Showerthought: I looked up the actual number of people who think the moon landing was fake

I was arguing with a buddy about it last night and decided to check the real stats. A Pew Research poll from 2021 says only 6% of Americans seriously doubt it happened. I always thought it was way more people based on online noise. That made me wonder if some conspiracies seem bigger than they are because the believers are just really loud. Has anyone else found a gap between what you thought was a popular belief and the actual numbers?

2 comments

2 Comments

davis.linda1d ago

Yeah, the "online noise" thing is so real. It's like how flat earth stuff seemed everywhere for a minute, but it's a tiny fraction of people who actually believe it. The loudest voices just get all the attention, especially on social media. I've seen the same thing with other old conspiracies, like who really shot JFK. You hear about the doubters constantly, but most people just accept the basic story. It makes you question what else we're overestimating because a few people won't stop yelling about it.

michaeljones1d ago

Totally get what you mean, it's exhausting. You ever just mute a word or phrase on social media because you're so sick of hearing about it, even if you kind of agree with the point? That's where I'm at with a lot of this stuff. It feels like the algorithm just wants to make every small group seem huge because anger and confusion get more clicks. Makes you wonder what normal, quiet majority opinion even looks like anymore.