A Journey Into Flat-Earth Belief
Obviously fake because Earth is much bigger than a child's hand
It's a Conspiracy
Some flat Earthers believe that those who claim special knowledge about the workings of the universe are in the pay of mysterious forces that want to control our minds. Others find their rationale for belief in a flat Earth in the Bible.
Round-Earth History
Understandably, our ancient ancestors believed the Earth to be flat. As hunter-gatherers wandered the plains of Africa, the world appeared flat to them. Even if they climbed a tree, they still wouldn't get high enough to see the curvature of the planet.
So, the concept of the Earth being a flat disc hung on until the Greek philosopher Pythagoras suggested it was a sphere. That was in the sixth century before the Common Era, but his insight did not catch on immediately.
As with many new ideas, the concept of radical thought took a while to beat down the wall of resistance in entrenched orthodoxy. But, as more and more evidence of a spherical world emerged, acceptance of it became more widespread.
The flat-Earth believers clung on among Chinese and Muslim scholars for a while, but by the Middle Ages, Europeans generally acknowledged that the planet was a large ball.
Then, mischievous writers got involved.
An illustration from the 12th century showing the Earth as a sphere
The Flat-Earth Myth
In 1828, Washington Irving published A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. This was a fictional account of the Italian explorer and his adventures.
In the text, Irving tells of how the Catholic Church of Columbus's time taught that the Earth was flat and that if the navigator sailed far enough, he would simply fall off the edge and disappear forever. The church did not hold such a belief at that time.
Samuel Rowbotham was an English author who persuaded himself that, by looking along the length of a six-mile-long canal, the Earth was flat. He published his findings in Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe in 1864.
The fanciful notions of Irving and Rowbotham were reinforced in 1896 by Andrew Dickson White in his book A History of the Warfare of Science With Theology in Christendom.
This was complete fiction. Scholars of the day, religious and secular, agreed that the planet was a globe; they did not believe it was shaped like a dinner plate. However, Irving's characterization of medieval clerics as flat Earthers stuck.
Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell contends that Washington Irving was actually pulling everyone's leg in his tome.
The 1919 edition of The Boys' and Girls' Reader kept the myth alive by stating that “[w]hen Columbus lived, people thought the Earth was flat.”
Because of this and other misinformation, the story that backward-thinking medieval intellectuals believed the Earth to be flat is still around today.
Early mariners realized that when a ship disappeared over the horizon, it wasn't falling off the edge of the planet.
Free Thinkers
The round-Earth deniers attend lots of conventions to discuss their belief systems with like-minded folks. They hear learned speakers expound on their theories that the spherical planet is a lie.
As they head to their meetings at 35,000 feet, they can look out of the aircraft's window and see the curvature of the Earth for themselves. But, such is the nature of their calling—they will say, with absolute conviction, that the apparent bending of the horizon is an optical illusion caused by the acrylic of the plane's window.
It's this kind of thinking that permeates the flat-Earth world. Do not be fooled by what is obvious before your eyes. You've fallen into a trap, you are told. A trap set by manipulating professors who are out to stitch you into the fabric of their system of mind control.
Writer Derek Beres describes this mindset as "a troubling trend that is not only persistent but growing: the notion that conventional wisdom is in the hands of elite academics and should, by default, be open to interpretation.”
This is the same kind of thinking that leads people to claim global warming is a hoax, that the 2020 election was stolen, and that Barack Obama and Kamala Harris were not born in America.
Flat-Earth Communities
Carlos Diaz Ruiz is an assistant professor at the Hanken School of Economics, Finland, and Tomas Nilsson is a senior lecturer at Linnaeus University, Sweden. These two men collaborated on research into how disinformation on social media has caused a growth in flat-Earth belief.
They show how “malicious actors strategically insert deceptions” into internet discussion and gather adherents to their falsehoods. Followers then amplify their convictions by participating in “echo-chamber” groups where dissenting opinions are not tolerated,
Ruiz and Nilsson then divide flat Earthers into three groups:
- The religious cohort takes its inspiration from a literal reading of the Bible, particularly a passage from Revelation 7. The apostle John says, “I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the Earth.” The faithful take this to mean that the planet is flat. Maybe even a square? Perhaps cube-shaped?
- The second community of flat Earthers is into numerous conspiracies that revolve around the notion that knowledge is power. They postulate that dark forces seek to fool the population into believing lies about the true nature of our planet. From this, it's an easy step to generate belief in all sorts of phony notions in order to control power. Belief in a flat Earth is a way of liberating yourself from the control of con artists.
- The third group is made up of people who are militant free thinkers. These are people who reject all information coming from so-called authoritative sources on the grounds that they are pushing an agenda that is in their best interests and nobody else's.
It's into these gatherings that people such as Robbie Davidson insert themselves. He runs an outfit called Celebrate Truth through which he organizes conferences and sells videos, books, and other merchandise that challenge scientific orthodoxy. Perhaps Davidson, who comes from a background in selling cryptocurrencies, believes in his flat-Earth claims. Only he knows.
It's suggested that 2% of America's adults believe the Earth is flat. This comes out of a YouGov poll in 2018. This indicates that about 5 million U.S. grownups are flat Earthers.
But, it is utterly pointless to try to persuade them that they are wrong. You might as well try to teach a penguin to play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on a flute.
Bonus Factoids
- For a few years, a California couple, Charles and Marjory Johnson, published Flat Earth News. One of this journal's claims was that the flag of the United Nations depicts a flat Earth as known by the mythical and non-existent Illuminati, who are alleged to run the world.
- According to scientists at the University of South Lancashire in England, the Earth might once have been squashed spheroid-shaped, rather like an M&M candy or Smartie. They reached this conclusion by studying the formation of newborn planets.
- The Earth is not perfectly round; it's what is known as an oblate sphere. This means that, in common with certain aged writers, it bulges a bit in the middle.
Sources
- “Flat-Earthers Keep Appearing. Here’s Why this Trend Is Troubling.” Derek Beres, bigthink.com, August 29, 2018.
- “Disinformation and Echo Chambers: How Disinformation Circulates on Social Media Through Identity-Driven Controversies.” Carlos Diaz Ruiz and Tomas Nilsson, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, January 2023.
- “Flat Earthers Keep the Faith at Denver Conference.” Josiah Hessein, The Guardian, November 18, 2018.
- “Flat Earth Theory.” Brian Dunning, skeptoid.com, November 27, 2012.
- “No, One-Third of Millennials Don't Actually Think Earth Is Flat.” Signe Dean, sciencealert.com, April 4, 2018.
- “Earth Was Once Flat 'Like a Smartie' Before Adopting Its Modern Spherical Shape, Researchers Suggest.” Margaret Davis, The Science Times, February 5, 2024.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2024 Rupert Taylor
