Reporter Shares Experience of Visiting a Flat Earth Convention (vice.com) 356
Tom Usher, reporting for Vice: I arrived at the venue -- a Jurys Inn hotel -- on a wet Saturday morning, to discover that the event was essentially a small carpeted convention room boasting a few cameras, some stalls selling merchandise, and 70 or so attendees watching PowerPoint presentations beamed onto a wall. As I entered, I was offered a gift of "fluoride-free" toothpaste. This made perfect sense, given the location. A popular conspiracy theory states that governments across the world have been putting fluoride in our water supply to tranquilize the masses, despite the fact the only piece of "evidence" for this theory -- which involves both the Nazis and the Communists -- has been widely discredited. With the tone set for the day, I sat down to watch some speeches.
The speakers all seemed well aware of how "globe-earthers" view the idea of a flat Earth, i.e. ludicrous, and their talk of the current scientific establishment felt very "us versus them" -- a nice bit of truther tribalism. One speaker talked at length about the moon, and how its orbit proved the Earth couldn't be spherical, which seemed a little counterintuitive. Another talked about how the Egyptian pyramid structure points toward clues that the Earth is a flat diamond shape, supported by pillars. Between sounding off about the Vatican and the fact that the establishment has indoctrinated us to believe all sorts of things, including that the Earth is a sphere, a third speaker suggested that cancer is caused by negative emotions and argued that dinosaurs didn't exist. The story also explores why some people still believe these long-debunked theories. Further reading: The bizarre tale of the flat-Earth convention that fell apart (CNET).
The speakers all seemed well aware of how "globe-earthers" view the idea of a flat Earth, i.e. ludicrous, and their talk of the current scientific establishment felt very "us versus them" -- a nice bit of truther tribalism. One speaker talked at length about the moon, and how its orbit proved the Earth couldn't be spherical, which seemed a little counterintuitive. Another talked about how the Egyptian pyramid structure points toward clues that the Earth is a flat diamond shape, supported by pillars. Between sounding off about the Vatican and the fact that the establishment has indoctrinated us to believe all sorts of things, including that the Earth is a sphere, a third speaker suggested that cancer is caused by negative emotions and argued that dinosaurs didn't exist. The story also explores why some people still believe these long-debunked theories. Further reading: The bizarre tale of the flat-Earth convention that fell apart (CNET).
Been around for centuries, will be around for more (Score:3)
I'd say that anytime there is a duality of opinion, no matter how much evidence there is, you'll always find people on both sides.
I think we should be more concerned with the People Against Washing Hands Society.
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Stupidity combined with arrogance ("We know better!") will always be with the human race. There are far to many stupid people that do not understand what a "fact" is. Of course, cults of stupid depend on a majority that is a lot less stupid, or they do not survive. If they reach a certain size (e.g. the US as of today), they eventually self-destruct as ignoring reality is not sustainable on that scale.
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd say that anytime there is a duality of opinion, no matter how much evidence there is, you'll always find people on both sides.
Because otherwise there wouldn't be a duality of opinion?
Re: Been around for centuries, will be around for (Score:2)
Tautological assertions are true if tautologies.
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I'd say that anytime there is a duality of opinion, no matter how much evidence there is, you'll always find people on both sides.
Because otherwise there wouldn't be a duality of opinion?
Scientists have also determined if your parents did not have children, you probably won't either.
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Scientists have also determined if your parents did not have children, you probably won't either.
Not true. You can adopt an adult and become their parent in most states.
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:5, Interesting)
My point isn't that they're right, but they have an idea. Just like WE have an idea about spherical planets. So just like MOND vs dark matter, there's a debate (at least on their side.)
FINE. That's fine. *I* think the world is literally a cube from Superman's Bizarro World. So let's ALL make some predictions and observations and see what works. If you don't like an observation, fine, explain how it's wrong or produce a repeatable different one. But the more things a theory explains the "better" it is, right?
