Superficial charm is the tendency to be smooth, engaging, charming, slick, and verbally facile. It is one of the attributes of psychopathic personalities. A person with this trait tends to easily manipulate others to hold them in high esteem. Some prominent flat-Earthers can be regarded to possess a superficial charm, which can turn many people to become flat-Earth believers.
Many flat-Earthers regard other people are like them. They think people do not believe in a flat Earth only because they have not seen a video from a certain prominent flat-Earther. In reality, many of us are still able to control our emotions and avoid becoming victims ourselves. On the contrary, many of us will wonder why these people are so gullible that they can blindly believe these peddlers and fail to use their reasoning skills.
It is not unlike the situation where a presenter is talking absolute nonsense. But at the end of the presentation, everyone else in the audience gave him a round of applause. And we are left wondering what is so great about the presentation that dazzled the others.
Superficial charm is often seen in people like politicians, workplace managers, lawyers, religious preachers, self-help motivators, etc. Flat-Earthers are often easily manipulated by superficial charm, and it is the reason they are often also victims of things like pyramid schemes, fake investments, religious extremism, etc.
Superficial charm is one of the attributes of psychopathic personalities. There are also other attributes we can easily find in certain flat-Earthers, including the feeling of superiority and the need to show it off. If these people are really psychopathic, then it is possible they do not really believe Earth is flat. They are just using it as a means to fulfill their desire to be glorified by others.
References
- Superficial charm – Wikipedia
- Psychopath – RationalWiki