Why are people constantly asking if the Moon landings were faked?

Question

I can tell by the other answerers' responses that I am not alone with my frustration.
Maybe we just shouldn't answer them anymore... ?
Just an idea...

Answer 1

It's not just this question. There are about a dozen other questions which get asked asked at least once a day. I think the people who ask questions here have a different mindset from most of us who answer. They never read any other questions, or use the search tool. They have no interest in anyone else's questions. All they care about is _their_ question, and they want a personalizred answer to it. While you and I use Google or Wikipedia to find answers, that's somehow beyond these folk. They think they are the only people in the world who ever thought of this question, and they don't want an answer that was given to someone else an hour ago.

It may also be, especially with this question, that we are not giving them the answer they want, i.e. that it was a hoax, and so they keep asking in the hopes that someone will finally say, "Yes, it was a hoax," instead of always saying "No, it actually happened."

Edit: I think not answering isn't a good idea, because the "hoax believers" _will_ answer. I sometimes think "That's an easy question, I'm sure it will get lots of correct answers, so I won't answer." And then I read through the answers and realize that they're all wrong. This happened recently in a question about the phases of the Moon. 12 answers, and every single one said the phases of the Moon were caused by the Earth's shadow falling on the Moon! If the first answer to a question is wrong, we often get a bunch of "me too" answers elaborating on the misinformation.

Answer 2

Every time some cable channel runs a schlockumentary about the moon landings being faked this forum gets flooded with questions asking whether it's true. It's sad that today's kids are so lacking in the ability to think critically and can be so easily swayed by nonsense. But it's not a new phenomenon. Rational individuals have always been fighting superstition among their fellow humans, trying to educate them with reason.

Yes. It's frustrating to read the same stupid questions being asked repeatedly. But at least you're providing a service by providing a factual counterbalance to the flim-flam fed to society by the popular media. Hopefully a few of these kids will read your answers and come to understand the truth.

Answer 3

I couldn't help noticing that the hoax questions (and Nibiru) often come when it's the early hours of the morning in the US. I believe that they don't actually care whether it's true or not. There are two reasons they "believe" it.

1. They are looking for an issue to make them seem intelligent, and choosing the paradigm that they believe is slightly against the grain. By doing this, they see that they're not going with the crowd, so they feel a little more special. Unfortunately for them, they don't realise that this is one issue about which there's no serious debate, and that it exposes their lack of any knowledge of the processes involved.

2. As a form of "rebellion" against something they don't understand, and therefore something that shows them how little in control of the world they are. Insecurity, in other words.

There is no cure. Either ignore it or explain patiently, but in the end you have to forget it and walk away.

Answer 4

You might have the right idea Bobby. You are not alone in your frustration. I've passed on answering a couple of them and at times wished that everyone would too. As an American who is proud of our space program and all it's accomplishments I find it insulting. .
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I'm not sure if anyone has brought this up but, think about it, if anyone was going to fake a Moon landing don't they think the Russians would have tried it? Even their secret lunar program that they swore didn't exist was exposed after a time.
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.TO ALL THE REGULARS HERE AT YAHOO ANSWERS!
.BOBBY HAS THE RIGHT IDEA. LET'S NOT EVEN ANSWER ANYMORE LUNAR HOAX QUESTIONS!
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Answer 5

I would attribute it, at least partly, to paranoid mental disorders.

Paranoia is a complex human mental health problem. Virtually every person can be made paranoid on some level by giving them inconsistent mental stimuli... like rewarding them for mistakes and punishing them for successes or just by treating them unfairly. Paranoia can be found in the workplace if bad reward systems are being used on employees (I have seen that myself in a friend of mine).
I would think that some psychological forms of torture play on this theme.

Paranoia can be induced by drugs in otherwise healthy individuals, which is a sign that even the "normal" human brain is not stable against chemical shifts and reproduces symptoms similar to mental diseases all too easily.

On this background it is not unlikely that relatively normal people with limited knowledge of physical phenomena, mathematics and engineering who have to rely in their regular lives on guessing and trusting others as their main problem solving skills, will develop paranoid ideas when they are being confronted with something that is so far out of the realm of their own experience.

After all... what is easier to imagine if you are not a rocket scientist, to fly to the moon for real or to build a movie set that just looks like you are flying to the moon?

Those of us who know "rocket science", of course also know that flying to the moon is easier. But the non-rocket scientists do not. Since they can not distinguish the reality shown in Apollo footage from the cheapest Scifi opera, they will be hard pressed to find reasons to believe either.

If this inability to judge reality is coupled with a general fear of or loathing for the government (they collect taxes but when do they ever return a service?), there is an explosive mental cocktail that can be exploited by those who make money on the paranoid by feeding them lies that nurture their fears and distrust.

Having said that, I think most posters in Yahoo are simply attention trolls who like to push buttons. And the moon landing hoax is for sure a button the size of Texas.

Answer 6

They ask because they're probably too stupid not to be led astray by a bunch of 'conspiracy theorists' who have nothing better to do than automatically distrust and suspect everything.

Maybe you're right. Just treat them like any other troll and be done with it.

Doug
EDIT: Ya know...... I think Geoff G and jludvig may both be onto something. Maybe the folks who ask these 'almost a troll' kinds of questions really -are- just simple wackos who need to be told to get some professional help.

Answer 7

I always answer because there are a SIGNIFICANT number of people who have doubts, are not well informed, are too young to have watched it all live on TV, but are reasonable people with open minds and are willing to learn what they don't already know and willing to change their minds if they find they were mistaken. If all they hear is responses from the hoax believers, they will just be drawn into that crazy belief.

Answer 8

I cannot begin to understand it unless our strings are being pulled. I've given up answering seriously.. From now on i'm agreeing with them and telling them WWII was faked as well. Its more fun that way. If they won't believe simple truth, why waste verbage?. Make up some neat stuff, they wont know the difference. If they do know the ddifference they shouldn't have asked the question.

Answer 9

Cause it hurts their brain. They are probably the same ones that think the pyramids couldn't have been built by the Egyptians and that aliens plopped them down out of the sky. I guess they figure if it is too complicated for them or a chimp to figure out, then no one else can either.
Some people just don't believe in the imagination or creativity of the human mind to expand the knowledge of science, beauty, and art.

Answer 10

People keep asking if the moon landings were fake because they are unsure.