News

This is the 'evidence' Flat Earthers say proves our planet is flat

Picture:
Picture:
iStock

There are a few uncontested truths that most of us would agree on: one plus one is two, the sky is blue and the Earth is round, right?

But for Flat Earthers – people who claim Earth is flat and that NASA is a government propaganda machine – that final point is up for debate.

There have been many attempts by non-globe believers to prove the Earth is not round.

Just recently, one man named ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes announced he was launching himself into the sky in a homemade rocket in an effort to check the ‘alleged’ curvature of the world.

The launch was set back due to unforeseen circumstances, though, in a later announcement, Hughes revealed a new attempt.

At the end of last year, many Flat Earthers convened at the Flat Earth International Conference. Among them was Mark Sargent, who has a large following on YouTube thanks to his web seriesFlat Earth Clues.

He told ABC:

Flat Earth is not something new. I did not invent flat Earth. All I did was walk up to a door, point at it [and] say, 'You know what I think it's some really interesting things on the other side of this."

Here's some of the 'evidence' Flat Earthers like Mr Sargent offer to ‘prove’ the Earth is flat.

No one has ever laid claim to Antarctica

Flat Earthers reckon the fact that no one has claimed Antarctica could mean the Earth is flat. They also argue it’s not a continent but a 360 degree landmass made up of ice that surrounds the planet and holds in the oceans.

Mark Sargent points to international treaties protecting the continent on his YouTube channel. He asked:

Do you know any treaties that has lasted that long between any industrialised nations? Moreover, do you know any piece of real-estate that is owned by no one?

Use your eyes

They claim if you look out at the horizon, everything is flat. Even if you look over Lake Michigan to Chicago - the horizon is flat.

The level

Any body of water conforming to the curvature of the Earth would exhibit a bulge in its centre, according to Flat Earthers. They argue that the natural physics of water to find and maintain a level surface proves that.

Also, in 1838, someone ran a series of experiments along a six mile length of the Old Bedford River to prove just this.

No authentic pictures of Earth

Some Flat Earthers say we have no actual pictures of Earth. They claim photos we know are all photoshopped.

The sun’s rays

If the sun was 93 million miles away, sun rays would come in straight, argue some Flat Earthers.

The bottom of clouds are flat

They say that if you look at clouds, the bottom of them are flat so that means the Earth might be flat too. Flat Earthers who claim this clearly forgot that not all clouds have flat bottoms.

The globe in the classroom

Flat Earthers say that because our classrooms have ‘false’ globe models, we cannot comprehend the idea that the Earth is not round.

One of the most popular scientists in the UK Professor Brian Cox once responded to claims the Earth is flat in an interview.

He said:

There is absolutely no basis at all for thinking the world is flat.

Nobody in human history, as far as I know, has thought the world was flat.

The Conversation (0)
x