200 attend UK's first Flat Earth Convention

[psyche101]

8 hours ago, Myles said:

Are you sure your neighbor was serious?   I've never met someone who thought the Earth was flat. 

I would have agreed with you, but recently met the neighbour of a good friend who is a complete believer in it. He outright denies any proofs and insists it's all a big conspiracy. I have to say I was more than stunned. This guy even has a pilots license, so no accounting for common sense at all. 

But hey, people believe in talking snakes and giant Charlton Hestons in the sky, so why not I suppose. 

[ChrLzs]

12 hours ago, Myles said:

You would have to be on a very high level of stupid to believe the Earth is flat.

Ironically if they were at a high level.... they could just look around (and slightly downwards..) to become aware of how truly stupid they were.

[kewlscot]

I hear they are all well rounded people from all over the globe! who am I to burst their bubble? :)

[Rlyeh]

5 hours ago, DanL said:

I have actually known a flat earther. Strangely he was not the stupid moron that you would expect. He was actually fairly bright. He was a fundamentalist Christian and basically only believed in what was in the Bible. He believed that the world was only a little over 5000 years old. They get this number by adding up the begating and lives of the people in the Bible. He thought that all the stuff about Dinosaurs and such was a plot to lead people to believing myths that were in conflict with or at least not in the Bible. He didn't believe in any of the space program especially that we had been to the moon. 

So he was bright but believed in stupid moronic stuff?

[+Hammerclaw]

In a world with adults running around like idiots playing Pokémon Go, nothing surprises me, anymore.

[acute]

10 hours ago, mesuma said:

Patrons from around the globe!!!

I think you mean "across the Earth".

[Myles]

12 hours ago, psyche101 said:

I would have agreed with you, but recently met the neighbour of a good friend who is a complete believer in it. He outright denies any proofs and insists it's all a big conspiracy. I have to say I was more than stunned. This guy even has a pilots license, so no accounting for common sense at all. 

But hey, people believe in talking snakes and giant Charlton Hestons in the sky, so why not I suppose. 

I imagine you had an interesting conversation with him.   It must have tried your patience. 

[Calibeliever]

20 hours ago, DanL said:

I have actually known a flat earther. Strangely he was not the stupid moron that you would expect. He was actually fairly bright. He was a fundamentalist Christian and basically only believed in what was in the Bible. He believed that the world was only a little over 5000 years old. They get this number by adding up the begating and lives of the people in the Bible. He thought that all the stuff about Dinosaurs and such was a plot to lead people to believing myths that were in conflict with or at least not in the Bible. He didn't believe in any of the space program especially that we had been to the moon. 

I have found that if someone has a belief that is strong enough that they can easily blind themselves to any possible change in their beliefs. I am old enough to actually have known people that were violently against the teaching of Darwin's theory on evolution in schools. These were the type people that backed the prosecution of John Scopes in the Scopes monkey trials. Ignorance is repairable but stupidity can't be helped!

Beliefs are dangerous things, I prefer knowledge. Knowledge can be changed with new facts and information, whereas beliefs with defend themselves, often to the death. 

[LV-426]

19 hours ago, psyche101 said:

This guy even has a pilots license, so no accounting for common sense at all.

Now, that is scary...

I'm no expert on flight skills, but surely even light aircraft use navigation instruments that require a basic knowledge of the shape of the Earth?

[+DanL]

On 4/30/2018 at 5:30 PM, Timonthy said:

What makes him not a stupid moron is what interests me?

We worked together in a shipyard doing a lot of close tolerance machine work. This sort of work requires you to work with a lot of mathematical formulas and have a good understanding of trigonometry. You also have to be able to read and at times draw your own blueprints. He was not a stupid man at all he just had some rather stupid beliefs that were twisted by his religion. His Father was a Pentecostal preacher AND a foreman in that shop. He was not stupid either. Smart people can often have stupid beliefs. Science is filled with people that held on to their beliefs long after they were disproved. Evolution, rather than being a slow progression of survival of the fittest is rather more about what species were fortunate and survived the repeated extinction events. THEN the slow progress of evolution starts but I can remember when the idea of cataclysmic evolution was heresy. Intelligence is only worthwhile when it is coupled with an open mind. 

[psyche101]

16 hours ago, Myles said:

I imagine you had an interesting conversation with him.   It must have tried your patience. 

I was rather stunned to say the least. 

[psyche101]

8 hours ago, LV-426 said:

Now, that is scary...

I'm no expert on flight skills, but surely even light aircraft use navigation instruments that require a basic knowledge of the shape of the Earth?

You would think so, he claims its all government propoganda. 

