My neighbor in Phoenix said the moon landing was a 'good TV show' and it threw me

We were just talking about the heat last July when he brought it up out of the blue. He said, 'They did a real good job with the sets and cameras for a TV show back then.' I asked what he meant, and he just shrugged and said it was obvious if you looked at the shadows. I didn't know what to say, so I changed the subject to his cactus garden. How do you even start to talk to someone who is that sure about something like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

caleb_hill2mo ago

Ever have a friend who got deep into those YouTube rabbit holes? My buddy Dave started sending me links about flat earth stuff, and when I asked him why he believed it, he just said "do your own research" in this weird, calm voice. It felt like talking to a wall, because he wasn't even listening to my questions, just repeating his lines. I guess with your neighbor, maybe asking why the shadows convince him could crack the door open, but some people just want to feel like they're in on a secret. It's super frustrating when a normal chat takes that kind of turn.

scott.anthony2mo ago

It's more about feeling special than the facts sometimes.

miles79824d ago

You said 'feeling special,' and that really hit home with me. I had a coworker once who got super into those ancient aliens shows, the ones where they talk about pyramids and stuff. One day at lunch he starts telling me how the Egyptians couldn't have built them without alien help, and I just nodded along. But then he pulled out this laminated card with a timeline of 'real history' he made himself, and I realized he wasn't just watching TV for fun. He had this whole identity built around being one of the few people who 'knew the truth.'