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Found Out My Friend is a Flat Earther Today...
- Thread starter Pinko Marx
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Chinbo37
Member
Ya a friend of mine is a flat earther. He is always super aggressive about it at least on social media.
I researched all of it just to humor him and it's pretty ridiculous.
He also believes in pizza gate and various other conspiracies.
He is also like super anti NASA like they are behind everything. Like there are no other space agencies in the world. Also he can't seem to explain that any sort of scientist or engineer whose job depends on a round earth, what exactly they are doing. Like these people arent dumb so what, when they reach a certain age someone takes them aside and let's them in on the flat earth conspiracy?
It's insane really.
I researched all of it just to humor him and it's pretty ridiculous.
He also believes in pizza gate and various other conspiracies.
He is also like super anti NASA like they are behind everything. Like there are no other space agencies in the world. Also he can't seem to explain that any sort of scientist or engineer whose job depends on a round earth, what exactly they are doing. Like these people arent dumb so what, when they reach a certain age someone takes them aside and let's them in on the flat earth conspiracy?
It's insane really.
Imperfected
Member
At least in the case of the OP, it's pretty clearly an attempt to get attention.
Look at that line: "This earth may be flat, but it's the only one we've got." That is not natural speech. That's Mass Effect: Andromeda quality dialogue writing. That is the result of someone who spent an entire conversation thinking in the back of their mind, "Oh man, he's going to be so surprised I'm on this flat earth kick, it'll be the most interesting thing ever. How do I bring it up casually when he won't stop talking about the Dodgers, though? Aw fuckit, I'm just gonna rawdog this shit!"
That seems to be the motivation behind a lot of conspiracy theorists: they invest themselves into belief in a more "interesting" world in the belief that it makes them more interesting by extension. They are often people whose problems and personal lives are far outside the focus of the societal lens (rural poor, disaffected middle class urban youth, the elderly, etc.), and having their "conspiracy" makes them believe that things can be focused on them and what they care about, rather than what everyone else has decided is important (ie, not them).
It's not quite a "cry for help", but it's certainly sad and often lonely, scaling more and more toward "pathetic" the more comfortable the life of the person in question is. At least with someone living in miserable poverty you can sort of understand why they're scrambling for social relevance while everyone ignores their problems.
Look at that line: "This earth may be flat, but it's the only one we've got." That is not natural speech. That's Mass Effect: Andromeda quality dialogue writing. That is the result of someone who spent an entire conversation thinking in the back of their mind, "Oh man, he's going to be so surprised I'm on this flat earth kick, it'll be the most interesting thing ever. How do I bring it up casually when he won't stop talking about the Dodgers, though? Aw fuckit, I'm just gonna rawdog this shit!"
That seems to be the motivation behind a lot of conspiracy theorists: they invest themselves into belief in a more "interesting" world in the belief that it makes them more interesting by extension. They are often people whose problems and personal lives are far outside the focus of the societal lens (rural poor, disaffected middle class urban youth, the elderly, etc.), and having their "conspiracy" makes them believe that things can be focused on them and what they care about, rather than what everyone else has decided is important (ie, not them).
It's not quite a "cry for help", but it's certainly sad and often lonely, scaling more and more toward "pathetic" the more comfortable the life of the person in question is. At least with someone living in miserable poverty you can sort of understand why they're scrambling for social relevance while everyone ignores their problems.
I recently discovered a coworker who believed nonsensical conspiracies like Hitler's corpse was actually a woman and used CNN as an insult despite me never bringing up CNN once when I pointed out how ridiculous their claim was. I have zero tolerance for these tinhat "theories" to justify their delusional belief in regards to government control.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
My co-worker believed 9/11 was an inside job, and would proclaim it loudly even though his boss was a vet.
He wasn't even born when 9/11 happened.
The people that automatically bring up CNN/Kotaku/etc. are those that you instantly know to avoid.
He wasn't even born when 9/11 happened.
The people that automatically bring up CNN/Kotaku/etc. are those that you instantly know to avoid.
Those which I have zero tolerance for is when their fucking stupid beliefs are actually dangerous. Like anti-vaccers.
If my friend ever believed in something as stupid as the earth being flat I'd just drop them. I'd give them one thorough explanation and if they refused to listen to reason we're done. If you can believe something as dumb as that you have the potential to believe even dumber things as well.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
You would think some intrepid seeker of truth would pay for a vessel to the edge of the world. Make videos and live stream it all. They would expose the lie that has been perpetrated on humanity for over 2,000 years. Surely there would be fame and glory and fortune for the first person to do this so why doesnt anyone do it?
