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Wow...so I just discovered "Flat Earthers" and I'm still in disbelief

posted 8 years ago by dteam6 (5073)
31 replies | jump to latest

So...has anyone heard about that growing "trend" lately of people who....God, I'm actually embarrassed to even type this...believe that the world is flat?

It's some sort of strange phenomenon that I started noticing very recently all over mostly youtube and yahoo comments sections. Apparently there is an actual organization out there regarding this and thousands of videos all over Youtube where people give long, drawn out "theories" on how the world is apparently flat and we've all "been lied to" by "the system". Sounds almost like pseudo-scientology nonsense, doesn't it?

Apparently, even some celebrities are "converting".

I thought this sh!t might have popped up while I was asleep but was shocked to learn that this was something that's been going off and on for a couple decades or so now.

They think the world is a flat disk and that Antarctica is really just "an ice wall around the entire flat earth, guarding "the edge"."

It's crazy--they even believe that things like gravity and physics are "lies" and that NASA is apparently some illuminati organization creating "lies".

And those stars/planets we see in our telescopes? They believe they are "holograms". Yep--Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, planets I've laid my own eyes on with my OWN telescope were really just "CGI holograms in space".

Still with me? Look this up, if you haven't heard about it--this isn't a troll post--people actually subscribe to this insanity...by the THOUSANDS...yeah....wow... O_o

[–] Kazak (2190) 8 years ago

The Flat Earth Society has members all around the globe.

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

I like the irony in this statement.

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

That's the point. It's a typical joke people make to make fun of flat earthers. Someone says it on every topic I've found regarding flat earth.

I've heard that a flat earther actually said that once and people used that quote as a joke ever since, LOL!

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

LOL! I heard that ironic joke before. That's a favorite among Youtube comments. :P

[–] Shredder (321) 8 years ago

I think there is an NBA star who also subscribed to this theory. In my opinion, people will believe anything if it goes against the norm. Those people are the defiant ones, who don't want to subscribe to the common knowledge because they think that being different is being creative and unique. However, in some cases like this, they're just being stupid.

I looked up Flat Earthers because even though I knew people like this existed, I wanted to know how large of a group we're talking about. I found this site: http://theflatearthsociety.org/home/ and it has a forum section. I only skimmed through a couple, but I can see people heavily trolling that site. For instance, one posted a thread debunking the theory, and the trolls were on him. I don't think people all buy this theory, but some just like to pretend that they do to troll those who are acting uppity about how stupid this theory is.

There is no need to prove to any of these idiots that the Earth is round. The amount of evidence present is enough. Shit, it's been proven thousands of times, over centuries. So why on Earth would people subscribe to a theory that has been debunked over 500 years ago? Because they just want to believe something that goes against the norm.

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

You're right--there's a rising trend of this nowadays. "Against the norm" has become trendy.

I think you're right--many are just trolls who jumped on the bandwagon. The "purists" are mostly religious who take the bible too literally, from what I understand.

Now, I believe in God but I don't subscribe to the bible and I CERTAINLY don't believe in a flat earth.

There are some conspiracy theories out there that I entertain but nothing as crazy as this flat earth nonsense. Any conspiracies that I entertain are things that have actual evidence out there to support a POSSIBILITY but I still don't hold onto any of them 100%.

There are also "Mandela Effect" people out there and while I'm also one of those who remember it as BerenstEin Bears, I'm sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for that memory fallacy. Some people actually BELIEVE in it, though. But, that's another topic for another thread.

These flat earthers, though, are different. At least Mandela Effect has MILLIONS of people who can attest to one or two of some of those listed examples--flat earth involves throwing all logic and hundreds of years of science right out the window....that's simply insane.

You're right, though--many are just trolls. The purists? They...can't be helped. They're too far gone.

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

There are secrets out there that can change the world.
Lara Croft - rise of tthe tomb raider.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

Thousands believe that Elvis is alive, that the Holocaust didn't happen, heck even millions believe that Donald Trump is the person best suited to run our nation. Enormous numbers of people are stupid and deluded... is this news?

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

:D

Don't forget the 911 "truthers," those who believe the moon landing was staged and never happened, and those who think the Illuminati is behind everything they're confused by or dislike.

I'd heard of flat earthers, but it surprises me if any celebrities have bought into it.

