Debunking Flat Earth Misconceptions
Crank magnetism is the tendency of “cranks” to hold multiple irrational, unsupported, or ludicrous beliefs that are often unrelated. Crank magnetism also denotes the tendency of these people to accumulate more of such beliefs over time.
Those who believe flat Earth will tend to believe other “crank” ideas. Some of these ideas are necessary to support the belief in a flat Earth, like the hoax that moon landings did not happen. But most of these beliefs are not related to flat-Earth.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many flight routes are being canceled, suspended, or cut down due to lockdowns, travel warnings, travel bans, or insufficient demand. These include flight routes that are impossible if Earth were flat.
Flat-Earthers looked for these routes, and when they could not find them, they use the lack of these routes to “prove” Earth is flat. In reality, they made these lookups during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of these routes are not available or severely cut down.
Conspiracy theories — like flat Earth — exists on a spectrum, from the fringe to the mainstream. Each of us has a different demarcation line where we divide the spectrum into the reasonable and the ridiculous.
Flat Earth lies on the extreme end of the spectrum. Anybody who believes in a flat Earth also has its demarcation line on the far extreme, too, and as a result, tends to believe all sorts of other conspiracy theories. However, less extreme conspiracy theorists might find flat Earth ridiculous. By learning how people can believe in a flat Earth, we can avoid believing other, baseless conspiracy theories.
Continue reading “Conspiracy Theory Spectrum and Demarcation Line”
The lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic reduces air pollution in India. As a result, the Himalayas have become visible from 200 km (125 miles) away, consistent with the expectation if the Earth is a sphere 6371 km (3959 miles) in radius.
Flat-Earthers assert that the visibility of the Himalayas cannot possibly occur if Earth is a sphere as the distance is too far away. In reality, while the range is very far, the peaks are also very high, reaching more than 4400 m above sea level.
Continue reading “Visibility of the Himalayas from India Due to COVID-19 Lockdowns”
The surface of the water in a container with a width of one meter (3 ft) will have a curvature of 0.000002 cm from Earth’s gravity. As a comparison, a single SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is at least 0.000005 cm in diameter, or at least 2½ times larger.
If a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is not visible to the naked eye, then there is no reason to expect that we will be able to see the much smaller curvature of the surface of water.
Considering the following facts:
We feel it is important not to let our responses to backfire and fails to achieve the ideal outcome, which is the prevention of the circulation of COVID-19 related hoaxes and conspiracy theories.
We wish everyone (including flat-Earthers) good health in these unfortunate times.
