What I'm curious about is the population distribution of flat-earthers. I think it's pretty clear that some of them are trolls, having fun with a ludicrous ide

What I'm curious about is the population distribution of flat-earthers. I think it's pretty clear that some of them are trolls, having fun with a ludicrous idea; some of them are mentally disturbed (schizophrenics of one sort or another, I suppose), some fraction have exceedingly low IQs, some fraction have high IQs but are exceedingly-poorly educated. But is it really just mostly trolls? That's the only explanation that makes sense. > The particulars differ, but here everyone takes it as a given that a conspiracy reaching from your first schoolteacher to NASA to the metaphysical Beyond has deluded humanity [ed: emphasis mine] Misusing 'humanity' to mean 'mankind' (or, if you must, 'humankind') is one of my pet peeves: humanity is the quality of being humane. Flat earthers don't believe that a conspiracy is deluding the quality of being humane (that phrase doesn't even make sense); they believe that a conspiracy is deluding mankind (or, again, 'humankind'). edit: add closing paren