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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flat earth- what’s your opinion??

540 replies

GaaaaarlicBread · 11/02/2020 19:54

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

OP posts:
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13
HeronLanyon · 12/02/2020 18:26

Buzz aldrin was a close friend of one of my uncles. I’ll just forget everything he said , you know who actually was there and saw us as a globe shall I?
I’ll ignore everything my own eyes tell me from airplane windows and how I understand shadows and angles operate on the ground in front of my feet.
I’ll totally disregard any notion of distance once we go north or south and how that must all be wrong if we are a flat surface.
Most importantly I’ll disregard all of the investigations by those who work in eg joddrell bank and the Chilean telescope arrays and the observations now going back millennia. The indépendant experts with evidence from which we have laws.

It’s all a huge hoax because some with no expertise, no evidence, wild and improbable and untestable (let alone untested) hypotheses who don’t cant engage with the scientific method say so. No thanks. What a load of nonsense !

Totally agree is fun and philosophically interesting to posit ‘I wonder, if this is all unreal - what would that mean? how could that work? How do we know?

Then I answer those questions!

Lillyringlet · 12/02/2020 18:27

Egyptians proved that the earth was round using a well... Flat earthers are idiots that don't want to listen to facts. Or maths. Or photos

Mordred · 12/02/2020 18:29

"On both sides there is an answer for everything."

I disagree, I'm afraid. There are many things that are observable and recordable that the Flat Earth model cannot explain.

ExEUCitizen · 12/02/2020 18:30

It's simpler than that. Go out somewhere where you can see the landscape. It's particularly notable near the coast. The horizon is curved. Try finding a high landmark, visible from a distance, and moving away and towards it. You'll notice that the top appears first and as you get closer the lower parts become more visible. No one needs to go up into space to observe the curvature of the earth for themselves with their own eyes.

That is the basis of science - observation of empirical facts. I hope some of the posters here are trolling, and some were taking the piss out of the whole idea having to be discussed at all, but I very much fear the Dark Ages are about to return.

riceuten · 12/02/2020 18:38

Flat earthers go in the same box as vaxxers/climate change deniers/the holocaust never happened/5G give you cancer people. I can't take them seriously, and they never actually offer a reasonable. well sourced and researched argument, just a link to (usually) a whacko US website where the "proof" tends to be, er, other whacko websites

MoonlightMistletoe · 12/02/2020 18:38

Mordred - I've seen those videos aswell and thought the opposite, perhaps it's a matter of wanting to or not wanting to see something.

What isn't there an answer for if you have any examples?

Also the argument with perception etc for example the ships on the horizon going over the "curve" - you can get your camera out zoom in and then there you can see the ship again.

DGRossetti · 12/02/2020 18:45

Vaccines don’t cause autism

But even if they did, would it be reason enough to not vaccinate ? There's a whole host of risk/benefit analysis to be done which, being kind, anti-vaxxers haven't really got the brains for. It's not an X-Factor vote.

When it was DS turn for vaccination, DW and I took the view that any risk from vaccination (and the ultimate risk is death) was far and a way offset by the proven protection vaccinations bring.

You can't just go "this bad"/"that good".

And if conspiraloons want a boost, NASA struggled with risk analysis too - as Richard Feynman pointed out in the 80s after the Challenger tragedy.

(Just for the slow of thinking, I don't and never have believed vaccines are linked to autism).

Diamondsareforever123 · 12/02/2020 18:47

Flat earth? What a load of rubbish. Why/how would a flat disc exist in space? What would be its purpose? Nature makes things spherical for a reason....look at latitude and longitude....the difference in times across the GLOBE. I don't understand why people are even considering this. It's like Paltrow and her Goop brand. Oh yeah it's making her tons of money...but it's just expensive snake oil. Anti vaxers, climate change deniers...stupid and dangerous ideas that many are starting to believe in.

Onebabygirl · 12/02/2020 18:50

I remember reading somewhere - although it may have been a spoof because it was so ironic - “Flat Earthers - we have societies all around the globe” 🤣

YouJustDoYou · 12/02/2020 18:50

Ha! Having flown around the globe, can confirm, not flat 😂😂

Mordred · 12/02/2020 18:52

"you can get your camera out zoom in and then there you can see the ship again."

