Flat Earthers aren’t messing around. They have so much faith in their beliefs that they’re even raising and spending thousands of dollars to prove everyone wrong.
And speaking of faith, it turns out that most Flat Earthers are very religious, which makes conspiracy number 5 make more sense.
With that said, here are the seven shocking conspiracies that Flat Earthers believe are true.
The Earth is shaped like a disc.
Let’s start with the most obvious thing Flat Earthers believe. They see our planet as a stationary flat disc under a snow globe surrounded by an ice wall – more on that ice wall later.
One of the first questions a Flat Earther is asked is how sunsets could happen on a flat Earth. Well, their response is relatively simple: the Sun “sets” because it moves further away from where you are until it disappears from view.
And when people prove that the Earth is round due to ships disappearing over the horizon, Flat Earthers confidently try to disprove it.
They argue that the Earth’s surface can’t possibly be curved, because they can still see the ships on the horizon when they use a camera or a telescope.
Now, with gravity, some Flat Earthers see it as an illusion caused by the acceleration of the flat Earth. Yeah – it makes as much sense to you as it does to us!
Antarctica isn’t a continent – it’s a wall of ice!
Some Flat Earthers think that Antarctica is, in reality, a wall of ice that encircles the disc-shaped flat Earth, preventing anything from falling off the edge. This wall is often referred to as the “ice wall.”
Mark Sargent, one of the leading voices for the Flat Earth Theory, doesn’t refer to it as an ice wall, though. “It’s just Antarctica,” he says.
When asked about what’s outside of the surrounding ice, Mark admits it’s a tricky question. However, some Flat Earthers answer this query by saying hidden continents can be found beyond the wall.
Mark also mentioned that you couldn’t go and see the surrounding ice anyway, as the Antarctic Treaty forbids it.
Regarding the North Pole, flat-Earth maps indicate that it is located in the center. And the South Pole? Well, it doesn’t exist for some Flat Earthers, while others refer to the ice wall as the “South Pole Ice Wall.”
The Sun acts like a spotlight.
In the eyes of Flat Earthers, the Sun isn’t a massive ball of heat. Instead, they see it as a tiny spotlight that circles around the ring between the ice wall and the center of the flat Earth.
Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe, one of the earliest books covering Flat Earth Theory, mentions that the Sun is around 32 miles (52 kilometers) in diameter and floats between 400-700 miles (640-1,126 km ) above the Earth, depending on the month.
However, according to The Flat Earth Society, Universal Zetetic Society “researchers” estimated that the Sun hovers about 3,000 miles (4,828 km) over the Earth.
Flat Earthers don’t buy into the idea of the Moon reflecting the Sun’s light, too. Instead, they believe that the Moon is its own light source.
The Flat-Earth Conspiracy, another popular flat-Earth book, expands on this concept and says moonlight is silver, cool, damp, putrefying, and even septic.
Lunar and solar eclipses happen because of a “Shadow Object.”
Flat Earthers believe that there’s a satellite called the “Shadow Object” that explains why lunar and solar eclipses occur.
They say that this Shadow Object can’t be seen because it orbits close to the Sun. But they did mention its size, estimating the Shadow Object to be five to ten miles (8 to 16 km) in diameter.
The Flat Earth Society states that eclipses happen when the Sun, Shadow Object, and Moon are aligned and when the Moon intersects the Sun’s orbital plane.
The Bible teaches us the Earth is flat.
Flat Earthers often like to quote the Bible as a reliable source on the nature of Earth’s sphericity, including the verse from Isaiah 40:22, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth.”
Another popular Bible verse used to back up their claims comes from Job 38:14: “The earth takes shape like clay under a seal.”
While it appears to be that some religious people are genuine in this belief, American philosopher Dr. William Lane Craig said that he suspects people on the Internet claiming these false facts are infidels who are trying to discredit the Bible.
Dr. Craig also mentioned that they have no understanding of literary interpretation or literary genre.
For example, just because Isaiah 11:12 and Revelation 7:1, 20:7 in the Bible referred to “the four corners of the Earth” doesn’t mean the planet is square.
NASA is lying to us.
There’s no denying that all governments have lied to us at some point.
Flat Earthers take advantage of this fact by saying that it wouldn’t be a surprise if NASA also lied to us about the Earth’s true shape.
According to a Flat Earther interviewed by Vice, the sole purpose of creating NASA was to lie to us through the use of “cutting-edge studio techniques.”
When asked how NASA benefits from lying about the Earth’s shape, a few Flat Earthers say it’s about the money.
They say NASA will lose its budget if the “truth” is revealed, and it won’t be able to spend billions of dollars on sending so many shiny toys like rockets and probes into space.
The Moon landing is fake.
Since Flat Earthers believe NASA is lying to us, this makes them also think that the Moon landing is a hoax.
Scientists generally counter this point by saying the Moon rocks collected on the mission prove that the Moon landing really happened.
Some Flat Earthers counter-argue by claiming that you don’t need to go to the Moon to get Moon rocks, as some fall to Earth. These are referred to as lunar meteorites, which have been found in places like Antarctica and northwestern Africa.
Moon rocks and lunar meteorites aren’t the same, though, as lunar meteorites have fusion crusts while the rocks gathered during the Apollo mission don’t.
It’s great that Flat Earthers are skeptical and don’t conform easily. That’s something we should aspire to be.
However, we should remind ourselves to wave the white flag once we’re proven wrong. It hurts our ego, but accepting our mistakes plays a crucial role in our growth.
So, if there’s anything we can learn from Flat Earthers, it’s that skepticism can be a double-edged sword.
