News Story on Neil Armstrong Slips on an Onion
Written by Nancy Atkinson
Two newspapers in Bangladesh have issued a retraction after publishing an article taken from the popular but satirical website "The Onion" which claimed Neil Armstrong had been convinced by conspiracy theorists that the Moon landings were faked. The Daily Manab Zamin said Armstrong had shocked a news conference by saying he now knew it had been an "elaborate hoax." The New Nation then picked up the story, and only later did they realize the Onion was not a genuine news site.
Both have now apologized to their readers for not checking the story. "We thought it was true so we printed it without checking," associate editor Hasanuzzuman Khan told the AFP news agency.
"We didn't know the Onion was not a real news site."
The article said Armstrong had told a news conference he had been "forced to reconsider every single detail of the monumental journey after watching a few persuasive YouTube videos and reading several blog posts" by a conspiracy theorist.
Of course, like everything else on The Onion, the story was completely made up.
The two newspaper articles drew a lot of attention in Bangladesh, and was one of the top articles getting hits on the papers' websites.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Related stories on Universe Today
Comment policy: Be nice and brief. Don't advertise your stuff, or promote your personal theories. We'll delete any comments that break these policies. Click here for more details.
September 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Not knowing that the Onion is satire is facepalm worthy.
September 5th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
No, not really. Believing that Neil Armstrong, of all people, could be persuaded that the Moon landings were faked is facepalm worthy. Multiple facepalms, in fact.
September 5th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
These so-called conspiracy theorists should think about themselfves–they should think are they really alive and what they see in the real world is just a dream they never woke up to!?!? Something for the conspiracy theorists to think about!!!!! For the conspiracy theorists, everything is a conspiracy except themselves!!!!!!!
September 5th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
…and the sad part is this is the state of the modern news cycle in many nations.
Why do all the work to research and fact check a story when you can quote someones blog or what have you.
September 5th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Not really space related, but on The Onion:
We went to Washington DC for vacation this year, and as we were walking away from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial a man came up to us with a big stack of The Onion (available free from kiosks everywhere in the capital), and shoved one at me, saying he was selling them to support Soldier's Families.
I wasn't fooled – I work nights in Downtown Pittsburgh and have people try to "sell" me the free local news rags all the time, but I gave him an especially scathing look because I doubted he had even looked at the content of the magazine he was pushing – plus his choice of venue.
September 5th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
The comment section will not be complete without a reference to the Onion's original moon landing cover:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/rlongpre01/moon.html
I can't find the original Onion page, but reading it is quite a hoot.
Not family friendly, mind you, but it does capture the correct level of excitement.
The Onion is giving the "debunkers" their proper level of respect. I never did understand why people spend perfectly good CPU cycles debunking the debunkers… This is not a rational argument, and as such, the best way to make the point is just to make fun of them.
September 5th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
CrazyEddieBlogger-unfortunately, too many people are gullible and believes any misguided and downright lies printed or on the 'net. For the crooked minded, it is a great way to make money from the weak minded and gullibles. I'll make a lot of money from believers of Dec23,2012 end-of-days-you have a point to have fun, and I'll have fun making alot of money on the poor misguided
souls lol. If I can't beat the con-artists, I may as well join them for end-of days.
September 5th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
yeah, but those capable of believing that the moon landing was fake have to have the ability to ignore so much common sense, that going around and explaining why the flag this or why the stars that is not fixing the problem.
You're exactly right – you're done explaining the moon landing, and here they go chasing the 2012 comet… or the face on Mars, or 9/11 theories…
Remember that there are more people in this world who think that electricity and magnetism have to do with the Chakarta over your head than people who know who Faraday or Maxwell were. So who are we arguing with?
When someone says "the moon landing was a hoax", the most effective way to "explain" that they are wrong is to laugh at them, discount them, or generally treat them like idiots. You know – roll your eyes, do the universal cuckoo sign, and walk away.
Not very scientific, but this is not a scientific argument. You could land a second lander today at the Sea of Tranquility, and they'll tell you that the Apollo lander you're filming was brought in last year in one of the black shuttles as part of the greater cover-up.
Oh – and if you're worried about people making money off of selling baseless stories as fact, you have a very busy life ahead of you….
September 5th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
CrazyEddieBlogger-I'm not worried about people making money off misquided peeps,I know this been going on since the human race started, however, I'll be very busy later concerning 2012 end-of-days;timing is very important checking out pricing on expensive jewelry heirlooms and ultra-rare antique furnitures and other ultra-rare items. I'll give these true believers of 2012 some story why they must get rid of their heirlooms,etc and give them 1-3% of their true value-I expect there to be alot of competition if my timing is off, so timing is important!!!!. By Spring2013, I should have plenty of money to buy a nice bunalow in Malibu or a 'little Manor' home in England. lol
September 5th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
hehe – creative financing. Use it to fund a Mars expedition, thus creating further rumors and speculations. Get to Mars, and find evidence that Nibiru is actually coming in 2020. Rinse, Repeat.
Here's a more legally safe way – start selling 2012 survival kits, including:
- Anti radiation cream
- Cheap sunglasses
- HEPA Filter mask
- Slim Whitman yodeling CD in case Nibiru carries hostile life forms.
no way… I just Google "2012 survival" and it already auto-completed "kit". Look it up. Now tell me you still want to convince people the moon landing was real…
September 5th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
CrazyEddieBlogger- Thank you about the kits-those I can use for a 'sideshow' between transactions with the pricy items I'll get for 1-3% of their true value. If the conversation about the moon landing comes up, I'll agree with them 100% they are correct and I'll put my 2 cents worth how the Moon landing was staged. When it comes to large monetary transactions, I will have to keep up a good front on what these people believe in!!!! lol
BTW, a Mars venture for me may be too much as that's a long, long trip,I'll have a way to conjour up some story about Nibiru 2020 by doing a lot of research without going to Mars.
Lol.
September 6th, 2009 at 12:33 am
I read the article as the heaviest of heavy sarcasm – 'Engineering buff' for instance. The only thing that didn't ring true was that strong, silent, reclusive Neil Armstrong came up with such a finely crafted piece of irony – But maybe I do him an injustice.
Wouldn't it be great if he HAD written it though? Much more effective than Buzz's punch in the chops.
September 6th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Hehehe…they thought the Onion was telling the truth…
thats funny.
September 6th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Good old Onion news
September 6th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Not *everything* The Onion writes is made-up. Schwarzenegger running for governor of California was reported without changing any details, for example. You can all probably assume why.
September 6th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Popisfizzy-California is a land of tranquility and truthfulness(tongue-in-cheek) as I live in Sacramento,California and work across the street from the state capital. I shook hands with our governator a few times and see him often. Although many state workers are mad at our governator for cutting our pay and giving us furlough days off without pay-I can't fault the governor about Californias' economic problems. Californians are a stange lot, and we would have voted in the big baddie in Superman 2 movie or the thugs in Terminator 2,3 if they were better known lol.
September 6th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
The man keeps the sword from Conan behind his desk… who the hell would not vote for him?
September 7th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for President in 2012 or 2016–I wish this is true but unfortunately not as he said he did not want to run for re-election for 2012 as California Governor for another 4 years nor wanting to being a Senator. Arnold wants to go back into Movies in 2012 onwards, but, he's not as buff as when he was young.
Maxwell-we will miss having a Governor who keeps the sword from Conan behind his desk lol.
California will again be a dull state unless we can find someone interesting!!!!
September 8th, 2009 at 8:57 am
CrazyEddie: That Onion article originally was printed in the "Our Dumb Century" book they published several years ago. And it still cracks me up every time I see it.