Why Do People Believe the Earth Is Flat?

[msc545]

[lightbulb27]

I think it has to do with trust. Some people develop conspiracy theory thinking due to lack of trust. One kind leads to another and then they challenge anything they hear. I saw this with 9/11 and JFK. Specifically, JFK unleashed.

The times I see people think this way, they don't trust the govt and will go looking for ways to validate their ideas.

As well, when did people start thinking it was flat? Only recently as far as I know. I think there's something messed up in the mind... all those drugs we take go into the water supply. Medications? Are some people more askewed than others? I've taken medications and they screw up the view of reality, and so have colds/viruses.

And in what countries do they believe this? I've only seen USA... not india or china. Makes me think it's our environment contributing.

Humans have sensitive brains... I suspect some are getting out of whack. Just look at a lot of far left liberals... scary bunch sometimes, even if they are right on some issues. They used to be the environmentalists, now they just look whacko.

Liberals around 21:50. I'd be very curious the political leaning those whom believe earth is flat..

https://www.youtube.com/embed/v42oC1gwZ_4

[msc545]

good answer - thank you!

[RealMarek]

The number of people who actually believe this are miniscule. What baffles me is why the elites get so bent out of shape by the fringe corner of the internet that belongs to flat-earthers and people pretending to be flat-earthers. I guess science has replaced the priesthood.

[msc545]

A few of the people that believe this are very educated which makes the whole thing very odd. There are a few people with engineering degrees that actually believe this.

[RealMarek]

Sometimes people who are very intelligent can be extremely contrarian and have a bent toward unconventional beliefs. Examples include St. Francis, Galileo, Georgios Gemistos Plathon. These were ultimately granted freedom despite having views out of step with the mainstream. Now, one might argue that these individuals were bucking against a religious milieu while the flat earthers push against science, but I would respond that the very class of people who systematize religious thought around 200-300 years into a cultural lifecycle tend to develop a sort of science and tend toward a sort of atheism (even if it is not explicitly atheistic, like the Stoics in Greco-Roman culture) about 400-600 years after that and tend to deconstruct the original religious impulse that gave rise to the culture.

[RealMarek]

In the case of the West, the elites are so rigidly secular that they create the problem of how to satisfy the religious impulse that is an inherent part of being human. It is a poor substitute, but they are peddling science and politics as a proxy for religion. Thus the lawn signs with the list that begins with “I believe in Science…,” which take the form of a religious creed, and the notion of “scientific consensus” that is an explicit violation of the Western scientific process. When it comes to the small group of highly intelligent people (often also on the autism spectrum to some degree) who bristle at forced conformance, this is like waving a red cloth in front of a bull. They can react in all sorts of ways. Some tend toward dissident political beliefs, others are critiquing the scientific and political corpus around the “climate emergency,” and you have this tiny fringe that delves into trying to prove the earth is flat. Why? Simply because it is a contrary opinion that, for whatever reason, greatly irritates the elites. Some of these become greatly enamored by a set of ideas even if they are misguided and other highly intelligent people love to piss off sanctimonious elites who place constraints on the direction of their thought, so much so that depending on the time or place they can end up jailed or burned at the stake.

[RealMarek]

The question I think people should ask is why do the elites treat the flat-earthers like they are dangerous and make moves to suppress them given how strong the evidence is for the conventional belief in this case and how few they are in number? I think this is very telling. It indicates that 1) the elites are increasingly feeling insecure about their grip on power, 2) there is perhaps a product of the scientific body that is on much weaker evidenciary ground than the spherical form of the earth that they don’t want questioned due to it being a key justification for policies that serve to advance a concentration of wealth and power to the elites (*cough* anthropogenic climate change *cough*) and if you can question whether the earth is a spheroid you would logically have the freedom to question less robust theories, and 3) “the Science,” as a proxy for religion, cannot be allowed to be questioned nor the scientific establishment that serves as a proxy for priesthood.

[Soteris]

I generally think it is built from distrust of authority, intellectual laziness and fear. More specifically the fear that the world is out of control and they rather want there to be a man behind the curtain controlling everything like a new world order or the Illuminati or whatever.

Once you reject all outside sources of information you are left with only your human perception and from a human point of view the world looks pretty flat. Of course, if you know what to look for you can still see that the world is round but that requires a fairly complex form of reasoning. A common trait I have found amongst flat earthers are that they always gravitate towards the simpler solution. Gravity pulling everything to the center of the earth therefore making it a ball? Nah, just downward force etc..

Unless the earth is brought down to a scale that they can personally comprehend, such as perhaps gaining access to private space flights, I doubt they will ever change their minds. Otherwise they will always find excuses, both because they lack understanding and because they think they are being lied to by literally the rest of the world.

[Ptrmbrs88]

There are just so many possible answers to this. It could be that they're just stubborn, stupid, believe they're being 'edgy', non-conformist, or just playing a big joke on the rest of us.

Anyway, if someone happens to believe the Earth is flat then I want them to leave me alone, because I just don't want to talk to anyone like that or have anything else to do with them. Their idiocy might actually be contagious if it's spread by a virus, and I don't want to risk that.

[Emelina]

Haaa haaa realy? I didn't even know our earth was a pancake... now that's comical. But seriously, I wouldn't have known that people actually believe the earth is flat, I go along with the researchers that are expert and examine the wonders of earth and planets, not people with wild imagination. Our world is round not flat.

[purplepoppy]

Because they have a need to stand out from the crowd. They believe siding with alternative views some how makes them smarter than the ones us sheep follow.

[Agape93]

Because to them, lead paint was a flavoring, not a decoration choice. People believe a lot of stupid shit.

[OddBeMe]

It’s an identity they’ve joined. Probably online, like trumpism, lizard people truthers, etc. It’s emotion more than logic. Which is why we can’t show them proof…like the shadow of earth on the freakin moon….

[exitseven]

the earth is so big that the curvature is so slight it is almost imperceptible. To most it looks flat.

[Quackthulu2]

Because they are idiots, why is this even a question?

[mommymommymommy]

People will believe anything to try and just go against the grain

[OfMiceandMen]

Because it looks flat on the horizon, some people can't see beyond their nose.

[D_Bone_Steak]

I think all the people that believe that has blocked me.

[Anonymous]

Because they're incredibly stupid. Often the same people who think the election was stolen, covid doesn't exist etc.

[slatyb]

They are mostly just trolling.

[richardcory]

Yup. The flat earth society page is really clever - much to clever to be written by someone who really thinks the world is flat

[BLP11520]

No clue.. anyone who has ever flown can see the curvature of the Earth... the moon etc

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

People listen too much to the Far-Right-Radicals

[FunkyMonkee]

Maybe their mom had flat tits.

[Snakeyes7]

Because they are idiots

[LiamJHayden]

Ignorance.

[LiamJHayden]

Either that or it really is flat when observed in the 4th or 5th or 19th or whatever dimension and I'm the one who is just too ignorant to comprehend it from the proper point of view.

[Iron_Man]

I hope not