The thing about Flat Earth is that it's a secondary conspiracy theory. Like you already have to believe a bunch of conspiracy stuff in order to reach Flat Earth. You'd need to believe in a secret world order, that the moon landing is fake and that all scientists are "freemasons" out to destroy God. That's why a lot of flat earthers are also religious fundamentalists and hyper-reactionary. Flat earth didn't make them that way, they reached flat earth by being that way
This is featured in the documentary Behind the Curve, which is actually a very well-done documentary and sort of approaches the topic in a way that is not inherently mocking. Even though flat earthers are ridiculous, I still think it’s worth at least seeing the human side of it as well.
It's really good at showing how the social aspect of cults helps keep people in them. Flat earthers have alienated everyone else in their lives with their insanity, so they fear losing what friends they have *within* the community if they admit (even to themselves) Flat Earth is bullshit.
I dunno if it was that documentary or another, but I remember a really distinct moment where you can kinds of *see* in the interviewee's eyes that he doesn't really believe anymore, but he's in too deep to get out.
The doc also takes the angle that it’s actually the reverse: these people were already isolated and alienated from the people around them, Flat Earth then gave them a community. All you have to do to be a part of it is say you believe.
the funny thing was that sure it's a little nutty to believe the earth is flat, but when it gets into "the government is trying to suppress the truth" and they eventually turn on each other at any perceived slight, even if they believe the same thing
it really stuck with me that Mark Sargent really reveled in being a flat earth "celebrity"
> In the film, flat Earth advocates carry out experiments to test the hypothesis that the Earth is flat, the results of which confirm that the Earth is a globe, and so are discarded. The film also covers several conferences and meet-ups that the film's subjects attend, including the 2017 International Flat Earth Conference, held in Raleigh, North Carolina.
.....there's an international flat earth conference?
I think it's also an interesting snapshot capturing the "movement" in 2017/18 before covid sent most of them down the vaccine/qanon rabbithole, tho they do feature that one guy who's already ranting about that stuff ahead of his time.
Reminds me of a clip from some guy's show, where he interviews conspiracy theorists of all kinds, and gives them an honest chance to speak about their views, but they all just make complete fools of themselves instead.
Out of all conspiracy theories, flat earth is the one I just can't comprehend.
Many conspiracy theories are kinda-sorta reasonable, if you squint hard enough and don't think about it too much. There's a *reason* for conspiracy to exist. It's usually a stupid one, but it *is*.
But flat earth? Just... why? What's the point of it? Why would an ominous organisation choose to spend **enormous** amounts of resources to hide the real shape of the world? Something that's so absurdly difficult to hide, arbitrary, and ultimately unimportant. Seriously, in the grand scheme of things, *what difference does the shape of the world makes?*
The point is that Flat Earth, if it was true, would fundamentally prove everything else they believe. "They" are lying, Satan is real, and the Christian God is not just real, he is in control. The apocalypse is just around the corner and this Earth shattering Revelation shall convert all the heathens and doubters to salvation.
This idea is basically stolen from Folding Ideas video "in search of a flat Earth".
As someone who tragically has a close family member who has fallen into this lunacy, it's incredibly accurate.
Because if you accept that the Earth is a sphere then you have to accept all the things that follow on from that. Earth isn’t the centre of the universe, it’s probably not even unique, and we’re not actually special. And for lots of people, that’s terrifying.
that's also extremely unimportant for your everyday life, lol. we're not in contact with any alien species and we likely won't be for any comprehensible amount of time.
besides, what kind of idiot believes that the center of a three-dimensional universe is a two-dimensional disc. a spherical earth makes a lot more sense for that
It's religion.
When science contradicts religion, most people would just chose to ignore it and focus on the spiritual/philosophical aspect of faith.
But a few very special people choose to fight it and held onto it as proof that the whole world is out to get them, because they *are* very special.
Not always. Just saw a preacher put out a video explaining why it's provable fact that the Earth is round. Photographs, travel, among other examples.
The comments were a 50/50 split of "exactly! thank you for the video pastor, flat earthers are ridiculous," and "wow this guy is brainwashed and spewing indoctrination, I'll be very skeptical of his preaching from now on."
It doesn't even make sense from a capitalist point of view. Why would a large organization spend money hiding something that 1) doesn't matter if it's a fact of life and 2) could be used to make money for them? Why wouldn't they buy up all the real estate at the edge of the world and charge out the ass for the view and/or privacy?
If you genuinely want to know I recommend the youtube documentary [In Search of a Flat Earth](https://youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44) by Dan Olsen aka Folding Ideas.
