Have you ever met anyone who thinks that Apollo was fake?

[Brethern]

I know someone who believes we first landed on the moon during the 1940's and that one of the atomic bomb tests was cover for the launch, the landings in 1969 were done to provide an explanation for any debris left by the landing in the 40's.

[Slam_Jones]

I'm almost positive I've met someone who thinks they were faked.

Definitely no one I'm friends with, though...

[pxi]

Yes, I have a relative that firmly believes the moon landings were hoaxed.

His evidence? He was alive when it happened, had an interest in space and flight in general, (he does in fairness have a pilots licence) and declares it to be impossible based on these 'credentials'.

It gets better, he also believes that there are human colonies on Mars. Of course, he sees no logical contradiction in believing both these theories.

I'm rather fond of conspiracy theories, but when I have someone just rant at me, with absolutely nothing to back it up with, other than it's 'stupid' to believe the official story, it stops being entertaining, and becomes rather tiresome.

[PakledHostage]

I'm rather fond of conspiracy theories, but when I have someone just rant at me, with absolutely nothing to back it up with, other than it's 'stupid' to believe the official story, it stops being entertaining, and becomes rather tiresome.

I agree. Sometimes playing with people's gullability is entering. (Fun fact: did you know that the word "gullible" isn't in the Oxford dictionary?) YECs and moon landing deniers, on the other hand, are tiresome.

[FishInferno]

I know someone who believes we first landed on the moon during the 1940's and that one of the atomic bomb tests was cover for the launch, the landings in 1969 were done to provide an explanation for any debris left by the landing in the 40's.

Well thats better than not believing in them at all... right?

[GoSlash27]

I've never personally met anyone who thought the moon landings were faked, but I've met a few online.

Best,

-Slashy

[Yukon0009]

About half of my schoolmates think that the Apollo program was a waste, but at least they think it's real.

[Stone Blue]

"Hicks" are in western NY... you have to go down south to find "rednecks".

Nope...Trust me...We got them with the weird, almost Southern accents, and them proudly flying Dixie flags on their porches and as window and bumper stickers on their old domestic pickups...I think the Hicks are more over toward the east and downstate areas...lol

[Little Katie]

Haha, yeah I knew this talk show radio host in Orlando who thought the moon landings were fake. I thought it was a gag for so long until I went out drinking with the people on the show and directly asked him about it. Lots of people around there are literally crazy so I've heard all kinds of alternative thoughts about science. But for some reason it was weird to hear this guys say those things and seem to really mean it. Part of me still wants to believe he's just really committed to the joke.

It basically boiled down to him feeling like there wasn't enough proof. And also he wouldn't really let anybody say anything about it because he would get too ramped up talking about the conspiracy.

[Vanamonde]

Some of those "hicks" are your fellow forum members. Please keep that in mind before casting aspersions on regions and peoples, okay?

Edited February 15, 2015 by Vanamonde

[Nikolai]

Oh, yes. But then, I tend to put myself out there in a space educational capacity, so I'm practically begging for the people who think they know better because they know what's really going on to introduce themselves. And the ones who think it's a waste of time and money, and the ones who think we need to fix all of our problems on Earth before we are "worthy enough" to explore space.

Most distressingly, though, my wife was an elementary school teacher when Fox aired its Moon landing conspiracy special... and there were serious discussions in the teachers' lounge about how the special made some excellent points, and you can never really know. Headdesk, headdesk, headdesk, headdesk...

Edited February 15, 2015 by Nikolai
Misspelled "headdesk"

[benzman]

(Fun fact: did you know that the word "gullible" isn't in the Oxford dictionary?)

Oh yes it is!

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/gullible?searchDictCode=all

[ultimaterandombanana]

On a sad note, if you were to visit the flag today, it would probably be bleached white due to solar radiation. Future civilizations are going to think we surrendered to the Moon.

Brace yourself a terrible pun is coming...

Don't you mean that future generations are going to thing the French went to the moon

[Uncle Mort]

Or even think it

[astropapi1]

Yup. Once I met a lady whose only argument was that the earth was surrounded by "a huge metal sphere with radiation that kills people when they go through it". No, she wasn't talking about Dyson spheres, she really misunderstood the Van Allen belts.

This is the problem with these people. Once you take down one of their arguments, they'll just look for another one that's just as bad as the previous one. You can never win a discussion with them.

Brace yourself a terrible pun is coming...

Don't you mean that future generations are going to thing the French went to the moon

I don't think that even counts as a pun, just beating a dead horse...

[hugix]

My mom says she has no reason to believe the moon landings are real.

