When Astronauts Return to the Moon...

[HyperOreo]

...will the Apollo Hoax and Flat Earth persist?

[Ranb]

Yes it will.  There are those who claim that rockets do not work in a vacuum, that six feet of lead shielding is needed to protect the astronauts from the radiation in the VAB and that is it cheaper to simply fake the landings instead of doing them for real.

[onebigmonkey]

Yes, because they are faking it to keep the sheeple stupid.

[Von_Smith]

Of course not.  They will all instantly be swayed by reason, admit they were wrong, and go on to lead productive, meaningful, well-informed lives.

[JayUtah]

Of course they'll persist.  True believers will just move the goalposts.  In the late 1990s Bill Kaysing assured people he would recant if an unmanned spacecraft took pictures of the landing sites that showed the artifacts of the mission.  Apparently he believed this would never happen in his lifetime, because when just such a mission was imminent, he changed his mind and said nothing would convince him that Apollo had succeeded.  If people believe, contrary to all available evidence, that the missions in the 1960s and 1970s were fake, then it's really not hard to keep believing -- again, against all evidence -- that any new set of missions are also fake.  Once you've decided to ignore evidence, it doesn't really matter how much of it you ignore, or why.

[gillianren]

I mean, you don't have to go to the Moon to prove the Earth isn't flat, and people believe that anyway.

[smartcooky]

...will the Apollo Hoax and Flat Earth persist?

You could drag the Hoax & FE "true believers" kicking and screaming into the crew capsule of a moon rocket, launch them there, put a spacesuit on them and have them stand on the lunar surface looking up at the earth, and they still wouldn't beleive you. They would try to claim that it was all a simulation.

These idiots are like US Senate Republicans... it doesn't matter how much evidence you show them or how overwhelming it is, they have already made up their minds what they want to believe.


ETA: oh, and happy new year to all at Apollohoax.net
 

[raven]

They didn't believe then, so why would they believe now? I would love to see it though, especially if it was a step to other things, not just another camping trip to bring rocks back.

[Obviousman]

Of course they'll persist.  True believers will just move the goalposts.  In the late 1990s Bill Kaysing assured people he would recant if an unmanned spacecraft took pictures of the landing sites that showed the artifacts of the mission.  Apparently he believed this would never happen in his lifetime, because when just such a mission was imminent, he changed his mind and said nothing would convince him that Apollo had succeeded.  If people believe, contrary to all available evidence, that the missions in the 1960s and 1970s were fake, then it's really not hard to keep believing -- again, against all evidence -- that any new set of missions are also fake.  Once you've decided to ignore evidence, it doesn't really matter how much of it you ignore, or why.

Jack White: Of course I am always willing to examine new evidence and change my mind if required but since the landings were faked, any evidence to the contrary must also be faked and therefore would be a waste of my time to examine.

[Dalhousie]

They didn't believe then, so why would they believe now? I would love to see it though, especially if it was a step to other things, not just another camping trip to bring rocks back.

Not that there is anything wrong with more camping trips to bring back rocks.

[MBDK]

These idiots are like US Senate Republicans...

Tsk...tsk...  I didn't see it in the rules, other than off-topic, but isn't political and/or religious talk frowned on in this forum?  However, to keep this more on-topic, at least one study has concluded no discernible difference in the numbers of Democrats and Republicans that believe in conspiracies, UNLESS it affects them along party lines. 
https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/study-finds-if-republicans-or-democrats-are-more-likely-to-believe-in-conspiracy-theories

So, regarding the Moon/Flat Earth conspiracy believers, and in conjunction with the linked article, if someone's world revolves around one set of beliefs, they are much more willing to accept a conspiracy theory for anything that they consider an attempt to discredit those beliefs.

[gillianren]

Political talk is so far from being frowned on that there's a whole subject in the off-topic part about the Trump Presidency and its failings.

[MBDK]

Okay.  Thanks for the clarification.

[Jason Thompson]

Yeah, it’s Cosmoquest (Bad Astronomy A’s was) that stamps out political discussion. I was once reprimanded there for comparing the Apollo budget with the amount spent on the military in the US as that was deemed a political point. Then saying I meant it only as a mathematical comparison got me a warning for arguing with the mods. I don’t there much these days....

[smartcooky]

These idiots are like US Senate Republicans...

Tsk...tsk...  I didn't see it in the rules, other than off-topic, but isn't political and/or religious talk frowned on in this forum?  However, to keep this more on-topic, at least one study has concluded no discernible difference in the numbers of Democrats and Republicans that believe in conspiracies, UNLESS it affects them along party lines. 
https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/study-finds-if-republicans-or-democrats-are-more-likely-to-believe-in-conspiracy-theories

So, regarding the Moon/Flat Earth conspiracy believers, and in conjunction with the linked article, if someone's world revolves around one set of beliefs, they are much more willing to accept a conspiracy theory for anything that they consider an attempt to discredit those beliefs.

Political talk is so far from being frowned on that there's a whole subject in the off-topic part about the Trump Presidency and its failings.

Besides, I'm not an American - I don't have a dog in the fight.

For mine, it was just an observation; your President appears to be a conspiracy theorist, and a goodly number of his supporters appear to be disappearing down the rabbit hole with him.

It would be an interesting exercise to find out what proportion of his ardent base are Apollo deniers, flat earthers and JFK conspiracy believers. I'd put money on that figure being appreciably higher than the national average.