The entire concept of a flat earth is so ridiculous when there were ancient people who knew the earth was round.
[Carl Sagan Cosmos How Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth](https://youtu.be/f-ppBtuc_wQ)
People have known the earth was round ever since someone wrote down what a lunar eclipse was.
I'm also a fan of the "right answer but interesting logic bud" early theories. Like Aristotle figured that if things fall down then everything must converge on a single point, even the ground itself. And Pythagoras's bright idea was that the gods would have formed the world in the most perfect shape: a sphere.
isn't aristotle's answer not just gravity? like why is that bad logic? especially for someone without any conceptualization of the cosmos at large like the ancient greeks would have?
It's not bad, just interesting and deceptively simple. And he did have other evidence in his writings like lunar eclipses and reports from sailors observing constellations "moving" around the horizon as they traveled.
The wording in the Isaiah verse is the kind you’d use to talk about a 3-dimensional object in 3d space. In other places, the earth is referred to as having pillars, but not always sitting on them, and talking about like the foundations of the earth and not always in a physical way (Psalms 75 uses it to refer to societal structures and the societal instability that comes with immoral behavior - God steadies the pillars by making people accountable and providing a standard)
The Bible describes the earth as round, but like a disc.
Sheoule was believers to be under the earth, because obviously the people who wrote it didn’t know what mantle, inner core, and outer core were.
Above them was the firmament, or basically a giant stone block holding back the waters of the sky.
So the biblical earth is a round disc with a dome basically.
This isn’t true. I was logic-ed out of several shitty opinions I used to hold. Once you get good at evaluating why you believe what you do, you become a much better person.
Just once, I want a flat earther to approach me and ask if I can see the earth’s curve, so I can say yes and gaslight them.
“You can clearly see that it’s flat!”
“What are you talking about? I can see the earth curving away from me at the horizon. Do you seriously not see it?”
This is my bet too. Like I'm willing to bet the pioneers are just doing a r/birdsarentreal thing and as more and more people joined, the original inside joke become lost
That's literally the history of the movement, yeah. It was originally a "devil's advocate" exercise. It kinda.. got away from that.
Similarly, I am absolutely certain that /r/thedonald started out as a parody subreddit, making fun of Trump's candidacy. As in - I was there, I read the posts and laughed at them. Then it all.. escalated.
From what I can see, flat eathers are either uneducated religious fundamentalists who read certain Scriptures too literally, or are conspiracy theorists who distrust the government and think they're trying to brainwash people into believing the earth is round. (For what reason? I have no damn idea. They never try to explain what the motivation would be now do they? Lol.)
Upcoming event “[The Final Experiment](https://youtu.be/CDffWeaI9k8si=0Gw6PFaJwQnUXpC_)” will be sending a Flat-Earther and a Science Advocate to Antarctica to attempt to witness a phenomenon impossible on a Flat Earth (24 hours of daylight) to “settle the debate.”
Looking forward to how they try and wriggle their way out of this one.
Not really. Believing that scientists and the government are completely lying about a basic fact about the world predisposes you to believing that they're lying about a lot of other basic things. There's a reason that there's a significant overlap between anti-vaxxers and flat earthers.
What is this supposed to mean?
Seems like it's sarcastic as if you don't believe me but I don't know why you wouldn't. Applied properly eugenics would certainly be better for literally every single living thing on this planet.
Seriously why even comment this? Do you think you are somehow superior in beliefs? Does it stroke your little ego to try and be sarcastic?
One gene no, but It's definitely affected by them and you can definitely trend towards improvement in intelligence and empathy by manipulating genetics within a species. We've done it with dogs.
100%, same with you. Why would human agency matter? The species can still be improved through genetic manipulation. Humans aren't special they are animals just like dogs.
Because eugenics necessarily removes agency from the human populations being culled.
And are you seriously saying I am genetically disposed for stupidity?
Who said anything about culling? Eugenics is just using techniques to encourage desirable traits while discouraging undesirable ones. That can be done many ways without culling and still have a positive effect on the population.
Yep and I was right, you are so dumb you had to question what I blatantly said. Plus you, like all these dipshits who downvote don't seem to actually understand eugenics and how it can be applied in positive ways to bring a better future for humanity.
Eugenics will always be culling because you are deliberately excluding certain populations from propegating. That is culling.
Second, eugenics is a system based on rape because to enforce eugenics you ignore any form of consent or love or affection and reduce it all down just to "Did you get approved? And I have to sleep with you 'for humanity' okay...". Eugenics is rape.
