# Moon landing deniers: why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504 "2018-08-12T23:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/21 "2018-08-13T03:13:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > CTs seem to fixate on denial evidence and ignore the rest of it. They’ll say “If that one picture is faked then all of them could be faked”. They don’t even need proof that one picture is fake to dismiss the whole lot either, they magnify the significance of any perceived anomaly to disqualify any amount of proof. With that reasoning it becomes impossible for them to ever accept that anyone ever landed on the moon, that it wasn’t a conspiracy. “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” They just take out three little measly letters of that sentence, it’s not such a big leap. C’mon. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/22 "2018-08-13T08:26:13Z")
“Really, the comforting side in most conspiracy theory arguments is the one claiming that anyone who’s in power has any plan at all.”  – [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/1081/) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/23 "2018-08-13T09:14:12Z")
> [@Smudge777](#): > > I think it’s fairly likely that the majority of moon landing deniers on the internet … are just playing/trolling. The one dude I saw do it irl was trying to sound smart with that “question everything, never believe whatever you’ve been told without testing” attitude which I’ve seen answered with “ok, would you like to test if arsenic is good for you?” There’s times a questioning attitude is laudable or even necessary and times it’s proof of imbecility. And there’s people who can’t tell those times apart. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/24 "2018-08-13T12:40:58Z")
Come now. All of this so-called “evidence” supporting a moon landing comes from the government, government-approved sources and the mass media. No truly independent scientists vouch for it (any you could find are undoubtedly shills and trolls). Our common sense and revealing photos trump your “science”. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/25 "2018-08-13T12:43:16Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > “Really, the comforting side in most conspiracy theory arguments is the one claiming that anyone who’s in power has any plan at all.” >  – [xkcd](https://xkcd.com/1081/) Yup. Pretty sure that’s a large part of it: to a lot of people, living in a world controlled by some shady cabal/evil reptilians/whatever, something that could possibly be _defeated_ is more comforting that the idea that there’s not really anyone in control, there is no plan, it’s just people trying to muddle through with varying levels of sense, ignorance and personal goals. The plan the shadowy figures have to subvert our collective destiny may be evil, but if we can defeat it, the problem’s sorted, the world is fixed. If we’re all just bumbling along squabbling about everything and the world’s problems are basically because because we’re all just upright monkeys and no-one truly knows what’s going on, how is that fixable? I think the weird conspiracy stuff is kind of a variant on the Just World fallacy; people aren’t getting what they really deserve, but it’s only because of **them** , whoever **they** are. Of course **they** don’t just convince people the world’s flat or the moon landings aren’t real, they’re controlling society in subtle ways too, and anyone who’s discovered the truth is going to be on their target list, so any crap that happens to those who uncovered ‘the truth’ is probably due to **them**. The big conspiracies are just what believers think is proof of the existence and power of **them** , whereas the subtle stuff is, well, subtle. Blaming stuff on **them** is always more comforting than blaming it on yourself, or just on shit happening. I guess I’d rather people prone to beliefs like that blamed the ills of the world on imaginary shape changing lizards than actual groups of humans at least. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/26 "2018-08-13T13:14:15Z")
This whole thread is arguing details - it’s not about details. Pretty much all CTs share the same format. One CT may be about the moon landing, one about 9/11 buildings collapsing, one about the JFK assassination, even the evolution debate. But when you step back they are all the same shape, with the same moving parts. It is useless trying to argue the details. All of these that I have mentioned are US-centric CTs. I would be curious if CTs exist to the same degree in other countries and cultures, as a common human condition. IMHO CTs fit into the same brainspace as religion, an attempt to explain the un-explainable. To me a key difference with CTs is, as was described above, just because a CT-er claims something is “too complex” or “unexplainable” doesn’t mean someone else hasn’t studied and understood the subject and details and has an explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/27 "2018-08-13T14:05:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I agree with this. People want to feel smart. Being smart in the normal sense takes a lot of work; you have to spend years learning things and even when you’re done, you’re always going to be encountering people who know more than you do. > > Being a conspiracy theorist bypasses all this. You can “learn” something by just reading a single book. Or even watching a video if you’re too lazy to read a book. And the best part is that once you know the conspiracy theory, you’re ahead of everyone who doesn’t know the theory. I think you