The Smithsonian Institute

The Smithsonian Institute is not just your average, everyday source of online information. It is, in my humble opinion, a modern day equivalent to the library of Alexandria. Although it is just one of the worlds many institutions that house knowledge, it is uniquely American. It doesn’t just house our national treasures…it is a national treasure. Most of the knowledge, research, art, Americana, etc…is not available online. However, the institute has over 6.4 million digital records available online through the Collections Search Center.

Researchers for the Institute aren’t just your average everyday sort. Many of them are scientists and scholars of a variety of disciplines and because of their credentials; they provide the institute with an advanced level of credibility. For example, Paleoanthropologist Briana Pobiner is one of the numerous scientists who contribute to the institutes plausibility.

From researching natural history to viewing historic American documents, the institute has millions of artifacts, works of art, and specimens in their collections. Anyone from scholars to schoolchildren can navigate their website to view their vast collection.

In an age of fast-food information, the Smithsonian Institute’s website offers a wide variety of data to anyone willing enough to spend the time to find it. I have used it in the past in my own research, whether it was for school or my own interests. The institute and it's website are highly respected as a source of knowledge. For this very reason I would recommend it to anyone.

Apollo missions a hoax?

For this weeks muddiest point I wanted to pose a question that I have had on this subject for well over a decade now, but first I want to clarify some things.

I began reading about the lunar conspiracies in the mid-nineties and honestly...I still don't know if it was faked or not. The website I viewed from blackboard had a tremendous amount information that makes one question whether or not we walked on the moon at all. Nonetheless, if you spend enough time researching online, you can find information to counter this evidence. For example, the episode of myth-busters proving the photo of different shadow angles coming from one source of light, is a perfect example of this. To tell you the truth, I don't know if there is any evidence I've encountered that hasn't been refuted in one way or another.

And so we get to my question:

If the moon landings were a hoax, does that matter to you? My answer to this question is definitely no! Before you judge my answer though, let me explain myself. At the time of the lunar landings we were at the height of the cold war. Communism was also at it's height and most of the world was under it's cruel dominion. Our biggest enemies were the U.S.S.R. and China.

For the sake of our country, our allies, and the future of our world the communist countries needed to know that America was the big man on campus, even if that was just an illusion. Does this make it right for a country to lie to inhabitants? No, but that's the history of the world. All countries do this...some on a daily basis. Sometimes for the good and many times for the bad. However, if the lunar landings were just a fake, than this is definitely one time I can forgive our government for lying to us.