Spontaneous generation might still be proven right, but you'd better have everything absolutely perfect and repeatable to be accepted. I want the galaxies closer together -- AND a pony -- but wishing doesn't make it so. (So I guess I'll have to use astral projection to visit them instead of in person -- have to get the help of "expert" Shirley MaClaine for that one. Anyone have her phone number, or is she Out of Office / Body for awhile?)
Or is Flat Earth an unsupported belief AKA religion? "I don't care what you say, I know what's right." What, are they going to take their ball with an ant on top and go home?
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:4, Informative)
My point isn't that they're right, but they have an idea.
It's an idea which has been disproven. That makes clinging to it dumb.
So let's ALL make some predictions and observations and see what works. [...] Spontaneous generation might still be proven right,
Yeah, if your experiment was dumb enough. That's the problem with listening to EVERYONE. Some people you clearly don't listen to about anything. For example, if they think the earth is flat, you clearly don't need to listen to their theories on fluoridation. Even if fluoridation did turn out to be a commie plot, they wouldn't have been saying so for any logical reasons. They would have been accidentally right, and it still would have been dumb to listen to them. And god forbid ;) that you should get into the habit of listening to them because they were accidentally right, because then just imagine how far down the rabbit hole you could get!
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:5, Insightful)
My point isn't that they're right, but they have an idea.
It's an idea which has been disproven. That makes clinging to it dumb.
So let's ALL make some predictions and observations and see what works. [...] Spontaneous generation might still be proven right,
Yeah, if your experiment was dumb enough. That's the problem with listening to EVERYONE. Some people you clearly don't listen to about anything.
There is an internet philosophy that has people bringing up disproven or dipshit theories, and screaming that other people have to disprove them. A really warped idea if "If you don't disprove me to my satisfaction, you prove that I am right!"
Well, I suppose these modern day Neanderthals paid zero attention in science class, but I remember ancient concepts like spontaneous generation and flat earth being discussed in class, and unless a person wasn't capable of critical thinking, they would catch on real early and quickly that the earth was spherical, and that animals don't pop out of nowhere. Note yes - we now know that the earth was an oblate spheroid and a little chunky at the center.
The biggest problem with the idea that we must exhaustively explain every debunked idea over and overandoverandover again for people who have exactly no intention of taking the telling is that we'll be stuck forever explaining things like say, the phlogiston theory, when in fact we've moved so far beyond that that it would be a waste of time. Read it in a book, and move on.
Especially in the age of the internet, a skeptic could set up an experiment with say 50 others of like mind across the globe. Do the old Erastothenes experiment but around a meridian line describing a circle.
But who am I fooling.
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:4, Funny)
The part that I find funny is that it is simple to test the flat Earth theory... If the Earth is flat, then it must have edges right? It would be enough for one of these guys to get a boat and then navigate to find one of those edges. Or would they have some "fail-safe" theory to explain how a supposed flat Earth would have no edges?
If the world was flat, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
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So how do people come to believe this stuff?..... it was after watching some YouTube videos and realizing that "with all this movement, water stays flat, calm, and reflective to the point of being a perfect mirror, something that is not possible on a curve."
If someone said that to me, I would say, "Great! You are thinking outside the box, you are questioning Why?" That is how science starts. Then we would start doing experiments, showing that water can be flat in a curved dish, or discussing momentum in thought experiments (or even going out on a flatbed truck). Asking these kinds of questions is great, but you need to go beyond questioning and start experimenting. That is when your questions turn into discoveries
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Fiona continued: "I think, being African Caribbean, you tend to live to a certain extent on the outskirts of mainstream society. It's something the majority of white people don't experience,"........That was probably the most reasonable thing I'd heard all day: If you've been marginalized and feel like you've been lied to by institutions and people you're supposed to automatically trust for much of your life, why should you trust what any of them have to say?
So to some of these people, it doesn't matter so much whether the earth is flat or round. They are there more to have a community of people they can relax with and feel good with. The science is secondary (or in this case, non-existent).
