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20 Stories Of Flat Earthers Realizing Their Arguments Are Weak, As Shared In This Online Community
There was a time when people believed that the Earth was flat and those who questioned it were seen as crazy people. Now the tables have turned and the ones who believe in the flat Earth theory are seen as the weird ones.
Although it is difficult to change your beliefs, because you have your own arguments and the other side’s evidence is not convincing enough, it is still possible. People shared their stories of changing their mind about the Earth being flat or seeing someone else realize it when Reddit user jbarms asked “Former Flat Earthers. What made you come round?”
Will you use any of these arguments for people who you know are flat earthers? Have you ever believed that the Earth was flat and have a revelation story? Let us know in the comments.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Look, it's really easy:
If the Earth is flat, there would be an edge(s). And there would be a f*****g Disney park at the edge, and we could bungie jump off the side and paraglide into the void etc etc.
Someone would be making an absolute s**t ton of money off of it - if it existed.
Guess what? Nobody is doing that - adn in this world where absolutely everything is exploited for profit - if no one is making money off of it - it does.not.exist. No edge. Not flat. Get a clue.
When humans didn’t know better, they came to the conclusion that the Earth is flat. But the Greek philosophers from around 6th century BC started questioning it, most famous of them being Pythagoras. He thought that because the Moon is round, Earth must be too.
In 430 BC another Greek philosopher Anaxagoras suggested that lunar eclipses were also evidence to support the theory that the Earth was a sphere rather than a disk. More Greek philosophers joined the discussion and provided their own evidence until Fernando Magallanes went on a voyage by ship around the world to prove the Earth was indeed round and there is no edge.
#2
Quote I got from somewhere...
"for 5 years I believed the Earth was flat, then I turned 6"
#3
I entertained it for a while. What convinced me the earth was a sphere was a video I came across of a group of flat earthers doing a laser test over water. They found a stretch of level water around 2 miles long, then used level lasers to measure the distance from the water. The test came back quite accurately indicating the earth was a sphere and not flat. They all got super upset and were crying about it. Seems like a doable and effective test and their reaction, confusion and heartbreak seemed genuine.
Humans went to the Moon and have technology that shows that stars, satellites and planets are round, including Earth. But according to the findings of YouGovAmerica, 16 percent of Americans are not sure that the Earth is round and only 66 percent of millennials claim they believe our planet is a sphere.
However, some people don’t believe in scientists and have created a conspiracy theory that everyone is lying and the Earth is actually a disk. Generally, it is healthy to question new information but when something has been proven with undeniable evidence, we don’t expect people to deny it.
#4
Had to travel to Japan, gave up on my beliefs in order to make a shorter trip.
#5
While having coffee with my sister one day, she revealed that she was a flat earther.
I said I wasn't going to try and convince her otherwise because if literally millions of pieces of evidence doesn't convince you, then nothing I can say will, but I will ask you a couple of question so that I can understand a bit more. This was the brief conversation:
Q. Do you think the sun is round? Her answer - It appears to be
Q. Do you think the moon is round? Her answer - it appears to be
Q do you think all the other planets are round? Her answer - they appear to be
So to clarify, you're saying that the sun, the moon and all the planets are round but we're floating on a flat disk in the same space. Ok.
I think it made a difference from the look on her face but we've never spoken of it again.
Bored Panda contacted Karen Douglas, a Professor of Social Psychology at University of Kent, who studies the psychology of conspiracy theories. We wanted to know if there was a factor that united all people who deny what is usually considered the truth.
Dr. Douglas confirmed that there are some common tendencies among such people, “Research suggests that people are attracted to conspiracy theories when one or more psychological needs are frustrated.”
So to satisfy those needs, people might be attracted to conspiracy theories. The Professor goes into what those needs may be: “The first of these needs are epistemic, related to the need to know the truth and have clarity and certainty. The other needs are existential, which are related to the need to feel safe and to have some control over things that are happening around us, and social, which are related to the need to maintain our self-esteem and feel positive about the groups that we belong to.”
#6
I was debating a flat earther in Mexico, and I asked him about how GPS worked if there were no satellites. He said that they had devices in the ground to route you.
I told him the Mexican government is barely able to put decent water pipes in the ground; would he really think they had the tech to put routing devices in the ground?
He chuckled with a thousand mile gaze.
#7
My FIL is a flat earther and all around nutcase. I asked him if the earth was flat and you was right, what then? How is your life any different? His face was priceless because he didn’t have an answer. It was great.
