Flat Earthers

Rex R

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do they really believe the Earth(planet dirt?) is flat? or are they just exhibiting trollish behavior?
Rex
 

Peartree

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I suspect there are some of both, but many are indeed true believers.
 

Nytrunner

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Rex, does your current Planar Planet musings spring from rapper BoB's gofundme?

A coworker just showed me that article and we both lost some productivity time laughing.
 

Rex R

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he is the most recent one, yes. though the fact that he believes in satellites does tend to make me think that he is 'playing' the crowd to get them interested in the world around us. lets see attributed to Heinlein 'I don't care what they think, so long as they think' :)
Rex
 

Rex R

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celebs say the darndest things...saw a click bait that said that 'The Rock' was doing a dirt nap, his reply to the rumor. Rumors of my death are false - Im still "Bringin' It' 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year - including leap year!
see anything strange...I thought leap years had 366 days :)
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Amsterdam

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The funniest thing about flat earth "theory" is that Antarctica is believed to be a giant ice wall surrounding the planet.
Flat_earth.png
 

Bat-mite

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The funniest thing about flat earth "theory" is that Antarctica is believed to be a giant ice wall surrounding the planet.
Flat_earth.png

So, why would the edges and the center of the disk be freezing, and the equator band be hot? I'm sure they have some cockamamie explanation.
 

Nytrunner

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Stuff like that makes it so so.....absurd! Do they not believe in compasses either!?

I was interested that he actually suggested satellites since most Flats talk about "The Dome" and all space travel being a hoax anyway
 

Lowpuller

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I see it too Batmite, Don from MAD magazine



Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum
 

mpitfield

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I have been following this absurd argument for a couple of years now. What amazes me is that the internet seems to be a breeding ground for this type of insanity. As much as any rational person can point out inconsistencies and issues with their theories they have thought of pretty much every counter-argument, to the point where they have made up physics to support some of their irrational ideas.

Here are some of the rational discussions:

[video=youtube;JAAuvBJ7rmk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAAuvBJ7rmk[/video]

[video=youtube;hsOz_J6tJVU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOz_J6tJVU[/video]
 

muddymooose

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Considering the myriad ways one can prove to him/herself the earth is (roughly) a sphere, this sort of thing just makes my head hurt. I want to think these people are just trolls, but I've met some staggeringly dense people in my life.
 

DavidMcCann

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I think it started as a troll and people just jumped on and steamrolled it. Oh wait, that was our presidents campagin.
 

Marc_G

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My coworker showed me the rapper GoFundMe ($200,000) thing to put up a satelite to show BoB the curve or some such nonsense. Seemed hoaxy to me.

I have been following this absurd argument for a couple of years now. What amazes me is that the internet seems to be a breeding ground for this type of insanity. As much as any rational person can point out inconsistencies and issues with their theories they have thought of pretty much every counter-argument, to the point where they have made up physics to support some of their irrational ideas.

The problem with this statement is that it could easily apply, word for word, to lots of other things that are as provable as "round-Earth" theory, but are considered "controversial" in the U.S. Just replace the word physics with whatever science applies. For example, imagine the statement above responding to:

Vaccines. The anti-vaxxers say they are bad for us, cause disease, whatever. There are BILLIONS of data points to the contrary, but some people put their kids at risk by not vaccinating. (PSA: I got my flu vaccination today, get yours soon...)

Evolution. Evolution happens, period. If you prefer a religion-inspired genesis, fine. It's not worth debating (here). But I've known people who insist that evolution doesn't happen, at all, even currently. Um... so many examples from modern history...

Global warning. Let's hold the political element of this in check, but the Earth is warming. I know people who INSIST it isn't warming. We can debate causes and things to do about long term effects, but we have measurements to say it is warming, period. And we need to plan for the effects. It's useless to argue against this, yet people do.

It all comes down to rationalism versus ingrained memes. For me, I choose to respect people, try to learn from them, and if their outlook is just too different from mine, avoid engaging in wasted arguments.
 

XolveJohn

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Yes, they are dumb, because there are real conspiracies to be solved. Like JFK, the missing 2 trillion dolla from the Pentagon,

whether Janet Jackson and Michael were the same person. :cool:

Or advanced ones, like 911. Was it nukes? And how could planes that could only do 400mph at sea level go 580?

Of course, the fact that they would need six times the power to do that must be....................


FAKE NEWS. :lol:
 

Incongruent

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But you and all your "logic" miss the true brilliancy of the Flat Earth Theory.
For it is correct.
The Earth is flat.
When considered in a spherical plane.
 

cvanc

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The funniest thing about flat earth "theory" is that Antarctica is believed to be a giant ice wall surrounding the planet.
Flat_earth.png

Well, yeah, but for the record that's a picture of 'Arctica' - the North Pole. 'Antarctica' is the South Pole and not visible in your picture.

(yeah, I know... I'm bein' a smartass :wink: )
 

Bat-mite

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Pretty interesting that Australia is wider than all of North America. That distance can be measured without going into space.
 

Bat-mite

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Oh my. Everyone should go read their FAQ if you have not done so already. It is.... uh.... well I don't actually have a proper adjective.

It's really hard to believe they're serious.

Here's the best one:

What Is Gravity?

Gravity as a theory is false. Objects simply fall.
 

Nytrunner

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I think I made a mistake when I sent my office mate the FAQ link to read over lunch.

I'm worried he's going to blow a capillary or 5......
 

dr wogz

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There was one bit about "proof" which involved a laser, a bunch of 'targets' and a frozen lake.

Set up laser pointer
Set up end target
set up targets at, say, 100' intervals across the lake (these targets have a hole in the middle and are all the same height, to see that the laser beam passes thru them)
turn on laser.
Voila, since the laser beam is straight, and since it passes thru a bunch of targets (at eth same height) while sitting on a flat surface (the frozen lake), that's the proof that the earth is flat..

I don't know where to start with this one, to pull it apart! :D
 

Bat-mite

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I know it would cost a ton of money, but I still think it would be worthwhile to put one or two of these jokers into orbit for a day and let them watch the earth rotate below. Of course, they'd probably brain hemorrhage and die, and then their adherents on earth would claim they were assassinated.
 
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