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Flat Earth Model

Infiltrating the Flat Earth International Conference

By Gregon

I’ve got to admit, in posting links over the past year or so to news stories about the resurrection of ‘Flat Earth Theory’, I kind of assumed that it was all some sort of fantastic prank. Because, y’know, who could seriously believe Flat Earth Theory in 2017?

Well it turns out I was wrong – there appear to be a fair number of people who take the idea very seriously; so much so that they will pay to attend a conference dedicated to the topic. And, I was interested to also learn, there appears to be a fairly large cross-over between Flat Earth belief and fundamentalist Christian belief in participants.

How do I know this? Via this video from Red Ice TV, in which they ‘infiltrated’ the conference and talked to those involved.

https://youtu.be/h8Ud4eonla8

 

Greg
Editor
Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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10 Comments

  1. Perhaps the most significant part on that whole clip came right at the end, when the dude with all the ‘Flat Earth sigils’ tattoos learns he’s been interviewed by Red Ice and yells “OMG! I’m a big fan!!”

    In a way it’s similar to how Richard Dawkins ended up being followed by racists and right-wingers because of his –rather unscientific– condemnation of Islam as “the greatest force for evil in the world today.” I’m sure both Dawkins and Red Ice loathe to have those kind of followers, but at the same time, shouldn’t they consider that PERHAPS because of the tone and content they promote, they have now become part of the problem, instead of part of the solution?

    I admit that is something I’m constantly thinking of, when I see the progressive intellectual deterioration of the paranormal and conspiracy scene online. I see a lot of people with very poor critical thinking skills sliding deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, and I see a lot of peddlers and hawkers of paranoia being all too happy to keep pumping up garbage just to keep those ratings up, and their sponsors happy.

    And now here we are: About to begin the second decade of the 3rd Millennium, and perhaps soon we will realize the biggest impediment to become a space-faring civilization and fulfill our destiny among the stars, will be all the millions of stubborn individuals who think those stars are just tiny dots of light over the Flat Earth dome… Hell, maybe this is the symptoms all great civilizations go through, just when they are about to collapse 🙁

  2. I love the video. I collect this kind of stuff. Thanks…

    We won’t talk about the current group of “flat earth” people who get crazy with “conspiracy theory”. Strip away the “conspiracy theory” and the whole thing falls apart. They literally use “conspiracy theory” to hide the fact that their concept does not work.

    I love the concept of “flat earth”. It’s great for story. I have a number of novel series that use the idea, but without the fatal flaws that cripple most of the other stories out there.

    – Terry Pratchett had his Discworld series, plus his novel “Strata” that inspired Discworld.

    – The novella “Missile Gap” by Charles Stross, with a disk world on an Alderson disk.

    – And of course Larry Niven’s Ringworld series.

    All of these have the fatal flaw that they ignore physical reality.

    First:

    – A flat earth would be unstable. Put the slightest spin on the disk and all the atmosphere, water, soil would go spinning to the edge.

    – Put the slightest tumble on the disk, and the same problem occurs.

    Second: Everybody is also demonstrating two dimensional thinking. They forget that gravity is pulling across the disk as well as down.

    – If you have a flat earth, no spin, no tumble, gravity would pull all of the atmosphere, water, soil, into the center of the disk. There would be a hemisphere of wet soggy mess sitting in the center of the disk, not a nice surface to live on.

    – The Alderson disk that Stross wrote about, with the diameter of over a hundred million miles, would also pull everything into the center. There would be no surface to live on.

    – Look at Ringworld. The ring is a million miles wide, with the atmosphere supposedly held in by the walls at the edge of the ring. The problem is, a million miles of atmosphere would not lie flat against the ring. The gravity would pull all of the atmosphere into the middle of the flat ring. The water and soil would also pull together making a wet soggy mess in the middle of the flat ring.

  4. Things you could better spend the money and time on:
    1. Donating to a charity or hospital dedicated that studies childhood disease.
    2. Working at a soup kitchen.
    3. Working with abused animals.
    And what did that one guy mean when he he said “I will never do those things to anyone…again” after talking about sex crimes at 8:36 O_o
    Also that’s not how contrast works on photos.

  5. I just realized the majority of the people there and he interviewed are men. Especially older men in their late 40s and up. Not to sound like a crazy feminist but it seems the majority of women down there are smarter than men. Or, given their strong religious beliefs, women are considered lesser and not allowed at the conference. Sorry if this sounds offensive just an observation. If I missed an interview please inform me. I’m sure there are Flat Earther woman out there.

    1. I think there’s absolutely a case to be made that obsession with conspiracies are more predominant among middle-aged white men, than in other demographics. That being said, there was this news link showing the Flat Earth model is also appealing among other types of religious fundamentalists…

      http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/phd-thesis-the-earth-is-flat-1.2009202

      Conspiracies are about insecurity and fear you do not have control over direction your life is taking. Hence the primary goal of conspiracies is to look for a culprit –in the case of the Flat Earth, NASA… although obviously ALL THE OTHER INTERNATIONAL SPACE AGENCIES ARE IN CAHOOTS!– and the second goal is to provide a false sense of security, in thinking that at least you are ‘in the know’ and one step ahead of all those evil overlords playing the strings of the world.

      1. I’m thinking about how your second paragraph applies to UFO theorists. Not a “conspiracy” per se but there are those who are convinced the government is hiding the truth of extraterrestrials. Thoughts?

        1. You’re right. I guess any ‘alternative’ viewpoint can quickly devolve into conspiranoia mentality if you’re not careful. One could also make the argument ‘innocent’ conspiracies like Roswell or ‘the UFO coverup’ opens you up to more radical –and dangerous– ideas.

          In my own personal case, I notice myself turning more an more skeptic as I grow older. Perhaps as a ‘reaction’ to the polarizations I see all around me –including the UFO field.

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