Oh yeah, Michael Jackson is still alive too. He and Elvis are partying hard.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

Yep, Idiocracy is proving to be prophetic.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

I've never seen it, but going by the title alone and your saying it's proving to be prophetic is depressing.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

It's funny, you should watch it if you get a chance... it starts out brilliantly but then sort of runs out of steam like that film "The Invention of Lying" which also had about a half hour of genius spread over 90 minutes.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

If it's on Netflix, I'll give it a watch.

[–] godewey (16472) 8 years ago

😉

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

LOL at the Donald Trump thing. I don't want to open THAT can of worms here but I agree with you on that.

I still can't believe that people think the Holocaust didn't happen. That Elvis stuff is more of a mixture of people who WANT to believe he lived a happy life and "escaped" the stress of stardom as well as people who think his CIA connections played into it. While ridiculous, it still has a few of those small "chances" attached to it, how small they are, but Flat Earth has NOTHING going for it--nothing but conjecture. The members of it literally deny science that was established LONG before computers/NASA even existed. It boggles the mind, really.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 8 years ago

If even someone is conservative or liberal, they can't possibly believe that Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton were the best possible candidates to lead a book club let alone the most powerful nation on the planet.

I see your point about Elvis but his fame was such that it would require as many conspirators as it would take to fake a moon landing. If you start opening yourself up to those possibilities then you may as well start questioning your own existence as well.

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

Agreed regarding Trump. This shouldn't be a war of "parties"--it should be deciding who is the BEST president, period. All these party wars is what led us to the mess we're in now.

As for the Elvis stuff--I don't believe he's alive but I find it fun to entertain the idea of it a bit. But that's all that I'm doing--these flat earthers (not the trolls, obviously) genuinely believe this stuff. It's one thing to entertain the idea for fun (we all do that with aspects of life) but when you devote your mindset to/surrender your way of thinking to it you might as well question your own existence, as you stated.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 8 years ago

I can *kind of* understand those who originally didn't believe the Holocaust happened. I've watched a few docs on post-Holocaust Germany and Germans who were alive back then and they simply didn't want to believe such horrors were going on, more or less right under their noses, by their own government.

I've asked people (British and Americans) who were alive back then if they had any idea of what was happening then, and they all said no. NOW, though, none of them would dream of denying the Holocaust.

But after the war, factions such as the KKK, and later skinheads and neo-Nazis, found it convenient to deny it ever happened; it didn't fit with their agendas, or further them. Some (many? dunno) probably actually believe it didn't happen.

I was trying to think back to when this specific type of behavior started, which ties into distrust of governments and their secrecy. Best I can figure it was during the Cold War, with the rise of the KGB, CIA, etc. First Roswell, then the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, particularly JFK. It's snowballed ever since, gaining a lot of momentum within the past 20 years.

[–] earl237 (1106) 8 years ago

I thought the flat-Earth thing was a joke when I first heard about it but there is no limit to how stupid people in America can be. There are still people who don't believe in evolution, vaccines cause autism, climate change isn't real, fluoride in water is a communist plot, I'm not even surprised that Trump got elected. I think that the poor education system, and fundamentalist religion is why there are so many stupid people in the U.S. In every other developed country, indifference to religion is the norm. Every other developed country also has better health care, gun laws and less income inequality.

[–] croft_alice (12180) 8 years ago

As much i'm sorry to say this,my own country is the same😒

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

I hear you. I believe in a God but I don't let it stand in the way of science. I believe in evolution, dinosaurs--all that. I also believe that there is other life in this vast, vast universe of ours and that our creator (if there is one) either created all of those worlds or several creators did. That's the other thing I hate--people nowadays don't seem to want to equate science and believe in a higher power--as if they somehow can't mesh together. I see no reason why they can't. Too bad more people can't think that way, you know?

And kudos to the health care gun laws aspect. Here in America people won't even HEAR of ANY sort of gun regulation--NOTHING...and what do we have? Shootings every couple days. It's ridiculous.

[–] earl237 (1106) 8 years ago

I heard there are a few states with strict gun laws like New York, California, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Illinois and Washington D.C. so maybe there is hope. I think handguns should be banned for civilians, in nearly every other country in the world, handguns are either banned or heavily restricted to just target shooters and collectors. Japan has fewer shootings in a year that the U.S. does in a week. Many Americans actually support gun control but the NRA and politicians are in the pocket of gun makers and they block any sensible laws. Hope it will change. Most illegal handguns used in crimes in Mexico and large Canadian cities like Toronto also come from the U.S.