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:5, Funny)
There are some good quotes in the article, explaining the viewpoints of the people involved. This one:
Fiona continued: "I think, being African Caribbean, you tend to live to a certain extent on the outskirts of mainstream society. It's something the majority of white people don't experience,"........That was probably the most reasonable thing I'd heard all day: If you've been marginalized and feel like you've been lied to by institutions and people you're supposed to automatically trust for much of your life, why should you trust what any of them have to say?
So to some of these people, it doesn't matter so much whether the earth is flat or round. They are there more to have a community of people they can relax with and feel good with. The science is secondary (or in this case, non-existent).
I also read the implicit connotation that the oblate spheroid that the earth is claimed to be is to be consider a racist white concept? Who knew?
Re:Been around for centuries, will be around for m (Score:5, Funny)
That's not necessarily a bad thing. I used to be a member of a drinking club with a rugby problem.
Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:3, Insightful)
Just like religions.
It's bizarre, isn't it?
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Insightful)
I would call it instructive. It shows that most people do not manage to understand what Science is and what it can and cannot do, because they lack the mental capabilities to do so. It explains a few things about why so many things on this planet are so fucked up.
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:4, Funny)
Just like religions.
It's bizarre, isn't it?
Oh surely not! If they can't accept the 'secondhand' proof available from 60 years of space and near-space exploration, then how could they accept religious concepts without a personal experience of having actually seen and dealt with a supreme being?
It does beg the question of how they could believe in bacteria or atoms or the Marianas Trench since they haven't personally seen them either...
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Just like religions.
It's bizarre, isn't it?
Oh surely not! If they can't accept the 'secondhand' proof available from 60 years of space and near-space exploration, then how could they accept religious concepts without a personal experience of having actually seen and dealt with a supreme being?
It does beg the question of how they could believe in bacteria or atoms or the Marianas Trench since they haven't personally seen them either...
Granted the above, per Aristotle, you can show "the existence of the unmoved mover of the universe, a supra-physical entity, without which the physical domain could not remain in existence" (Physics, Bk. VIII) from first principles:
* http://tofspot.blogspot.ca/2014/07/first-way-some-background.html
Asking for physical proof of God's existence is like asking Bilbo Baggins to prove the existence of Tolkien.
Re: Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:2)
Asking for physical proof of God's existence is like asking Bilbo Baggins to prove the existence of Tolkien.
Given that Tolkien exists (or existed) and Bilbo doesn't, it's more like asking Tolkien to prove that Bilbo exists.
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Don't know what you are talking about. Christians did wholesale mass-murder in the crusades, for example, in pretty much the mode you describe. There is no larger religion that has not done atrocities and justified them afterwards.
Re: Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, some 800 years ago Christians tried taking back land from the Muslims. Ie, war for land. Today Muslims murder people because of difference of opinion, not iver land. Totes the same today.
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There were massive wars in Europe over which brand of Christianity was correct up until the 18th century and this included burning people alive, often on the flimsiest of evidence with torture used to extract confessions.
Then there is the violence against Jews and Romi which, especially in the case of the Romi is still being perpetrated, and various forms of cultural and real genocide practiced by various Christians in the America's against the natives.
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It was never Christian land in the first place. The first crusade was to aid the Byzantines who had lost lands to the Turks. Christian Franks recaptured the land and didn't return it, went on to conquer Jerusalem, set up some puppet states and left. After that they got messier. The more things change ...
If you want to look at a cleaner example of pure faith-on-faith killing with the Christians as the prosecutors, try the Albigensian crusade [wikipedia.org] from which we (supposedly) get the wonderful "Kill them all. God wi
+1 Informative, really? (Score:4, Insightful)
What religion were the Byzantines?
Since I actually have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll give you a hint: not Buddhists.
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So, what do you mean when you say it "never" was Christian land?
This is a complex story and it doesn't help when misinformation is blithely tossed around. Saying Jerusalem was never Christian is like saying the earth is flat.
