I work from the basic assumption that everyone lies whenever they see a personal benefit and feel they can get away with it. I also assume that anyone with power over another person be it financial or physical will exploit that relationship to maximise their benefit. This I believe drives patriarchal society's misuse of women. There are a few individuals who go against the grain. Very few.
Quick test: You stumble upon a bank robbery in progress. The vault is open, there are no cameras and you know that the robbers are currently elsewhere. You have ten minutes and a door to a deserted part of town is next to you. The bank vault is full of used bank notes. There are millions of dollars available. Do you take money? The bank is currently undergoing investigation for massive fraud and has been cited as the most corrupt bank in the country. Now do you take the money? You were recently defrauded by this bank. Now?
Using the assumption that corruption occurs where possible (check number of affairs, thefts, corporate scandals etc.) and then ask yourself how often the governmnet hides information from its citizens. Ask yourself if politicians are honest or whether they are skilled in the art of saying dishonest things (especially when it comes to promises or statements on their opponents records.)
The assumption I have is that conspiracies happen regularly. I think we invaded Iraq on a massive conspiracy (my friend left the army because a year before the invasion he watched them paint battletanks in desert colours.) I think Hitler became leader after conspiracy (Reichstag fire). I think certain groups within the US government cut deals with Taliban leaders or drug cartels to get information or influence. I think the normal mode of operation in government is to act in secret and present a different story to the public.
1 - Moon landings - while something definately went there I am less convinced by the photos. They seem staged in the extreme. Some seem impossible for a chest mounted camera without viewfinder and operated by gloved hands. Some things seem very odd (one astronaught dropped a picture of his family onto a well lit area of the moon surface - I'll explain why that's suspicious if anyone wants to know). The lunar lander doesn't seem to have the requiste power to lift the ascent module back into orbit and I'm not certain how the moon mounted camera was able to track upwards as it ascended. It would be odd if the US govt. was totally open about what was largely a military project at the height of the cold war. I also suspect it wouldn't have wanted to show shoddy pictures.
2 - Financial - I think corrupt people are taking money all the time. Our labour is constantly being stolen. The banks current situation is a prime example (they should not be getting our future tax money as a forced investment.)
