I used to think the moon landing was fake because of the flag moving

For years, I was sure the flag waving in the Apollo footage was a dead giveaway of a studio set. I saw a video about it maybe 5 years ago and that was my proof. Then, a couple months back, I was watching a documentary with my nephew and they actually explained the physics. They said the flag had a horizontal rod to hold it out, and when the astronauts planted it, they twisted it to dig into the ground. That twisting motion made the flag keep moving for a bit in the vacuum... there's no air to slow it down. It was such a simple thing I never considered. I felt pretty dumb for not looking into the other side of the argument sooner. What's a conspiracy you believed that had a really simple explanation you missed?

3 comments

3 Comments

riverdavis9d ago

I totally fell for the chemtrails thing for a while. I saw lines in the sky and just assumed it was some secret spraying program. Then a pilot friend explained it's just water vapor from jet engines freezing at high altitude. Felt like a real goof for not looking that up sooner.

roberts.leo9d ago

Read an article once about how the chemtrail idea really took off after a 1996 Air Force paper mentioned "weather modification." People latched onto that phrase, ignoring the whole paper was about future possibilities, not current secret programs. It's funny how one line in a dry report can spin into a full blown conspiracy that lasts decades. Shows how easily a misunderstanding can spread if it taps into that distrust of authority.

ivan_murphy809d ago

But what if your pilot friend is part of the cover-up?