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

@RedToothBrush
@FizzyGreenWater

I think there are a few good ones peppered throughout the thread (that don't seem to be getting much traction).

My opinions is that flat-earthed's are deluded.

I can think of many others I'd put in that category too 🤔

This is EXACTLY the problem I have with "pro-vaccine" arguments. They are hurling insults at "anti-vaxxers" as if they (the pro-vaccine side) don't have a logical argument to make.

The best "pro vaccine" argument is the lack of dead children and killer epidemics. Not really sure what more needs to be put into the ring ?

Also, a lot of the "pro" versus "anti" vaxxer discussions seem to be between someone who has studied a fuck of a lot, against somebody whose friend met someone who saw a clip on YouTube about this guy who had read once something that said it was all a CIA plot.

That said, baby and bathwater and all that, I also dislike absolute statements, like "Homeopathy is useless", as they are not necessarily true. Whilst homeopathy is the biggest load of codswallop this side of any religion, if someone finds taking a homeopathic remedy improves their quality of life (which is a subjective measure) then who am I, or you to say it's "useless" ? It clearly has a use.

Sometimes, if I'm bored, I'll get into an argument with people predicated upon the inability of most people to understand what is being said. As in this tome . I've not said anywhere that I believe in homeopathy. Or even that it might have a basis in science.I've just said it can't be discounted as being of no value.

Returning to vaccines ... as with anything which gets injected into a human body, there are risks. Quite aside from the risk of a physical reaction to the needle, and infection from the injection site getting into the wound, there's the chances of an allergic reaction to the vaccine or one of it's components and the chance of a violent reaction to the vaccine - any of which could lead to life changing or ending injuries.

But adding all of that up, the risks are far outweighed by the benefits. Benefits which have been cumulatively researched over centuries. So there should be no real "debate" over vaccination as a medical procedure.

MoonlightMistletoe Most of the Flat Earthers I saw were claiming the dome was solid and that it held back water. They quote this:

"Genesis 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so."

I suppose a 'field' is one alternative, but the point of the rocket video was that it appeared to them to stop abruptly rather than slow down. They thought the 'clunk' was it hitting something hard.

I just realised that since god is above the firmament he must be breathing underwater :) Maybe angels are mermaids.

If Earth was flat, cats would have pushed everything off the edge.

To be honest, I would be surprised if there weren't conspiracy theories about 9/11. Or the Kennedy assassination. Or indeed any complex event or subject. There's only so much brains to go around. Conspiracy theories are the result of processing things with your mouth, not your brain.

@DGRossetti

A conversation about vaccines that was based on facts would be along the lines of, "There are small risks associated with getting these diseases, and there are also small risks associated with the vaccines. I recommend the vaccines." But that's not how it goes, is it.

I vaccinated my DC based on the facts, despite the complete BS spouted by the pediatricians I spoke to: my DC could get a chicken pox sore that could become infected if he picked at it and if we were in a third world country at the time, he could die, therefore chicken pox is a deadly childhood disease; my newborn could get in a car accident on the way home from the hospital and get a blood transfusion that was tainted with hepatitis, therefore it makes sense to get the vaccine at birth; babies in third world countries often get tetanus from unclean tools used to cut the umbilical cord, therefore in this clean first-world hospital I should vaccinate my baby, etc. If I said to the doctor, Please give my newborn all the shots now just in case we have an accident on my way home from the hospital and my baby requires a blood transfusion that is tainted, or I'm very worried the scalpel used to cut the umbilical cord is not sterile, I would be told I was neurotic.)

All credibility is lost when doctors and "pro-vaxxers" behave this way. It's not honest, it's not logical, and it's certainly not based on science.

@LastTrainEast could it have been the plasmasphere ?

Stumbled across this article - futurism.com/scientists-find-huge-star-trek-esque-invisible-dome-around-earth

All credibility is lost when doctors and "pro-vaxxers" behave this way. It's not honest, it's not logical, and it's certainly not based on science.

The problem for said doctors is they enter the "debate" with zero credibility anyway. At least as far as the anti-vaxxers are concerned.

(I take it the term "pro-vaxxer" means someone who supports vaccination, but themselves has no relevant qualifications ? If so, where are they drawing their facts from ? And are they interpreting them correctly ?)

We return to my attempts to distinguish science from arse-gravy. A scientist will go where the data takes them - even if it contradicts what they had previously learned. A fucking moron will have made up their mind in advance, so new information is either picked up when it agrees with them, and dismissed, hidden, or corrupted until it also agrees with them.

In general, peoples whacky beliefs are quite rightly their own, and none of my business. Right up until one of two things happen ...

1. that belief starts to impact on my life (e.g. raising the chances of my children or myself dying of measles)

2. I get told I must do something or must not do something because someones imaginary friend is having a breakdown.

(There's also the wider question of harm "to society" - and things like the practice of circumcision, which could be characterised as ritual child abuse ...)

Water doesn't lie and water always finds its level. It couldn't do this on a ball. Earth is flat

Well that's where you're wrong Snake.

What do you think causes high and low tides?

I do know someone who thinks dinosaurs are a made up myth for children and the bones are just a hoax.

Water doesn't lie and water always finds its level. It couldn't do this on a ball. Earth is flat

What if it gets magic towards the edges ? Or is that being ridiculous ?

could it have been the plasmasphere ? []Stumbled across this article

Sure that's not just a pitch for "The Truman Show" ?

What do you think causes high and low tides?

The Loch Ness Monster's long lost cousin Bob.

What do you think causes high and low tides?
Simples!
The earth tilts from side to side when the giant spaghetti monster supporting us breathes in twice a day.

Of course the Earth has to be flat otherwise everyone on the bottom would be upside down!

Flat earthers believe Electromagnetism is what causes tides.

Flat earthers believe Electromagnetism is what causes tides

Not so much magic water, as magnetic water then ?

The Loch Ness Monster's long lost cousin Bob.

No, no, no. Bob is an astronaut who never spots the aliens.

Not so much magic water, as magnetic water then ?

That's been explained up thread

Water contains diamagnetic properties, the electromagnetic energy of the moon and sun create the tides.

@DGRossetti I haven't seen the Truman show.

Of course the Earth has to be flat otherwise everyone on the bottom would be upside down

I've heard grown adults on YouTube use this to support Flat Earth in all earnestness.

Do flat earthers worry about dihydrogen monoxide?
www.dhmo.org/facts.html

MoonlightMistletoe ah yes. I think you're right. They were probably basing it on that. Of course that field wouldn't stop a rocket, but you can see why they might have thought so.