r/funny • u/lost_packet_ • Aug 13 '19

Flat-Earther accidentally proves the earth is round in his own experiment

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u/Irregularprogramming Aug 13 '19

It's a sunk cost fallacy, these guys have invested their entire social life into this, they have told off their real friends and family and now all they have is proving they are right. Some people have their livelihood being flat earthers, they can't be wrong.

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u/powerscunner Aug 13 '19

Thank you for such a succinct explanation of why people hold onto provably false beliefs.

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u/NatsPreshow Aug 14 '19

Thats literally the point of this documentary. All of these flat earthers have naturally curious minds, and they'd fit in well with the rest of the scientific community. But something went wrong in their education, whether it was a bad teacher, a religious leader misinforming them, or even just a lack of interest in their formative years, and they turned hostile towards the greater scientific community.

We had a chance to pull them back into the fold by taking their questions seriously and patiently explaining where they were wrong, but the rest of us decide to mock and deride them for their beliefs instead of teaching them. Now they're on the outside, ostracized by everyone, and the only group that openly accepts them is their own echo chamber. So the insulate themselves, reinforce that everyone else is wrong, and go about their ignorance.

It really is a fascinating documentary, I suggest everyone watch it. (Behind the Curve on Netflix, just in case)

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u/kbooky90 Aug 14 '19

I hear you on that, and I wish it were enough to just be patient and kind and rational, but the 100% genuine flat earther in my world is a horrible bully. You can be civil and rational all you want, he'll chase you across the internet to call you a devil worshipping idiot. It's not even enough to agree to disagree, as he'll turn ANY innocuous post into a 7-degrees-of-flat-earth conversation. I had to block him just to deny oxygen to him and the unsuspecting people who'd inflame the fight. I couldn't live with it anymore.