The moon hoaxers. Does this sound reasonable?

Question

I think I finally figured out why they do it. When I was a teen in the 60's we thought our elders were pretty stupid, I think every generation does. Especially their music, especially compared to "our" music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7052IDTFuFQ&feature=related

Kids today don't have that, their music can't compare to the 60's and they know it.

So...they gotta find something to trash. Poor babies.

Answer 1

It is amazing to me how fantastic theories abound. Bigfoot, Nessi, the Loch Ness Monster, UFOs and alien encounters, denying the Holocaust, denying global warming and denying the moon landing.

The first three are harmless. Yet, the rest are some of the most profound events in human existence. To deny them is to remove their importance from human history.

Denying the Holocaust is to guarantee a repeat possibly on a much, much larger scale. Denying global warming is to guarantee almost unimaginable havoc and suffering in the not too distance future.

Denying the moon landing is to remove the heroism and engineering skill of a generation of space pioneers.

Why haven’t we gone back? Money and purpose. We learned what we came to learn. The cost of repeated visits was and is too high.

Why are we considering returning? Only one reason is- as a jumping off point to go to Mars. Will we do it?  Of course we will.  The only question is- when?  Will we colonize Mars? Of course we will. The only question is- when?  

Will people in the furure deny it happened - sure they will.

It is easy to deny human achievement. Usually the “first” at something accomplishes the feat with what seems like impossibly inadequate tools. That is why Ripley's Believe It Or Not is so popular..

I listened to the transmissions to and from the moon (as everybody did who had a TV) and there was a delay of about three seconds - just what it should be.  Astronauts are even tempered.  The astronauts were chosen to be people who weren't excitable but cool and deliberate.

I worked for a company that made a fire extinguisher for the LM (lunar module). Those things were tested to death. The stack of testing paperwork was about 6 feet high. And, yet, the actual units that went to the moon weren't tested at all. That is so they wouldn't be tested too much and be near failure.

It is amazing what a simple computer CAN DO. And it is amazing how bogged down and slow the super computer you have on your desk IS TODAY.  The Van Allen radiation belts were known and provided for.

I hope people realize when this generation goes to Mars - and it will - that 30 or 40 years later people will deny it ever happened.

I hope they remember their denial... then.

Answer 2

That might be the motivation for some of the younger ones, but there are plenty of older adults who think it was faked.  Here are some of the reasons that I believe are important:

1) Ignorance.  Yes, as others have pointed out, these people never seem to know very much about anything.

2) Bad sources.  Television today is so interested in ratings, there are some stations which will air just about anything to get a larger share of the audience.  Worst among these are Fox, the History Channel, and the Discovery channel.  Even the National Geographic channel has indulged in some nonsense to build an audience.  People watch these shows and trust the producers not to lie to them.  The shows are presented as investigative documentaries and people just never consider that THEY might be the real bunk.

3) Ego.  Colossal, arrogant conceit.  I think this is one of the biggest reasons.  Some people want to sound like big shots -- like they are onto something huge and only they and a select group of others know the *real* truth.  They see it as their mission to inform all us other poor schmucks, who are expected to be stunned by their awesome revelations and Holmesian perspicacity.  I've seen creationists behave the same way with regard to evolution.

Answer 3

I don't think so.

Moonhoaxers come in all ages, these aren't just today's kids.

It's just that these days every idiot can write any kind of nonsense on the WWW, so they get more exposure.

pa2ad0x

It's a common mistake to reduce "technology" to computers and similiar stuff.

Unfortunately this is only a small part of it

Cars still have four wheel, and run on gas, the Boing 747 is still in service, and the thrust of rockets hasn't magically increased either.

Answer 4

That's a pretty good theory--- and I apologize for being a 1960s hippie, who took a bath, cut his hair, and bought a nice suit-- !  :)

My theory is that NOTHING is being taught in our schools about the universe--- I regularly get "way out" questions at our public star parties like " how did you get that picture of Saturn-- inside the telescope"--- or "is the moon bigger than the sun?"--- (it's apparent diameter is larger!)-- so they just don't believe we actually traveled to the moon. (they don't even know how far away it is! )

Answer 5

You are right about that.  Teenagers have always thought they knew everything and their elders were stupid and/or ignorant.  Now, many of them assume that anything that occurred before they were born just didn't happen.  Since these teenagers are the experts and they didn't know about them, the holocaust and the moon landings couldn't have happened.  They also can't envision a time before the Internet, PCs, and movie special effects.  They have no idea that the special effects technology needed to fake the moon landings didn't exist at the time.  It didn't come into being until Industrial Light and Magic was started in 1977 to do special effects for the original Star Wars (now called Episode IV, A New Hope).

Answer 6

Actually, the notion that the moon landing is a hoax began, like many other annoyances of its kind, with the religious fundamentalists.  Most of us have forgotten that, but it was the fire-and-brimstone preachers who first announced that it has to have been staged in a movie studio.

In fact they were preaching that while the moon flights were taking place.  Garner Ted Armstrong was one of the first and loudest.  You can look him up on the Internet.

Why?  Because if the universe is constructed the way it is described in the Old Testament, and one considers that to be the literal, physical truth about the universe, then the moon is not a solid object.  It slides around on the inside of the Dome of the Heavens (called the "firmament,") and it's about the size of a basketball, and flat.

So the idea that astronauts went there in rocket ships and walked around conflicts with the Bible.  That's how the "Moon Landing is a Hoax" business got started.

Having said that, all the factors you mention also contribute to the moon landing hoax having become a popular myth.

Answer 7

it's nothing as complicated as that. gross stupidity.

Answer 8

Ummm...no.  It doesn't sound reasonable at all.  It sounds like a basic fallacy, an 'ad hominem' attack.  For the uneducated (which I assume you are), an 'ad hominem' attack is when you attack the person instead of the argument that the person puts forth.

Basically, you are saying that this moon landing argument must be invalid because these kids just wanted to 'trash' something.  Although your point might be true (emphasis on 'might'), it has no bearing on the issue of the moon landing.  Sorry.

Answer 9

that and the fact that the moon hoaxers have nothing better to do with their time, and have no understanding of science or astonomy.

Answer 10

I'd like to know why we haven't gone back, you'd think it would be a snap now with another 50 years of technology behind us.

If we don't have a base on the moon before I die I will be disappointed.

Answer 11

i was a fetus when we landed on the moon, and perhaps listened to some of that era's music while in the womb, and while sucking on a bottle.

But i agree that the music from that era better than the stuff from my day (80s) and FAR better than the stuff that's out now.

As for whether the moon landings were a hoax or not, i think there are some very big questions that are unanswered.

the photos just look fake to me.  The backdrops look like a bad star trek episode.

We "went" to the moon just because Kennedy wanted us to.

Answer 12

And don't forget...these are the "leaders" of tomorrow..! Gawd help us all.

Answer 13

Huh?

I have to wonder what you are asking...  taste (or lack thereof) in music doesn't seem likely a reason to believe or disbelieve whether Neil Armstrong (among others) actually walked on the moom.  

I am a firm believer that they did, in fact, travel to the moon using the technology developed for the Apollo program, and that they returned with pictures and rocks and dust and all that stuff.  I KNOW that the space program in the 1960s developed this technology and that it could have done what I believe it did...  I was working in the space and missile programs and have first hand knowledge of parts of this.  

Does I saw it on TV back in 1969 count?  

Anyway, my answer doesn't really answer why some people work so hard to disbelieve things like this.