Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories

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Moon Landing Conspiracy Theories
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Conspiracy Theories

• Fenster discussion pp1-2
• Two propositions about conspiracy theories
• Margins (believed only by extremists, about
  secret cabals)
• Centre (believed believed by almost everyone,
  about almost anything)
• Argue that CTs are integral to modern life
• Example of Da Vinci Code examine Moon Landing.

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History of the theories

• 1969 Some sceptical opinions were voiced at the
  time
• 1974 Bill Kaysing, We Never Went to the Moon
• 1978 Capricorn One movie (Mars)
• 1992 Ralph Rene, NASA Mooned America
• 1997 James Collier Was it Only a Paper Moon?
• 1999 David Percy Dark Moon (and in Fortean Times)
• 2000 Marcus Allen in Nexus magazine
• 2001 Bart Sibrel, A Funny Thing Happened on the
  Way to the Moon (DVD)
• 2001 Fox TV special Conspiracy Theory Did We
  Land on the Moon?
• And, of course, the web (3.8m hits on 10/09)

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How many disbelieve?

• 1970 Knight poll found 30 Americans were
  suspicious
• 1999 Gallup poll found 6 doubtful, 5 dont know
• 2001 Fox TV claimed 20 disbelieved
• 2002 Popularity from MSNBC News report
• 2006 Ditmar poll found 26 of 18-26 yr old
  college educated Americans were doubtful 10
  rated it highly unlikely that Americans landed on
  the moon. Not what we might expect

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Details and Evidence

• Scenarios
• Complete hoax, partial hoax, failed technology,
  impossible
• Motives
• Cold War prestige or distraction, JFKs promise
• Evidence
• Photographs are the most popular evidence
• See Mythbusters photo test
• High quality images Aldrin 1 Aldrin 2 Aldrin
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• 1/6 gravity
• wires vs Mythbusters moonwalk test
• The web gives multiple expert vs expert

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Reasons for such belief?

• Part of the general decline of trust in authority
  since 1990s (not just in government, also science
  other examples?) As such is actually also a
  theory about the present
• Reveals our era has profound doubts about
  technology (global warming?)
• Probably also a result of the achievement itself
  (could we repeat it today?)
• Is retro-active (has grown recently, looks
  backwards, re-maps history)
• All that makes it more likely to come from young,
  educated and sceptical people

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Rebuttals

• At first few, as the theory was not considered
  worth dignifying with a reply
• NASAs attitude was one of dismissal
• 2002 cancelled book by James Oberg
• Has been left to websites such as Bad Astronomy
  and and Clavius
• 2006 Discovery Channel produced Moon Hoax
  Challenged
• 2007 moonwalker Charlie Duke In the Shadow of the
  Moon coda said
• "We've been to the Moon nine times. Why would we
  fake it nine times, if we faked it?"
• 2008 Mythbusters special meaning?

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Wider and wider

• Now part of the general mass of conspiracy
  theories about US government
• And bigger theories about space such as Richard
  Hoagland and Dark Mission
• Subject of Spoofs The Onion and the result
• Complexity - hoaxed hoaxes. See Fact or Fake
  about Stanley Kubrick

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Final Answers?

• Final answers?
• NASAs return to the Moon in 2020 (if the Chinese
  arent first), more than 50 years later
• The relics still on the lunar surface
• New images of the landers
• But does that really close the book?

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Conclusions

• What does the popularity of this conspiracy
  theory tell us?
• About the actual subject (the moon landing)
• About wider concerns (about technology, national
  self-confidence, achievement?)
• About how evidence, belief and imagination work
  in CTs?
• About how these relate not to the 1960s but to
  the 2000s?