A while ago I was introduced to the idea of a "flat earth". I thought it was funny and ridiculous that even today people would entertain the idea the earth is not a globe. You'd say with all the technology we have people know what the shape of our planet is or atleast they will be able to determine it themselves. Unfortunately, about 2500 years after Greek philosopher and mathmatician Eratosthenes calculated the circumference people still seem to believe the Earth is flat. Or do they believe that?
I've been looking in to the Flat Earth Community for a couple of years now. And yes, I do believe some people sincerely believe the earth to be flat.
But looking a bit closer, doing a bit of an amateur anthropology research in to the flat earth community, I found enough reason to believe not all who say the earth is flat, actually do believe it. Some are in it for the money. It's quite obvious.
When you go on youtube, you'll find hundreds of channels there, all dedicated to "debunk the globe lie". Many of them are not monetized, where others are heavily monetized. They have ads, merchandise and the opportunity to receive donations. For them, it is a way to make a living.
As I wondered about how sincere people believe the earth is flat, I took a deeper look in to some of the flat earth channels. I made a list of 100 channels to do background checks on, then I realized how much work it was, so I took 20 random channels from those 100. And I looked at Profession and Education, Worldview and Suspicious Behaviour, to determine how sincere they are in their beliefs.
Within the 20 popular Flat Earthers there were a couple of things very distinctive.
10 of them are Entertainment industry professionals. They are musicians, writers, actors / presenters or directors.
16 of those 20 capitalize off of the Flat Earth through advertizement, merchandise or donations of any kind.
And finally... Out of those 20, half of them has been called out by their critics for deleting comments or even complete videos. With this there is a clear indication that 50% to 75%, of atleast these 20 flat earthers, are insincere in their "flat earth belief".
This automatically also means that there definitely is an amount of people with in the flat earth community of whom you can be certain, they don't believe earth is flat. This also means there are people who do sincerely believe the earth is flat. And they have their reasons for it.
Basically, their conclusion is, because "the horizon looks flat, therefor earth is flat" and from this premiss on, they question everything else. Like Gravity, earths rotation, the distance to the sun and the moon, the size of the sun and the moon, the existence of space and all the celestial bodies with in it.
They compare what they see to what they believe and they don't seem to trust the explanations as given. Or, down right deny the science behind the explanations.
The horizon seems flat, thus the earth is flat
I don't feel the earth move, thus earth doesn't rotate.
The horizon rises to eye-level, thus the earth is flat.
Crepuscular sunrays don't seem parallel, thus the sun is small and nearby.
All these arguments have one thing in common. They are direct observations, not necessarily accurate, that have a different explanation, than the ones they give to it.
The horizon is not flat, even when it seems to be. It does curve, left to right (or vice versa) ever so slightely. This can be observed.
Sure, you don't feel earth rotate. Granted... But when you drive a car, or when you are on a train, do you experience the actual speed you are moving? No. Does that mean you are not moving? No. Well, actually, you are not moving. You are not moving, relative to the vehicle you are in. The vehicle itself, ofcourse is moving.
A very often heard argument is "the horizon rises to eye level" Which is something that is impossible on a globe. But measurement show, that the higher you rise above earths surface, the lower the horizon falls. In accordance with a globe.
Crepescular sunrays, actually are parallel. Due to your perspective or angle of view on those sunrays, they seem to originate from a single point. (if you want to have a long discussion with a flat earther, you should ask them about perspective...)
So all of these arguments are easily explained, even when at first glance, they may seem to be good arguments for a flat earth. Getting people to accept those explanations is a whole different cup of tea.
People should not be convinced by other people. Only when people discover how something works on their own will it truly convince them. So, should you encounter any flat earther, don't mock them. Just provide them with sound arguments, so they themselves can find out what the shape of the Earth actually is.
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