The flat-Earth conspiracy is spreading around the globe. Does it hide a darker core?

Lost4words said:

Flat earthers society once had a statement which read:

"Flat earth believers, all around the globe"

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I've never heard that one before! Wow! That's SO funny!!!
Got any more?
HEY! Start a Flat Earth joke thread!
How 'bout it? Why not?

E_Pluribus_Unum said:

One sense is never to be trusted, two maybe but 3 is my minimum for accepting anything I see. Unreasonable perhaps however it's a result of reading what was alleged to me to be Rene Des Cartes. In my experience vision is most easily deceived of all the senses but I have no doubt you are correct in your response. Ttyl.

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How can I continue to read when self contradiction is the first assertion:
"A straight line on the surface of the Earth..."
No such thing on a globe surface.
Big red flag against rational communication.
Concepts can not survive in semantic stew.
They get "stewpified". lol

About 3 centuries ago Isaac Newton framed his three laws of motion, his law of gravitation and the mathematical system known as the calculus. In the two centuries following there was much value added by scientists and mathematicians. By AD 1900 this theory had explained the orbits of all the planets and moons and a myriad of other astronomical observations as well. Well, all except some puzzling changes in the orbit of Mercury. Then in 1905 Albert Einstein came out with his Theory of Special Relativity and that problem was solved. Just over 50 years later the Space Age began and since then we have used this physics to navigate the entire solar system and beyond. Except for technical glitches this exploration has proceeded perfectly. The ultimate proof of the science, any science is "Does it work?" The answer is resounding "Yes, it is working!"

Rick Otto said:

"A straight line on the surface of the Earth..."
No such thing on a globe surface.

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A straight line is defined as the shortest locus between two points. In plane geometry and in spherical geometry the straight line is different but still fits the definition exactly.

The geography south west of Regina, Saskatchewan is very flat. The longest straight rail line in North America is between Regina and Stoughton --- a distance of 90 miles. It is straight because it does not deviate left or right but it does follow the curve of the earth because you can't see Stoughton from Regina. I can personally attest to that.

Rick Otto --- You rated my post as "funny". May I ask why? I would honestly like to know that.

JackRT said:

..... It is straight because it does not deviate left or right but it does follow the curve of the earth because you can't see Stoughton from Regina. I can personally attest to that.

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Yes. I'm sure a deep-state science teacher can attest to round-earth fabrications....

JackRT said:

About 3 centuries ago Isaac Newton framed his three laws of motion, his law of gravitation and the mathematical system known as the calculus. In the two centuries following there was much value added by scientists and mathematicians. By AD 1900 this theory had explained the orbits of all the planets and moons and a myriad of other astronomical observations as well. Well, all except some puzzling changes in the orbit of Mercury. Then in 1905 Albert Einstein came out with his Theory of Special Relativity and that problem was solved. Just over 50 years later the Space Age began and since then we have used this physics to navigate the entire solar system and beyond. Except for technical glitches this exploration has proceeded perfectly. The ultimate proof of the science, any science is "Does it work?" The answer is resounding "Yes, it is working!"

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...And the applause sign lights up as the laughtrack ends.
Thanks. That was much easier than thinking for myself.
Ever read anything about Newton that wasn't glowing praises?

durangodawood said:

Yes. I'm sure a deep-state science teacher can attest to round-earth fabrications....

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Why would I attest to a fabrication? Oops, just saw your emoticon.

JackRT said:

Rick Otto --- You rated my post as "funny". May I ask why? I would honestly like to know that.

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It actually made me laugh.
It was brilliantly and mercifully short and ending on a high note of self-congratulation was epic.
Good form! Thanks for the humor. People so often forget this is a hobbies and entertainment forum and take themselves too seriously.

Rick Otto said:

...And the applause sign lights up as the laughtrack ends.
Thanks. That was much easier than thinking for myself.
Ever read anything about Newton that wasn't glowing praises?

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Yes, actually. His theology was quite strange by any standard as you can read for yourself

Rick Otto said:

It actually made me laugh.
It was brilliantly and mercifully short and ending on a high note of self-congratulation was epic.
Good form! Thanks for the humor. People so often forget this is a hobbies and entertainment forum and take themselves too seriously.

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Well, I am pleased that I could provide some unintended comic relief.

Lazarus Short said:

It occurs to me that flat-earthism is like Pastafarianism or the sub-genius cult...for the only slightly less crazy.

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I'm pretty sure Pastafarians know their beliefs are fictional.

Kaon said:

Sails around the world can be described by curvature, not necessarily a round/ball plane of existence.

A better example would be to be a frequent flyer, and look out at the little arrays of light... then realize at near cruising altitude, these little arrays of light on flat(ish) terrain are actually cities and small towns.

If you zoom in on the old "boat over the horizon", we will see tat the boat is actually still traveling straight - it never actually curves over the horizon (it is an optical illusion created by the interaction of light and the curvature of the water plane.)

(Note: I am not saying this is proof of a flat planar earth).

