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Flat-earthers are symptomatic of our times

sglowrider

sglowrider

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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...es-rocket-launch-man-blasts-off-a8272761.html

A self-taught rocket man who believes the earth is flat blasted himself 1,875 feet into the air, in an effort to reach orbit and reassure himself the world is shaped "like a Frisbee".

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'Mad' Mike Hughes is carried on a stretcher after his homemade rocket launched and returned to the ground near Amboy, California on Saturday, March 24 (AP)
 
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sglowrider said:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...es-rocket-launch-man-blasts-off-a8272761.html

A self-taught rocket man who believes the earth is flat blasted himself 1,875 feet into the air, in an effort to reach orbit and reassure himself the world is shaped "like a Frisbee".

ap-18084048060280.jpg


'Mad' Mike Hughes is carried on a stretcher after his homemade rocket launched and returned to the ground near Amboy, California on Saturday, March 24 (AP)
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He probably thinks he confirmed his theory by impacting the ground in a seemingly flat attitude ;):D
 
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https://www.independent.co.uk/voice...mingham-fake-news-science-facts-a8336946.html
I watched an entire flat Earth convention – here's what I learned
Flat earthers do seem to place a lot of emphasis and priority on scientific methods and, in particular, on observable facts.

While flat earthers seem to trust and support scientific methods, what they don’t trust is scientists, and the established relationships between “power” and “knowledge”. This relationship between power and knowledge has long been theorised by sociologists. By exploring this relationship, we can begin to understand why there is a swelling resurgence of flat earthers.
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Multiple competing models were suggested throughout the weekend, including “classic” flat Earth, domes, ice walls, diamonds, puddles with multiple worlds inside, and even the Earth as the inside of a giant cosmic egg. The level of discussion however often did not revolve around the models on offer, but on broader issues of attitudes towards existing structures of knowledge, and the institutions that supported and presented these models.
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Flat earthers are not the first group to be sceptical of existing power structures and their tight grasps on knowledge. This viewpoint is somewhat typified by the work of Michel Foucault, a famous and heavily influential 20th century philosopher who made a career of studying those on the fringes of society to understand what they could tell us about everyday life.
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He is well known, among many other things, for looking at the close relationship between power and knowledge. He suggested that knowledge is created and used in a way that reinforces the claims to legitimacy of those in power. At the same time, those in power control what is considered to be correct and incorrect knowledge. According to Foucault, there is therefore an intimate and interlinked relationship between power and knowledge.
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At the time Foucault was writing on the topic, the control of power and knowledge had moved away from religious institutions, which previously had a very singular hold over knowledge and morality, and was instead beginning to move towards a network of scientific institutions, media monopolies, legal courts, and bureaucratised governments. Foucault argued that these institutions work to maintain their claims to legitimacy by controlling knowledge.
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In the 21st century, we are witnessing another important shift in both power and knowledge due to factors that include the increased availability of public platforms afforded by social media. Knowledge is no longer centrally controlled and – as has been pointed out in the wake of Brexit – the age of the expert may be passing. Now, everybody has the power to create and share content. When Michael Gove, a leading proponent of Brexit, proclaimed: “I think the people of this country have had enough of experts”, it would seem that he, in many ways, meant it.
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Recent PEW research suggests, for example, that 80 per cent of voters who backed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election – and 81 per cent of Trump voters – believe most supporters of the two candidates are unable to agree on basic facts, let alone policies.
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Flat earthers were encouraged to trust “poetry, freedom, passion, vividness, creativity, and yearning” over the more clinical regurgitation of established theories and facts. Attendees were told that “hope changes everything”, and were warned against blindly trusting what they were told.
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In many ways, a public meeting of flat earthers is a product and sign of our time; a reflection of our increasing distrust in scientific institutions, and the moves by power-holding institutions towards populism and emotions.
In much the same way that Foucault reflected on what social outcasts could reveal about our social systems, there is a lot that flat earthers can reveal to us about the current changing relationship between power and knowledge.
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Bottomline: Flat-earthers are symptomatic of where we are at today. Everyone wants to believe what they want to believe and we will be talking past each other going forward a lot more. Have to get used to it for now.