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And for Hitler, the better-than-everyone-else was genetics. The problem isn't religion; it's the idea that one group is inherently superior to all others. Religion is a rationale, not a cause.
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While I don't speak for GP, something tells me that he's referring to the postmodern era.
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Not to mention the spanish inquisition [youtube.com].
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Funny)
Nobody expects -- oops, sorry.
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Nobody expects -- oops, sorry.
I'm afraid you're keeping some people in suspense... Why not surprise them?
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Bugger, I'll come in again.
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't know what you are talking about. Christians did wholesale mass-murder in the crusades, for example, in pretty much the mode you describe. There is no larger religion that has not done atrocities and justified them afterwards.
Because some group of murderous bastards did something 800 years ago you think we shouldn't be denouncing any current group of murderous bastards who does it now?
What most people fail to realise is that multiple and repeated surveys found that the majority of muslims *worldwide* support Sharia law.
When you refer to "moderate muslims" you are still talking about people who would ban gay relationships and use the force of law to punish homosexuals. The number of christians who support those sorts of laws is vanshingly small.
Stop apologising for homophobia. You should examine why you need to go back hundreds of years to find anything comparative in primitiveness to Islam.
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:4, Informative)
When you refer to "moderate muslims" you are still talking about people who would ban gay relationships and use the force of law to punish homosexuals. The number of christians who support those sorts of laws is vanshingly small.
Maybe where you live. In the United States, it's pretty close to 50%.
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Cities were sacked if they put up resistance, sometimes cities were sacked because of anger, lack of pay, insults. Rome was sacked by Spanish Christians in the 1520s.
The Crusades were about many things. The key thing was to reclaim Jerusalem; to open pilgramage routes there.
Runciman's History of the Crusades is a great place to start. The one weakness in his writing is that he discounted religion (ie ideas that help form ones world view) in
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference is the teachings of Christianity don't support those things.
Pick up The Holy Bible and read it. Once that Jesus guy turns up, things change.
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Dude, the teachings of Jesus literally involve gearing up for the Final Battle.
Let alone the parts about how marriage is a sin only slightly worse than fornicating, that children should disown their parents to become Christian, etc etc.
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't know what you are talking about. Christians did wholesale mass-murder in the crusades, for example, in pretty much the mode you describe. There is no larger religion that has not done atrocities and justified them afterwards.
Totes adorbs, TODAY'S Islam:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation [wikipedia.org]
You need to grow a brain.
FGM isn't a problem with Islam, it's a problem with a specific region of Africa. It's true there's a fairly high correlation between Muslim Africa and FGM Africa, but it's not perfect. In Nigeria it's actually the Christians, not the Muslims, who are the problem [wikipedia.org].
That's really the problem when trying to generalize religions, even among people who claim the same label you find a whole bunch of different groups with wildly different beliefs, especially with things like religion where there's not a lot of evidence to rally people around certain foundations.
That's also the reason things like Flat Earth Conventions end up so chaotic, when you're so detached from reality that you're a Flat Earther it's almost random the collection of beliefs that you end up grabbing. Gather a bunch together in one place you're bound to get some equally wild ideas on other subjects that aren't shared by all present, in-fighting is almost inevitable.
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Bull. This may have been a tribal practice once, but it has been wholeheartedly endorsed by imams and absorbed into their faith. Ever heard a Catholic bishop in Nigeria praise FGM? Imams do, and by condoning it they too become guilty.
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Except it's not. I spread from a certain part of Africa to other parts of the Muslim world.
And the Macarena spread from Spain to other parts of the Christian world.
Do you think this means that Spanish dance music is a part of Christianity? Or is a better explanation that groups that share a religion also tend to share cultural practises as well?
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:4, Informative)
The worst religion inspired violence in the world today is the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya. The perpetrators are Buddhist, not Muslim.
Re: Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:2, Informative)
The vast majority of the worlds Buddhists are moderate! Buddhism is a religion of peace!
