To not understand how some can believe the earth is flat?

[crunchymint]

I have a friend who seems intelligent, well read and is lovely. And yet she believes the earth is flat. She shares on social media posts "explaining" this fact.
How can someone like this possibly believe this? I really don't understand.

I worked about a mile north of the WTC and had to smell the smoke and burnt flesh in the fires for weeks afterwards

I was in the first gulf war, I know the smell you speak of.

Extremely strange things happened during the day and following days of 9/11.

Flat Earthers are actually deeply religious, although of course they don't realise it and would deny it. They are believers. Faith is their currency.

They believe in an all-powerful 'deity' who is in charge and is affecting and directing the lives of all people, and that only a few 'special' ones such as they themselves know about this and can be saved.

As a pp said, it is about needing this belief system in order to not feel powerless.

Of course there are flights between South America and Africa. To pluck an example out of the air, this weekend you could fly from Angola to Brazil should you so wish.

How narcissistic do you have to be

I don't get you.

A passport, belonging to one of the hijackers, was found in the rubble of the WTC.

I suppose I'm narcissistic for thinking that after 2 jet fuel explosions, half a million tons of debris and a 1000 foot drop from mid air, they could actually find a legible, intact foreign passport of one of the hijackers?

A passport survived the 1500 degree fireball? Bearing in mind the passport was probably on the body of the terrorist?

What I want to know is, WHY would everyone lie about the earth being round, if it is indeed flat? What's the point in pretending it's round? What's in it for anyone, and how do you maintain that big a conspiracy for hundreds and hundreds of years, faking photos, manufacturing globes - if the earth is flat, why are we pretending it's round?????

How do flat-earthers argue against these facts? [...]

The exact how doesn't matter, really, it's all about the that.

I've had the questionable privilege of growing up with a father who's never come across a conspiracy theory he doesn't like. Lizard royals, 9/11 was an inside Job, moon landing hoax, Bilderbergs, Rothschilds, JFK was shot by Ted Cruz' father, ... you name it, my dad buys into it!

He has 'evidence' for all of it and it's all rather easily debunked. I actually ended up being a reasonably good debater thanks to all the practice I got in my youth - but I never once dissuaded my father from a single one of his convictions, no matter how overwhelming the evidence to the contrary.

This is because, in essence, conspiracy theories are faith based beliefs. You're not going to find much proof of Jesus turning water into wine either. In fact, the entire discipline of chemistry stands in evidence against that claim - and yet millions believe it nonetheless.

Long story short, there's about as much point in questioning the rationality and intelligence of conspiracy theorists as there is in the case of people who insist that Mohammed flew to heaven on Al Buraq. People are not usually, in essence, religious because they find the empirical evidence compelling - they are convinced by the evidence any believer in another faith or none dismisses because it matches their preconceived ideas. I have a distinct feeling that this applies to conspiracy theories as much as it does to religion.

I do believe some 'conspiracy theories' (still not sure on the moon landings), but I am not sure how people rationally think the world is flat.

Of course if you stand on a plain you can see for long distances. The world is so vast that the curve is tiny for how far you can see. You only have to look at the size of the UK on a globe. There is nowhere I can stand where I can see from one end of the UK to the other but it is there.

The best part for the flat earthers is when they say the earth is flat and Australia does not actually exist. I heard that all people claiming to be from Australia are actors and anyone who has said they have been to Australia were duped and were taken to a different country instead!

A4710Rider, Mohamed Attar's passport, I think you are referring to. Yes, that has always been a big puzzle to me, when everything else on the plane was more or less vaporised, lo and behold, an intact item made of paper is found lying intact on the pavement.

The best part for the flat earthers is when they say the earth is flat and Australia does not actually exist. I heard that all people claiming to be from Australia are actors and anyone who has said they have been to Australia were duped and were taken to a different country instead

God, I remember that, it's hilarious. The Send Ups on Youtube are brilliant.

Do Flat Earthers believe that the Earth is circular?

Cowes

Exactly.

Another passport was found at the crash site of Flight 97. Which, to be honest, you may think is a possibility. Then you look at the picture of the crash site and you go - "what"?

considering much of the tech and medicines in use today were due to the space stations and exploration.
so what about the hubble telescope images.

www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100/

i had to included this link sooo beautiful.

living on a frisbee he he he

@patti apparently the world is surrounded by a ring of ice wall or something else equally far fetched and ridiculous.

@A47 could he have purposefully thrown it out the window before crashing into the building on purpose? Did the plants have windows that opened?

could he have purposefully thrown it out the window before crashing into the building on purpose? Did the plants have windows that opened

He could have.

But I suggest that since he was flying a passenger aircraft at a height and speed they are not meant to fly at whilst at the same time have very little flight training, none in a passenger aircraft, I would suggest he may have been a bit busy.

I love this

Lots of paper evidence was recovered from the crash sites. Referencing a single passport gives it some of magical property, It was just one of many pieces.

Some people believe in a magic sky daddy, some believe in the disc world. We all could be living in a simulation if we find the end of pi so what does it matter anyway?

And what about the 'why' of the round earth conspiracy? Why pretend it's round?

Lots of paper evidence was recovered from the crash sites. Referencing a single passport gives it some of magical property, It was just one of many pieces

Well it must have had some magical property to avoid the fireball that melted the central support beams that led to the building falling from the sky, bearing in mind the passport was almost certainly on the hijacker.

Flight 97 Crash Site:

Such was the force Flight 97 hit the ground with this is the entire crash site. Yet, another passport survived.

We all could be living in a simulation

This theory seems to get more traction every year.

Flight 97?

It's fashionable to believe in something that goes against science. They are denying the existence of Physics!

Apologies. 93.

My take on the passports recovered after 9/11 was that - if you want a conspiracy theory - the most likely was that the FBI claimed to have found passports belonging to men they already knew had done the attacks. And NOT that 'the attacks were faked/whatever'.

In other words, they might have been simply trying to add weight to the evidence they already had from passenger manifests, coupled with intelligence 'chatter'.

A passport survived the 1500 degree fireball? Bearing in mind the passport was probably on the body of the terrorist?

There was aircraft wreckage all over the streets around the WTC and remains of some of the passengers were found on the roofs of nearby buildings.

Visit the museum someday. You'd learn a lot:

www.911memorial.org/interactive-museum-experience

By the way, papers were flying all over lower Manhattan for days. Lots of things didn't burn in fire.