[QuarianRex]

Originally posted by Alpha Kodiak:
I certainly wouldn't put it past our government to try to fool us, but there is no way that they could cover up such a hoax. At the least, there would be Congressmen and Senators that were privy to that information, and that is a guarantee that it would be leaked.

Think of how much harder it would have been to cover up a fake moon landing than to cover up Watergate, and they were unable to do that.

Ahh... but think of the motivation. The Last pledge of a recently assassinated president was that americans would reach the moon before the end of the decade (and before those commie bastards too). The end of the decade draws nigh and there is no way you can do it. Failure would betray the memory of a dead president who had virtually been canonized by the american people and be an unbearable embarassment and show of weakness during the cold war (something that could NOT be allowed).

Taking all this into consideration perhaps it would be wise to, shall we say, bluff. And besides, its just so we can meet a deadline... yeah, thats the ticket. We would have gotten it eventually...

Let a generation or so pass and look how that one little event has so impacted the national psyche. Most of the people who were there are dead now so who is to say ant different? Besides, people want to believe it. How long can you lie to yourself before it becomes truth?

Saying that such a hoax could never have been perpetrated shows a gross lack of understanding of the human psyche, both of the perpetrators and of those who would be duped. Comparing it to watergate is pointless. People want to see powerful individuals fall. People are more than willing to believe in corruption. Now, you show people that they can do the impossible (giving them credit for it, however small) and you'll have to use the jaws of life and a cattle-prod to pry that belief from them.