No, you really can't. The only way to see the ship again is to go higher up so you can see further over the horizon.

A few things that can't be explained satisfactorily by the flat earth model:

The behaviour of earthquake waves.

The sun striking the earth at a different angle at the Solstices depending on your latitude.

The moon being 'upside down' when viewed in the southern hemisphere compared to our pov in the north. (Hint: it's not the moon that's upside down, it's you).

The shape of the shadow cast by the earth during lunar eclipses (mentioned by Aristotle in the 4th Century BC).

Flight times on the flat earth model simply do not work.

The Southern Cross and Sigma Octans (the southern pole star) are seen due south at night from Australia, South Africa as South America, even though according to the flat earth model, these point in different directions.

To plot an accurate position using a sextant, you need to know precisely your height above sea level when you take the sighting - even a few metres extra elevation will change the angle between your sighting of the sun v that of the horizon, and can make your result different by many miles.

Storms rotate in different directions in the northern hemisphere compared to the southern.

There are others.

ErrolTheDragon · 12/02/2020 18:53

Flat earthers go in the same box as vaxxers/climate change deniers/the holocaust never happened/5G give you cancer people.

I suppose the flat earthers aren't actually harming anyone, at least.

Holyfork · 12/02/2020 18:57

Anyone who believes the earth is flat is thick as shit This Morning really shouldn't be giving these idiots a platform.

Mordred · 12/02/2020 18:58

"you can get your camera out zoom in and then there you can see the ship again"

By the way, if this was true, the Royal Navy would never have had to bother with that crow's nest business, as an officer on deck would have been able to keep an eye that French Ship of the Line after it had vanished over the horizon simply by whipping out his telescope rather than climbing the rigging...

Wingingit247 · 12/02/2020 19:12

Still laughing at someone saying that cars would push everything off the edge 😂😂😂

Wingingit247 · 12/02/2020 19:13

Cats ffs autocorrect!!!

fatimashortbread · 12/02/2020 19:17

My opinion about this doesn’t matter; the scientific evidence says the earth is round!

yellowallpaper · 12/02/2020 19:29

Of course it is! And space flights just show a huge tv screen of some weird round thing.

MoonlightMistletoe · 12/02/2020 19:29

Have you tried it Mordred ?

Those are interesting responses I wonder if that bloke off the telly could have answers those questions Grin

I don't find the conspiracy crazy I actually find it rather interesting. Also I think believing in flat earth would lead you to believe in "God" (if you don't already).

MB246 · 12/02/2020 19:31

It is flat.... that's why boats you watch on a ferry crossing go below the horizon , that's why it looks flat when you go in an aeroplane or watch the Red Bull skydiving record or a camera attached to a rocket.... or fly an airliner to Australia then Carry on to the US then back to Europe.

definitely flat

ladydoe · 12/02/2020 19:39

the comment about the earth being flat with an ice wall all around it..... did anyone else then think.... The Wall.... Jon Snow...............

MilesHuntsWig · 12/02/2020 19:43

It's slightly more than "hearsay". How do you think satellite applications such as comms and TV work? I have written software that goes on these satellites to help determine their orbits. All the sums are based on the Earth being spherical (shape modulated through spherical harmonics as it's kinda a far rugby ball shape). They wouldn't work is this wasn't the case.

Absolutely barking....

Holdencaulfieldshomeboy · 12/02/2020 19:54

What I want to know is what is the actual reason the flat-earthers think the government and scientists are lying saying the earth is round. If it isn't round why would scientists say it was. What do they have to gain? Why would they not just say it's flat if it was? No one seems to ever ask that. Obviously I think the flat-earthers are loons.

Badabingbadabum · 12/02/2020 19:56

at the same time he makes some points that sound very realistic and he seems knowledgable .

He's not though, he's an idiot.

MoonlightMistletoe · 12/02/2020 19:58

Did someone say Satellite GrinI had to laugh!