The world is flat

[BrightOranges]

I learnt today that there are 'flat earthers' who seriously believe the conspiracy theories of a flat planet rather than a spherical one.
AIBU to think you can't fix stupid? Or is that too harsh?

Wait.. what.. but space craft. Space stations. Satellites. Aeroplanes .. what happens to you, water, at the edge. Gravity...fucking WHAT. That's not just stupid thone people should be sectioned.

Not too harsh no!

It's a complete rejection of 100s of years of science and I just don't get it.
I nearly fell over in shock a few months ago when I hooked up with a couple of friends and they were discussing this, and it turned out one of them (who is lovely but v "woo") leant towards believing that the earth is flat.

I laughed. A lot.

Then asked why she thought the horizon was curved, why we have actual fucking photos from space, why the sun moves across the sky and sets on the horizon.

Apparently it's a conspiracy.

What the actual flying fuck do you say to that??
How can you deal with that in anyway other than just standing there with your mouth hanging open??!!

Also, the Queen is definitely a space alien lizard

Exactly! I thought it was a joke. The whole thing is a set up and fake. Apparently. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh and when asked who was instigating this conspiracy, and why, (I mean really, what would be the fucking point?) she came out with some flannel about climate change??!!

Again, what the actual fucking fuck??

I can't even enter into discussion with them because it's just ridiculous. They would say it's hard to unbelieve things that have been deeply ingrained from such a young age, especially when we are taught by respectable people.

They reckon there are guards stopping people from entering certain areas. You really couldn't make it up. Oh no, actually you could

What confuses me, is that they reject 100s of years of hard science and evidence as being "faked" but will take as evidence for themselves a blurry, out of focus 3 second video clip, or a photoshopped picture.

It makes no sense to me!

There are guards??!!!

What areas?

Can I go see them?

What are they guarding?

So many questions, so many lies answers to be given!

bright there is a kind of stupid you can't fix, this is in the top 3 along with Christians against dinosaurs and people who believe Australia doesn't really exist!

I can't understand why they would think it's a conspiracy. Just weird.

There are even people who believe the universe was created by, and is controlled by, an invisible male cosmic force, that demands that all humans worship him!
Yet if you question them, they insist you can't prove that it isn't true, so it must be real.

Really? Australia doesn't exist? Haha I'm going to have to Google that one as I've never heard of it.

If Australia doesn't exist where did my friend and her family go last year??
Did she lie to me?
Was she lied to?
Did they knock her out and take her to a soundstage??

Oh the poor kid who said Australia doesn't exist was just messing about.

I am virtually certain I exist, well maybe?

Kind of like the idea of a discworld, I see the flat earthers have left out the turtle and the elephants though, which doesn't make any sense, if it is flat, what is it ON?!

There is a well known psychological effect called confirmation bias. Someone holding a strong belief well subconsciously seek out only 'facts' , which confirm their belief, and discount others as false or intentionally made up. While most people do this to some degree (Labour is the better party, Spanish wine.is awful), in extreme cases it can lead to very bizarre beliefs and a fanatical resistance to facts that challenge the established 'truth'.

I remember a very funny thread on here complaining about schools that teach children about dinosaurs.

More to the point if Australia doesn't exist where the fuck am I? Am I in a beautiful dream?! Or some sort of weird parallel universe maybe

If there's no Australia does that mean we can't put another shrimp on the barbie? Are my Australian friends not real? Are the pretending? Too many questions.

We are all paid actors BrightOrange.

I am getting paid right now to pretend I exist.

Dinosaur thread

There are huge swathes of the US who believe that Darwin was a charlatan and that evolution never happened. They even teach that in the schools!

Saw this yesterday...

Oh that dinosaur thread is fucking hilarious!

I get confirmation bias, we are all guilty of that to some extent, but rejecting hundreds of years of science and education just seems....so....well.....dumb!

Ooops! It was there on the preview...