Flat Earthers.
Believers that the Earth is flat. Not round, sorry spherical, but flat. Most don’t believe the bit about it being carried on the back of four elephants, on a turtle. That would be ridiculous.
What’s prompted this post was this article on the BBC site:
Mr Davis [a flat earther] now believes “the Earth is flat and horizontally infinite – it stretches horizontally forever”.
“And it is at least 9,000 kilometres deep”, he adds.
James McIntyre, a British-based moderator of a discussion website theflatearthsociety.org, has a slightly different take. “The Earth is, more or less, a disc,” he states. “Obviously it isn’t perfectly flat thanks to geological phenomena like hills and valleys. It is around 24,900 miles in diameter.
Mr Davis, is a 25 year old computer scientist, originally from Canada. Not that that has anything to do with it. But being a scientist Mr Davis is in the position to know good science when he sees it.
One Question Mr Davis: Does the Earth stretch to infinity (And Beyond!) in all directions or just left to right? Either way, how come one can go in a straight line and then end up where one started from, as apposed to never being seen again? If the Earth stretches too infinity (And Beyond!) in all horizontal directions, you do realize that it would create a barrier in the universe? Nothing would be able to get past us without making an almighty thump. Sorry that was more than one question.
Mr McIntyre. We’re not told what he does for a living. I have a picture of a gent that makes his own bitter, I don’t know why.
James McIntyre is what I would call a ‘moderate’ Flat Earther, compared to Mr Davis’ ‘radical’ flatness, thanks to the view that the Earth is round in one aspect, but flat in the other. The North pole is in the middle of the disc and the southern pole is aaaalll the way round the outside. Not so much a pole, more a ring.
Mr McIntyre: If the Earth is a flat disc, you should be able to see the edge and fly off the edge and take pictures and everything. It ain’t going to be hard in this day and age to get proof yerself without relying on the whispering government paid liars that are pretty much the whole of the worlds respectable scientific community.
Charter an aircraft and fly to the outer edges of the planet and have a peek, take some pictures, maybe even some video. Maybe then, maybe you might be taken seriously.
BTW: Make sure you take more than your poxy mobile phone to take the pictures and video with. You don’t want to be laughed at like them weird UFO people, do you?
Look at this, classic conspiracy theory logic
Q: “What is the motive behind this conspiracy?”
A: The motive is unknown although it is probably money
Q: “If you’re not sure about the motive, why do you say there is a conspiracy?”
A: Well it’s quite simple really; if the earth is in fact flat, then the governments must be lying when they say it isn’t.
That makes sense. If something is, and someone knowing what is is, says it isn’t, they are lying.
But why do these people say the Earth is flat?
Q: “The government could not pull off the conspiracy successfully”
A: Actually, they could.
The answer links to this post on the same forum where the poster reckons (by the accurate method of plucking figures out of his arse) it would take about $47,000,000 a year to keep the 45 key members of the conspiracy and a few ‘Ice Wall’ guards happy to keep the secret.
Q: “How are the world governments organized enough to carry out this conspiracy?”
A: They only appear to be disorganized to make the conspiracy seem implausible.
The US government couldn’t sort out Hurricane Katrina, never mind work with their nemesis, The Soviets, to keep everyone thinking we live on a ball, not a frisbee.
Q: Why hasn’t this site been shut down by the government?
A: Doing so would prove that the government is hiding something.
So they’re probably being watched though, to make sure they’re not gonna hurt themselves or others.
It’s great this place, have a look and a laugh.
Reading the FAQ the phrase “Poe’s Law” springs to mind
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe%27s_Law
mmm. Maybe, maybe not…