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America’s flat-Earth movement appears to be growing
- zoul 9y ago> NASA chose not to weigh in. A spokeswoman told the Washington Post: “we don’t think there’s a debate to be had.” <3
- teamhappy 9y agoThat's actually really important. Trying to convince irrational people with rational arguments is kind of a moot endeavor anyway, but to an uninformed observer NASA debating those people may end up looking like whatever they're debating is apparently worth having a debate about.
- gozur88 9y agoAre these people really irrational, or are they just messing with everyone? I agree NASA shouldn't bother with them much, but more because there's no point in engaging with trolls than because they're irredeemably ignorant.
- benjsross26 9y agoTroll or not, if you enter into a debate with someone you only serve to validate their opinion.
- aquadrop 9y agoIt's a joke, if you enter a debate with a joke you just continue a joke. Or that could be a world conspiracy, you know, like the one where Santa and children of the world made adults believe Santa doesn't exist.
- gozur88 9y agoThat's not true. You don't validate someone's opinion by honest debate with them. My point is I don't think it's actually their opinion. You can't have honest debate with someone who's pulling your leg. It just makes you look like you can't take a joke.
- ralusek 9y agoI actually despise this argument, though, because it's increasingly used to prevent legitimate arguments from happening. There is a growing likelihood for people in this country to feel that their ideas are so morally correct, that opposing viewpoints should be ignored or suppressed. Two very common arguments I hear that seek to accomplish this are that a debate should not be had because they don't want to create a "false equivalency" (the argument you're making here), or that they don't want to provide the other party with a "platform." There is no such thing as a false equivalency in debate. In reasoned discourse, foolish ideas should be exposed and dismantled.
- zoul 9y agoThe thing is, is it really reasoned discourse when you dismiss centuries of scientific evidence by pointing to a global evil conspiracy?
- Joe-Z 9y agoYes. Pointing to a global evil conspiracy held up over centuries is a very weak argument, compared to what round-earthers could bring to the table. So, one would assume reasonable people would be convinced by the round-earthers.
- owebmaster 9y agoThe 20th century definition of the atom was dismissed dispite centuries of scientific evidence. Not a flatearther, just saying.
- kowdermeister 9y agoBut there's no need for legitimate arguments when there's nobody at the receiving end. The flat eartheres should be forgotten and ridiculed and we shouldn't provide them attention they can than use to find another receiving poor soul. I can make up any bullcrap and if any I mean any new source picks it up it's free advertising for me regardless how right they are.
- tehwebguy 9y ago
- nasredin 9y agoIIRC there was a study that said the most effective way to fight stupidity is by ridicule and not by actually educating or debating these folks. I can't think of NO BETTER target to ridicule than the flatearthers. Like I said below the man in the Whitehouse seems to brought out the racists and other stupid people out of the woodwork. There were ALWAYS there BTW, they just seem more emboldened than before.
- aquadrop 9y agoIsn't flat earth society itself a ridicule of stupidity?
- nasredin 9y agoWe need to go deeper. Ridiculing the Flat Earth Society ridiculing conspiracy theories? We live in an absurd time. "Post-fact", "post-irony"? Works by Adam Curtis come to mind. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curtis https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Curtis I think 2014-2020 is gonna be a ripe field for books, documentaries and such. Such a diverse, disorienting, chaotic yet business as usual time. Or 2014-2024 if Trump gets his second term.
- notzorbo3 9y ago> there was a study that said the most effective way to fight stupidity is by ridicule Unless people are just trolling, in which case both trying to ridicule or educate them is not gonna work. Just ignore them. Don't feed the trolls.
- SCdF 9y agoDo you have a link to this study? Intuitively to me, that seems like the opposite of what you should do. If you ridicule someone, they just go deeper into their crazy group, and are exposed to even less correct information. Additionally, people who are a little ridiculed get pushed toward those who are also ridiculed for crazier ideas, because they feel accepted there.
- nasredin 9y ago
- jonah 9y agoElon Musk and The Flat Earth Society had this twitter exchange[1] a couple of days ago: @elonmusk "Why is there no Flat Mars Society!?" @FlatEarthOrg "Hi Elon, thanks for the question. Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round. "We hope you have a fantastic day!" [1] https://twitter.com/FlatEarthOrg/status/935644892721762305 https://twitter.com/FlatEarthOrg/status/935644892721762305
- 2bitencryption 9y agothis is some great microfiction
- sohkamyung 9y agoReading the thread on that tweet, I have no idea if @FlatEarthOrg is really advocating for a flat earth, or just a parody account.