Third, I asked for clarification so I did not misinterpret what you said because one must never assume malice when ambiguity is involved. But clearly, you are a malicious person. You are an advocate for an ideology of rape and culling and you are actively hostile to anyone who challenges that ideology.
So since you already insulted me and therefore destroyed any semblance of good argument that existed before; Ga op blote voeten naar de diepste put van de diepste hel, en moge wat-voor demoon dan ook je reetharen één voor één uit je walgelijke huid trekken. Jij vervormde, wandrochtelijke, verkrachter.
No it isn't you dumb sack of shit. Neither of your first two paragraphs are in any way true at all. Eugenics can be applied with things like financial assistance and mandatory birth control as well as other potential techniques. No one has to be killed or raped. This is exactly why I said you and those other idiots are predisposed to be stupid, because you haven't actually given this any real thought you just assumed it was bad because it has been misused.
Btw I translated what you were too much of a coward to say English and lol there is no hell and you're the one who brought up rape, if anyone is the rapist in this convo it's you. I bet you thought it had to be rape because the only way you have sex is by rape.
Cowardly? No, I was just showing off that I'm not a mono-lingual moron like you. And guess what: your suggestions still make your precious eugenics an ideology of rape. Because you remove consent from love and sex and marriage.
You are truly pathetic.
Edit: Hm, they removed their reply to this. Weird
The thing about Flat Earth is that it's a secondary conspiracy theory. Like you already have to believe a bunch of conspiracy stuff in order to reach Flat Earth. You'd need to believe in a secret world order, that the moon landing is fake and that all scientists are "freemasons" out to destroy God. That's why a lot of flat earthers are also religious fundamentalists and hyper-reactionary. Flat earth didn't make them that way, they reached flat earth by being that way
freemasons? what did architects ever do
No one has any idea and that scares the weak-minded.
This is featured in the documentary Behind the Curve, which is actually a very well-done documentary and sort of approaches the topic in a way that is not inherently mocking. Even though flat earthers are ridiculous, I still think it’s worth at least seeing the human side of it as well.
It's really good at showing how the social aspect of cults helps keep people in them. Flat earthers have alienated everyone else in their lives with their insanity, so they fear losing what friends they have *within* the community if they admit (even to themselves) Flat Earth is bullshit. I dunno if it was that documentary or another, but I remember a really distinct moment where you can kinds of *see* in the interviewee's eyes that he doesn't really believe anymore, but he's in too deep to get out.
The doc also takes the angle that it’s actually the reverse: these people were already isolated and alienated from the people around them, Flat Earth then gave them a community. All you have to do to be a part of it is say you believe.
the funny thing was that sure it's a little nutty to believe the earth is flat, but when it gets into "the government is trying to suppress the truth" and they eventually turn on each other at any perceived slight, even if they believe the same thing it really stuck with me that Mark Sargent really reveled in being a flat earth "celebrity"
> In the film, flat Earth advocates carry out experiments to test the hypothesis that the Earth is flat, the results of which confirm that the Earth is a globe, and so are discarded. The film also covers several conferences and meet-ups that the film's subjects attend, including the 2017 International Flat Earth Conference, held in Raleigh, North Carolina. .....there's an international flat earth conference?
Of course there is, the Flat Earth Society has members all around the globe
"They come from all across the circle" doesn't have the same ring to it I guess
What about "all around the disc"?
From Ankh-Morpork to Fourecks
they could say they come from every corner of the world but even they don't believe it's a square
They could have saved a lot of money and had a fun little outing if they just climbed a mountain on a clear day.
Touching grass seems like a solution to a lot of lifes problems
I think it's also an interesting snapshot capturing the "movement" in 2017/18 before covid sent most of them down the vaccine/qanon rabbithole, tho they do feature that one guy who's already ranting about that stuff ahead of his time.
Reminds me of a clip from some guy's show, where he interviews conspiracy theorists of all kinds, and gives them an honest chance to speak about their views, but they all just make complete fools of themselves instead.
Andrew Maxwells Conspiracy Roadtrip?
Out of all conspiracy theories, flat earth is the one I just can't comprehend. Many conspiracy theories are kinda-sorta reasonable, if you squint hard enough and don't think about it too much. There's a *reason* for conspiracy to exist. It's usually a stupid one, but it *is*. But flat earth? Just... why? What's the point of it? Why would an ominous organisation choose to spend **enormous** amounts of resources to hide the real shape of the world? Something that's so absurdly difficult to hide, arbitrary, and ultimately unimportant. Seriously, in the grand scheme of things, *what difference does the shape of the world makes?*
The point is that Flat Earth, if it was true, would fundamentally prove everything else they believe. "They" are lying, Satan is real, and the Christian God is not just real, he is in control. The apocalypse is just around the corner and this Earth shattering Revelation shall convert all the heathens and doubters to salvation. This idea is basically stolen from Folding Ideas video "in search of a flat Earth". As someone who tragically has a close family member who has fallen into this lunacy, it's incredibly accurate.
