# Conspiracy theories: Why the outlandish ones that don't even sound remotely real? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 26, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360 "2020-07-26T03:03:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/61 "2020-07-29T21:32:38Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > The Moon Landing Hoax was apparently inspired by the movie Capricorn One. At least I don’t remember any from before that movie. I haven’t checked the history, but I spoke to a JW in 1968 who was sure that God wouldn’t allow us to travel in space. And I remember the stories about Capricorn One when it came out made it clear that it was in response to the moon landing hoax CT - that was why they had it about a Mars landing, which made it slightly more plausible. And flat earthers have to be Moon landing hoaxers by definition. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/62 "2020-07-29T21:38:52Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And flat earthers have to be Moon landing hoaxers by definition. Do they? They couldn’t believe that Apollo launched off of a flat Earth but landed on a round Moon? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/63 "2020-07-29T21:43:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > And flat earthers have to be Moon landing hoaxers by definition. > > Do they? They couldn’t believe that Apollo launched off of a flat Earth but landed on a round Moon?  Of course not, that would be illogical. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/64 "2020-07-29T23:34:04Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > And flat earthers have to be Moon landing hoaxers by definition. > > Do they? They couldn’t believe that Apollo launched off of a flat Earth but landed on a round Moon? At a bare minimum, the flat earther morons have to believe the picture of the spherical Earth taken from space is a fake. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/65 "2020-07-29T23:34:34Z")
The Moon Landing Hoax started off life as being direct KGB propaganda, which is why if you look at charts of people who believe/disbelieve Americans landed on the moon or not you get a shockingly high percentage of Europeans both West and East who don’t believe it since that’s where they were able to spread it the highest. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/66 "2020-07-30T04:47:40Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > The Moon Landing Hoax started off life as being direct KGB propaganda Do you have a source for that? I’ve never heard that, not even once. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/67 "2020-07-30T06:47:20Z")
Me neither. In fact, one of the best refutations is that if we faked it the Russians would out us in a second, and not as a rumor. We’re stupid enough without foreign help. ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/68 "2020-07-30T12:13:07Z")
@Asuka Again, Brian Dunning has done a _very_ comprehensive history and debunking of the “Moon Landing Hoax” CT on his website. He traces the _origin_ not to the KGB, but rather the Flat Earth Society newsletter and then Fundamentalist Christians. It then appeared in fringe books and the became more mainstream through the movie Capricorn One. Full details in the link.: > **[Debunking the Moon Truthers, Part 1](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4535)** > > The history of the Apollo moon landing hoax conspiracy theory, and those who believe in it. _“…it came from Samuel Shenton, leader of the tiny [Flat Earth Society](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4338), who had his hands full arguing for a flat Earth in the face of increasing proof against him coming from the space program, particularly the photos of Earth taken from space. Upon Shenton’s death in 1971, the Society was taken over by Charles and Marjory Johnson of the Covenant People’s Church, who continued charging NASA with hoaxing the Apollo program, based on their Christian Fundamentalist belief that the Earth must be flat.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/69 "2020-07-30T19:39:57Z")
I’ll try to find the source but it was a book about the history of the KGB and their involvement with several conspiracy theories spreading in the West including the moon landing, JFK assassination rumors, and AIDS denialism. That Skeptoid article though does bring up the fact the Moon Landing conspiracy skews left in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/70 "2020-07-30T20:50:10Z")
Good program for anybody who’s interested. > **[United States of Conspiracy | FRONTLINE](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/united-states-of-conspiracy/?fbclid=IwAR1AY5X-F97c_37_EpR6W3FagE7t3aobjKLQT7ScXff-ckWMzRbUvSx4kY8&fbclid=IwAR1AY5X-F97c_37_EpR6W3FagE7t3aobjKLQT7ScXff-ckWMzRbUvSx4kY8)** > > Watch FRONTLINE's documentary investigating the alliance among conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, longtime Trump associate Roger Stone and the president. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/71 "2020-07-31T00:19:10Z")
> [@GMANCANADA](#): > > it offers its believers that most tantalizing of rewards: an insider’s perspective on forbidden knowledge. The superpower of knowing what the sheeple don’t. A superior position, intellectual empowerment, bought cheaply through nothing more than a willingness to dismiss reality in favor of a spectral alternative. Whoa! Is this describing Conspiracy Theories or religious devotion? Oh…well, not intellectual empowerment, but perhaps a sense of such empowerment –G? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/72 "2020-07-31T12:30:21Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > Is this describing Conspiracy Theories or religious devotion? To a skeptical eye, the only real difference is how many centuries’ headstart a particular story has at the time we’re hearing it. I have long predicted that Scientology will be a mainstream religion by the year 2400. ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/73 "2020-07-31T12:59:28Z")
