The Greatest Conspiracy Theory of All Time

[progressoid]

Quick and easy responses to moon landing hoax claims
Posted Jul 10, 2016

What is the single best conspiracy theory of all time? Which one is so ambitious in its reach, so outrageous in structure, that it deserves top ranking? Sorry 9-11 Truthers, great effort but no gold. No glory for the chemtrails crowd either. Illuminati, Antichrist, and grassy knoll enthusiasts must accept disappoint as well because the single greatest conspiracy theory ever cooked up by a human mind is the Apollo Moon landing hoax claim. This is one so bold and audacious that the Earth itself could not restrain it.



In case you haven’t been paying attention, millions of sober and sentient beings around the world at this moment reject the six Apollo lunar landings of the 1960s and 1970s as real events. Millions more have significant doubts about whether or not they occurred. Some say this is not worth paying attention to because it is too silly. I disagree for two reasons. First, it’s sad that these believers are missing out on the greatest of all human adventures. They are human, too, and should enjoy some of the awe and pride that comes with feeling connected to it. Second, the Moon hoax belief should be explored and addressed because it offers us a brilliant example of how anything can be believed when intellectual waters are muddied and people fail to protect their thoughts and dignity with good thinking.

Make a short list of important and spectacular historical events, and it’s clear that the Apollo Moon missions were unique in the way they were documented. There were no cameras at the Battle of Marathon. No NPR reporters at the French Revolution. The Mongol invasions came and went without a single press conference. Nor was their extensive print or web news coverage of the invention of the first stone tool or the first time a human created fire. Even most of World War II took place off camera.

By contrast, every step of NASA’s effort to get to the Moon was meticulously documented from within and without. This thoroughness left behind many thousands of documents, photographs, and audio/video recordings, as well as millions of typed and handwritten words. Artifacts, the tangible hardware, from lunar mission are currently on display in numerous museums around the world. And there is the Moon itself. Astronauts returned with more than 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of Moon rocks that have been shared and studied by scientists in many countries for decades. None of these experts have expressed doubts of the rocks’ origin.

More...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/about-thinking/201607/the-greatest-conspiracy-theory-all-time

[Warpy]

1. That's my favorite, also

mostly because Hollywood would have come up with much better special effects by that time. The "moon hop" mode of locomotion looked silly and clumsy. The flag looked cheap. And the cheesy radios were often indecipherable.

Nope, it was real. Reality always delivers so much less than Hollywood does---and so very much more.

[progressoid]

10. And it brought us this little gem

[liberal N proud]

2. It as so great that they had to repeat it several times

[progressoid]

7. And to make it even more believable,

they even faked a botched mission - Apollo 13!!

[Archae]

3. There is one even 'greater," mainly since it's so wide-ranging and so old.

The "Jews are plotting to take over the world" conspiracy theory.

[progressoid]

6. You'd think by now they would have succeeded.

So far they've only taken over Hollywood. At least that's what my crazy ex-boss said.

[LeftishBrit]

14. Oh god yes...

[Ron Obvious]

4. That CT inspired a pretty decent, and unjustly forgotten, SF movie

Capricorn One:

I don't know how much this film fed the CT, but it was probably a factor.

[progressoid]

8. I vaguely remember that.

Wonder if our local library has a copy.

Might be fun for nostalgia sake.

[Archae]

11. You can watch it here.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ccw0a_capricorn-one-1978-feature_shortfilms

[progressoid]

13. Excellent. Thanks! n/t

[SCantiGOP]

5. Proof that the landing was fake

I have seen people mention the fact that the American flag left behind was not hanging limp as it should have since there is no wind on the moon. Somehow they missed the fact that they kind of anticipated this and put a rod in the top part of the flag so it would be displayed.

The biggest problem I have with this and other conspiracy theories is that it would not be possible to keep something with this many conspirators secret. Richard Nixon was right when he said Watergate was "just a third rate burglary." But it was inevitable that somehow the truth was going to come out. So how could the hundreds or thousands of people it would have taken to fake the moon landing or 9/11 all kept silent over the years?

[progressoid]

9. Yep. There was even a study showing how fast CTs would unravel.

Maths study shows conspiracies 'prone to unravelling'

A study has examined how long alleged conspiracies could "survive" before being revealed - deliberately or unwittingly - to the public at large.

...

The equation developed by Dr Grimes, a post-doctoral physicist at Oxford, relied upon three factors: the number of conspirators involved, the amount of time that has passed, and the intrinsic probability of a conspiracy failing.

He then applied his equation to four famous conspiracy theories: The belief that the Moon landing was faked, the belief that climate change is a fraud, the belief that vaccines cause autism, and the belief that pharmaceutical companies have suppressed a cure for cancer.

Dr Grimes's analysis suggests that if these four conspiracies were real, most are very likely to have been revealed as such by now.

Specifically, the Moon landing "hoax" would have been revealed in 3.7 years, the climate change "fraud" in 3.7 to 26.8 years, the vaccine-autism "conspiracy" in 3.2 to 34.8 years, and the cancer "conspiracy" in 3.2 years.

"The mathematical methods used in this paper were broadly similar to the mathematics I have used before in my academic research on radiation physics," Dr Grimes said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35411684

[Archae]

12. Another of the biggest conspiracy theories is the JFK killing.

That conspiracy theory climaxed with Oliver Stone's bullshit movie, "JFK."

Stone took so much "artistic license" it ended up there wer two facts in that movie.
JFK was shot and killed.
Jim Garrison tried to prosecute Clay Shaw for the killing.

The rest of that movie was pure bullshit.