
Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious? - mooreds
https://www.livescience.com/24310-flat-earth-belief.html
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skate22
While I don't believe the earth is flat, i haven't done any real research, and
i assume that's true for most of the people laughing at flat earthers.

Of course i believe in global warming, though ive never read a single paper /
study on it.

Of course i believe in evolution, i went to a school where they told me to
believe it.

Am I any more intelligent than a flat earther, or am i just a product of where
i was born?

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KallDrexx
> While I don't believe the earth is flat, i haven't done any real research,
> and i assume that's true for most of the people laughing at flat earthers.

The difference is that flat earthers have to go through such massive logical
contortions to support their claims. Not to mention the idea that every
technology company and government is coordinated on a massive cooperative
conspiracy without any substantial leaks is laughable.

I'm not sure what research you are referring to. There's plenty of research I
have available to me about astronomy and past endeavors to not only prove that
the Earth is round, that people have been off the planet and that we have
explored the galaxy enough to prove the earth is not flat. The only research I
have not done is personally gone to space.

So are you saying that it's not real research unless I go to space and see for
myself?

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cbluth
> logical contortions

That's good, I might use it

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JBReefer
No, it's a joke making fun of the "IFLScience" people who mindlessly parrot
back what they read on social media as gospel truth. There's been a resurgence
in science-as-politics for the political class, so people who have no idea
what they're talking about have decided they're scientists, by virtue of their
politics.

The Earth is obviously round, but the reaction is really, _really_ funny. I
don't get why that isn't obvious.

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krapp
> I don't get why that isn't obvious.

Because the world is full of people who _sincerely_ believe in things just as
ridiculous as the flat earth (such as, well, the hollow earth) and so no one
is willing to grant this one group of people the benefit of the doubt.

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JBReefer
That's literally the orthodoxy that makes the joke funny though. How does
someone being a hollow earther hurt you? How does your sister believing in
crystals impact you? People should be kinder to each other and should jump
down peoples throat a bit less, that stuff is what makes the world fun.

My wife believes in that astrology nonsense, I don't really care and it makes
her happy. What IS annoying are the "ackshually" people on social media any
time any of that comes up - which is exactly who Flat Earth is making fun of.

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hawkesnest
Is your position that believing in untrue things has no physical (non-
societal) negative consequences?

If your sister thinks the crystals are going to cure her cancer, that's going
to impact HER quite a bit. I would assume losing her to disease would impact
you, right?

When parents refuse to take their children to the doctor for medical
expertise, and instead give them coffee enemas, is that "what makes the world
fun" in your eyes?

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astine
If I recall, Steve Jobs attempted holistic methods for treating his cancer
instead of undergoing what his doctor recommended and ended up dying as a
result.

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ebbv
Of the people who aren't just straight up trolling, I think a large percent
just like to be "controversial" and hold contrarian views that might blow
somebody's mind. The Flat Earth nonsense is a pretty low stakes one for most
people. It's really stupid but it's not inherently offensive apart from the
stupidity. It's not racist or xenophobic or anything. I think that's why it's
gained so much traction.

Frankly the best way to have it fade away is stop giving them attention, 'coz
both the trolls and the contrarians want attention.

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knopkop_
> why it's gained so much traction

"Join the flat earth society, we have members from all around the globe"

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cbluth
iseewhatyoudidthere.gif

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julianj
I personally know one. Conversations about the topic are impossible. His
arguments for the earth being flat are made of half truths and broken logic.
Any debate brands you as a NASA shill. He doesn't believe the earth orbits the
sun.

I have had doubts as to whether he actually believes and just uses this to
make money off of his semi-successful youtube channel.

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mathattack
If you want to know why people defy logic, look for economic reasons before
psychological ones. :-) This applies to TV pundits too.

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mywittyname
If you're smart enough to make money as a con artist, then you're smart enough
not to fall for the con.

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mathattack
Sometimes they don’t fall for it. They’re just making too much money to fess
up to it.

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mywittyname
That's basically what I'm saying. Anybody profiting from this is too smart to
fall for the lie. There might be a lucky idiot out there who's accidentally
making money off flat earth stuff, but they are in a minority.

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vr46
My own experience with flat earthers is sad - my pal, an extremely intelligent
and highly educated engineer and CTO in fintech had fragile mental health,
possibly caused by said career, but resulted in his marriage and life breaking
down to the extent that he fled his family and the authorities for Thailand.

There, he appeared to not have access to the medical care he needed and
started making videos and blog posts about all the fake and forged events in
the world from moon landings to Gaza blockades, settling on a flat earth. I
received many messages and links from him about how he’d ‘busted it open’ and
‘figured it out’.

This continued for many months, becoming crazy abusive to his friends and
associates before it all ended with him taking his own life.

Not suggesting all flat earthers are mentally ill, of course.

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olyjohn
I do think that there is some sort of mental aspect to it for a lot of people
though. Not like mental illness exactly... but I know a flat-earther and his
life is sort of a stressful mess. I think that this explains for a lot of
people why the world is fucked up and their life is not going the way they
wanted. If everything else is messed up, it surely isn't them doing anything
wrong. It feels like sort of a coping mechanism. I'm sure it's not like this
for all flat-earthers, but I only know one.

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brickmort
I actually appreciate the skepticism of flat-earthers. Everything should be
challenged. What I have noticed about the flat earth theory, however, is that
the arguments are very weak.

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kevinmchugh
It's a mistake to say all flat-earthers believe any particular explanation.
The bit about "dark energy" is something I've never seen in the year or two
I've been reading flat earth social media. One of the more common arguments I
see from them is that humans should be able to feel the earth spinning and
that the oceans should be flung off the globe, so claiming that earth is
accelerating upwards would be problematic.

Not that their ideas are always internally consistent.

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dev_north_east
I'be noticed an increased number of flat earth graffiti and the likes in my
city recently. I don't know whether they're serious or not in their beliefs, I
don't care either way. It is funny to see some people get so bent out of shape
on the matter though.

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hugo007
That theory was created by the government trying to "show" the people that
most of all conspiracy theories are ridiculous and fake.

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mywittyname
The perpetrators are more likely to be marketing companies and/or people with
a financial incentive to undermine science conducting research on virality.

The people in the "government" already have power. There's no real incentive
to pull off a scheme like this instead of acting on the political motives that
had you run for office to begin with. It's like spending all day cooking a
nice dinner, then when it's done, looking up recipe ideas online instead of
eating.

There are lots of companies in the world who benefit from undermining science.
The most obvious being energy, healthcare, and food providers. Government
regulation is a huge burden in these sectors and regulations are almost always
the result of pesky scientific research.

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amarant
wööw. the comment section under that article though...that deserves some sort
of internet equivalent of the Nobel's Literature prize!

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ryanmercer
Some probably are, that's the state of the education system in the U.S.,
others are blatantly trolling.

Obviously the Earth is in fact a holographic trapezoid resting on a bed of
spaghetti.

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stephengillie
Chemtrails are how we repair cracks in the "impenetrable" dome. Outside the
dome is sea water - we're on the sea floor of an even larger planet.

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ryanmercer
No no no, chemtrails are slug trails. duh.

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stephengillie
Sea slugs, on the outside of the dome? How do we get outside to scrape them
off?

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hawkesnest
Can someone add the [2017] tag to this?