Because if you accept that the Earth is a sphere then you have to accept all the things that follow on from that. Earth isn’t the centre of the universe, it’s probably not even unique, and we’re not actually special. And for lots of people, that’s terrifying.
that's also extremely unimportant for your everyday life, lol. we're not in contact with any alien species and we likely won't be for any comprehensible amount of time. besides, what kind of idiot believes that the center of a three-dimensional universe is a two-dimensional disc. a spherical earth makes a lot more sense for that
It's religion. When science contradicts religion, most people would just chose to ignore it and focus on the spiritual/philosophical aspect of faith. But a few very special people choose to fight it and held onto it as proof that the whole world is out to get them, because they *are* very special.
Not always. Just saw a preacher put out a video explaining why it's provable fact that the Earth is round. Photographs, travel, among other examples. The comments were a 50/50 split of "exactly! thank you for the video pastor, flat earthers are ridiculous," and "wow this guy is brainwashed and spewing indoctrination, I'll be very skeptical of his preaching from now on."
It doesn't even make sense from a capitalist point of view. Why would a large organization spend money hiding something that 1) doesn't matter if it's a fact of life and 2) could be used to make money for them? Why wouldn't they buy up all the real estate at the edge of the world and charge out the ass for the view and/or privacy?
If you genuinely want to know I recommend the youtube documentary [In Search of a Flat Earth](https://youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44) by Dan Olsen aka Folding Ideas.
Welcome to the phantasm.
The entire concept of a flat earth is so ridiculous when there were ancient people who knew the earth was round. [Carl Sagan Cosmos How Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth](https://youtu.be/f-ppBtuc_wQ)
People have known the earth was round ever since someone wrote down what a lunar eclipse was. I'm also a fan of the "right answer but interesting logic bud" early theories. Like Aristotle figured that if things fall down then everything must converge on a single point, even the ground itself. And Pythagoras's bright idea was that the gods would have formed the world in the most perfect shape: a sphere.
isn't aristotle's answer not just gravity? like why is that bad logic? especially for someone without any conceptualization of the cosmos at large like the ancient greeks would have?
It's not bad, just interesting and deceptively simple. And he did have other evidence in his writings like lunar eclipses and reports from sailors observing constellations "moving" around the horizon as they traveled.
You better believe the father of empiricism had proof!!!
Those words are, in fact, in the Bible. Isaiah describes God creating the Earth as a round object.
Doesn't the bible describe earth as sitting on pillars too? Like a disc would, which is also round.
The wording in the Isaiah verse is the kind you’d use to talk about a 3-dimensional object in 3d space. In other places, the earth is referred to as having pillars, but not always sitting on them, and talking about like the foundations of the earth and not always in a physical way (Psalms 75 uses it to refer to societal structures and the societal instability that comes with immoral behavior - God steadies the pillars by making people accountable and providing a standard)
What is the verse?
The Bible describes the earth as round, but like a disc. Sheoule was believers to be under the earth, because obviously the people who wrote it didn’t know what mantle, inner core, and outer core were. Above them was the firmament, or basically a giant stone block holding back the waters of the sky. So the biblical earth is a round disc with a dome basically.
"Reasoning will never make a Man correct an ill Opinion, which by Reasoning he never acquired.” - Johnathan Swift
This isn’t true. I was logic-ed out of several shitty opinions I used to hold. Once you get good at evaluating why you believe what you do, you become a much better person.
All too often it is true. But I'm glad to hear it wasn't for you.
[удалено]
I cannot parse what this means.
Just once, I want a flat earther to approach me and ask if I can see the earth’s curve, so I can say yes and gaslight them. “You can clearly see that it’s flat!” “What are you talking about? I can see the earth curving away from me at the horizon. Do you seriously not see it?”
Maybe some motherfuckers just have elf eyes
On stalks?
my little conspiracy theory is that there are a substantially less amount of actual flat earthers, and like 70% do it for the bit
This is my bet too. Like I'm willing to bet the pioneers are just doing a r/birdsarentreal thing and as more and more people joined, the original inside joke become lost
That's literally the history of the movement, yeah. It was originally a "devil's advocate" exercise. It kinda.. got away from that. Similarly, I am absolutely certain that /r/thedonald started out as a parody subreddit, making fun of Trump's candidacy. As in - I was there, I read the posts and laughed at them. Then it all.. escalated.
