35%?????
As many as 35% of Britons believe that the Moon landings were fake? apparently so, thanks to a survey commissioned by the people behind the X-files movie.
I don’t believe it. No, really, I just don’t believe it. People are cleverer and more discriminating than that. It’s well known that these surveys – or any piece of research – is strongly influenced by the form the question is in. I can’t find the exact questions used for this survey anywhere (I’ll send an email to the PR company, but I strongly suspect it will do no good) but I’ll bet you anything the question was phrased as something like ‘Some people believe there is evidence to support the following theories. Which of them do you agree with?’
Seemingly fair, but enough to access the unconscious bias that makes us want to agree with the person we’re speaking to. If some people believe these things, then perhaps there is evidence after all and I’d better just say yes. The same survey found that 3% of people believe that ‘The world is run by dinosaur-like reptiles’ and that – the belief and the number – sound like rubbish to me.
