Political Forums - Flatulent Flat Earthers

'How Ridiculous Ideas Gain Traction. We're Looking at You, Flat Earth' KQED

"The spherical shape of Earth is what we like to call around here “settled science.” But nowadays, pit even a 2,500-year-old truism against the evangelism of Internet algorithms, and you got yourself an actual “debate,” no matter how inane.

Apollo Earth photo
The Apollo 17 crew caught this breathtaking view of Earth as they were traveling to the moon on Dec. 7, 1972. It's the first time astronauts were able to photograph the South polar ice cap. Nearly the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible, along with the Arabian Peninsula. (NASA)
We’re speaking of what appears to be the disturbing trend of people thinking the surface of the world is flat.

No, really -- this is a thing. For example, last month the third annual Flat Earth International Conference convened in Dallas; the rapper B.o.B once started a GoFundMe campaign as part of a quest to gather ungatherable evidence for the idea; and basketball star Kyrie Irving has found himself having to apologize for publicizing the view on Twitter. A 2018 YouGov survey found that 16% of 8,215 American adults queried had various levels of doubt about the true shape of the Earth.

At this point, it’s probably fair to ask: When is American society going to hit epistemological bottom?"

https://www.kqed.org/science/1951190...spiracies-more

Tip o' the hat to AKer #Bill S for posting up this link during one of the ever locked Covid threads at AudioKarma. Thanks Bill!

Sooooo, any flat earthers here? Ford Pinto, this is right up your alley? (grin)