You understand that what's going on with the Rohingya is essentially a civil war, right? It's not like they're some peaceful group that just happened to be randomly attacked. Muslim militants in Myanmar have been carrying out attacks for a long time. The Buddhist government is responding to that; they're just not as queasy about group-punishment as the western world is.
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Yes of course, it's just the government responding to militants. That's why the populace is so understanding of the plight of the civilians caught in the crossfire, right?
Hint, they're not. For example, here's a bit about the Buddhist monks who are stoking prejudice and ethnic tensions: https://www.economist.com/news... [economist.com]
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You understand that what's going on with the Rohingya is essentially a civil war, right?
In which case the vast majority of allegedly inter-religious conflicts are really about something else. Which is actually true; religion rarely starts wars, at most it makes them a bit worse.
Re: Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:4, Interesting)
According to Wikipedia the current wave of violence started with anti-Muslim riots in 2012 [wikipedia.org] triggered by the gang rape of a Buddhist woman, despite a medical examiner saying she wasn't raped, and at least one of the alleged rapists being Buddhist.
This doesn't seem to be consistent with your claims that "they started it".
Re: Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:4, Insightful)
According to Wikipedia the current wave of violence started with anti-Muslim riots in 2012 triggered by the gang rape of a Buddhist woman, despite a medical examiner saying she wasn't raped, and at least one of the alleged rapists being Buddhist.
Framing this as "anti-muslim riots" is asinine. From your own article:
"As of 22 August, officially there had been 88 casualties â" 57 Muslims and 31 Buddhists. An estimated 90,000 people were displaced by the violence. About 2,528 houses were burned; of those, 1,336 belonged to Rohingyas and 1,192 belonged to Rakhines."
This doesn't seem to be consistent with your claims that "they started it".
"They started it" would be far too simplistic of an analysis, which is why I never said any such thing. This conflict, like most such conflicts around the world, is the result of centuries of back-and-forth attacks between two distinct groups with a very long history of animosity. I'm not particularly interested in pointing fingers; I'm just annoyed by your determination to paint the Muslims as a besieged group of guiltless victims.
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Buddhism is not a religion.
That's kind of a fundamental point of it. It's spirituality without any of the baggage of religion, such as judgment, a concrete origin story, etc.
Yet today you have people worshiping it's key figure as a near-deity, despite the fact that doing so complete foes against the teachings of Buddhism!
It's madness!
Re:Psychosis / Mass Psychosis (Score:5, Informative)
Were they shouting "Save the unborn" and bombing abortion clinics, because that's what the religious zealots do here. Before that, they shouted "Die Ni**er" and bombed black churches and neighborhoods.
Never seen a Muslim do either of those.
** Lameness Filter is Lame.
What planet you been on? Cuz the color of your sky ain't blue.
Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death [washingtonpost.com]
Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punishable by death:
Yemen: According to the 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.
Iran: In accordance with sharia law, homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death, and men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing. Women may be flogged.
Mauritania: Muslim men engaging in homosexual sex can be stoned to death, according to a 1984 law, though none have been executed so far. Women face prison.
Nigeria: Federal law classifies homosexual behavior as a felony punishable by imprisonment, but several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men. A law signed in early January makes it illegal for gay people countrywide to hold a meeting or form clubs.
Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation.
Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.
Afghanistan: The Afghan Penal Code does not refer to homosexual acts, but Article 130 of the Constitution allows recourse to be made to sharia law, which prohibits same-sex sexual activity in general. Afghanistan’s sharia law criminalizes same-sex sexual acts with a maximum of the death penalty. No known cases of death sentences have been meted out since the end of Taliban rule in 2001.
Somalia: The penal code stipulates prison, but in some southern regions, Islamic courts have imposed sharia law and the death penalty.
Sudan: Three-time offenders under the sodomy law can be put to death; first and second convictions result in flogging and imprisonment. Southern parts of the country have adopted more lenient laws.
United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law prescribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.
Notice anything in common among those countries?
You have the balls to answer? I'm guessing no.
You're a fool. A stupid fucking fool. Was elementary school the best decade of your life.
