• DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    1 year ago

    US government won't take an official stance. US media will publish bullshit from some "whistleblower" claiming the whole thing is fake for weeks on end, then, 6 months later, will quietly issue a retraction that the whistleblower is just some random blogger who doesn't speak Mandarin and has never been to China.

    • 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      1 year ago

      There will definitely be ppl saying it's fake but I bet a good chunk will be something like "lol good job we did that 50 years ago." Then use that as justification to claim China's tech is 50 years behind the US or some similar BS. So they won't so much deny it as belittle it.

      • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        1 year ago

        Oh yeah, that'll probably be the general attitude in the US. No matter what scientific accomplishments China achieves on the moon, whether they build a base there or not, the US will just say "We were there first, so yours doesn't count."

      • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think that in addition to the "fake" narrative, they will also talk about how the Taikonauts were "forced" to go to the moon by their evil authoritarian government.

        They'll give both these stories in quick succession and won't notice the massive glaring contradiction between them.

    • Bloops@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      1 year ago

      Unless the US government gets taken over by QAnon types by then, I would be seriously surprised if they did this. America may even land on the moon again in a few years, so it's not like they'd be embarrassed. I expect a lot of crazy shit online though.

      • DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        1 year ago

        It'll be one of those things where officially they recognise the achievement, but the media will push the fringe voices to the forefront, knowing that people will adopt conspiracy theories all on their own. They won't tell people it was fake, they'll just host people who say it was fake and let them speak, then let people "decide for themselves."

        They've been doing this for decades. QAnon is the best example I can think of for that.