However, it means that anyone can become more susceptible to fall for a conspiracy theory “if they have psychological needs that are not being met at any particular time. This is perhaps one explanation why we saw a lot of conspiracy theories about COVID-19. People were scared and uncertain about the pandemic and were looking for ways to cope with the uncertainty, insecurity, and loss of social contact. Indeed, conspiracy theories do seem to thrive in times of crisis.”
The COVID-19 example perfectly demonstrates that conspiracy theories are not just annoying, but dangerous as well because they “can affect people's attitudes, intentions and behaviours. Conspiracy theories historically have been linked with prejudice, genocide, risky health behaviour and more recently some quite disturbing behaviour related to QAnon and COVID-19 conspiracy theories.”
#8
I convinced a flat earther, temporarily, by asking him if it was possible for a sphere to be so large that you could not tell it was a sphere by simply being on the surface of it. It took him a while, I used an analogy of a extremely long line that was so slightly curved you could not tell so by looking at a small section of it. Eventually he said yes to the sphere and I told him that was how big the earth is.
A few days later he reverted, most of these people aren’t mentally stable, they believe in a lot of conspiracies.
#9
Not me, but got a flat Earther to question his beliefs (and hopefully critically analyze them) by giving him the proof he asked for, to which he responded "mainstream science and media are lies". I asked why he asked for proof if he could just disregard it as lies either way, then told him that since he required no proof (or evidence against) to believe something, it made him the easiest person to deceive and that it seemed pretty sheep-like to me. He deleted all of his flat earth comments and hasn't posted about it since.
People who believe in conspiracy theories aren’t harmless also because they like to spread their beliefs and make other people trust their lies. But sometimes it is frustrating to talk to them and it seems useless.
Dr. Karen Douglas explains that when talking to people who believe in conspiracy theories “it is important to remember that these people can feel quite confused, worried, and alienated.”
Because of this, “it would not be constructive to be hostile, or behave in a way that ridicules them. This dismisses their views and might alienate them even further.”
#11
Surprisingly enough. Facts and logic.
More specifically star patterns. What we observe can not happen on a flat earth.
What the Professor suggests is to keep the conversation calm and to hear out what the other side has to say.
Another challenge while talking with believers in conspiracy theories is that they “will have ‘done their homework’ - that is, they usually know a lot more about the topic than other people do. So, when you get into a conversation with someone who believes strongly in a conspiracy theory, it is quite difficult to change their mind, or even to keep up with the discussion, because they are always one step ahead.”
#12
I once had a conversation with a professional UFC fighter and outspoken Flat Earther. I tried to explain how Archimedes was able to prove the Earth was round just by using his shadow. I mentioned air travel and how Hawaii and Japan are not 20+ hours of flying apart.
But what I think got through to him the most was seasons. This particular guy was Brazilian. I explained that because the Earth is round, it’s possible to be winter in Brazil and summer in the USA and vice versa. He nodded and stared off into the distance silently and the conversation was over. I don’t think I “converted” him but it gave him significant pause at the very least.
#13
I talked to a flat-earther about my job working for a company that tracks ship locations, routes, and speeds by satellite. We also had ways of monitoring carbon emissions based on fuel consumption and known weather conditions. None of this would work at all if the earth was flat. Not a jot of it. I could only explain the most basic concepts, but it was enough for him to understand and realise that I was right and that he’d been convinced by someone who had no practical experience of the spherical nature of the Earth. I think that’s what really did it - my experience was really tangible. This happens then this happens then we measure this etc etc... no theory, just practice. A bit like showing a child a rock dropping to the ground in order to explain gravity, rather than giving them the whole theoretical shebang. Y’know?
Edit: sorry it’s a bit rambling I’m so damn tired
But you can still have a productive conversation with them. Dr. Douglas thinks “that one useful strategy would be to appeal to the value of critical thinking.” Think about it, conspiracy believers look down upon people who believe in mainstream science because they don’t question it and eat up everything the news, the internet or schools tell them.”
The Professor continues, “Many conspiracy believers also believe that they are critical thinkers who are trying to uncover the truth whereas others are still in the dark, or are ‘sheep’ who believe everything they are told. One strategy therefore might be to appeal to this value and ask the conspiracy believer to critically think about their information - where did it come from? Who said it? Is this information reliable? This might uncover flaws in the conspiracy theory and you might be able to challenge them this way. Critically appraising information sources will of course also help people from adopting conspiracy theories in the first place.”