guys are close, but I disagree with the basis of your theory. It’s not about people wanting to feel smart. It’s about people NOT wanting to feel powerless. The basics of modern society is the fact that none of us is entirely in control of our lives. We’ve moved away - for mostly good reasons - from independent production family units into a more isolated and segmented family unit. So each person is in much less control over their lives. Instead of dad’s grandparents, aunts uncles and such we have bosses, police, governmental bureaucracies and so forth in charge. That makes all of us less in charge of our lives to some degree. Those who can’t deal with it during their normal course end up attempting to artificially establish control or power by postulating that they’re not in charge because of active efforts to keep them down. It’s not their fault they’re not on top. Admitting that would be silly. It’s the same sort of insecurity that leads bigotry and white supremacy. Those idiots in Charlottesville last year chanting ‘Jew will not replace us!’ are showing their own fear of their own powerlessness, not any higher aspiration. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/28 "2018-08-13T14:27:48Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > It’s not about people wanting to feel smart. It’s about people NOT wanting to feel powerless. That explains a lot of CT but the moon landing seems different to me. This is one that exposes the malfunctioning minds of the CTs in terms of disregarding facts, obsession, self importance and secret knowledge because the moon landing has no effect on their lives. They are arguing about invisible pink unicorns. Perhaps it is the impossibility of taking them to the moon to see the footprints that makes this attractive, they will never have to see direct evidence that they are wrong with their own eyes, it’s the safe conspiracy. Or in this case they are just nuts, unable to reason properly on this subject because it so removed from the real life that all but a few astronauts have experienced. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/29 "2018-08-13T14:30:34Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Why is the government doing it? What is the reason these buffoons are giving for these conspiracies? If they want credence for their conspiracy they must have a (at least to them) plausible story explaining why such secret goverment plots exist, in addition to just asserting that they do in fact exist at all. Well, having acknowledged that the deniers are a group consisting of some mixture of stupid, crazy or trolls, it’s no surprise that their posited reasons for the conspiracy are also some mixture of stupid, crazy or trollish, and as such, have the sort of plot holes you’d expect them to have. Some say we faked the Moon landing just to show up the USSR, as part of the cold war. Some say we faked it because we realized we couldn’t make the end-of-the-decade deadline that Kennedy laid out, and no one wanted to be the guy who told the nation that we’d failed the late President. Others tie it into the whole Illuminati/New World Order business: the elites are part of some satanic cult, and putting on these events serves some mystical purpose. Some even say that the more blatant the fake is, the better, because they get more mystical power out of getting people to believe obvious BS. Considering how many of the deniers are obviously insane, I’m sure if you went looking, you could find almost as many such explanations as there are individual deniers. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/30 "2018-08-13T15:51:24Z")
Why? Maybe it’s just to feel better about themselves. If people really had gone to the moon, they’d have to be a whole lot smarter, understand all this science stuff instead of skipping it in school, more ambitious, just better all around. It may be easier to accept one’s own failures in life if all those others’ accomplishments were just fake news. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/31 "2018-08-13T16:01:57Z")
> [@GoodOmens](#): > > The point is that they get to feel special, and wise, and better than everyone else, but simultaneously victimized by a system which keeps them down. I think that’s probably the biggest reason. Even if they don’t truly believe everything they say, I think many of them are convinced if they say it often enough, more and more people will say ‘hmm, you make a good point’ and eventually it will be true. Other people, I’m sure believe many CTs regardless. In the end, if you want to believe that the government adds fluoride to water or uses chemtrails to “control your mind”, you’re trying to say that you’re not responsible for your actions. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/32 "2018-08-13T16:12:22Z")
At least its a harmless delusion, unlike the anti-vaxxers (which my GP calls child abuse)\_. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/33 "2018-08-13T16:21:49Z")
