The rise of Flat-Earthers and how conspiracy theories have changed
THE RISE OF THE FLAT-EARTHERS
Conspiracy theory is derived from teleological thinking, here every event has a purpose. Like, why does it rain? Does it rain because of the evaporation of liquid water followed by condensation, or because habitation requires water for survival? The former is the reason for rainfall and the later is the purpose of rainfall. Conspiracy theories first look at the conclusion, then carefully choose or cherry-pick evidence to fit the purpose of the event.
These theories didn’t boom up recently, we had 9/11 conspiracy, assassination of JFK (1963), the fake moon landing (1969) and so on. 9/11 conspiracy claimed that the Bush administration attacked the twin towers just to go bazooka on terrorism (that they helped to build) and drive up their military spending. The conspiracy related to the assassination of JFK claimed that JFK, who averted nuclear war during the Cuban missile crisis, didn’t want to go to war with Vietnam which was opposed by generals. Moon landing conspiracy claimed that the US faked moon landing just to win the cold war race. These theories are integral to society, they bring some anarchy to the system, which makes the governing bodies more accountable and transparent. But with the advent of the internet, these theories are beginning to change. So we will talk about a new one, flat-earthers.
Flat-earthers community have recently burgeoned into popularity. They have started conventions, meet-ups and merchandising. So flat-earthers believe that the earth is flat, we have a geocentric model where sun and moon revolve along the circumference of Earth. The Sun and moon are really small, they traverse in varying orbits according to the seasons experienced on Earth. There is a 250-feet height ice wall surrounding Earth edge (flat-earthers came after Game of Thrones). Military and NASA personnel stay on-guard here and have shoot-on-sight order if anyone wanders near these walls. Flat-earthers have different schools of thoughts, they are yet to come up with a unified model. They cannot explain eclipses, why Earth casts a spherical shadow on the moon. Just no gravity and heliocentric model would hurt our human ego, hence geocentric. But we know the Earth is round (right?), Newton was a genius, but why do people still believe in these conspiracies?
Our visual perception and senses evolved through these years so that we can indulge in hunting and gathering food efficiently. Our mind was wired to take these signals seriously because it was important for survival. Similarly, flat-earthers look straight and argue if the earth is round, then I shouldn’t see a faraway building. They don’t consider the real-world complexities like atmospheric refraction (bending of light due to varying density of air). But these scientific explanations are complex and unintuitive if you don’t have a science background. This is due to our educational system, which just hardcoded facts into our brain rather than improving critical thinking. Never gave us room to question our learnings, hence we believe what we see or learn. But this is a generalized problem, so why isn't everyone a flat-earther?
With the advent of the internet, we are loaded with a copious amount of information. The time between thinking something and letting the world know what you thought is decreasing significantly. But this power has its own caveats, the rise of misinformation and armchair intellectuals/experts. By keeping a low-barrier to entry, anyone can start spreading misinformation. The social media giants like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter have tons of content which are not verified by credible sources and sadly these contents have more interaction on the platforms, so the algorithm spreads them like fire. People only scratch the tip of the iceberg, extrapolate information, sprinkle some of their charisma, somehow blame the government and bam here is your YouTube video. If people find these videos relatable, they indulge with these content more and then there is a snowballing effect. Real journalism suffers, and these engaging conspiracies flourish in these platforms. The conspiracy theorists in 9/11 were structural engineers, who argued about the integrity of the building and people also discussed the presence of iron microspheres in the dust. But here, just look straight, you can see a building, hence flat earth.
Flat-earth community people are called as flat-earthers (they have license plates on flat-earth), so this belief is part of their identity. You threaten their identity if you say that the earth is round and people are defensive during an identity crisis. Also bible, the holy text of Christianity mentions flat-earth as it was written in the pre-Copernican era (Bhagavad Gita says that the Earth is oval-shaped, not flat). They have a multi-purpose motivation, to prove Earth is flat, save their identity and religious beliefs. Science is an opposing religion for them, Scientism and they are in a proxy war. So this community has grown into a cult, they constantly play the victim card that their beliefs are suppressed and they need this community to break out of shackles and fight for their freedom of speech.
Pink Floyd recorded a song Us and Them in 1973. The song still holds its relevance today. The Us and Them game leads to balkanization among people. We have to pick a side and support “us” and denigrate “them”. “Them”, here refers to the scientific community like NASA and the government. They make these bogus claims, as the government and NASA have shown us that the earth is round for centuries, so now they have to protect their little secret that earth is actually flat. The governing bodies leave chemtrails behind the flights to form clouds, which will obscure the vision of people and hinder their flat-earth investigation. The 9/11, JFK assassination and the moon landing conspiracies had genuine reasons to doubt the actions of governing bodies, but here the claims are absurd. They are chasing after a phantom ghost opponent with a cloudy judgment.
These reasons don’t apply to flat-earthers only, most of the present conspiracy theories have these foundational flaws. We as humans want to feel inclusive and be part of a community. In the fear of being ostracized, we pick a side, lionize the community front-runners and then start defending “us” at any cost. The real problem is when these beliefs take a tangible shape and destroy properties (5G tower burning) and endanger people's lives (anti-maskers and climate change deniers). So the main takeaway is, constantly question your beliefs and put them to test. Always look for trusted sources while gathering information about topics and try to nudge people towards truth. Finally, we should always remember
‘ IT IS NOT US AND THEM, IT IS ONLY US AND US ‘
Some resourceful videos
Comments
Post a Comment