MARILYN CORNWELL: July 9 2020 - Can Flat Earthers come around?

The first time I posted about Flat Earthers, I was genuinely surprised that there are people who 'believe' the earth is flat - in the face of all the scientific and factual evidence in front of us every day. However, that survey in 2018 of more than 8,000 American adults found one in six are not entirely certain the world is round. That would be over 6.5 million people in the U.S.

I am no longer surprised, after these Trump years and COVID-19 behaviours. Our social norms give prominence to the domain of the individual. There is a sense today of the individual being able to have any opinions and beliefs and speak them and receive respect. There might even be a sense of divine right about this in the current social milieu.

In March, 2020, an article by Steve Mirsky interviewing Michael Marshall, project director of the Good Thinking Society in the U.K. talked about flat earth belief and its relationship to conspiracy theories and other antiscoience activities. Here's what caught my attention:

MM: "And about a week ago, I discovered a friend of mine who is very well educated, she's got a doctorate in biochemistry and, uh, she has a sister who's also very intelligent and very well educated. And my friend told me that her sister is a flat earther and that her sister is very indignant about the, uh, idea that, um, we don't take them seriously."

That article was produced by scientificamerican.com HERE. It outlines the many 'proofs' that Flat Earthers have developed.

Here's the CNN flat-Earth article from November 2019 with its catchy first paragraph:

"I don't want to be a flat Earther," David Weiss says, his voice weary as he reflects on his personal awakening. "Would you wake up in the morning and want everyone to think you're an idiot?" But Weiss is a flat Earther. Ever since he tried and failed to find proof of the Earth's curve four years ago, he's believed with an evident passion that our planet is both flat and stationary -- and it's turned his world upside down."

I thought I would lighten things up a bit and went to find a few flat earth jokes. I did find this one:

I debated a flat Earther once. He stormed off saying he'd walk to the edge of the Earth to prove me wrong. He'll come round - eventually.

Here's a collage of 'blue' images today.