What makes you think a person who believes Hitler's corpse belonged to a woman and that the moon landing was fake doesn't simultaneously hold the belief in needles causing autism? That aside, i'd say a disregard for basic facts is itself a dangerous belief that breeds ignorance and opens the door for these people to placing a significant level of faith in objectively harmful beliefs.
plagiarize
Banned
This is classic flat Earth nonsense.
They think the flat earth is accelerating upwards at a rate of 9.8 meters per second per second, which gives you a force of exactly 1 G.
In other words, if we presume the most conservative length of the Earth's existence (low end of young earth theory, which is 5700 years), and we presume the Earth started with a speed of zero...
The Earth would now be going 29,380,125,600 m/s
That's about ONE HUNDRED times the speed of light.
So any flat earther who claims that's how 'gravity' works, obviously also doesn't believe in the theory of relativity, or remotely comprehend how light works.
Zen_Arcade
Banned
Not really, no. But I also don't think every Christian interprets that story literally.
All Possible Ways
Member
You know what's funny, relativity is actually perfectly consistent with a constant acceleration. What happens is that even though in our frame of reference the acceleration is a constant 9.8m/s^2, for someone in space seeing the Earth accelerate, the acceleration would actually diminish over time such that the speed of the Earth would get arbitrarily close to the speed of light, but never reach it.
Please don't tell the Flat-Earthers that.
TheExecutive
Member
I still refuse to believe this is a thing.
TheExecutive
Member
Yes, yes it is.
Arkage
Banned
One of my favorite ASMR videos features flat earther Steven Christ (or whatever the hell shape he thinks it is, it's pretty hard to figure out honestly). So hey, they're at least good for that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQzRq9YPqo0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQzRq9YPqo0
Flat Earthers man...
Let's look at all the governments of the world and how almost none of them agree on anything. Even if some issues have similar laws in different countries, there will be elements that are changed to reflect societal standards and status quo and whatnot.
Why, for some unspeakable reason would all these governing bodies--who can almost never agree on anything--choose THIS topic to agree upon and so-call "hide the truth". Just think about how much money and effort this would need to keep up the ruse on a global scale. Yet by some Herculean leap of logic us "sheeple" could never even begin to fathom, Flat Earthers claim that this situation is reality.
Jesus christ.
Let's look at all the governments of the world and how almost none of them agree on anything. Even if some issues have similar laws in different countries, there will be elements that are changed to reflect societal standards and status quo and whatnot.
Why, for some unspeakable reason would all these governing bodies--who can almost never agree on anything--choose THIS topic to agree upon and so-call "hide the truth". Just think about how much money and effort this would need to keep up the ruse on a global scale. Yet by some Herculean leap of logic us "sheeple" could never even begin to fathom, Flat Earthers claim that this situation is reality.
Jesus christ.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Measuring that sun and moon animation off of my cell phone screen and using the width of the US as scale reference... around 62,000 miles.
I heard something interesting today about people who adamantly believe in conspiracy theories. There has been a large enough separation from religion really being a part of a significant portion of the population's lives but people still feel the need to believe that there is something higher.
For conspiracy theorists, they hang their beliefs that the big bad government is out to always tell lies and never tell the public the truth. The Earth can't be spherical because you can't see it. The moon and sun are flat. Under Earth is a secret the government is hiding from everyone. People are using GMOs to control your brain. We have never been to space and shuttles only ever made it high enough that you couldn't see it with your eyes and landed back in the ocean. All supremely dumb and go on forever.
For a religious person (specifically​Christianity since I grew up around it) this could be something like God made the Earth in 7 days. Jesus turned water to wine. Noah made a super ark with 2 of every animal on the planet. Jesus died and returned. Just things that are meant to give people some kind of hope.
People feel the need to cling to something that they can't control. It gives them something to blame for why their life isn't going the way they think it should and the bad shit that happens in the world was the product if the non-believers.
In the age of social media, the prominence of things like conspiracy theories is a detriment because it leads to people writing off legitimate science.
For conspiracy theorists, they hang their beliefs that the big bad government is out to always tell lies and never tell the public the truth. The Earth can't be spherical because you can't see it. The moon and sun are flat. Under Earth is a secret the government is hiding from everyone. People are using GMOs to control your brain. We have never been to space and shuttles only ever made it high enough that you couldn't see it with your eyes and landed back in the ocean. All supremely dumb and go on forever.
For a religious person (specifically​Christianity since I grew up around it) this could be something like God made the Earth in 7 days. Jesus turned water to wine. Noah made a super ark with 2 of every animal on the planet. Jesus died and returned. Just things that are meant to give people some kind of hope.
People feel the need to cling to something that they can't control. It gives them something to blame for why their life isn't going the way they think it should and the bad shit that happens in the world was the product if the non-believers.