They are Lunatics! ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/34 "2018-08-13T16:58:01Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > Two words: Flat Earthers…OK, I would it’s some stupidity (“behavior that shows a lack of good sense or judgment”), some ignorance (“lack of knowledge”), a good dose of conspiratorial thought and a dangerous amount of contrariness, i.e., some people are going to scream X when Y has been proven over and over again simply to disagree loudly…and if you’ve ever worked in a large corporation or organization, you’ve seen the type…:rolleyes:…at every other meeting… > > I put it in the same category as the “Flat Earth” believers, there are far more issues to worry about or waste time on, people ain’t gonna learn what they don’t want to know… > > I feel your pain. One of my BILs is a Flat Earther, he’s a great guy, actually intelligent and well-spoken, he posts videos and has a following on YouTube, but he’ll never bring it up to me as he knows the discussion will not end well for him…we’re convinced he’s got a little need to be followed and adored, and that’s why he does it…because there is no other logical explanation we can come up with and ‘deranged’ doesn’t fit him… Sorry, no, “deranged” fits him exactly. He is actually deranged, he doesn’t just “sort of seem like it” or something. The only issue is, what kind of deranged is it. (for example if he doesn’t believe the earth is flat, then there’s a deranged reason why he claims to.) I’m not joking or messing with you. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/35 "2018-08-13T17:02:57Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > At least its a harmless delusion, unlike the anti-vaxxers (which my GP calls child abuse)\_. It’s not entirely harmless. It spreads a distrust of and disdain for science that are detrimental to society. On another note, Youtube keeps suggesting flat earther videos to me (might have something to do with the fact I occasionally click on them), and yesterday I saw one where the guy “proved” flat earth using Google Maps. You see, he plotted out a 600 mile bicycle trip and Google Maps told him the net elevation change was a mere 10 feet. But over 600 miles there should be 30 _miles_ of drop due to curvature if the round earthers were right! :smack::smack::smack::smack: ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/36 "2018-08-13T17:45:56Z")
And yet another guy today, on another Facebook post. At first he claimed the deadly Van Allen belts and then this: “… think about this… NASA claim the reason we can’t go back is because they “lost” all the data and technology from all the missions. Do you really believe they sent man to the moon from computers with less capabilities than a calculator. ?” There are plenty of technical articles and YouTube videos explaining the capabilities and construction of the Command and Lunar Module computers. They really didn’t need much computing power to accomplish the journey, and what they had was state-of-the-art in the day. A little critical thinking and and an hour or two of time is all you need to realize how wrong you are. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/37 "2018-08-13T22:34:01Z")
I think there probably really was a moon landing, but I understand the doubt. The only way we know about it is thru the government and the media, so I think a healthy skepticism is not necessarily out of order. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/38 "2018-08-13T22:45:12Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I think there probably really was a moon landing, but I understand the doubt. The only way we know about it is thru the government and the media, so I think a healthy skepticism is not necessarily out of order. Except that’s the only way we know about ANYTHING. Are you healthily skeptical whether Trump is president? Bet you haven’t been in the Oval Office to check for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/39 "2018-08-13T22:50:18Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > What i mean is, how do they legitimize these notions of large-scale conspiracies? I know what the point is as far as what it does for the conspiracy theorists themselves. But seemingly at least they want to appear to have a valid story explaining their conspiracy that legitimizes their nuttery. So why/what reason is behind the mass scale conspiracy for these things? Why is the government doing it? What is the reason these buffoons are giving for these conspiracies? If they want credence for their conspiracy they must have a (at least to them) plausible story explaining why such secret goverment plots exist, in addition to just asserting that they do in fact exist at all. Possibly relevant, I recently read of a psychological study which suggests the ‘conspiracy theory’ mentality is a binary-switch, either you’re a conspiracy theorist or you aren’t. By this it meant that a conspiracy-theorist doesn’t pick and choose, say they believe the moon landing was faked but the Princess Diana crash really was just an accident. Nope they believe _every_ conspiracy theory, it all goes into one big mental jumble in their head. That also possibly explains why people who are and who aren’t conspiracy-theorists have such mutual incomprehension, for one group of people its obvious conspiracy-theories are real, for the other its obvious they aren’t. And count me as someone who is surprised there are so many conspiracy-theorists out there in the real world and not just on the net. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2018, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504/40 "2018-08-13T22:58:38Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I think there probably really was a moon landing, but I understand the doubt. The only way we know about it is thru the government and the media, so I think a healthy skepticism is not necessarily out of order. You might as well think that there is probably really a Paris. I was there for the Apollo XVII launch. That was a real Saturn 5. The ground shook. There ain’t no way in hell Richard Nixon would spend all that money to enhance Kennedy’s legacy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moon-landing-deniers-why/819504.md?page=3)