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> Only 60 something percent of Americans believed the moon landings were real the year they happened. What is your basis for this? Were you alive then? I was.

by pdonis 5y ago

> Only 60 something percent of Americans believed the moon landings were real the year they happened. What is your basis for this? Were you alive then? I was. I watched the first Moon landing on television. Nobody was talking about how it was faked.

UncleOxidant 5y ago
Same here, I was 7. Nobody was saying "did you see that fake moon landing?". It was only years later that I became aware that there were people on the fringe who thought it was faked, but I never personally met anyone with that opinion.
- nickff 5y ago
  >"It was only years later that I became aware that there were people on the fringe who thought it was faked..." Certain groups (namely the Soviets) ran a number of conspiratorial propaganda campaigns, which were much more effective outside 'the West' (NATO-affiliated countries).
  - jandrese 5y ago
    "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Conspiracy theories have an incredible ability to self sustain, it is entirely possible the "moon landings were faked" theory is an old bit of Soviet propaganda that refused to die.
scarecrowbob 5y ago
I sm skeptical on that number as well. I looked for the source. In the 10 minutes that I was willing to spend on it, I only found this: "A July1970 poll found 30% of Americans declaring Apollo 11 to be a fake." https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_millions-still-believe-1969-moon-landing-was-hoax/6172262.html https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_millions-still-believe-1969-mo... Couldn't find the original source. It looks to be something like US 6% of the population at the moment (Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/3712/Landing-Man-Moon-Publics-View.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/3712/Landing-Man-Moon-Publics-V... )
- rhino369 5y ago
  Another issue is that polling is often fucked around with by the respondents, especially if the poll wasn't well written.
  - Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
    On average, about 4%. https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and-reptilian-muslim-climatologists-from-mars/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and...

by pdonis 5y ago

UncleOxidant 5y ago

Same here, I was 7. Nobody was saying "did you see that fake moon landing?". It was only years later that I became aware that there were people on the fringe who thought it was faked, but I never personally met anyone with that opinion.

nickff 5y ago
>"It was only years later that I became aware that there were people on the fringe who thought it was faked..." Certain groups (namely the Soviets) ran a number of conspiratorial propaganda campaigns, which were much more effective outside 'the West' (NATO-affiliated countries).
- jandrese 5y ago
  "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Conspiracy theories have an incredible ability to self sustain, it is entirely possible the "moon landings were faked" theory is an old bit of Soviet propaganda that refused to die.

scarecrowbob 5y ago

I sm skeptical on that number as well. I looked for the source. In the 10 minutes that I was willing to spend on it, I only found this: "A July1970 poll found 30% of Americans declaring Apollo 11 to be a fake." https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_millions-still-believe-1969-moon-landing-was-hoax/6172262.html https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_millions-still-believe-1969-mo... Couldn't find the original source. It looks to be something like US 6% of the population at the moment (Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/3712/Landing-Man-Moon-Publics-View.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/3712/Landing-Man-Moon-Publics-V... )

rhino369 5y ago
Another issue is that polling is often fucked around with by the respondents, especially if the poll wasn't well written.
- Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
  On average, about 4%. https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and-reptilian-muslim-climatologists-from-mars/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/04/12/noisy-poll-results-and...