We are still stuck in an age where when things get published weather on the New York Times or on a kids blog is given near equal status and legitimacy. A PC screen is the same as a broadsheet newspaper.
Question is how do you go forward to make thing less equal than others?

Branding? But branding is what gave us Trump.

A blind faith in scientist and their facts? That's not possible either as you have competing theories which some may take generations to prove.

Emotional versus Logic. And Emotional arguments seems to be surging now.

I think we are where we are at for the foreseeable future, unfortunately.
 
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meridian said:
It would be interesting to find out what percentage of the flat-earther voted for Trump.o_O
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No many I hope but it's emblematic of the juncture we are in.

The distrust of non-nuanced facts in the face from legit sources versus emo-loyalty to the concept of Trump or something else in the future. A learning curve hopefully.

The decentralisation or 'democratisation of information may be the phase we are at. Consequently, there has been just too much info for people that they have walled off further new inputs; and to stick with the basic/initial formed perception that they have. Then they defend that point going forward.

As a result, it will be tough going forward when people distrust what are proven facts or like how the evangelicals rationalise with Trump. They remind me of abused wives who somehow find a rationalised excuse for staying with the abusers despite physical/emotional evidence.

Us, non-Trump fans/supporters are like those folks/friends who keep telling the wife to leave the husband -- and we just don't understand why something so obvious isn't being listened to.

But alas we persist.
 
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meridian said:
It would be interesting to find out what percentage of the flat-earther voted for Trump.o_O
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I'd be more interested to see the numbers on how many of them have ever fallen for the "it's the IRS calling" phone scam...;)

I'm guessing it's an extremely low numbero_O
 
76-1 said:
I'd be more interested to see the numbers on how many of them have ever fallen for the "it's the IRS calling" phone scam...;)

I'm guessing it's an extremely low numbero_O
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I don't know of anyone who has fallen for the phone scam you mention. Are you one of them?:rolleyes:
 
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sglowrider said:
The decentralisation or 'democratisation of information may be the phase we are at. Consequently, there has been just too much info for people that they have walled off further new inputs; and to stick with the basic/initial formed perception that they have. Then they defend that point going forward.
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The ability to wall off certain kinds of information is vital to a healthy mind. We all do it. Those who can’t effectively do this hear voices and end up delusional. Most simply find nuance a challenge.

sglowrider said:
Us, non-Trump fans/supporters are like those folks/friends who keep telling the wife to leave the husband -- and we just don't understand why something so obvious isn't being listened to.
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That’s a pretty good description of liberal smuggary and how you see the “others”. You get credit for being up front about it. It also explains how you wall off information.
 
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sglowrider said:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...es-rocket-launch-man-blasts-off-a8272761.html

A self-taught rocket man who believes the earth is flat blasted himself 1,875 feet into the air, in an effort to reach orbit and reassure himself the world is shaped "like a Frisbee".

ap-18084048060280.jpg


'Mad' Mike Hughes is carried on a stretcher after his homemade rocket launched and returned to the ground near Amboy, California on Saturday, March 24 (AP)
Click to expand...
Yeah, but since he wasn't successful we will never truly know will we?
 
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Kyrie Irving Doesn’t Know if the Earth Is Round or Flat. He Does Want to Discuss It.
merlin_139283775_5ee95fad-5c04-43b3-9426-c27a58a47a53-articleLarge.jpg

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/movies/kyrie-irving-nba-celtics-earth.html

“I wanted to open up the conversation, like, ‘Hey man, do your own research for what you want to believe in,’” said Kyrie Irving, shown at a Celtics game earlier in the season.
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Is he lonely or in need of friends? I didn't know there was a conversation to be had? The irony is that he was born in Melbourne, AUSTRALIA.

 
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T.M.P. said:
I don't think it's obsession but instead curiosity about the world around him and noticing trends. In this case he's noting that almost every really dumb person in this country voted for Trump. Find the guy in the room that doesn't know thing, he's a Trump supporter. It's very obvious you're one.
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It was amazing that during the campaign it was HRC and her supporters that challenged whether he would accept the results of the election. Now that the role reversal has occurred you and HRC and everyone that voted for her just can’t accept the results of a legal election you just continue to obsess at every corner. Well enjoy the next 2.5 yrs. It’s gonna be a long ride.
 
