[Researchers suggest conspiracy theories are spreading more easily in today’s information universe, with the Internet functioning as a superconductor. A growing science of conspiracism seeks to understand who these people are, why they embrace such ideas, and whether there is anything that can dislodge a really magnetic conspiracy theory from the mind of a true believer.]
By
Joel Achenbach
 |
|
Apollo
12 mission Commander Charles P. “Pete” Conrad was the third astronaut
to
walk on the moon. The moon hoax is a classic conspiracy theory — elaborate,
oddly
durable, requiring the existence of malevolent actors
with
a secret agenda. (NASA/AP)
|
The moon is having a star turn. This summer
will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, and the Trump
administration has ordered NASA to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024.
None of this, however, will probably change
the minds of people who live in a parallel belief universe where NASA faked the
Apollo moon landings.
The moon hoax is a classic conspiracy theory
— elaborate, oddly durable, requiring the existence of malevolent actors with a
secret agenda. The moon-fakers are allegedly so competent they can fool the
whole world (but not so competent that they can actually put humans on the
moon).
Researchers suggest conspiracy theories are
spreading more easily in today’s information universe, with the Internet
functioning as a superconductor. A growing science of conspiracism seeks to
understand who these people are, why they embrace such ideas, and whether there
is anything that can dislodge a really magnetic conspiracy theory from the mind
of a true believer.
Polls show that about 5 or 6 percent of the
public subscribes to the moon-hoax theory, former NASA chief historian Roger
Launius said. That is a modest number, but these folks showed up reliably
whenever Launius gave a lecture on the topic: “They’re very vocal — and they
love to confront you.”
As NASA celebrates Apollo 11, the space
agency must decide whether, and how, to respond to the moon-hoax conspiracy
theory.
In response to a query from The Washington
Post, NASA spokesman Allard Beutel issued a statement saying there is “a
significant amount of evidence to support NASA landed 12 astronauts on the Moon
from 1969-1972,” and specified some of that evidence: NASA has “842 pounds of
astronaut-collected Moon rocks studied by scientists worldwide for decades; you
can still bounce Earth-based lasers off the retroreflector mirrors placed on
the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts; NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
imaged the landing sites in 2011 . . . ”
And so on. But it’s a tough situation for
NASA.
The evidence that the moon landings were real
is exactly what a conspiracist would expect to be manufactured by an agency
committed to hoodwinking the public. This is the eternal conundrum for
debunkers.
The
theory never dies
In one iteration of the theory, the Apollo
missions were filmed by legendary movie director Stanley Kubrick, who directed
“2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Bill Kaysing, a former technical writer,
published a book in 1976 titled “We Never Went to the Moon,” which became a
foundational text in the moon-hoax mythology.
In 2001, the Fox TV network aired a
documentary called “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?” with actor
Mitch Pileggi of “The X-Files” TV series (one theme of which was “Trust No
One”) serving as narrator.
The conspiracy theory keeps popping up.
During
a podcast discussion with
other NBA players in December, basketball superstar Stephen Curry lobbed the
idea that humans hadn’t gone to the moon. (He soon backpedaled, apologized and
had a friendly chat with astronaut Scott Kelly.)
A key feature of the moon-hoax idea is that
photographs taken by the Apollo astronauts (supposedly!) simply don’t look
right. For example, where are the stars? Also, there’s no blast crater
underneath the lunar lander.
The camera couldn’t pick up the faint light
of stars behind the astronauts and other bright objects on the sunbathed
surface. And in the moon’s gentle gravity field, the lander’s descent engine
didn’t need to produce much thrust to settle onto the moon’s surface.
NASA responded to the book and film by
putting out a statement citing the moon rocks as incontrovertible evidence:
“The rocks and particles, still under study by scientists worldwide, were
clearly formed in an atmosphere lacking oxygen and water and they show major
chemical differences from any previously known Earth rocks.”
Astronomer Phil Plait dissected the hoax
hypothesis in a 2001 blog post that holds up as the definitive debunking.
“Their evidence is actually as tenuous as the vacuum of space itself,” Plait
wrote.
A more direct response came from Apollo 11
astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin when he was hectored by conspiracy theorist Bart
Sibrel outside a Beverly Hills hotel in 2002.
Sibrel, brandishing a Bible and asking Aldrin
to swear on it, said, “You’re the one who said you walked on the moon when you didn’t. . . . You’re a coward and a liar and a thief.”
WHAM.
Aldrin decked him with a right cross.
Often strange, sometimes toxic
Conspiracy theories may seem strange and
fringe, but they are not harmless. They often transmit racist, anti-Semitic,
Islamophobic beliefs. In their most toxic form, these theories have led to
violence, including mass shootings. Behind many conspiracy theories lurks a
pervasive rage. Many researchers and communicators who deal with fringe
conspiracy theories endure venomous and misogynistic threats and harassment.
The people Landrum interviewed reported being
skeptical of the flat Earth notions initially. The conversion process involved
continued investigation — what Landrum described as an attitude change coming
from a “thoughtful systematic, or mindful, approach.” They were trying to get
it right.
Landrum said she has found that people are
more likely to be open to the flat Earth idea if they were low in science
literacy and high in conspiracy mentality. Her research suggests that flat
earthers occupy all points of the traditional political spectrum, but they
share a common distrust of government and authorities.
At the conference, every person she
interviewed said the moon landings were faked. They do not think the Earth is a
planet. The Earth is a disc and its center is the North Pole (as anyone can
clearly see in the official emblem of the United Nations).
“The most basic thing it affirms is that
people are special. We’re not a speck of dust floating in this vast space, but
the Earth is the center of things. We’re not moving. We’re not a planet. This
is it. Heaven is above the Earth, hell is below the Earth,” Landrum said.
Trump
and 'birther' belief
One conspiracy theory helped shape the
political career of President Trump. Long before he ran for president, Trump
stoked the “birther” belief that President Barack Obama was not born in the
United States, and was not constitutionally eligible to serve as president. In
her recent memoir, former first lady Michelle Obama said Trump’s birther
promotion was “dangerous, deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and
kooks,” and put her family’s safety at risk.
Trump has repeatedly called global warming a
“hoax.” He has hinted that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died of foul
play. While running for president, he claimed that, before the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy, the father of his leading rival, Sen. Ted Cruz
(R-Tex.), had met with Lee Harvey Oswald.
“I could say, with some degree of certainty,
that he uses conspiracy theories to motivate his core supporters. Whether he
believes them or not is a completely different question,” said Joseph Uscinski,
a University of Miami professor and co-author of the book “American Conspiracy
Theories.”
For years, Trump endorsed one of the most
dangerous conspiracy theories: that vaccines cause autism. (He recently
reversed himself and urged parents to vaccinate their children.) Leaders of the
movement contend that pediatricians, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, vaccine manufacturers, medical journals, and epidemiologists around
the world are hiding this terrifying truth. Anti-vaxxers have spread
misinformation and dissuaded parents from protecting their children. This is a
factor in the record-breaking measles outbreak that is still raging this year.
For any of these conspiracies to be true,
they would have to be vast in scale, ruthless in implementation and strikingly
efficient — with no leaks from conspirators. Apollo sent 24 astronauts to the
vicinity of the moon and 12 walked on it, and not one of them has revealed
their big secret.
Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard professor of the
history of science, says all this conspiracy-mongering does matter when it
comes to issues such as climate change and vaccine safety.
“Without trust in institutional authority —
and particularly without trust in science — we are left with no way to correct
disinformation,” Oreskes said. “And from there, it is a downward spiral.”
Read
more