#14
Sunsets man. Sunsets. I watched all these videos read a book on it talked to people about it. I was one of them. Everyone else was crazy for not seeing the truth.(still i have alot of questions about how the heck this thing could posibly be a globe but thats besides the point) but i had an answer for everything. People would ask why dont we fall off the edge? There is no edge the earths an infinite space. Why do balloons pop when they go high enough? Because theres only so much air and it sinks to the earths surface but eventually you can fly above it and then theres no presure of the air pushing agaist thr ballon so it pops. Hows gravity work? Gravity is made up i believe in buoyancy. But one day somebody asked me if the sun is a spotlight in the sky then how does a sunset work. I was like uh.. and i looked into it. Couldn't find anything that makes sense. Sunsets turned me back
#15
I feel into a rabbit hole of conspiracies. Thankfully, physics is a mandatory subject in Switzerland, made much more sense that any « top 10 facts that prove that the earth is flat ».
Conspiracy theories are always interesting to learn about because they do have their own arguments and it makes our brain question the reality we live in. Some of them have even been proven to be true. But more often they deny evidence that is very obvious because they are blinded by the refusal of mainstream knowledge.
Do you believe in any conspiracy theories? Have you ever stopped believing in a conspiracy theory because someone presented you with facts that you couldn’t explain? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
#17
The thing that made me stop was just the question "why would nasa lie to you
#19
Okay I get the question is funny and all but I actually did believe, for a time, that the earth was flat. I was raised in a very religious family, and basically came to the conclusion that the Bible declared the earth was flat, because since I believed the earth was created in seven days, the idea that God set the stars in the sky in one day made much more sense if the stars were simply points of light in a sort of snowglobe formation extrapolated onto a bigger scale. Otherwise, he took one day out of the seven to make a septillion or so balls of flaming gas, all with their own planets, and set each one into galaxies before breaking for lunch. It just didn't make sense to me that he would spend five days on one planet, and make the creation of the trillions of other stuff in the universe a little footnote. I was confronted about this belief a couple times, only one of which wasn't laughed off. That single person who engaged started a serious discussion, presenting much more evidence for the globe earth, and eventually told me to watch Carl Sagan. The Cosmos series was on YouTube, and once I watched it, I had to know more. Finally, a video from the channel MinutePhysics convinced me, in no uncertain terms, that the earth was round. All it took was one quote, which I still remember leaving chills down my spine: "you should have put a serious tag on this question."
#20
It took about five years. It was alot of willfull ignorance on my part, I just refused to question the logic of it. In fact I spent most of my time coming up with crazy fantasies about alot of things I didn't understand. But you have to understand that there is just so much we don't know about that sometimes our priority on what is real and what can be believed can get confused. I was learning so much so fast that I really didn't question something so inane as the world being flat. Of course it was, why wouldn't it be. The day that changed it forever though was when I asked my father what happens when you get to the edge of the world, he of course said the world is round like a ball. Being about five years old I thought that made alot of sense.
Artistic Panda (he him) 2 years ago
ObViOuSlY iT HaS wHeElS tHaT tUrN tHeM tO tHe BoTtOm!!
Load More Replies...
LinkTheHylian 2 years ago
If you're older than ten, and you still think the world is flat, you are a lost cause and either need to be abandoned in an orphanage (if you're still under 18), or locked inside an empty cupboard never to see the light of day again if you're an adult.
What do you think ?
Bill Evs 2 years ago (edited)
I'm convinced that, deep down, the majority of "flat earthers" know the Earth isn't flat. I think they like feeling that they're part of some group who are privy to knowledge the rest of us plebeians aren't. I just think they do it because it makes them feel special and unique.
sturmwesen 2 years ago
That's exactly what every psychologist in conspiracy documentaries tells us. They elevate their worth by knowing "secrets" and band together to form a group and "belong".
Load More Replies...
Marion Connolly 2 years ago
The only flat earth I believe in, is on the back of four elephants and a turtle
Dizzie D 2 years ago
What I find really funny about the whole concept of flat earth is why? Why do scientists etc say the earth is a globe or spherical if it is indeed flat as they say? What motive does anyone have to say it's this shape or another? No reason. No valid reason to deceive the human race into thinking we live on a spherical globe. What does it change? What or who does it affect? It's okay blathering on about a conspiracy that we all live a lie and the earth is flat as a pancake but these kooks never give a motive, just 'it's a conspiracy but I don't know why it's a conspiracy?' Blah.
Blazej Kowalczyk 2 years ago
One reason they often give is religion based - conspirators are satanists who deceive humans to keep them from biblicall truth.
Load More Replies...
