5 ms·

Sorry to hear he died. Glad to hear he wasn’t actually a flat earther.

by mdonahoe 7y ago

Udik 7y ago
I wonder if anybody is actually a flat earther. It almost seems a myth kept alive by the sheer absurdity of it.
- pixelpoet 7y ago
  You should check out the facebook groups, they are quite real and it's fascinating to observe. They basically never use any privacy settings so you can check out their personal pages and see them vehemently arguing with family and friends claiming all kinds of conspiracy stuff (Venn diagram overlapping with chemtrails and Illuminati blah blah). At the far end of that insanity you have groups like https://reddit.com/r/LEVELMANIA/ https://reddit.com/r/LEVELMANIA/ I've seen one guy argue that the sun is created and operated by NASA, and then there are the people who insist you can live from staring at the sun. Even a (quite nutty) friend of a friend claims to do this, someone I've personally spoken to and must unfortunately confirm is that dumb. He has 3 kids and is highly political, votes every time.
  - heavenlyblue 7y ago
    Nassim Haramein the FB group claims to have discovered a new physics theory and is followed by a bunch of newagers in London.
    - DonHopkins 7y ago
      Newage rhymes with sewage.
  - Igelau 7y ago
    > I've seen one guy argue that the sun is created and operated by NASA It's obviously the NOAA. They even tell you when they're going to be turning it on and off - it's like they're not even trying to hide it.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    On the apparent existence of the moon: "...think about it – without the help of so-called "experts", how do you really know what you’re looking at? It could be a hologram, projected from various government installations throughout the world. It could be a large, crudely painted balloon, held in place by helium and propelled by tiny sails and rudders (which is why it moves across the sky so slowly). Or, most likely, it could have been different things at different times and different places, depending on the technology available to the conspirators and the culture and beliefs of the population being deceived. The hoax could easily have been imposed on a gullible world at many points in human history. Perhaps it began as a collective hallucination or a religious myth, or perhaps an especially bright star that came to be exaggerated over time. However the moon story started, early proponents of the hoax were swift to recognize how it could be exploited for their benefit, and shrewdly devised a scheme to use it to their advantage. They began to spread rumors, falsify scientific observations, and invent new gods to represent this fictional celestial body. They ingeniously concocted the idea of "cycles of the moon", and as their resources increased, were able to create the illusion that this object in the sky actually went through such changes. To make their hoax more plausible to early, superstitious societies, they arranged for these cycles to coincide with the months of the year. But don’t all qualified scientists and astronomers agree that there is a moon? Indeed, but shouldn’t one be suspicious of such unanimity, when universities are supposed to be forums for open debate of controversial issues. Even a layperson like myself knows that scientists are not supposed to approach issues with preconceived notions. Yet this principle is cast aside when the moon is at stake. You will never see the revisionist perspective on the moon being taught in institutions of higher learning, even as a controversial opposing view. In fact, in order to even become a recognized scientist in the current atmosphere of academic repression, one must pay lip service to the establishment’s orthodoxy. Could you imagine a student who argued the revisionist viewpoint on the question of the moon being awarded a degree? He would be hounded out of the university in an instant! How can one explain such behavior from institutions that are supposed to serve as forums for the free exchange of ideas, except to conclude that the establishment has something to hide?" https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisionist.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisi... https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Feedback4.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Feedback4.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Moon3.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Moon3.htm
  - lilSebastian 7y ago
