Hopefully you didn’t take my title too seriously. The Earth is very obviously not flat, but there are people in the world that still believe so. Even with irrefutable evidence especially in our day and age about the mostly spherical shape of our planet, there are small pockets of people that have created different theories about how Earth could be flat. From lack of education in the subject or a mistrust in authority, there could be many reasons to believe even any conspiracy theory, not just the flat Earth theory. From the Flat Earth Society website, it is seen that the original group of people who followed the flat Earth theory was founded by an English inventor Samuel Rowbotham, who mainly believed this due to literal interpretations of the Bible. His model showed the Earth as a flat disk centered around the North Pole and bordered by Antarctica, a huge wall of ice. Although his following fizzled out in the next 50 years or so, the International Flat Earth Society was eventually founded in 1956 by Samuel Shenton (curiously another Samuel), and it continues to have some presence to this day.
Reasons for believing Flat-Earth Theory
Many people who believe this theory think that the Earth as a globe is a ruse by a government or even multiple governments working together. There could also be religious reasons for becoming a flat-earther. These people are very traditional in their beliefs, with many rejecting evolution and other widespread scientific findings in our present day. The shape of our planet also would fall under that umbrella of scientific facts they may feel contradict what they believe. Whatever the case is, there are many ways to prove the curve of the Earth outright. Even without pictures from space, you can go to the coast and watch a ship sail into the ocean. It will eventually disappear after traveling past the horizon.
Closing Thoughts
It is interesting to me in how flat-earthers would try to justify the existence of space or where stars are in relation to the planet. And also, would other planets and/or stars be flat as well? Or would Earth be the only “flat” planet? It seems like many of the flat Earth theories have to work hard to get around many generally accepted aspects of our universe and planet.
The funny thing is that every since ancient Greece, Humanity has known that the earth is a sphere. In fact, until the society was founded, very few believed otherwise. Flat earthers are a modern phenomenon birthed from the idea of government distrusts, but more than anything a distrust of science. It is an odd situation.
Watching flat earthers on YouTube became one of my favorite pastimes during the pandemic… absolutely hilarious. Tossing ridicule aside though, I think flat earthrs are an INCREDIBLE breed of people because you can learn so much from them about the art of changing someone’s mind. Obviously, by all facts and logic and everything, the Earth isn’t flat, but that’s not going to change their mind. So they are really incredible because in order to actually change their mind and look at the root of the problem in order to make progress. Very interesting to think about.
Also this is one of my favorite jokes about this:
“I believed in a flat Earth for five years… then I turned six”