Yeah - it's all quant and cute... (Score:3, Insightful)
Until they elect a gameshow host as president, start banning research, and screwing over everyone that doesn't kowtow.
I wonder how Trump is going to be remembered, once it isn't seen as important for half the population that he be seen as somehow respectable. In retrospect, most conservatives see George W. Bush as a big mistake... it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.
Why do we have to keep switching to these idiotic reactionary anti-science folks so often? What ideals does it serve? It always seems like such madness - madness yelling that it deserves respect as it disrespects everything else.
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He is a textbook example of "moron on top and put there by other morons".
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The moron that put him there is called Hillary. She thought she'd look favourable next to him.
Boy, did she fuck that one up.
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I can't speak for others, but I certainly voted "against" Hillary and not "for" Trump.
There's no such thing as voting against Hillary and not for Trump. Your attempt to wash your hands clean of your actions is symptomatic of you and your ilk's unwillingness to take responsibility for any of your actions.
Not everyone who voted for Trump wears a MAGA hat. However, I would gladly wear a Hillary for Prison hat.
That's understandable. What's not understandable is putting even scummier scum into the presidency because of your petulance.
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I wonder how Trump is going to be remembered
It depends how the economy does under his administration, (which, ironically, he doesn't have a whole lot of control over).
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I wonder how Trump is going to be remembered
It depends how the economy does under his administration
Unless something even more important than that happens during his presidency, which he has slightly more control over...
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tranquilize the masses? (Score:5, Funny)
A popular conspiracy theory states that governments across the world have been putting fluoride in our water supply to tranquilize the masses,
I thought that was solved by television.
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A popular conspiracy theory states that governments across the world have been putting fluoride in our water supply to tranquilize the masses,
Jesus those people! Don't they know it's there to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluid? WAKE UP SHEEPLE
Re: tranquilize the masses? (Score:2, Funny)
This is how I stopped worrying and learned to love the bong. Or am I thinking of a different meme?
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I thought that was solved by television.
Milennials ruined that too by cable cutting.
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Ever wonder why everyone on television has perfect teeth? It's the flouride.
By that metric, England would be the most "woke" country on Earth.
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A popular conspiracy theory states that governments across the world have been putting fluoride in our water supply to tranquilize the masses,
I thought that was solved by television.
That's just what they want you to think.
Taking the piss. (Score:5, Insightful)
C'mon, I thought it was common knowledge that the whole "movement" is a giant troll-job aimed at getting just this kind of hand-wringing attention.
Law of Goats (Score:2)
If you kiss goats, you're a goat kisser, even if you're only doing it ironically.
Ya'll Just Don't Understand (Score:3, Funny)
It's pillars all the way down (Score:3)
The "Earth is a flat diamond shape, supported by pillars", is it? So what supports the pillars?
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The "Earth is a flat diamond shape, supported by pillars", is it? So what supports the pillars?
I believe it's been scientifically theorized as being supported by turtles...
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That's turtley correct.
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The "Earth is a flat diamond shape, supported by pillars", is it? So what supports the pillars?
Government subsidies.
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flat earthers are dumb, but flouride is toxic (Score:2, Insightful)
It is the by-product of many industries and is toxic. Whatever research this OP is citing (source?) is horribly wrong. The CDC even acknowledges it is toxic. $5 says my comment gets deleted. Slashdot used to be full of smart people, what happened? Oh, a large news company bought it...
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Slashdot used to be full of smart people, what happened?
People have been drinking too much tap water all their lives. Their brain development may be hampered, but their teeth are shiny white.
http://www.fluoridation.com/c-... [fluoridation.com] From the link:
"Only about 5% of the world population is fluoridated and more than 50% of these people live in North America.
That may sort of explains the political mess in the US then doesn't it. In most of western Europe, fluoride in water is banned; because they *do* actually read the research, such as the link that darkharlequin posted and don't just parrot others blindly.
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It is the by-product of many industries and is toxic.
Everything is a poison. What matters is the dose.