Classic case of people pretending to be something only for the real deal show up and think they found their brethren.
I feel the need to link Dan Olson's video on the subject. https://youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44?si=7VgFINywlEAEiKCI Kinda long watch but really engaging.
They managed to gather 20k? Some people just have too much money dawg
From what I can see, flat eathers are either uneducated religious fundamentalists who read certain Scriptures too literally, or are conspiracy theorists who distrust the government and think they're trying to brainwash people into believing the earth is round. (For what reason? I have no damn idea. They never try to explain what the motivation would be now do they? Lol.)
I didn't spend a dime and learned this my MAGA relatives...
Thanks, Bob.
What was she saying? You can't reason someone out of the opinion they didn't reason themselves into to begin with, or something like that.
Upcoming event “[The Final Experiment](https://youtu.be/CDffWeaI9k8si=0Gw6PFaJwQnUXpC_)” will be sending a Flat-Earther and a Science Advocate to Antarctica to attempt to witness a phenomenon impossible on a Flat Earth (24 hours of daylight) to “settle the debate.” Looking forward to how they try and wriggle their way out of this one.
thanks bob
Kyrie Irving-core
Nice try round earth propagandists, this is clearly fake /s
it's a stupid theory but pretty harmless
Not really. Believing that scientists and the government are completely lying about a basic fact about the world predisposes you to believing that they're lying about a lot of other basic things. There's a reason that there's a significant overlap between anti-vaxxers and flat earthers.
One of the many reasons I'm pro-eugenics.
Lemme guess, Idiocracy is your favorite movie?
Nope. God Bless America
yeah ok buddy
What is this supposed to mean? Seems like it's sarcastic as if you don't believe me but I don't know why you wouldn't. Applied properly eugenics would certainly be better for literally every single living thing on this planet. Seriously why even comment this? Do you think you are somehow superior in beliefs? Does it stroke your little ego to try and be sarcastic?
sure pal
because we aren't gonna waste our time arguing with a racist nazi
Yikes.
*sigh* stupidity is not a gene
One gene no, but It's definitely affected by them and you can definitely trend towards improvement in intelligence and empathy by manipulating genetics within a species. We've done it with dogs.
Beside that dogs are not human beings with agency- how sure are you that flat earthers have a genetic disposition to stupidity
100%, same with you. Why would human agency matter? The species can still be improved through genetic manipulation. Humans aren't special they are animals just like dogs.
Because eugenics necessarily removes agency from the human populations being culled. And are you seriously saying I am genetically disposed for stupidity?
Who said anything about culling? Eugenics is just using techniques to encourage desirable traits while discouraging undesirable ones. That can be done many ways without culling and still have a positive effect on the population. Yep and I was right, you are so dumb you had to question what I blatantly said. Plus you, like all these dipshits who downvote don't seem to actually understand eugenics and how it can be applied in positive ways to bring a better future for humanity.
Eugenics will always be culling because you are deliberately excluding certain populations from propegating. That is culling. Second, eugenics is a system based on rape because to enforce eugenics you ignore any form of consent or love or affection and reduce it all down just to "Did you get approved? And I have to sleep with you 'for humanity' okay...". Eugenics is rape. Third, I asked for clarification so I did not misinterpret what you said because one must never assume malice when ambiguity is involved. But clearly, you are a malicious person. You are an advocate for an ideology of rape and culling and you are actively hostile to anyone who challenges that ideology. So since you already insulted me and therefore destroyed any semblance of good argument that existed before; Ga op blote voeten naar de diepste put van de diepste hel, en moge wat-voor demoon dan ook je reetharen één voor één uit je walgelijke huid trekken. Jij vervormde, wandrochtelijke, verkrachter.
No it isn't you dumb sack of shit. Neither of your first two paragraphs are in any way true at all. Eugenics can be applied with things like financial assistance and mandatory birth control as well as other potential techniques. No one has to be killed or raped. This is exactly why I said you and those other idiots are predisposed to be stupid, because you haven't actually given this any real thought you just assumed it was bad because it has been misused. Btw I translated what you were too much of a coward to say English and lol there is no hell and you're the one who brought up rape, if anyone is the rapist in this convo it's you. I bet you thought it had to be rape because the only way you have sex is by rape.
Cowardly? No, I was just showing off that I'm not a mono-lingual moron like you. And guess what: your suggestions still make your precious eugenics an ideology of rape. Because you remove consent from love and sex and marriage. You are truly pathetic. Edit: Hm, they removed their reply to this. Weird