World of the Bizarre

Slovakian government official raises eyebrows with 'flat Earth' comment

By T.K. Randall
May 18, 2024

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) In the age of orbiting satellites, interplanetary spacecraft and a fully manned space station, the fact that the Earth is round (an oblate spheroid) would seem to be indisputable.

Even so, a sizable number of people still remain adamant that the Earth is actually flat.

This particular topic recently became the focus of a peculiar controversy in Slovakia involving Lukas Machala - a divisive political figure in the country who is currently one of several candidates being considered to head up the new government-controlled state broadcaster.

During a television interview, Machala was asked whether he thought people with unconventional views such as believing that the Earth is flat should be given a platform on Slovakia's current public platform RTVS (Radio and Television of Slovakia).

According to The Spectator, he seemed surprisingly open to such views."Has it been proved that the Earth is round? Have you been into outer space?" he asked.

"No, nor have I, I don't know."

His comments certainly raised a lot of eyebrows, with Slovak astronaut Ivan Bella - who went into space in 1999 - even responding to the debacle by insisting that the Earth is definitely round.

After the interview aired, Machala reportedly maintained that the journalist he had been speaking to did a good job of making him look like a conspiracy theorist and complained about a lack of objective journalism.

He also declared that he would no longer communicate with the broadcaster again.

Source: Slovak Spectactor

Tags: Flat Earth, Conspiracy