People have the intellectual right to question whatever they want to question - especially given the history of deception by all institutions. The disdain and scoffing shows the limited capacity of the person commenting - which is fine. Not everyone has the patience or willingness to entertain everything without necessarily accepting it... not everyone is supposed to.

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The measured distance on a trip around the world, say from Auckland, NZ around the southern ocean and returning to Auckland is hugely different between a trip around the bottom of a spheroid and a trip around the perimeter of a disc.

Anguspure said:

The measured distance on a trip around the world, say from Auckland, NZ around the southern ocean and returning to Auckland is hugely different between a trip around the bottom of a spheroid and a trip around the perimeter of a disc.

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I am fully aware; I am not talking about distances on the "disk" of the earth. I am talking about the actual vs apparent distances between cities on the surface from cruising altitude - seen in linear arrays on the "disk" of the earth for hundreds of miles across the plane (more than one hour of flight).

Kaon said:

I am fully aware; I am not talking about distances on the "disk" of the earth. I am talking about the actual vs apparent distances between cities on the surface from cruising altitude - seen in linear arrays on the "disk" of the earth for hundreds of miles across the plane (more than one hour of flight).

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I hear what you are saying, seems to me that a wee sail around the world is a whole lot more simple. But then that is what I do.

Rick Otto said:

He tends to show for underdogs when they're getting kicked.
I heard a rumor that there's some posters on this forum that don't believe in conspiracy theory.
You haven't noticed anyone being offensive toward Flat Earthers and their ideas, have you?
lol

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And Flat Earthers never make grand insulting statements or behave rudely and aggressively?

If a random guy walks up to a MMA fighter in a bar a punches him in the jaw... he may still be the underdog, but that doesn't confer any reason to assume he's justified or right.

Anguspure said:

I hear what you are saying, seems to me that a wee sail around the world is a whole lot more simple. But then that is what I do.

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If you fly enough, you can see it, compare it, and even do the math to determine the estimated distances of the cities over a linear path - from cruising. That, to me, is easier since that calculation can be done on the airplane before go descent.

Rick Otto said:

I've never heard that one before! Wow! That's SO funny!!!
Got any more?
HEY! Start a Flat Earth joke thread!
How 'bout it? Why not?

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It used to be on their website! Lol

I thought 'Flat earth' was a joke?

Shemjaza said:

So a lot of the Flat Earhers seem to have been Young Earth Creationists or Climate Change deniers... then took a further step.

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Yes, these DIY science people -- predominately white, male, undereducated, distrust government and democracy but sympathetic to autocrats, especially to strong white men -- who choose to be willing believers of one conspiracy tend to diversify into other conspiracy theories, too. When one embraces the YouTubed ideology that government lies about one thing -- the Moon landing, vaccines, 9/11, for example -- then it's "logical" to believe the government and the "official truth" cannot be trusted in others things, either: Hitler's death, Kennedy murder, the Moon-landing, Roswell, Flat-Earth, 9/11, vaccines, chemtrails, climate change, fake news, Russian election interference, New World Order, what-have-you.

Then malicious anti-democracy governments -- Moscow, I'm looking at you -- capitalize on the gullibilty of these useful fools to create information chaos side by side with state-sponsored disinformation to delegitimize our democracy and our democratically elected governments, to break societal trust, the very cornerstone of a functioning society to spread distrust, divide and concur our communities, to undermine our liberties and our liberal way of life, to weaken our national security and to strengthen antidemocratic nationalists and populists sympathetic to authoritarianism.

It's easy to laugh at their ridiculous beliefs: free people are free to be as stupid as they well want and believe whatever they want, right? Only, it's far more dangerous than just one very foolish person's individual stupidity. They are foreign agents doing a foreign government's mole work. Basically, Russian tools trolling for Putin and too stupid to know it. That's not a laughing matter. It's a serious national security issue.

Rick Otto said:

This lack of any knowledge of CT sounds completely familiar.

To imagine everyone who executes a conspiracy agenda needs to know that's what they are doing is...
over simplification say the least.
Such an assertion is called "gatekeeping" and its purpose is to keep analytical thought at bay, evidenced by the hyperbola of "hundreds of thousands of scientists", as if truth depends upon consensus anyway.
Surely little attention if any has been given to the corruption in the "peer review" process.

Two simple concepts can be at play in the paving of a conspiracy highway to hell.
1. The useful idiot .
2. Compartmentalization

Now that you know how conspiracies operate, you might enjoy the entertaining hobby aspect of them and leave behind the safe comfort of uninformed dismissals...
I have to wonder how safe that really seems if one feels the need to go negative on someone else's entertainment hobby.

I think it's just good manners to at least be humorous when being judgemental.

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You're using "useful idiots" wrong.

That has more to do with the spread of a political narrative by people who don't really understand the narrative. They don't understand it's origins, they don't understand it's goals.

Lenin used the term to describe the millions who didn't really understand the first thing about communism....yet gladly marched along yelling "workers unite".

Today the comparable group would be about 90% of those who call themselves "woke".