An enlightening new survey out of Russia reveals that more than half of the country's residents believe that the moon landing was faked! The remarkable findings came via a public opinion research group run by the Russian government which polled people about their beliefs on a number of different scientific conspiracy theories. Standing out among the reported results is that 57% of Russians backed the infamous moon hoax theory and that a mere 24 percent of respondents thought that the Apollo landings were real.
One wonders if the eyebrow-raising response to the question is fuelled, in part, by the cultural baggage of having lost the 'space race' to the United States. A look at the answers to the other survey topics suggests that may be the case as they largely fell more in line with similar surveys we've seen in the past. For example, 45% of the respondents said that they believe intelligent ET life exists, which is line with an international average produced by a survey late last year.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking portion of the survey surrounds the question of if the scientific community is hiding "the truth from common people." Although it does not specifically state what, exactly, that 'truth' is, Russians had a strong opinion nonetheless with 59% saying that they believed something is being hidden from them. This suspicion seems to be in keeping with what could be described as a growing sense of distrust among many, even in the United States, when it comes to the scientific community and 'experts' in general.
Meanwhile, Flat Earth fans will be disappointed to hear that a mere 3% of the Russian respondents expressed belief in the controversial conspiracy theory. And, even worse, a whopping 93 percent said that the Earth is most definitely round. For those keeping score at home, a recent survey in the United States saw 9% of the people back the Flat Earth theory and another study in France put that number at 4 percent. Whether there is room the conspiracy theory to grow in Russia remains to be seen, but it probably isn't a wise choice to start tagging 'Research Flat Earth' on things over there.