    > You should check out the facebook groups In addition, search for flat earth on a the popular crowd/fundraising sites. The lies they tell to separate the gullible from their money. It's a nice little earner.
- squarefoot 7y ago
  "It almost seems a myth kept alive by the sheer absurdity of it." For some, possibly. As for the others, they would probably be a 99.9% / 0.1% ratio composed by actual believers and few smart con artists who saw the opportunity to cash on books, merchandise, donations, and perhaps even votes.
  - usrusr 7y ago
    You are missing a very large block of people who pretend to believe but not for money. Their rewards are feeling superior to both those who believe and to those who don't but fall for their show. Classic trolling. It gets scary where the line between trolling and believing blurs. Some will inevitably convert themselves, slowly forgetting their initial motivation while exposing themselves to all kinds of related conspiracy content while in their flat earther persona.
- crispyambulance 7y ago
  >I wonder if anybody is actually a flat Earther. I suspect they're an extreme form of "contrarian" that craves disagreeing with conventional beliefs to the point where it becomes part of their self-image/identity. Like other conspiracy theorists, they're obsessed with intricate rhetoric and arguments, but they rarely take the extra step of trying to prove something without obfuscation and without ulterior motivations. This guy strapped himself onto a homemade rocket and lit a fuse. There are easier ways to prove/disprove the Earth is flat-- even if you don't buy the shadow-measurment and clock experiments. One could, for example, mount an expedition of to reach the edge of the Earth and take pictures. But that hasn't happened, ever. Or perhaps it did happen, and the effect was merely to quietly convert the very chagrined expedition team members from flat-earthers into round-earthers?
  - hutzlibu 7y ago
    Or you know, you could just send a camera. On a weather baloon. So yeah, this guy just wanted funds for his rocket. Which sadly did not work out.
    - lilSebastian 7y ago
      He demonstrably got funds for a 'rocket' of sorts....
- hutzlibu 7y ago
  The first time I stumbled on the flat earth societys website I really, really could not tell. They even had complicated looking physical models of how gravity etc. works on a flat earth etc. My conclusion was, that most did just trolling. But now after I met some real flat earthers .. I am not so sure anymore. They were also not plain stupid. Just far out and very ignorant. So they build a lot of complex logic on a false axiom. They reminded me a lot of the classical "science" of bible theology. Where you take something ridiculus word for word - and then build a a complex stringent and logical philosophy above it. (with marxism I had similar experiences)
  - paulryanrogers 7y ago
    With religion the indoctrination begins very young. Fewer and fewer people believe as they become better educated or even just practice basic critical thinking. I'm afraid the religious mindset creates a switch that turns off critical thinking for certain topics. Then people can be more vulnerable to all kinds of hoaxes and scams.
  - anonsivalley652 7y ago
    Tribalism almost always subverts logic.
- gridlockd 7y ago
  These are generally people that suffer from paranoid delusions. If it wasn't flat earth, it would be some other conspiracy theory, but a lot of the time it's simply all the conspiracy they can fit in their head.
arrrg 7y ago
It doesn’t matter whether you actually believe something, if you act like you do and what you believed in is toxic you are still responsible for spreading poison. You make the world a safer and more welcoming place for those who actually believe it.
- heavenlyblue 7y ago
  At a certain limit it’s not so different from being a con artist essentially: literally taking advantage of the ignorant believers and using that for lulz or even power.
- tyingq 7y ago
  The premise, to me, is silly enough that you aren't poisoning anyone. Anyone that would believe it is going to feed off of some other poison. Very few are equipped to hurt themselves or others via "flat Earth thinking".
  - simonh 7y ago
    That's their problem, it doesn't justify making it easier for them to get more poison.
    - tyingq 7y ago
      It is less harmful than, say, them latching onto anti-vaxx or eating Tide pods.
      - gaius__baltar 7y ago
        Tide pods are actually delicious however.
- gridlockd 7y ago
  > You make the world a safer and more welcoming place for those who actually believe it. I prefer the world in which people do the crazy stunts.
- 7y ago

