Walk of Fame

Hollywood and Vine February 18, 2007

Down Hollywood Boulevard from the Kodak Theatre and Academy Awards is the Walk of Fame. At the choice corner of Hollywood and Vine is this star commemorating the Apollo 11 crew. The first voyage to the Moon outshines any achievement of make-believe. Today's information age allows even theories that the speed of light is changing. Unfortunately, it also spreads the most harmful and unsubstantiated rumours.

This year's Academy Award winner for best actress has admitted to being fascinated by conspiracy theories, such as about September 11, 2001. There is ample room to question the government's intelligence, such as whether Osama Bin Laden is still alive. But to believe that it was all a massive conspiracy is to give too much credit to the government. This calls in question the motives of conspiracy theorists, suggesting they are motivated by unreasonable hatred of Jews or the West.

Worse yet, the woman questioned one of history's most positive achievements: "Did man really walk on the moon? Me, I've seen quite a few documentaries on the subject. That, really, I question."

Given that many of us are too young to have watched it in person, this is both ridiculous and harmful. The Moon landing was seen by many millions on TV. The film footage is far beyond what 1960's special effects could achieve. Many schoolchildren have seen Moon rocks, some of which are billions of years older than Earth's surface. The event was monitored by hundreds of technicians on the ground. No amount of fakery could detract from the event.

We have known that it was possible to reach the Moon since Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Achieving that vision took thousands of engineers, with friendly competition from thousands more in Russia. Even Australia contributed by monitoring lunar transmissions from the Parkes telescope. The astronauts themselves were just the tip of the spear. Could all these people be liars?

To say that the Moon landings were a trick defies reason. That would tell us that the best of humanity is really the worst. This calls into question the conspiracy theorist's view of humanity. Prior to 1969, such people would have said that going to the Moon was impossible. Now that they are proven wrong, they would deny the proof. To say such things shows that hatred of humanity transcends all reason.

If the academy wishes to contact a brunette with a brain, they can leave a comment.
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