Good point! I never thought of it that way but I can see the parallels. As belief in organized religion declines people are filling the “belief void” with CT’s? Not to mention the whole “sheeple” thing = lamb of God etc. Coincidence, perhaps not? 🤔 Wow - back at you!! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/74 "2020-08-01T21:19:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I also know that at least half of the flat earth conspiracy theorists are faking. It’s just a joke to them. Definitely so. I actually joined Charles Johnson’s “International Flat Earth Research Society” on a lark. Waste of time, as the amusement value of his publications approached nil. ---
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/75 "2020-08-07T18:25:29Z")
Am I the only one who understood the intent of the OP or are we just letting Monty quash the entire discussion with his " ALL CTs are outlandish" declarations? Yes, Monty, all the popular CTs are provably wrong and ridiculous once one does even minimal research, or even when one applies only a modicum of reason. But there are degrees of obviously wrong, and I think that was the OP’s point. It’s a point I’ve wondered about before. Could JFK have been the victim of a widespread conspiracy to kill him? Well, yes, that is plausible _as a theory alone, before you look at the evidence._ It is conceivable that a group of people could conspire to kill the president. Did it happen to JFK? No, clearly not if you look at the evidence. Is the world run by reptilians who disguise themselves as normal human beings? No, that is not plausible, even before you start looking at the evidence, or lack thereof. I think the point is that it is understandable peope would be intrigued by the first conspiracy about JFK, though they should quickly dismiss it, but not clear why people would give any credence to a completely implausible scenario like the reptilians. One doesn’t have to be a duped conspiracy bigot to wonder about that difference. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/76 "2020-08-07T18:36:34Z")
Thanks, you put it better than I could. CTs exist on a spectrum: From “plausible-sounding” to “ridiculous on its face.” I have no problem understanding why people create, or believe, plausible-sounding ones, such as that Kennedy wasn’t killed by one lone disgruntled man alone. I do want to understand why the utterly-absurd ones exist and were made at all, and why their creators didn’t opt to cook up something more believable-sounding instead. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/77 "2020-08-07T19:23:52Z")
Too much Science Fiction in the popular culture. Once upon a time, SF was restricted to pulp magazines and comic books with lurid covers, low-grade movies, and the occasional TV show like Outer Limits and Star Trek. Now it seems at least half the shows on TV and most of the movies released have some kind of SF in them. So CTs are just going along with the zeitgeist, so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/78 "2020-08-07T20:01:01Z")
I’m going along with some of what’s been said above. Incredible-ness is more a feature than a bug in many of these conspiracy theories. Conspiracies do exist, but normal conspiracies don’t feed the paranoia bug or fill the need we have to see everything as connected like the crazy ones do. I think they combine several well-springs. We are pattern finding, puzzle solving machines. We believe there is a world beyond our ken (whence comes religiosity and belief in paranormal). We like to be scared (I don’t know why). When I begin to slip into the edges of a CT, I get the same inner feelings as when I contemplate a supernatural suspense/horror movie, like “The Omen”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/79 "2020-08-07T20:01:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > … > I do want to understand why the utterly-absurd ones exist and were made at all, and why their creators didn’t opt to cook up something more believable-sounding instead. Because the crazier ones sell more books, clicks, & Discovery Channel specials. It’s all about the money. Or the internet fame. There is no deeper reason. Nor need there be. Crazy sells better because the audience lurv’s them some crazy. If you go back to the National Enquirer magazine even in the 1960s, it wasn’t “Elvis seduces cute groupie”. It was “Elvis seduces Martian chicks.” Crazy sells. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360/80 "2021-02-28T14:35:12Z")
> [@APB](#): > > The confirmation in 1974 of the scale of the Ultra project itself created a well-known conspiracy about it. One of the most sensational claims in Winterbotham’s _The Ultra Secret_ was that Churchill knew in advance about the bombing of Coventry but did nothing to avoid alerting the Germans to the fact that their codes had been broken. For a long time this was probably the one aspect of the revelations the general public remembered. My guess would be that lots of people don’t realise that this [has since been debunked](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Blitz#Coventry_and_Ultra). Churchill was absolutely not beyond doing that, he would have not lost a moments sleep over sacrificing some lessers (to his mind) to save the secret of the existence of Ultra, In real life, though the Coventry story is false, the British absolutely did let certain things happen anyway when the projected loss was more manageable than losing the secret of Ultra (and getting the Germans to change their codes) and plausible alternate reasons for the discovery could not be developed. Just not for the Coventry bombing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-why-the-outlandish-ones-that-dont-even-sound-remotely-real/916360.md?page=5)