How the "flat earth" conspiracy gained momentum in a post-truth world, by Phil Barker
How the "flat earth" conspiracy gained momentum in a post-truth world, by Phil Barker
Excerpt...
The power of fear:
A thing too boring to discuss here, the silly Bedford Level experiment, a cornerstone of flat earth mythology, has been thoroughly discredited as bad science. That's how science works. Claims are tested and proved or disproved. Eclipses, the moon, the behaviour of shadows and ships on the horizon, the rest of the universe, plus a million other proofs, show the earth is unequivocally round. Every flat Earth claim has already been surgically skewered by science.
So why would anyone believe it?
"The whole idea of us being a speck of dust just an insignificant accident is nothing anyone would ever tell your kids – 'Hey, just wanted to let you know you're an accident so get out there and win today," says US flat earther, Jonathan Vincent.
That's why. It's to do with the human fear of not being the centre of everything, of perhaps being alone and responsible for our own destiny.
A post-truth world:
Flat Earth thinking is dangerous because it's creating an intellectual and cultural environment where it's becoming more and more acceptable for the objective truth to be dismissed by subjective belief. It's moving us backwards as a species.
The truth, the only basis for ethics, morality, and the foundation our whole society is built on, is under threat like never before.
In war, the first casualty is truth. Misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and lies are the tools of the totalitarian.
If we're so purposefully stupid we begin to look away from things we know to be true, to dismiss the gifts of knowledge our forebears fought to bring us, the science that has have kept us alive, warm and filled our bellies so far, perhaps we deserve the world we want to believe in.
Just don't fall off the edge.
http://www.executivestyle.com.au/how-the-flat-earth-conspiracy-gained-momentum-in-a-posttruth-world-gzf0ao
Published on – April 30, 2018
Discussion at - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7ipUKERU0tzYFxALJBli4A/discussion
Our home page all articles - http://flatearthlunacy.com
kind regards, JonahTheScientist