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

Yeah, the problem in my country is that you can't recommend ANY sort of gun control. Here in my country if a celebrity even says: "We should have SOME sort of gun control--not a ban, just some tighter laws" THOUSANDS of people will instantly dump them as fans and/or rage on said celebrity and call them things like "Liberal snowflake".

You simply CAN'T reason with people here in my country about gun control and now our clown of a president just made it EASIER for insane people to obtain guns. I mean...is it really such a bad thing to want SOME form of gun control? Even something as simple as required psyche evaluations or something would be good enough--SOMETHING. But, nope--people in my country don't want to hear it--any of it.

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 8 years ago

Wake up sheeple! Why don't we just fall off, if the Earth's so round! And gravity was invented by a lazy layabout member of the scientific elite, who spent all his time lounging in the shade underneath trees, waiting for fruit to just drop in his lap.

It's crazy to me how people could believe in something that's been disproven sinse antiquity. Say what you want about Aristotle, but the guy was onto something with this whole "Earth's a sphere" thing. Just the scope of a conspiracy like that would be monumental. Not only in terms of people and governments involved (NASA isn't the only agency up there, and the USA isn't the only country with scientists), but also the amount of time it's supposedly been going on. But you know, people be "seeking the truth".

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

LMAO!!! Yes, and the other aspect of this flat earther thing is: WHY....WHY would they want to "deceive the masses" with such a lie?

It's funny, too, because I read some of the most insane "theories" from flat earthers and normal people like us would respond to them with: "You can believe all that but can't believe that the world could be a sphere?"

These nuts even believe that, if the earth were round, people would be flying planes off into space. They're crazy--they think all the pilots are "in on it", "GPS doesn't exist" and I guess that means that our little old "crazy talk" of North, South, East and West would be irrelevant. It's funny and scary at the same time how far they'll go.

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 8 years ago

Don't you know that beyond the "poles", there's more land? I mean, the whole Universe is connected.

Also the reason the Earth appears spheric in photos is because of a defect in photo lenses. You know, like when you Instagram a photo of you plate of food it just shows as a ball of stuff.

I agree, what's the point of a conspiracy like that. And the amount of leaps of logic one needs to make in order for this theory to work, is way too much, than just looking at the evidence (like a photo, or talking to a sailor).

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

Yeah, and how they claim that our airplane windows are "fisheye lenses". I've flown in plenty of planes and I know what I see outside of a plane and I can see the curvature of the earth. I'm convinced that these flat earthers are very sheltered millennials who have never flown a plane or left their hometowns...or maybe even homes.

[–] MinaVladimir (4081) 8 years ago

Ha! Well, I've never flown in a plane, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming as it is, even without that.

I don't know what kind of a person believes in that nonsense, I just hope they never get in any possition of power.

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

You've never flown in a plane? You should definitely grab onto an opportunity to do so one day if you're ever able to--it's one of the most terrific experiences you'll ever have. Seeing the clouds below you and nothing but blue above you is the greatest thing in the world. It's like flying over a valley of cotton. Moonlight flights are great as well. You'd love it.

As someone who's flown in a plane, I'm convinced that not a single flat earther has ever flown in a plane. They couldn't have. NO ONE could fly in a plane an still believe the world is flat.

LOL! Allegedly, Donald Trump once made an indication that he might believe in that ridiculous theory. Some of the flat earther videos cited some quotes from him where he supposedly supported the theory. If true, we have a flat earther for a president, LOL!!! Frighteningly, these flat earthers BREED...and pass this info off to their children! O_o

[–] TexasJack (12516) 8 years ago

Just checked out their site. The best part -- they call people who believe that the Earth is a sphere "globalurists".

[–] dteam6 (5073) 8 years ago

And "globe-heads"--they also call us "globe-heads".

The funniest part is when they say things like: "You globe-heads need to get a clue!" LOL!!!

It's mind-boggling. They will claim that aspects of gravity, the concept of satellites, etc are all "ridiculous and unbelievable" but are willing to believe the sun is rotating around the earth and showing "strobe lights" while the moon's phases are caused by an "anti-moon" that travels in front of it. They can believe ALL of that over proven concepts of gravity and physics. I mean...wow...these people exist...

Wow...so I just discovered &quot;Flat Earthers&quot; and I'm still in disbelief

Wow...so I just discovered "Flat Earthers" and I'm still in disbelief