For those of you that are not aware (and for some of you, this is going to be quite a shock I suppose) there is a heated debate going on currently with a growing group of people who believe, and many who are absolutely convinced, that the Earth is FLAT. Yes, this is an actual thing. There are literally thousands upon thousands of people who are exploring this notion. There are hoards of independent researchers online who are posting videos with supposed evidence to support their claims. Blogs have been written, podcasts recorded, comments sections flooded. Hell, there’s even been a book or two written about it. These people are dedicated and very serious about supporting a new ‘Flat Earth’ model to replace our currently accepted heliocentric system. “Who the fuck thinks the world is flat? What kind of moron believes such nonsense? Have you ever been up in a airplane and seen the curvature of the Earth, stupid? Shit is round, like the other planets. We have like a gazillion images of the Earth from space you douchenozzle!” There are many people who ridicule the idea of even having such an absurd discussion or debate on the subject, or even questioning the rotundity of the Earth in the first place. Personally though, I am not the kind of guy who shuns this idea. Why? Why would I even consider engaging in such a discussion? Because I believe in SCIENCE. It is in my opinion that restating our assumptions and clarifying first principles is actually a REALLY GOOD THING to do every once in a while. What is so wrong with questioning fundamental and widely accepted ideas? How often have we ever even considered questioning the celestial mechanics of the world in which we live? How much does the average person even know about the movements of the planets, the sun, the moon and the Earth? Are we supposed to take, at face value, the promulgations made from self-proclaimed authorities of science? Currently we have the ability to obtain first hand accounts across the world of what the star positions are, what the moon looks like and what phase it is in, as well as how its geography appears to us on Earth. We have the ability to see the ascension and declination of the sun and its path through our skies, the appearance of the pole star and what angle it is, where the planets are along the ecliptic, what is viewable at vast distances over the Earth, etc, etc. ALL of which could be procured and the data obtained without the use of Google Earth, Google Sky Map or any other GPS units or software. In other words, all of this could be done with naked eye observation and personal recording equipment. A lengthy controlled test could be arranged, a website built, a series of dates across several months could be picked in which thousands of people go out in their particular time zones / geographic locations and collect data on 10 – 20 various phenomenon like the ones listed above. The evidence can be presented online, the entire thing mapped and once the test was completed, the results could be very carefully examined. But let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen. Unfortunately, a caring, open, honest, cordial and humanly-kind debate is not what we are going to have on this particular subject (and so many others) because we forbid ourselves to have it. So many people that are engaging in this discussion, on both sides of the fence, seem to be so adamant and staunch in their convictions. On both sides, the tendency is to resort to bickering, belittlement, defensive and argumentative behavior, ridiculing, and being flippant and dismissive about key points runs rampant in the comment sections, blogs and discussion boards of many online forums. And that is extremely sad, wildly unfortunate, and speaks volumes about the collective maturity level of our species. Truth will never be found where care and compassion are lacking.

• published: 18 Mar 2016
• views: 950