"Too much of anything is bad for you. That's what `too much' means." - Stephen Fry
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If the Earth were really flat.. (Score:5, Funny)
If the Earth were really flat, cats would have pushed everything off of the edge.
Sigh. (Score:4, Insightful)
Could we please stop celebrating and tolerating ignorance?
Thanks.
P.S. Just... literally... get a boat. Pick a direction - any direction. And keep going. Whether or not the Earth is flat will be proven within less than 80 days (and that was a long time ago, you can do it much quicker now).
If something's flat, it either has an edge, or it's infinite. You'll find out, to within a certain margin or error, in a couple of months of travelling, and have some great experiences along the way.
Either you'll never see the same place twice, or you'll fall off an end. Note: If you come back where you started, you're crap at navigation or the Earth is round. Both of which give you a pretty big hint that you shouldn't be formulating flat-Earth theories.
Or are we honestly claiming an infinitely long and wide self-repeating tiled plane?
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William Dyer wouldn't be leading that expedition, by any chance, would he?
Re: Sigh. (Score:2)
There are continents in the way which make that somewhat difficult. And you have to rely on charts to get from place to place so, even if they did by some miracle manage to circumnavigate the globe, they would simply assume that the charts and navigational devices were all designed by Them to ensure that you travel a path which makes the world appear round.
A much simpler, cheaper, and less time consuming method would be to buy a weather balloon and strap a go-pro to it. A good weather baloon can attain al
For the world is flat and I have pet turtles (Score:2)
I want one of those shirts with the UN emblem /w phrase "THE EARTH IS FLAT" under it.
By far my favorite and most interesting phrase from the whole article "So [becoming a flat earther] made me more skeptical, and more aware."
Conspiracy theory defined (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Technically speaking, you are right.
Also, if you believe that terrorists caused 9/11, by that definition, you are a conspiracy theorist. In fact the only way not to be a conspiracy theorist about 9/11 is either not having an opinion at all or believing that everything is a giant mistake.
Ideocracy (Score:2)
Ideocracy is coming real sooner than I expected.
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie (Score:2)
Just a theory.
Let us not forget.... (Score:3)
There really are also modern concave Earthers, too...who no doubt tonight think they are looking up at China...
Testing for flatness (Score:2)
If the Earth is as flat as claimed and the F.Es are suggesting we can't observe the Earth as a sphere, would it be useful to provide a test that provides the observation?
I propose the following test. A triangle's interior angles all add up to 180 degrees. If the Earth is flat it should be possible for three sufficiently spaced teams moving out to the horizon with laser surveying equipment to measure the interior angles of a triangle covering some part of the earth.
Obviously the larger the triangle the
Some folks (Score:2)
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Re:Flat earth for the in crowd: (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't make conclusions until they are done with their jobs.
I like how you wrote that 2 sentences after you concluded:
There is however, clear evidence that Russia tried to influence the US election, and that people in the Trump campaign were involved in that.
Re: (Score:3)
No, no one pled guilty to colluding with Russians about the election. Or anything close to that. No one has been charged with foreign influence of the election. There are specific laws against that, but no one has been charged under those laws.
Re: (Score:3)
No, no one was indicted under 52 U.S.C. 30121, which covers “meddling” in U.S. elections by foreign nationals [powerlineblog.com].
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Same with "vaccines are poison", same with "government is coming for your guns", same with "SJWs are taking our video games away", same with anything involving Soros or the Koch brothers...
Honestly, not really. "Vaccines are poison" is motivated by parents who want someone to blame for their difficulties. It's not really like conspiracy theories where the conspiracy theorist integrates his belief with his own ego.
"Government is coming for your guns" is a precaution due to all the people in and out of government who advocate taking guns from people. It's exaggerated sometimes. But I'm personally not allowed to own the guns I want — the most popular rifle in the country— because
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Anyone who doesn't understand flat-earth theory has never read Einstein. Of course, you have to read him in the original Hebrew before NASA censored the translation.