Debunking Flat Earth Misconceptions
“If Earth Isn’t Flat” is a photoshop meme series juxtaposing two images, one normal & one curved, satirizing a common pattern frequently seen in many arguments from flat-Earthers.
This meme series makes fun of flat-Earthers & their arguments. However many flat-Earthers fail to realize they are the objects of ridicule in these images & ironically end up using the images to ridicule other people who accept that Earth is a sphere instead.
Sarcasm, irony, and satire are figures of speech involving statements that are untrue in a literal sense. However, it is expected the audience should understand that the remarks are not true, and will consider them insulting or humorous.
The gullibility of conspiracy theorists is a popular subject of sarcasm, irony, and satire. But being so gullible means many of them are unaware that the remarks are not really true. Many of these people wrongly consider the sarcastic, ironic, and satirical messages as true, and the messages spread as hoaxes in their community.
April Fools’ Day is an annual custom on April 1, where people play practical jokes and pranks on each other and have fun trying to make other people believe things that are not true. Some of these pranks involve the “endorsement of flat Earth.”
After some time, it can be less obvious that these are just practical jokes created for April Fools’ Day, and many flat-Earthers fail to realize that they are the ones being joked about. In flat-Earth communities, some of these pranks are incorrectly regarded as genuine and end up as hoaxes.
News satire is a type of parody presented in a format typical of mainstream journalism. Some satirical news outlets use satirical commentary to comment on actual, real-world news; while others offer wholly fictionalized news stories.
Satirical news outlets have produced some “reports” mocking the flat Earth belief. Unfortunately, some flat-Earthers failed to realize the satirical nature of the “news,” and that the “news” was created to mock them. Because they think it was real news, the “news” spreads in flat-Earth communities as hoaxes.