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Researchers believe they have identified the prime driver for a startling rise in the number of people who think the Earth is flat: Google’s video-sharing site, YouTube.
Their suspicion was raised when they attended the world’s largest gatherings of Flat Earthers at the movement’s annual conference in Rayleigh, North Carolina, in 2017, and then in Denver, Colorado, last year.
Interviews with 30 attendees revealed a pattern in the stories people told about how they came to be convinced that the Earth was not a large round rock spinning through space but a large flat disc doing much the same thing.
Of the 30, all but one said they had not considered the Earth to be flat two years ago but changed their minds after watching videos promoting conspiracy theories on YouTube. “The only person who didn’t say this was there with his daughter and his son-in-law and they had seen it on YouTube and told him about it,” said Asheley Landrum, who led the research at Texas Tech University.
[...] Some said they watched the videos only in order to debunk them but soon found themselves won over by the material.
(Score: 2) by engblom on Tuesday February 19 2019, @10:34PM (1 child)
At this moment the in many countries canyon separating the rich from the poor is just getting bigger and the queues for bread is growing. So many are feeling badly treated by their governments. This is a way for them to escape reality, by imaging that everything told by schools and authorities is just fake. They escape into the flat earth world, well knowing that it is not the real world, but it is still an alternative to their miserable life.
It is pretty much harmless to escape into an imagined world and for fun arguing with other about it and trying to find arguments for this world. A few truly easily tricked might follow by real belief. Still I believe most of the flat earthers know a flat earth does not exist. And better they escape into this world rather than escaping reality by getting high.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 21 2019, @02:31AM
Except in the most of the world where that isn't happening, of course. And people who watch videos on YouTube and attend conferences aren't waiting in bread lines.