Some say it's counterproductive and confusing. Others say it's the ultimate in freedom of speech. In fact, for nearly 30 years futurists have been saying that the Information Age and the tools of that age are the major force behind the end to despotism.
There's no better example of an idea that's kept alive through its Internet advocates than the belief that men never landed on the moon, and that the moon landing photos were a hoax created on a Hollywood sound stage or somewhere in the Nevada desert.
The last men to set foot on the moon were the astronauts of Apollo 17 in December 1972. But even before this, theories were spreading that the landings never happened and that NASA faked them.
NASA has no official reaction to these claims. But why should the space agency respond? They stand by their photos and all the other evidence of the successful moon shots.
The Web site The Strange and Bizarre contains the article "Faked Moon Landings" at www.geocities.com:0080/Pentagon/2666/MoonHoax2.html, which is taken from the magazine X Factor.
The magazine's readership is small, but the article is on the Internet where millions can see it. And until the Webmaster who posted it removes it, the article could be there for many years. This article shows NASA pictures of several Apollo moon shots. There's commentary with each of the pictures.
The author of the article says there are anomalies in each photo that indicate the pictures weren't taken on the moon. You'll find a more extensive scientific interpretation of NASA moon photos on The Dark Side of the Moon Landings Web site at www.forteantimes.com/artic/94/moon.html.
In this article, David Percy, a film and TV producer, comments on some of the NASA images and formulates an argument that concludes the NASA photos were faked.
Richard Gall, director and Webmaster of the Global UFO Network, outlines his problems with the photographs in an essay "NASA Conspiracy" at http://geocities.com/Area51/Vault/3150/govment2.htm.
Even the Hare Krishnas have made the charge that the moon landings were faked. In an online article at http://science.krishna.org/Articles/2000 /08/00082.html on the Prabhupada Hare Krishna News Network, the group charges that the moon landings were a hoax that cost billions of dollars.
"The Vedic account of our planetary system is already researched, concluded and perfect," the article says. "The Vedas state that the moon is 800,000 miles farther from the earth than the sun. Therefore, if we accept the modern calculation of 93 million miles as the distance from the earth to the sun, how could the `astronauts' have traveled to the moon--a distance of almost 94 million miles--in only 91 hours?"
And so the controversy continues on the Web. For those of us who believe the truth will set us free, no one said the path to freedom would be easy.
Lawn-chair pilot
www.flightdata.com/ht-lawnchairman.html
Is the story of the "lawn-chair pilot" merely an urban legend, or is it true? The folks at Flightdata.com say it's true, and they offer what they say is proof that Larry Walters, a truck driver from Long Beach, Calif., tied 45 weather balloons to a lawn chair in 1982 and took a ride aloft to 16,000 feet before he got cold, shot some balloons out and crashed into a power line.
Moon Landings Faked: The Internet Says So
The Internet may be the ultimate in free speech because everyone can become a publisher. And sometimes it seems that everyone with a computer and a connection to the Internet has become a publisher. [Original headline: OTHER VIEWS OF NASA MOON WALKS FLOURISHING]
Chicago Tribune / IL | By Dave Peyton - November 27 2000