In the age of social media, the prominence of things like conspiracy theories is a detriment because it leads to people writing off legitimate science.
when did I say I believe in a flat earth? I think you are confusing me for someone else.
You were telling people to keep an open mind and encouraging people listen to batshit crazy radio stations. Seems like people did the math and figured you a believer. Maybe in the future try not and be a troll or explain yourself.
Dude, it's one thing to say there is a deity responsible for the laws that govern the universe, it's a whole other crazy to say that the laws that govern us and the understand of those laws being the backbone of our modern science & tech don't exist.
Be there for him as a friend but my god thats a whole lot of baggage to unpack.
I don't believe in the laws of motion, I think these things just happen you know, no way to explain it beyond magic.
/s
Be there for him as a friend but my god thats a whole lot of baggage to unpack.
I don't believe in the laws of motion, I think these things just happen you know, no way to explain it beyond magic.
/s
this "badshit crazy radio station" you are referring to is one of the most popular radio shows in the world.
DarthMasta
Member
Congrats, you've got a somewhat irrational, immune to evidence, conspiracy theorist for a friend. At least it's a fairly benign conspiracy, just hope it doesn't spread to truly "can't live with him" territory.
File it away for future reference, don't trust your friend for stuff that requires "rational" thinking, and avoid the subject of how the Earth is actually a globe. I manage to go years without ever having to discuss the shape of the Earth, I'm sure you can do the same with your friend...
File it away for future reference, don't trust your friend for stuff that requires "rational" thinking, and avoid the subject of how the Earth is actually a globe. I manage to go years without ever having to discuss the shape of the Earth, I'm sure you can do the same with your friend...
Linkstrikesback
Member
The daily mail is one of the most popular news sources In the world. Being popular doesn't mean it's not batshit crazy
Chinbo37
Member
It says most popular for its time slot. Isnt its time slot like 2 am though?
I used to listen in high school when Art Bell was the host. Its fun stuff. I dont really believe any of it though. Of course I guess some stuff must have been truthful. Like the national enquirer or whatever, every once in a while something is correct or at least least to some truth.
is this really true?
time slot is 10pm here
it is the most popular radio show for its time slot, but it is still one of the most popular radio shows period
Chinbo37
Member
Ya I guess so. I recall listening way late before but that was like 20 years ago. There would always be the funniest (aka craziest) people who called and claimed they were being experimented on and stuff.
it's good fun
btw, the show repeats over again once it ends, so it is very possible to listen to it on repeat at early AM hours
think it goes from 10pm-2am, then repeats from 2am-6am. at least here.
This was what you said,and you're wondering why people got the wrong impression
Linkstrikesback
Member
Unfortunately.
It's gone down quite a bit since I last looked, which is an improvement, but it's still in the top 200 most used websites globally according to Alexa.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/*****************
Edit: haha, right, GAF banned the daily fail URL for good reason. The *** are the daily mail URL, if you want to look them up.
in the very post you quoted, I stated hollow earth is more believable than flat earth, so I'm not sure how people got the impression that I believed in the flat earth theory
for the record, I'm pretty sure the earth is not hollow
You said it has "merit."
No, it doesn't. On a factual level.
There is no debate to be had: the Earth is not flat and if you're questioning it, you're wrong.
duly noted
if flat earth is flying in space and earth is the source of gravity, why would it collaps?
GuessMyUserName
Member
The flat earth accelerating at 9.8m/ss does nothing to explain satellites orbiting around other celestial objects. So gravity would still exist, but earth doesn't have it because reasons.
As some people said, really the only thing you can do is treat these people like the absolute morons they are. Any opinion they could ever give will is completely tainted with the fact they don't live in reality.
As some people said, really the only thing you can do is treat these people like the absolute morons they are. Any opinion they could ever give will is completely tainted with the fact they don't live in reality.
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Forget relativity. The only thing known to man which could exert the force needed to accelerate a planetary body at this rate is .. gravity. So, in essence, they don't believe in gravity by relying heavily on it.
Correctomundo
Member
There are no satellites orbiting other bodies up there according to the flerfers. The dome over the Earth contains all the points of light as exactly that - points of light. Oh, you saw pictures? You mean CGI from NASA. Oh, you looked through a telescope? It was probably tampered with by NASA to show false images and you aren't really seeing anything.
These guys can layer conspiracies on top of conspiracies all. Day. Long.
Show him this, OP: https://www.twitch.tv/cosmos
boiled goose
good with gravy
Dont show him pictures. Go do experiments with predictions together. Should be pretty easy.
What would keep us bolted to the ground? Call that force whatever you want but at the end of the day it's semantics. There is either a force keeping us on the ground or there isn't. The fact that I'm sitting here right now and not floating around tells me there is.
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