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Bruce1 said:
It was amazing that during the campaign it was HRC and her supporters that challenged whether he would accept the results of the election. Now that the role reversal has occurred you and HRC and everyone that voted for her just can’t accept the results of a legal election you just continue to obsess at every corner. Well enjoy the next 2.5 yrs. It’s gonna be a long ride.
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I think we've all learned a lot. I don't think anyone a few years ago could have imagined that the Russians would have hacked our elections and the Republicans wouldn't care. I think we didn't know that the FBI was investigating Trump for possibly being a Putin Puppet, and they didn't feel the need to let us know. Even thought the GOP imbeciles were screaming lock her up at every rally. You're right, it's going to be a long ride. We have Mueller's investigations into all of the Trump scandals, and when that wraps up, whatbto do with the results. Let's just hope that Trump hasn't alienated every single one of our allies by the time we get him out of here.
 
zeke4ahs said:
I think we've all learned a lot. I don't think anyone a few years ago could have imagined that the Russians would have hacked our elections and the Republicans wouldn't care. I think we didn't know that the FBI was investigating Trump for possibly being a Putin Puppet, and they didn't feel the need to let us know. Even thought the GOP imbeciles were screaming lock her up at every rally. You're right, it's going to be a long ride. We have Mueller's investigations into all of the Trump scandals, and when that wraps up, whatbto do with the results. Let's just hope that Trump hasn't alienated every single one of our allies by the time we get him out of here.
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The election was won, period. Just as PRES Obama said. Elections have consequences, we won get over it. We still have HRC running around the world crying about how it wasn’t her fault.

The FBI story is still unfolding with more twists and turns. Some of them may point right back to the Dems playing dirty tricks too. I say let it play out

Mueller has said more than once that Trump isn’t under investigation so any comment like Trump is being investigated for being a Russian puppet are just hyperbole. I say let it all play out.
 
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Bruce1 said:
It was amazing that during the campaign it was HRC and her supporters that challenged whether he would accept the results of the election. Now that the role reversal has occurred you and HRC and everyone that voted for her just can’t accept the results of a legal election you just continue to obsess at every corner. Well enjoy the next 2.5 yrs. It’s gonna be a long ride.
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Silly to assert "everyone that voted for her just can’t accept the results of a legal election." Trump is the President, and with that goes a higher level of responsibility and scrutiny. Criticizing Trump recognizes that he is the President.

Trump supporters cannot realistically expect Trump's opponents not to criticize a President who issues so many inflammatory or contradictory statements.
 
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Joe_Hoopsier said:
I actually met my first Flat Earth'r a few months ago. He had a conspiracy theory for everything, including links and research data. I Honestly thought it was all an over glorified made up thing. Cuckoo Cuckoo!
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Have you ever met someone who thought the lunar landings was fake? It is weird trying to convince them. It's not weird it's futile.
 
VanPastorMan said:
Have you ever met someone who thought the lunar landings was fake? It is weird trying to convince them. It's not weird it's futile.
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Only this guy, and yes we did have that discussion. For every point I and another colleague made, he had a rebuttal. The only problem was he had spent enough energy on this before hand, that his rebuttals were actually semi believable.

I signed up for the flat earther credit card after that ride, but only for the advantage miles.
 
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I am doing a public service here since Infowars is off the air:

Flat Earth BOMBSHELL: Shock claim Australia ‘is NOT REAL and never existed’
A CONSPIRACY theory linked to Flat Earth Society forums has emerged after scores of people claimed the continent of Australia is a myth created by the government.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/953382/Flat-Earth-theory-Australia-not-real-conspiracy

The theory has resurfaced online after lying dormant since around 2006 when the Flat Earth Society originally floated the idea.
Some 50,000 people joined the bandwagon earlier this month when Facebook user Shelley Floryd shared a status update, explaining why she thinks Australia does not exist.
She wrote: “Australia does not exist. All things you call 'proof' are actually well fabricated lies and documents made by the leading governments of the world.

“Your Australian friends? They're all actors and computer generated personas, part of the plot to trick the world."
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