- jonah 9y agoIndeed, like the whole "movement". Their site though, has news, a forum and Wiki: https://www.tfes.org https://www.tfes.org I suppose there's a spectrum of how firmly tongue is planted in cheek.
- DanielleMolloy 9y agoMaybe it started out as a parody when setup of websites and internet usage still had a difficulty barrier, and then after some time started to attract real loonies. Might indeed be fun when all you wanted was a parody and then random people come and start discussing seriously about flat earth.
- aquadrop 9y agoYeah, I always thought it's just a parody for fun, when people with straight face discuss some ridiculous things, like that German Bielefeld conspiracy.
- 9y ago
- mnm1 9y agoThis is just another stupidity fad. America's full of them: flat earth, anti vaccination, climate change deniers, etc. It's fashionable in certain circles to be an idiot.
- andrewguenther 9y agoIf you're up for a chuckle, I highly recommend the Flat Earth Society FAQ page. https://wiki.tfes.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions https://wiki.tfes.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions
- ygaf 9y ago> The light of the sun is confined to a limited area and its light acts like a spotlight upon the earth. They're skimping on a lot of detail here. And their animation shows the earth's illuminated area squishing like a bean bag.
- loopbit 9y agoWell, at east that page answered a question I had: If these people believe the earth is flat, where is the center? I find it interesting[0] because with this answer[1] they also provide the means to prove them wrong. If that map was remotely close to being accurate, then circumnavigating the globe following a southern latitude should take much, much longer than following a northern latitude. Or easier: Flying from Johannesburg to Antananarivo (2150km, 3.5 hours by direct flight) should be much, much longer than from London to Moscow (2500km, 3.75 hours). And I think I know what a flatearther would say; "Conspiracy!!!" --- [0] Maybe interesting is not the word... funny? [1] https://wiki.tfes.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#What_does_the_earth_look_like.3F_How_is_circumnavigation_possible.3F https://wiki.tfes.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#What_does_t...
- aryehof 9y agoThis movement appears to essentially be a phenomenon of the USA. What is it about American culture that leads to such thinking?
- gaius 9y agoAre you not familiar with the post-Situationist movement?
- jcoffland 9y agoThe Brits just don't get our style of humor.
- bromuro 9y agothey have a similar attitude for many things: trump vs obama, religion vs science, apple vs microsoft, angular vs react, flat vs round, “me” vs the others, US vs Russia... i believe it is because competitiveness is a pillar in the american society. it is sometimes so important to lead to the absurd.
- monk_e_boy 9y agoWhere do they think things that fly over the horizon are going? Planes, clouds, the moon, the sun, etc
- golergka 9y agohttp://prntscr.com/hh5fdt http://prntscr.com/hh5fdt Yes, I really don't think it's a serious account.
- mm4 9y agothey are just pretending right?
- convery 9y agoI mean, 9/10 of the people associated with the movement (online) are trolling. Just like the original 'alt-right', mainly people making fun of extremists while pretending to represent them.
- LfLxfxxLxfxx 9y agonext up: America's stork-delivered reproduction society
- DoreenMichele 9y agoMy ex will be in that one.
- yannis7 9y agoJust indicates how many bored hipsters have enough free time to engage in post-ironic trolling
- Arnt 9y agoModern boredom involves pressing buttons on a laptop. Pressing buttons on a TV remote is so 20th century.
- Nydhal 9y agoI have this crazy theory (just for fun) that flat-earthers are people who want to be taken to space, as in they fake the disbelief in order to advance space exploration. If I bet you $1000 that the earth is flat you'd have an incentive to prove me wrong, the easiest way is to make going to space for me to observe the earth from a distance as cheap as possible. In this age of outrage it is easier to get people interested in a subject by spurring controversy than it is by igniting their curiosity.
- ColinWright 9y agoAlso discussed yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15805754 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15805754
- __warlord__ 9y agoOne way or another everyone is ignorant about something, the problem is when people start to feel comfortable in ignorance and they do not make the effort to open their minds to change. I wonder if there is something systematic in the US of A's education system that allows this or if it's just arrogance on their ideas and "national" pride. But with all this divide in that country I hope other governments and more important, people from other countries do not take them as a role model to follow. But that's just my 2 cents.