Or fake for that matter.

she has no interest in science or engineering in general. She doesn't have the knowledge to judge if the evidence is real or fake... And she doesn't care.

[PakledHostage]

she has no interest in science or engineering in general. She doesn't have the knowledge to judge if the evidence is real or fake... And she doesn't care.

That's an odd attitude to have... I don't think anyone would brag or even just be so open about being illiterate, yet your mom is basically saying she's just that and doesn't care. Scientific illiteracy isn't something to be nonchalant about.

[Sidereus]

That's an odd attitude to have... I don't think anyone would brag or even just be so open about being illiterate, yet your mom is basically saying she's just that and doesn't care. Scientific illiteracy isn't something to be nonchalant about.

Most people simply don't need scientific literacy to get on with their lives, so barring any outside interest in it, they won't spend any time or resources developing said literacy. This is known as "rational ignorance".

To put it more roughly, the world needs ditch diggers and hair dressers. *shrugs*

[Starwhip]

This is uncannily evenly matched...

[Nikolai]

To put it more roughly, the world needs ditch diggers and hair dressers. *shrugs*

That's true, but I'm not sure it's an excuse.

I know how to create a tourniquet in case of profuse bleeding. I hope I never need to use it, but I still think that knowing stuff leaves me better off than not knowing stuff, because life is inherently unpredictable.

To put it more roughly, ditch diggers and hair dressers need to process reality, because they vote, and voting (indirectly) determines policy and response to change.

[Sonny_Jim]

This is uncannily evenly matched...

FTFY, was horrifically unbalanced for a second there....

[Beowolf]

Several, starting in July, 1969, when one of my grandfathers told me, "Nobody can land on the moon. Everybody knows the moon ain't no bigger than a washtub."

That's an odd attitude to have... I don't think anyone would brag or even just be so open about being illiterate, yet your mom is basically saying she's just that and doesn't care. Scientific illiteracy isn't something to be nonchalant about.

My Canadian friend, this is actually a shockingly-common, sometimes even dominant, attitude in the American south. I grew up surrounded by it, and have essentially no contact with my family because of it. Try talking to them about science or tech, and you'll learn, "Everything you need to know is in the Bible. All else is blasphemy."

The punch-line is, they don't read the Bible, either. Reading's hard, apparently.

[cpast]

That's true, but I'm not sure it's an excuse.

I know how to create a tourniquet in case of profuse bleeding. I hope I never need to use it, but I still think that knowing stuff leaves me better off than not knowing stuff, because life is inherently unpredictable.

To put it more roughly, ditch diggers and hair dressers need to process reality, because they vote, and voting (indirectly) determines policy and response to change.

But the whole point of voting is you don't have to know the fine details of fifty gazillion fields -- you just need to elect people who can pay attention to it (or, as it happens, who will hire people who know where to look for the specialized knowledge and know how to put everything together). Knowing how to make a torniquet actually helps you in some situations; it's hard to think of how knowing details of space exploration would help you in some practical situation, where you wouldn't be able to spend some time asking people who do know about it to get some background (as opposed to first aid, where you need it *now* and can't call a friend).

Not caring about space exploration is a far cry from "bragging about being illiterate." If you have down that "I don't know how this works," you're actually better off than many people (keep in mind that people who think Apollo was a hoax think they *do* know how to evaluate the evidence, and think they *can* determine for themselves that it was fake, which is worse than knowing you don't know how to evaluate the evidence).

[PakledHostage]

Not caring about space exploration is a far cry from "bragging about being illiterate." If you have down that "I don't know how this works," you're actually better off than many people (keep in mind that people who think Apollo was a hoax think they *do* know how to evaluate the evidence, and think they *can* determine for themselves that it was fake, which is worse than knowing you don't know how to evaluate the evidence).

I think you may have misunderstood my point. When I used the term "scientific literacy", I wasn't restricting it to knowledge about space flight or suggesting that every hair dresser should be an expert in all things science. I am talking about basic critical thinking coupled with some recollection of what should have been learned in grade school. Many of the arguments that the moon landings were a hoax (not to mention arguments that evolution is a lie, etc) are transparently bovine excrement to anyone with only those basics.

[hugix]

That's an odd attitude to have... I don't think anyone would brag or even just be so open about being illiterate, yet your mom is basically saying she's just that and doesn't care. Scientific illiteracy isn't something to be nonchalant about.

There are a LOT of people who don't care abut science or how it works. They use the products of it but don't need to know how it's made.

My mom has other good characteristics that I lack. She is very good with people and worked almost her complete working life taking care of the elderly. That is something most STEM oriented people would have a tough time doing.