Sorry to hear he died. Glad to hear he wasn’t actually a flat earther.

Udik 7y ago

I wonder if anybody is actually a flat earther. It almost seems a myth kept alive by the sheer absurdity of it.

pixelpoet 7y ago
You should check out the facebook groups, they are quite real and it's fascinating to observe. They basically never use any privacy settings so you can check out their personal pages and see them vehemently arguing with family and friends claiming all kinds of conspiracy stuff (Venn diagram overlapping with chemtrails and Illuminati blah blah). At the far end of that insanity you have groups like https://reddit.com/r/LEVELMANIA/ https://reddit.com/r/LEVELMANIA/ I've seen one guy argue that the sun is created and operated by NASA, and then there are the people who insist you can live from staring at the sun. Even a (quite nutty) friend of a friend claims to do this, someone I've personally spoken to and must unfortunately confirm is that dumb. He has 3 kids and is highly political, votes every time.
- heavenlyblue 7y ago
  Nassim Haramein the FB group claims to have discovered a new physics theory and is followed by a bunch of newagers in London.
  - DonHopkins 7y ago
    Newage rhymes with sewage.
- Igelau 7y ago
  > I've seen one guy argue that the sun is created and operated by NASA It's obviously the NOAA. They even tell you when they're going to be turning it on and off - it's like they're not even trying to hide it.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  On the apparent existence of the moon: "...think about it – without the help of so-called "experts", how do you really know what you’re looking at? It could be a hologram, projected from various government installations throughout the world. It could be a large, crudely painted balloon, held in place by helium and propelled by tiny sails and rudders (which is why it moves across the sky so slowly). Or, most likely, it could have been different things at different times and different places, depending on the technology available to the conspirators and the culture and beliefs of the population being deceived. The hoax could easily have been imposed on a gullible world at many points in human history. Perhaps it began as a collective hallucination or a religious myth, or perhaps an especially bright star that came to be exaggerated over time. However the moon story started, early proponents of the hoax were swift to recognize how it could be exploited for their benefit, and shrewdly devised a scheme to use it to their advantage. They began to spread rumors, falsify scientific observations, and invent new gods to represent this fictional celestial body. They ingeniously concocted the idea of "cycles of the moon", and as their resources increased, were able to create the illusion that this object in the sky actually went through such changes. To make their hoax more plausible to early, superstitious societies, they arranged for these cycles to coincide with the months of the year. But don’t all qualified scientists and astronomers agree that there is a moon? Indeed, but shouldn’t one be suspicious of such unanimity, when universities are supposed to be forums for open debate of controversial issues. Even a layperson like myself knows that scientists are not supposed to approach issues with preconceived notions. Yet this principle is cast aside when the moon is at stake. You will never see the revisionist perspective on the moon being taught in institutions of higher learning, even as a controversial opposing view. In fact, in order to even become a recognized scientist in the current atmosphere of academic repression, one must pay lip service to the establishment’s orthodoxy. Could you imagine a student who argued the revisionist viewpoint on the question of the moon being awarded a degree? He would be hounded out of the university in an instant! How can one explain such behavior from institutions that are supposed to serve as forums for the free exchange of ideas, except to conclude that the establishment has something to hide?" https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisionist.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/The-Mad-Revisi... https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Feedback4.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Feedback4.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Moon3.htm https://phdn.org/archives/revisionism.nl/Moon/Moon3.htm
- lilSebastian 7y ago
  > You should check out the facebook groups In addition, search for flat earth on a the popular crowd/fundraising sites. The lies they tell to separate the gullible from their money. It's a nice little earner.
squarefoot 7y ago
"It almost seems a myth kept alive by the sheer absurdity of it." For some, possibly. As for the others, they would probably be a 99.9% / 0.1% ratio composed by actual believers and few smart con artists who saw the opportunity to cash on books, merchandise, donations, and perhaps even votes.
- usrusr 7y ago
  You are missing a very large block of people who pretend to believe but not for money. Their rewards are feeling superior to both those who believe and to those who don't but fall for their show. Classic trolling. It gets scary where the line between trolling and believing blurs. Some will inevitably convert themselves, slowly forgetting their initial motivation while exposing themselves to all kinds of related conspiracy content while in their flat earther persona.
crispyambulance 7y ago
>I wonder if anybody is actually a flat Earther. I suspect they're an extreme form of "contrarian" that craves disagreeing with conventional beliefs to the point where it becomes part of their self-image/identity. Like other conspiracy theorists, they're obsessed with intricate rhetoric and arguments, but they rarely take the extra step of trying to prove something without obfuscation and without ulterior motivations. This guy strapped himself onto a homemade rocket and lit a fuse. There are easier ways to prove/disprove the Earth is flat-- even if you don't buy the shadow-measurment and clock experiments. One could, for example, mount an expedition of to reach the edge of the Earth and take pictures. But that hasn't happened, ever. Or perhaps it did happen, and the effect was merely to quietly convert the very chagrined expedition team members from flat-earthers into round-earthers?
- hutzlibu 7y ago
  Or you know, you could just send a camera. On a weather baloon. So yeah, this guy just wanted funds for his rocket. Which sadly did not work out.
  - lilSebastian 7y ago
    He demonstrably got funds for a 'rocket' of sorts....
hutzlibu 7y ago
The first time I stumbled on the flat earth societys website I really, really could not tell. They even had complicated looking physical models of how gravity etc. works on a flat earth etc. My conclusion was, that most did just trolling. But now after I met some real flat earthers .. I am not so sure anymore. They were also not plain stupid. Just far out and very ignorant. So they build a lot of complex logic on a false axiom. They reminded me a lot of the classical "science" of bible theology. Where you take something ridiculus word for word - and then build a a complex stringent and logical philosophy above it. (with marxism I had similar experiences)
- paulryanrogers 7y ago
  With religion the indoctrination begins very young. Fewer and fewer people believe as they become better educated or even just practice basic critical thinking. I'm afraid the religious mindset creates a switch that turns off critical thinking for certain topics. Then people can be more vulnerable to all kinds of hoaxes and scams.
- anonsivalley652 7y ago
  Tribalism almost always subverts logic.
gridlockd 7y ago
These are generally people that suffer from paranoid delusions. If it wasn't flat earth, it would be some other conspiracy theory, but a lot of the time it's simply all the conspiracy they can fit in their head.

arrrg 7y ago

It doesn’t matter whether you actually believe something, if you act like you do and what you believed in is toxic you are still responsible for spreading poison. You make the world a safer and more welcoming place for those who actually believe it.

heavenlyblue 7y ago
At a certain limit it’s not so different from being a con artist essentially: literally taking advantage of the ignorant believers and using that for lulz or even power.
tyingq 7y ago
The premise, to me, is silly enough that you aren't poisoning anyone. Anyone that would believe it is going to feed off of some other poison. Very few are equipped to hurt themselves or others via "flat Earth thinking".
- simonh 7y ago
  That's their problem, it doesn't justify making it easier for them to get more poison.
  - tyingq 7y ago
    It is less harmful than, say, them latching onto anti-vaxx or eating Tide pods.
    - gaius__baltar 7y ago
      Tide pods are actually delicious however.
gridlockd 7y ago
> You make the world a safer and more welcoming place for those who actually believe it. I prefer the world in which people do the crazy stunts.
7y ago