The Moon Landing Never Happened, a serious discussion

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And I and so many saw Gattica! WHAT IS YOUR POINT?

Never doubt the reach of a WP moderator - not even 1960's NASA is safe from our baleful influence... /s


Look, if anyone really thinks this idiotic "flat earth" -style thread is worth retaining I'll let it run - but my inclination is to remove it. I don't believe it was created in good faith.

(2ukenkerl, please read the PM waiting for you since March 4th)

TBH, the whole moon landing is one thing, but why did you have to let Ted Cruz's father kill JFK? That was hitting a bit below the belt.

I personally think anything is on the table given the current level of trust in governments.

Speaking as someone who spent a fair bit of time digging up links to sources debunking various conspiracy claims, I would suggest keeping this thread for future reference (though maybe locking it).

Unfortunately, conspiracy theory beliefs are becoming more and more common in today's world -- and getting more and more dangerous. It is getting harder and harder to just ignore them.

If the thread is locked then it can't be referenced.
I'll leave it to die from lack of oxygen.

That's true about conspiracy theories though - I think they started in earnest around the time "social media" surged, which further assisted the demise of critical thinking.

^ As well as any lack of critical thinking, society has probably become more exposed to people on social media, who might otherwise be less visible to others. For example those with Cluster A personality disorders and other disorders that have symptoms of an excessively suspicious nature, i.e, schizophrenia.

Not to blame everything on mental health or anything, but when there are a lot of those types of people saying or thinking similar things, it might seem more credible to some people to believe in such conspiracies.

Heck, even people with just traits of paranoia as part of the personality spectrum, but who aren't clinically mentally ill in that way, can experience the same pitfalls in terms of the rabbit holes of suspicion and conspiracy.

I think that's pretty accurate. conspiracy theories have been around for quite some time, but it's really only been recently that the infrastructure to really push it and reward it has been there.

to be fair there are more serious conspiracies like JFK, MLK assassinations, UFOs and the paranormal.

Flat earth, moon landings and pizzagate belong in the dustbin of history.

Oh, the Moon Landing definitely happened. I know it's hard for some of the younger members here to believe that the U.S.A. used to be a formidable economic and scientific powerhouse, but it really did happen.

I remember conspiracy theories long before anyone heard of social media, but the rate at which conspiracy theories appear has certainly increased dramatically.

that in itself is a conspiracy, that there has been an increase in conspiracies.

I think that depends upon how you frame it. To be a conspiracy, there needs to be conspirators behind it.

If it's just a natural consequence of more people being able to communicate with each other, it's really not a conspiracy.

One example of conspiracy theories before the Internet was anything other than a desire came from the 1960s when there were many who believed that we have been visited by aliens from outer space for a very long time and that the government was covering it up.

In 1911 my then 8 year old grandfather was on a scouts camp with 30-40 boys and the scoutmaster near a river in the countryside in Victoria. Classic turn of the century camp with tents to sleep, collecting water from the river for cooking and drinking and a fire to keep warm at night. this is some 90 years before the internet age.

According to him a glowing orb ascended out of the river about 10 feet in diameter and hovered in front of the terrified boys and scoutmaster. After a couple of minutes of terror the orb flew off into the sky. the scoutmaster excitedly told the still terrified/shivering boys "that was bloody lucky, you boys can tell your grandkids you saw an fairy spirit". In my 8 yr old grandfather's frame of reference there was no such thing as UFOs or aliens. the scoutmaster believed what was popular myth in the turn of the 20th century that fairies occupied the bush and came out at night. By the time I was old enough for him to tell me the story in the 1970s I told him it wasn't a fairy it was a UFO. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed, "no such thing as UFOs" he said, "probably a min min light".

As it so happens, by the 1930s (some 20 years after my grandad's mass sighting) a lot of people living in the bush of Australia were seeing these orbs and by this time the sighting were attributed to aboriginal spirit beings called Min Min who were mischievous and followed travellers, particularly long distance truck drivers
https://bigrigs.com.au/2023/08/23/what- ... om%20there.

Coincidentally these lights were also experienced by my auntie-in-law who grew up in country Victoria. As a child in the 1940s she and her mother said these balls of light (smaller ones around 2feet wide) would enter the house and sometimes chase them through the back door even passing through walls. the locals called it ball lightning, but essentially we would call them orbs today.

I think locals still see the lights today, but rural Australians are a tough bunch and don't make a big deal about these phenomena. Mostly because they are harmless. So no, its not a conspiracy, people have been seeing these things for generations.