[Orphalesion]

I don't know, sometimes people just pick a fringe belief so that they can show how "different" they are or to have their own, rather laughable little way to "stick it to the man"

Like I had an uncle who decided he wouldn't "believe" in Evolution (and this is in a place where we look at such people as very odd and they are very few and far between). He wasn't religious at all and when questioned he didn't find anything wrong with the theory, but he insisted that because it was "only a theory" everybody was allowed to "believe" in it or not, since it was "just some stuff some Englishman made up and thought was sensible".
He clearly misunderstood what a "theory" means in science, but he didn't believe in a young Earth or any "god" putting us here readily formed. 

He was just so boring, in general (or at least perceived himself as such) that he needed something he could use to draw people into a conversation.

Maybe that's the case with at least some Flat Eartherners? Some sad little wish to stick it to "Big Science" combined with them needing something to make them feel "interesting" and "like an individual"

Edited May 2, 2018 by Orphalesion

[Amanda Evans]

Oh to be a fly on the wall...

[Katniss]

Something is just odd about all this, and I'm having suspicions now that it's really a cult thing like Scientology or a fake belief system to screw less intelligent people out of their money. Probably both would be my guess.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Katniss

[Myles]

1 hour ago, Katniss said:

Something is just odd about all this, and I'm having suspicions now that it's really a cult thing like Scientology or a fake belief system to screw less intelligent people out of their money. Probably both would be my guess.

I agree.   I think those who act like they believe it online just do it to argue on the toughest side.

Those who gather, I think they do it as an activity to pass the time. 

[Farmer77]

10 minutes ago, Myles said:

Those who gather, I think they do it as an activity to pass the time. 

If a "flat earth convention" were held in my town I would go. What an interesting way to spend an afternoon, itd be half sci-fi convention, half amateur anthropology watching all the folks. 

[xYlvax]

I'd go to see what kind of good stuff they're smoking

[GlitterRose]

On 4/30/2018 at 4:23 AM, Myles said:

I still don't buy it.   

I think they miss their high school debate team and are picking the toughest argument to win.   

You would have to be on a very high level of stupid to believe the Earth is flat.

There do seem to be some people out there who are on a very high level of stupid, though.

There are certainly more than 200 of them. 

[GlitterRose]

On 5/2/2018 at 3:15 AM, Orphalesion said:

I don't know, sometimes people just pick a fringe belief so that they can show how "different" they are or to have their own, rather laughable little way to "stick it to the man"

Like I had an uncle who decided he wouldn't "believe" in Evolution (and this is in a place where we look at such people as very odd and they are very few and far between). He wasn't religious at all and when questioned he didn't find anything wrong with the theory, but he insisted that because it was "only a theory" everybody was allowed to "believe" in it or not, since it was "just some stuff some Englishman made up and thought was sensible".
He clearly misunderstood what a "theory" means in science, but he didn't believe in a young Earth or any "god" putting us here readily formed. 

He was just so boring, in general (or at least perceived himself as such) that he needed something he could use to draw people into a conversation.

Maybe that's the case with at least some Flat Eartherners? Some sad little wish to stick it to "Big Science" combined with them needing something to make them feel "interesting" and "like an individual"

It's as if they're saying...I'll see your scientific facts and raise you a stunning display of massive stupidity.

I'm just wondering what they think they actually gain from it. 

[GlitterRose]

It's like they hate intelligence so much that they have to ignore everything that smart people have ever discovered.

Even the most basic truths. 

But why hate intelligence? 

That's stupid.

[Timothy]

On 02/05/2018 at 1:11 PM, DanL said:

We worked together in a shipyard doing a lot of close tolerance machine work. This sort of work requires you to work with a lot of mathematical formulas and have a good understanding of trigonometry. You also have to be able to read and at times draw your own blueprints. He was not a stupid man at all he just had some rather stupid beliefs that were twisted by his religion. His Father was a Pentecostal preacher AND a foreman in that shop. He was not stupid either. Smart people can often have stupid beliefs. Science is filled with people that held on to their beliefs long after they were disproved. Evolution, rather than being a slow progression of survival of the fittest is rather more about what species were fortunate and survived the repeated extinction events. THEN the slow progress of evolution starts but I can remember when the idea of cataclysmic evolution was heresy. Intelligence is only worthwhile when it is coupled with an open mind. 

Naaaah he’s definitely stupid mate.

Believing in a flat earth is enough to tip anyone over 50% on the generally accepted ‘am I stupid?’ scale. 

I can understand people still believing in religions, because religions will take a little while still to get weeded out. But flat earth? Stupid. 

[Black Monk]

What harm's it doing? People are entitled to their beliefs. It's no more whacky than a Lib Dem Conference or a meeting of Global Warmers.

Edited May 6, 2018 by Black Monk

[brlesq1]

And don't tell me...the flat Earth rests on the back of a giant, otherworldly turtle...

[Gumball]

On 01/05/2018 at 9:43 AM, acute said:

I think you mean "across the Earth".