I was so pissed about the moon hoax show I send a complaint letter. I might send copies to all FOX’s advertisers, too. Here is the text of the letter. No “catfish-felching motherfucker” comments, alas.
To Whom it May concern;
The purpose of this letter is to express my most profound disappointment and displeasure with your February 15, 2001 special presentation, “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?”
It would be an understatement of epic proportions to state that the claims made in your program were false. The “evidence” for the “moon hoax” as presented is so juvenile, silly and easily refuted that it is difficult to understand how producers for a major television network would allow such blatant falsehoods to be broadcast. In every case, the “evidence” presented demonstrated an ignorance of high school physics and common sense. An exhaustive refutation of this nonsense would take several pages, but suffice to say that consultation with a physics textbook and a professional photographer would prove false every claim made in the program. The fact that actual scientists, photographers, and astronauts were afforded very little time on your program to voice the opposing (and indisputably correct) view would be a terrible injustice were it not for the fact that, frankly, the notion of a “moon hoax” is so ludicrous that it should never have earned broadcast time on your network.
Furthermore, the content and tone of the program was slanderous and offensive in the extreme. To suggest, without an iota of evidence, that NASA conspired to murder its own astronauts to perpetrate a money-making hoax is certainly the vilest, most shameful pack of lies I have ever had the misfortune of seeing on television.
That the Apollo missions landed on the Moon is a matter of historical fact no more in doubt that the fact that the Vietnam War occurred or that the continent of Asia exists. I would think that should one of your network competitors air a special called “Asia: Does it really exist or is it a hoax?” your staff would think it hilarious, and jokes at that network’s expense would soon be written into every FOX show on the dial. To dispute a truth no more in doubt than two and two equalling four would require stupidity and scientific ignorance on a scale that would not be acceptable in elementary school. Unsurprisingly, your program contained stupidity and ignorance in abundance.
Furthermore, is seems especially odious to me that the target of such offensive slander should be not just any endeavor, but arguably the single greatest achievement in the history of the human race. The day that Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon was the apex of human progress, the culmination of fifty thousand years of labor, thought, blood, sweat and tears. It was the greatest, most defining moment of our existence as a species. Those involved with the Apollo project are not just American heroes, but heroes for the entire human race and, in a very real sense, our first ambassadors to the rest of the universe. To slander them is to slander humanity. The FOX network could not possibly have sunk any lower than to denigrate this achievement of unparalleled magnificence.
There is no question whatsoever in my mind, or indeed in the mind of any intelligent person, that the FOX network should immediately apologize for its role in perpetrating such a disgusting falsehood on the world. Until then I will refrain from watching your network, and will enthusiastically counsel others to do the same. I am pleased to report that I have already convinced others to join me in this.
Sincerely,
Richard Jones
