Posted on 02/18/2019 7:41:42 AM PST by Simon Green
Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube.
Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.
Interviews with 30 attendees revealed a pattern in the stories people told about how they came to be convinced that the Earth was not a large round rock spinning through space but a large flat disc doing much the same thing.
Of the 30, all but one said they had not considered the Earth to be flat two years ago but changed their minds after watching videos promoting conspiracy theories on YouTube. “The only person who didn’t say this was there with his daughter and his son-in-law and they had seen it on YouTube and told him about it,” said Asheley Landrum, who led the research at Texas Tech University.
The interviews revealed that most had been watching videos about other conspiracies, with alternative takes on 9/11, the Sandy Hook school shooting and whether Nasa really went to the moon, when YouTube offered up Flat Earth videos for them to watch next.
Some said they watched the videos only in order to debunk them but soon found themselves won over by the material.
Landrum said one of the most popular Flat Earth videos, “200 proofs Earth is not a spinning ball” appears to be effective because it offers arguments that appeal to so many mindsets, from biblical literalists and conspiracy theorists to those of a more scientific bent.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Ever since I discovered the flat earther comments on those videos are serious I’ve said that those videos are an experiment to wee just how much nonsense you can get people to believe if you make a slick enough video.
Maybe not a conspiracy, but I think that is the motivation behind some. And they may have started off as a joke, like when I reference my home planet and coming to an end of my 300 year assignment here.
Arguments for a flat Earth fall flat.
Hosting jihadist vidoes? Still okay. By comparison, the Flat Earth hoax is a fart in a hurricane. Thanks Simon Green.
Send them on a one way cruise off the edge.
People who think the Earth is flat have problem with DNA nothing else.Breeding isn’t for everyone.
That’s not really true anymore. A lot of genuine idiots have gotten suckered in by these videos and actually believe them.
Asimov used to go to their gatherings. So yes.
Yep, they are going to try and convince the World that Conservatives are Flat Earth.
It worked with Intelligent Design convincing Liberals that Conservatives believe the World is only 4k old.
Seriously, liberals are convinced that we believe this.
They think we are idiots.
Disagree strongly. I deal with flat earthers daily on YouTube. The vast majority of them are extreme christian fundamentalist and very conservative. Just a sad fact.
They are mostly mentally ill, too.
Why? LOL. I must sympathize with you.
It’s a crappy job but someone has to do it...
Oh Lord, if any of them see that they will claim it as proof that I’m a “paid government agent.”
All youtube has done is allow the rest of us to see how many useful idiots there are out there. It is a very good argument to not allow government by democracy.
JoMa
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