Study blames YouTube for rise in number of Flat Earthers

[turbinetree]

Conspiracy theories shown on video-sharing site persuade people to doubt Earth is round

Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube.

Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Rayleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.

Interviews with 30 attendees revealed a pattern in the stories people told about how they came to be convinced that the Earth was not a large round rock spinning through space but a large flat disc doing much the same thing.

Of the 30, all but one said they had not considered the Earth to be flat two years ago but changed their minds after watching videos promoting conspiracy theories on YouTube. “The only person who didn’t say this was there with his daughter and his son-in-law and they had seen it on YouTube and told him about it,” said Asheley Landrum, who led the research at Texas Tech University.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/17/study-blames-youtube-for-rise-in-number-of-flat-earthers

Reminds me of what I just read in my current edition of Mother Jones, talking about Facebook...................they are just as dangerous as the You Tube......................they are asked to cleaned up there shit, and they go into Congress and baffle everyone with there right wing BS, that they will clean up there act..................I got a bridge I will sell you if you believe that crap, they will not clean up there act, because of the advertising dollars they will lose, from lets say nefarious foreign actors .........................

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. This is a tribute to the lack of science teaching in our schools.

If science were taught properly, if kids learned how to figure out what was real, what was valid, from what is just bullshit, then the Flat Earthers would quickly be down to six people who are trying to make money out of the movement.

Unfortunately, and for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that churches teach people to believe blindly in what they are told, too many people haven't a clue how to evaluate information.

Don't get me started.

[roscoeroscoe]

2. Boy howdy

You have to be an amazing dumb ass to believe this stuff... I've watched a couple. Worse than UFO and bigfoot videos. Just plain 'Idiocracy' level dumb.

As a surveyor and satellite controller, let me confirm - the Earth is round, and our current spheroid is what, 2000? Go to any number of websites and see the orbits of satellites and the ISS around the Earth.

C'mon man!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. What you see over and over again is that people are not able to think

through to the logical consequences of what's being proposed.

Here's a completely unrelated example. On FB someone recently put up a meme that churches should be homeless shelters overnight, with the usual request to pass on. Okay, nice idea, but think about it. Where will the staff come from to spend the night at the church now homeless shelter? Are there really enough church members to do this? If not, how will you pay for the overnight staff? Will you feed the homeless? Do you have adequate toilet facilities? You'll need sleeping bags, maybe cots and some kind of linens for the overnight guests. And you'll have to wash the sleeping bags and linens. Do you have the heavy duty washers and driers that are up to the task?

A feel-good meme is one thing. Reality is another.

[roscoeroscoe]

13. As it happens, my National Guard unit staffed one

A homeless shelter, that is. The Armory had 60-120 people a night for a meal and sleeping on cots.

Creflo Dolar could fund such efforts, do could Joel Osteen and the others.

Don't hold your breath!

[Progressive Law]

4. And that's **IF** they even go to an actual "school" instead of being "home-schooled".

[sakabatou]

3. Perhaps astronomy should not be an elective

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Or perhaps My Son the Astronomer should be on speed dial for some of these people.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. Oh, yes, I'm sure that would make his day.

I love spending time with flat-earthers, people who believe the universe is 7000 years old, people who claim to know Jesus personally.

He'd probably appreciate you not passing out his number in the Youtube comment section.

[Bucky]

7. You Roundies just can't handle the fact that people are ON TO Nasa's lies!!

[DetlefK]

9. But... How does a small&localized light produce the December-image of FE?

It's almost as if FE-theory is wrong...

[Bucky]

15. Quit thinking. Just watch more YouTube.

[DetlefK]

8. The phenomenon of Flat-Earthers is precisely what you get from half-educated people.

Educated enough to ask intelligent questions.
Not educated enough to understand the answers to their questions.

It is frustrating to see with how much fanaticism people defend an idea that is supported by so little.

It is frustrating to see with how much fanaticism people defend an idea that would be debunked if only these people could be arsed to conduct rigorous experiments and to mathematically analyze the results of their experiment.



The Youtube-channel of Scimandan regularly debunks Flat-Earth videos.

He recently showed a trailer for a documentary about Flat-Earthers. In it, a group of Flat-Earthers had bought a professional $20,000 gyroscope to prove that Earth does not rotate. They measured that Earth does rotate, at 360° in 24 hours. The trailer contains a scene where one Flat-Earther tells another FEer all flabbergasted that they cannot possibly tell the FE-community what they have found.

[octoberlib]

10. We need another Enlightenment. Also, the Guardian

misspelled Raleigh. Considering the city is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, you’d think they’d know better. Good article, though.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Walter is the one source you mustn't use for any spelling

Ralegh himself had not kept the same spelling throughout his life. Down to 1583 his more usual signature had been the phonetic Rauley. But in 1578 he signed as Rawleyghe a deed which his father signed as Ralegh, and his brother Carew as Rawlygh. A letter of March 17, 1583, is the first he is known to have signed as Ralegh; and in the following April and May he reverted to the signature Rauley. From June 9, 1584, he used till his death no other signature than Ralegh. It appears in his books when the name is mentioned. It is used in a pedigree drawn up for him in 1601. Of the hundred and sixty-nine letters collected by Mr. Edward Edwards, a hundred and thirty-five are thus signed. Six signed Rauley, one Raleghe, and one Rauleigh, belong to an earlier date. The rest are either unsigned or initialled. The reason of his adoption of the spelling Ralegh from 1584, unless that it was his dead father's, is unknown. Of the fact there is no doubt. The spelling Raleigh, which posterity has preferred, happens to be one he is not known to have ever employed. Stebbing, Sir Walter Ralegh, Oxford 1899

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AWalter_Raleigh

You can find Sir Walter Raleigh Drive in the town of Rayleigh: https://www.list.co.uk/place/61300-sweyne-park-school-rayleigh/

[Codeine]

20. That is fascinating!

I love this place!

[smirkymonkey]

11. I blame stupidity and lack of education.

You will only fall for a YouTube video promoting a flat earth theory if you aren't very bright or educated to begin with.

[Codeine]

19. Precisely.

It’s a theory that only an idiot would buy into, platform irrespective.

[Iggo]

16. They're confusing the driver with the vehicle. (n/t)

[DetlefK]

17. Worse: They are personally invested into this.

They are part of a FE-community. Even if they find evidence that Earth is not flat, they cannot present it, because then they would become outcasts and lose their whole network of friends.

I once read an article about a convention for Flat-Earthers, ghost-hunters, alien-hunters... There is an unwritten rule to never dismiss another person's pet-theory. Never.



Plus, who wants to admit that they have been wrong about something so serious for so long?

[Codeine]

18. Which platform is responsible for people

not knowing the difference between “there” and “their” or not understanding that an ellipsis has only three dots?

[Cold War Spook]

21. These people may be correct, but don't realize why.

There is a possibility that we live in a 2 dimensional universe and only because we "exist" in a hologram do we believe that there are 3 dimensions. I used quotes because I don't know if exist is the right term. It is possible that we "exist" on the edges of the universe as 2 dimensional beings but think the 3 dimensional hologram is real. If true, when our 3 dimensional being dies, does our 2 dimensional being die or does it live forever?

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. Lots of people believe lots of crazy shit.

Anti-vax, anti-GMO, chiropractic, friction tape, organic food, himalayan salt, homeopathy, reflexology, binaural beats, aliens, yetis, angels, demons, god... there's plenty of crazy to go around, and most of it predates YouTube.