Flat earth- what’s your opinion??

[GaaaaarlicBread]

Just catching up on This Mornings interview with a flat earther-can’t get my head around his debate but at the same time he makes some points that sound very realistic and he seems knowledgable . But I do believe our earth is round and not flat but very open to other people’s views , so just wondered what you think Mumsnetters?? Sorry if there’s been a thread like this before....
YANBU=our earth is round
YABU= it is flat

@Disquieted1

You forgot about Marilyn Monrow and the Kennedys. They have to be in there somewhere.

Monroe

@Mordred I can't seem to find an original image online I'd love to see it! I find it all rather fascinating to be honest.

I voted YABU by accident.. fat thumbs no coffee

My best friend believes it is flat, he also thinks Joan Rivers was killed because she was about to out Michelle Obama who is actually a man called Michael .

I’ve been friends with him for many years and this conspiracy crap has only happened fairly recently off the back of shit YouTube videos. He just sounds like a fucking lunatic, he also thinks the Royals are blood sucking lizards too.

Of course the Earth is spherical.

Noway I had a wonderful fabulous friend who I was very close to - had only known her a couple of years but we bonded. Saw a lot of each other. She was a perfectly normal intelligent woman, then made a group of new friends and suddenly all her social media posts were about chemtrails and the conspiracy of smart meters etc. Then she disappeared off social media and I haven’t heard from her since. Prior to that she’d fallen out with me over Brexit and I was absolutely stunned with the position she took on that knowing her politics and general views before she changed so dramatically.

It was so bizarre and really sad. I know she’s around as she runs a business and her business social media is still active, but I worry about whether she’s okay apart from that.

I think it takes a certain level of narcissism to believe that governments around the world are spending billions on maintaining an illusion to fool you despite such an illusion serving no practical purpose.

As a PP mentioned about the comfort value of religion, I think for people whose lives aren't necessarily going the way they want, conspiracy theories are a good way to absolve oneself of personal responsibility.

I know someone who has had a difficult time with authority in their life (being blamed for parenting fails, DC's school issues, and who clearly feels a lot of pressure from the authority figures in her life) who suddenly developed a strong belief in conspiracy theories (including flat earth). It's far more comforting to believe the authorities are out to get you when you're being criticised, and the harsher the criticism against her, the more fervently she believed all these conspiracy theories.

From NASA..

In some ways yes, but it's a shame that innocent kids have to suffer for their parents stupidity.

True, but I don't think anyone has ever said that evolution is benign.

81 people on mumsnet have voted that the world is flat.

hoping people have just clicked accidentally

its as rediculous as saying that finland doesnt exist.

the flat earthers who tried to prove it was flat by doing their laser experiment proved themselves wrong (although they disagreed with their own findings!)

I think it takes a certain level of narcissism to believe that governments around the world are spending billions on maintaining an illusion to fool you despite such an illusion serving no practical purpose.

Narcissism would require a level of intelligence though. Can't be that.

Maybe some people didn't read the rubric and voted YABU to the OPs premise that the shape of the earth has anything whatever to do with 'opinion' or 'belief'?

You have seen pictures of the Earth from space haven't you? You can google it you know. It clearly isn't flat.

the flat earthers who tried to prove it was flat by doing their laser experiment proved themselves wrong (although they disagreed with their own findings!)

It's the conspiracy - the government must have somehow found out they were testing and altered the results!

To the PP who mentioned non-graviters, don’t mean to push you over the edge, but I think that ship has sailed: IRC - DH was watching, I was mumsnetting half watching - at least one person on the Netflix documentary mentioned not believing in gravity.

Speaking of ships sailing, they were organising a cruise to the border/edge, weren’t they? At some point this year. Can’t wait to see the photos!

The best thing with Flat Earthers is that on the Netflix documentary about it they carried out experiments to prove the Earth was flat. Each experiment proved it was round.

It is just a need to be different and to believe you know better than everyone else. There are some conspiracy theories that do have some plausibility to them, but this is not one. Every government and space agency is in on it as they are all faking round Earth photos. On top of that pilots are in on it as, at one stage, were people who said they were from Australia as Australia doesn't exist and everyone from there was an actor who was 'in on it'.

The best thing was that at one point their website apparently said that they have members from all around the globe, but that eventually was changed when they were laughed at for the contradiction.

For me this is all part of the "I did some research" brigade. The ones with no expertise in the subject matter whose basic setting is "slightly paranoid" so are massively susceptible to any plausible nonsense from people who dissent from the consensus.

I cannot think of any sensible reason why anyone would want to pretend that the earth was round if it was flat.

*IIRC!

I cannot think of any sensible reason why anyone would want to pretend that the earth was round if it was flat.

Now there's a challenge...

OK how about this:

By deceiving everyone into thinking the world is a globe formed around a core of molten rock the One World Government and its acolytes dissuade people from digging too far beneath the surface of the earth. Because if people did dig too far down they would come through to the other side and discover the CIA sponsored retirement home (formerly known as Atlantis) where Lizard Elvis, as head of the Illuminati is running everything from his diamond-encrusted toilet.

It can't be flat because cats would have pushed everything off the edge!

Sometimes I think we'd do better if we were ruled by alien lizards. Or even actual earth lizards.

@HeronLanyon

apostrophists are the worst. Always so possessive.

he had an answer for every question and query Holly and Phil had

A true battle with the finest scientific minds of our era, and on live tv, no less. It must be true, which is why I voted YABU