened, so fabricate a conspiracy as a form of self delusion, without realizing how incredibly insulting it is to the brave men and women that had to deal with the consequences of the tragedy, and those lost as a result.

Specific to the thread title, I think Buzz Aldrin "said" it best:

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Offline Rusty_Barton

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #7 on: 04/16/2008 04:40 pm »
Just watch Jay Leno's "Jaywalking", where he asks simple questions of the man on the street. The answers are embarrassing. It's scary that people like this are allowed to drive, vote and reproduce.

Offline iamlucky13

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #8 on: 04/16/2008 04:43 pm »
Most people (myself included at times) really want to believe that someone is out to pull one over on them. Sometimes, especially when they don't know many of the details that make such a position untenable, are willing to sacrifice a little bit of reason to support such a view.

The funny thing is, the number of people out there who deny the lunar landings seems to be roughly equal to the number of people who think NASA is hiding images of the alien bases on the far side of the moon. We should get those two groups in a room sometime and see what happens.

Buzz Aldrin definitely said it best. :cool:

Offline Lee Jay

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #9 on: 04/16/2008 04:51 pm »
Quote
Chris Bergin - 16/4/2008  10:21 AM
Specific to the thread title, I think Buzz Aldrin "said" it best:


Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!  :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:

Offline cpcjr

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RE: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #10 on: 04/16/2008 05:06 pm »
1. Most of the people who fall for this were not born yet such that they have never seen a man walk on the Moon.  An easy answer for why is that we never went in first place.

2. In many cases today public schools concentrate more on teaching kids what think instead of how to think. As a result they have no ability to look at what they see and hear critically. Some one presents them with convincing looking but one sided evidence and they simply have no ability see possibilities other  than what they are being told.

I have seen this in other areas from time to time. For example, I have been engaged in scientific  discussions with some one who holds a view opposite my own where my opponent refers to a paper supporting his position. After finding a copy of the paper in question and looking at it I can see that the same data is constant with my position, but the author had interpreted it by other position.  When I pointed this out,  my opponent would reply but the papers say such and such. Often try as I may the other guy just can not  see past what he is being told the data means to see any other interpretation.

I think this is often the case with with the “We never went to the Moon” crowd. They see someone present some data with one interpretation and do to how they have been educated they simply can not see any other interpretation.

Offline Rusty_Barton

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RE: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #11 on: 04/16/2008 05:10 pm »
Looks like Buzz Aldrin's fist had a rendezvous with the jerks chin. Dr. Rendezvous hasn't lost his touch! If he had insisted, Neil would have let him step on the moon first.  :laugh:

Offline Blackstar

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RE: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #12 on: 04/16/2008 05:14 pm »
Quote
Gene DiGennaro - 16/4/2008  10:04 AM
Is it that it was so long in the past? Or is it that today's public is accustomed to hearing the mainstream media constant negativity regarding human spaceflight which leads them to believe that NASA couldn't do it, but had to fake it?

This is a subset of a much bigger issue.

Lots of people believe lots of illogical things.  How many people believe in angels, for instance?  Or read horoscopes?  Or believe that they have a "lucky shirt"?

This is the one that we are sensitive to, but there is a lot of irrationality in the world.

Offline cpcjr

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #13 on: 04/16/2008 05:14 pm »
Quote
iamlucky13 - 16/4/2008  12:43 PM
The funny thing is, the number of people out there who deny the lunar landings seems to be roughly equal to the number of people who think NASA is hiding images of the alien bases on the far side of the moon. We should get those two groups in a room sometime and see what happens.

Shouldn't be too hard there is probaly a lot of over lap.

By the way in some cases NASA is partly the blame in how they respond or don't respond. Sometimes no responce or a condensending responce just adds fuel to fire.

Offline khallow

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #14 on: 04/16/2008 05:16 pm »
Quote
iamlucky13 - 16/4/2008  9:43 AM

The funny thing is, the number of people out there who deny the lunar landings seems to be roughly equal to the number of people who think NASA is hiding images of the alien bases on the far side of the moon. We should get those two groups in a room sometime and see what happens.

There's probably considerable overlap between the two. After all, it's pretty clear that in order to hide the alien bases, NASA had to fake the moon landing. Having actually attended a UFO conference (purely for the entertainment value), I can assure you that it's surprisingly easy for bizarre ideas to mix and coexist.
Karl Hallowell

Offline William Barton

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #15 on: 04/16/2008 05:17 pm »
I'll say what I always say in these matters: We live in a world where the majority of human beings believe the universe was built and is operated by one or more supernatural beings. We live in a major culture where a large percentage of people not only believe in flying saucers, but believe they have personally seen one. If, in five minutes, I meet someone who assures me they've seen irrefutable proof Buzz Aldrin and Neal Armstrong were carried to the Moon on gossamer wings, I will not be surprised.

Offline brahmanknight

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #16 on: 04/16/2008 05:27 pm »
This is funny.  I asked a similar question on a sports website lately ( How do you feel about human spaceflight ).  But someone broached the "Moon landing was a hoax" question as a joke.  One guy did say he thought it was a hoax seriously.  When asked why, he said he didn't think we had the technology then.  He said we have problems with the technology we have now, so how could we have possibly gotten to the moon?  So I guess that is one reason people think that way.

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Offline kimmern123

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #17 on: 04/16/2008 05:37 pm »
There are quite a few of these people in Norway and I do my best to present evidence that the moon landings in fact DID happen.

I think Gene Cernan and Charlie Duke (in addition to Buzz's punch of course) said it best, in In the Shadow Of the Moon:

"We went to the moon nine times. Why fake it nine times, if we faked it?"  - Charlie Duke
"Truth needs no defence. Nobody... Nobody, can ever take those footsteps I made on the moon away from me" - Gene Cernan.

Why do so many fail to see that it's not the lack of technology that's the problem, but rather the design of today's spacecrafts. However, the BIG problem is a lack of public and national interest in a program to return to the moon and the money to do so quickly.

Offline Andrewwski

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #18 on: 04/16/2008 06:49 pm »
How many people actually believe this?  I'd guess very few.  Because for all they know, the CIA killed JFK, the White House was behind 9/11, Elvis is alive, and Paul McCartney is dead.
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Offline PhalanxTX

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Re: Why do so many believe Apollo was faked?
« Reply #19 on: 04/16/2008 06:57 pm »
People like conspiracy theories because they like certainty and they like the notion that they've figured something out that the "others" just don't get.  I just think they're amusing.
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