Man on the Moon

This is a long story so buckle up and strap in (if anybody ever actually lands here-ha ha). My neighbors stopped me last night when I was walking our dog and invited me to join in a convo with 3 other couples. One neighbor started right away with, "Do you believe that a man has really been to the moon?" I hesitatingly (because of previous experience expressing my true thoughts) answered, "I kind of DON'T believe that we've really put anybody on the moon" and she got excited because that's what her husband has recently concluded. He got excited and said, "Have you been watching the Tik Tok videos on that, too?" I joked around and said, "No. Is that where YOU get all your reliable information?" and like the special individual I am, that kind of killed that line of convo. I didn't mean it condescendingly. I meant to add some light-heartedness to a serious topic that I actually really love-mmm, conspiracy theories! Yummy! However, my execution can always use a whole lot of work.

I was overthinking about all of this, like I do. I started wondering when it was exactly that I started believing they did not really put a man on the moon and I couldn't pinpoint it but every time I hear the R.E.M. song Man on the Moon, I kind of think-ha ha, this song is clever but never did an analysis on it. Well, today was the day. I looked up the lyrics, did quick research on every topic within the song-Mott thh Hoople, Andy Kaufman, his wrestling gig and relationship with Fred Blassie and their movie, the Egyptian asp (snake), which is rumored to be the method Cleopatra used to kill herself, etc. I looked up all the things. I knew the first two chorus lines-If you believe they put a man on the moon...If you believe there's nothing up their sleeve...but I didn't even realize the chorus ends with "Then nothing is cool" so they are drawing a line in the sand for people that just believe at face value. There are so many other nods to pop culture, Elvis, people faking their own deaths, even the line, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" is based on Kurt Cobain's use of the word "yeah." I was reading R.E.M.'s comments about the song and how Mike Mills had said about Kaufman, "He's the perfect ghost to lead you through this tour of questioning things. Did the moon landing really happen? Is Elvis really dead? He was kind of an ephemeral figure at that point so he was the perfect guy to tie all this stuff together..."

I've mentioned before that I like to read things but stay for the comments. On https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/rem/man-on-the-moon, the first comment is this story (edited to shorten slightly): Michellemiller from Buda, Texas wrote-"I was confused about truth and lies at the very beginning of Covid...My cousin visited for the first time ever and we talked about how coincidences are not coincidental at all. She went home the following day. Next day my husband and I chat for a moment as he was making his way to work about Jim Carrey and his role as Andy Kaufman in the Movie man on the Moon. Shortly after he leaves. I begin going through my books on a bookshelf and from my first Bible falls a movie ticket. It’s the stub for the movie Man on the Moon when I saw it in theaters in 1999. On the back I wrote the three people I went to see it with and the town which was Plainview, Texas. One of the names was my cousin who had just visited. I called to tell her about the coincidence..As I told her about it I shared the part that we watched it together when I visited her in Plainview. She was shocked because when she got home the night before from our visit she watched a movie with her kids, she was telling them about Jim Carrey and decided to watch Man on the Moon because she vaguely remembered enjoying it. She said she was trying to remember who she saw it with and I call her the very next day with the answer, literally pre planned 21 years earlier by no coincidence. The next day was my sons 16th birthday so with Covid in full effect we were limited to options for celebration so he decided we would order burgers from fudruckers. As we sat in the parking lot waiting for our burgers to be cooked I told him about this crazy Man on the Moon story. He was also shocked. After the story the food was ready so I went inside to pay while he added his fixings to his burger. There was music playing inside but I didn’t notice until we exited into the strange silence of Covid and no one being in public that the song on the speakers kept playing in my subconscious after we exited. It was REMs Man on the Moon. We went back inside to verify it, and in fact it was that song...One more thing, one of the first microbiologist to buck the narrative of Covid saying it’s a hoax and only real because we choosing gullibility to believe it is real claimed it has never been proven or seen under a microscope and contradicts every scientific fact regarding viruses prior to its inception. Well his name is Dr. Andy Kaufman. Dr. Kaufman is also a psychologist that clearly recognizes the manipulation being played out on a gullible world over trusting and lacking curiosity for truth. Another funny non coincidence is that Dr. Andy Kaufman’s theory is called Operation MoonShot." I looked this up and sure enough, Dr. Andrew Kaufman can be all verified with Operation Moonshot.

This is not a post taking a stand on anything. It's just a post about an interesting experience and learning journey. Also, the song to me means to question things. Don't just believe anything at face value or on the news or on social media. Look into it for yourself and a little doubt along the way is not a bad thing. Never stop asking questions! Also, did they really put a man on the moon? What do you think?