Cyndielouwhoo 2 years ago
I like the sentiment that if the earth was flat, cats would've pushed everything off of it by now.
Yeah, okay. 2 years ago
Personally, I'm inclined to believe flat Earthers all are spouting nonsense hoping someone gives them a free ticket to the Space Station so they can be fake shocked and amazed when they see the round Earth with their own eyes.
Cuppa tea? 2 years ago
So for thousand of years, people had at least basic evidence of Earth being globe, then with scientific evolution it became absolutely evident. Yet in last decade or so, people started " believe" in flat Earth.
Vilma 2 years ago
I wish I knew a flatearther so I could ask them how come there’s still water in oceans? There would have to be giant mountains on the edge or is it magic that holds the water on Earth? Or does it keep magically refilling? So many questions 😅
EeveeExpertShadow 2 years ago
If the earth was flat, cats would have pushed evrything off by now
Izzy Curer 2 years ago
There are a few flat earth stories about flights that have had to land due to emergency, and they'd end up setting down in weird, unexpected places. What people often don't realize is that *because* of the curve, sometimes it's actually a shorter distance to go really far north or south, etc, in ways you wouldn't think about. It's pretty easy to visualize, though, as long as you have a globe and a piece of string. You can stretch the string between 2 points, and see how the middle ends up in relatively unexpected spots because the string is stretched tight over the curve.
BobTDG 2 years ago
I mean 12 miles variance on an 8000 mile diameter ball is pretty smooth.
Load More Replies... 
Carol Emory 2 years ago
Science and religion can exist together...it is not and either or situation. Just don't take things so seriously and learn that either party can be wrong about certain things. No one knows everything with 100% accuracy.
Bill Evs 2 years ago (edited)
I'm convinced that, deep down, the majority of "flat earthers" know the Earth isn't flat. I think they like feeling that they're part of some group who are privy to knowledge the rest of us plebeians aren't. I just think they do it because it makes them feel special and unique.
sturmwesen 2 years ago
That's exactly what every psychologist in conspiracy documentaries tells us. They elevate their worth by knowing "secrets" and band together to form a group and "belong".
Load More Replies... Marion Connolly 2 years ago
The only flat earth I believe in, is on the back of four elephants and a turtle
Dizzie D 2 years ago
What I find really funny about the whole concept of flat earth is why? Why do scientists etc say the earth is a globe or spherical if it is indeed flat as they say? What motive does anyone have to say it's this shape or another? No reason. No valid reason to deceive the human race into thinking we live on a spherical globe. What does it change? What or who does it affect? It's okay blathering on about a conspiracy that we all live a lie and the earth is flat as a pancake but these kooks never give a motive, just 'it's a conspiracy but I don't know why it's a conspiracy?' Blah.
Blazej Kowalczyk 2 years ago
One reason they often give is religion based - conspirators are satanists who deceive humans to keep them from biblicall truth.
Load More Replies... Cyndielouwhoo 2 years ago
I like the sentiment that if the earth was flat, cats would've pushed everything off of it by now.
Yeah, okay. 2 years ago
Personally, I'm inclined to believe flat Earthers all are spouting nonsense hoping someone gives them a free ticket to the Space Station so they can be fake shocked and amazed when they see the round Earth with their own eyes.
Cuppa tea? 2 years ago
So for thousand of years, people had at least basic evidence of Earth being globe, then with scientific evolution it became absolutely evident. Yet in last decade or so, people started " believe" in flat Earth.
Vilma 2 years ago
I wish I knew a flatearther so I could ask them how come there’s still water in oceans? There would have to be giant mountains on the edge or is it magic that holds the water on Earth? Or does it keep magically refilling? So many questions 😅
EeveeExpertShadow 2 years ago
If the earth was flat, cats would have pushed evrything off by now
Izzy Curer 2 years ago
There are a few flat earth stories about flights that have had to land due to emergency, and they'd end up setting down in weird, unexpected places. What people often don't realize is that *because* of the curve, sometimes it's actually a shorter distance to go really far north or south, etc, in ways you wouldn't think about. It's pretty easy to visualize, though, as long as you have a globe and a piece of string. You can stretch the string between 2 points, and see how the middle ends up in relatively unexpected spots because the string is stretched tight over the curve.
BobTDG 2 years ago
I mean 12 miles variance on an 8000 mile diameter ball is pretty smooth.
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 2 years ago
Science and religion can exist together...it is not and either or situation. Just don't take things so seriously and learn that either party can be wrong about certain things. No one knows everything with 100% accuracy.
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