(Flickr / Dave Freedom)
(Flickr / Dave Freedom)
Since the early 1500s, it has been generally accepted that our planet is a spherical shape. The great voyages of Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano proved that sailing to the edge of the world wouldn’t see you fall off. However, this is 2018, and the Flat Earth Society has found a way to thrive in a post-truth era.
There’s never been quite as much distrust towards public institutions as there is now. The White House is advocating “alternative facts”. Media outlets are dismissed as “fake”. And of course, there are even suspicions about the concept of climate change.
If you are a Christian you have to continue with the flat earth theory. It’s really crazy how nature does that. #atheism #FlatEarth pic.twitter.com/hPpt72mzKE
— sidath matheesha (@MSudusinghe) June 6, 2018
This wave of questioning everything in an establishment capacity – politicians, news channels, scientists and even NASA – has paved the way for thousands of “flat earthers” to make their case. There are legions of believers across the world, often attending conferences and consolidating their movement.
What do flat-earthers believe?
However, it has been in the last week where one of their most batshit insane theories has been met with derision: Many within the group believe that Australia doesn’t exist.
We’ll repeat that one more time: Some flat-earthers believe. That Australia. Does not. Exist.
The conspiracy was floated about earlier this year, and picked up some momentum within the community, and then outside of it when “spherical-earthers” got hold of it.
Apparently, all Australians are “computer generated” or “actors”. When you fly to Australia, you’re actually being taken to different islands near “South America”. Allegedly, Australia is “just a cover-up” as Britain never actually took their criminals there. They just dumped them all in the sea.
We’ve only just scratched the surface with this one. Here’s what else the group are saying…
Five other weird flat earth theories:
Earth is something between a disc and a snowglobe
Okay, so if we’re not round, what are we? Some members theorise that we are on a rotating disc and that we spin in the same way a record or CD would. The sun stays in position, with the moon making its way from side-to-side.
Others have identified Earth as being a “snowglobe” shape – flat on the bottom, but with an atmosphere and a sky that curves round like a semi-circle.
Pac-Man reality
Now we’re really getting high-concept. A recent Flat Earth Conference in the UK heard that there are four-dimensional walls across each side of the planet, and when people pass through them, they are transported to the other side of the world: Like in the video game, Pac-Man.
This idea also involves the Earth being “diamond-shaped“, and resting on seven immovable pillars. We told you, things were about to get wild.
Flat Earth Society: “Antarctica is all around us”
So what about our ice caps? Well, forget the South Pole and the North Pole (with apologies to Santa Clause), the planet is surrounded entirely by a wall of ice. This, apparently, is what we have come to know as Antarctica – the continent is actually a conspiracy that all of NASA and climate scientists are in on.
Gravity doesn’t exist
Well, if we’re meant to be on a flat plain, you can almost see their logic. Gravity is no force, but it’s just the name given to the acceleration of the disc-Earth. They don’t believe it’s needed to keep us all rooted to the ground, but rather, that it dictates the speed of the flat-planet’s spin cycle.
Of course, Cape Town is involved
Here we go. The legendary Cape of Good Hope has seen many explorers sail past, in their bids to extend their knowledge of how the planet works. However, the Mother City is now being used as scripture for the Flat Earth Society.
It’s been calculated that ships should not be visible over the horizon if they are more than 12 miles away. Yet certain telescopes and binoculars bring a full ship into focus, even if half of it appears “missing” to the naked eye. The society says this is the “primary proof” the Earth is not round:
“It’s one of the first and primary proofs of a Flat Earth. The fact that a telescope can restore a half-sunken ship demonstrates that the ship is not travelling behind a convex earth.”
The first time this theory was documented was by the appropriately named Thomas Winship, who observed a ship’s journey from Cape Town heading up to Saldhana Bay. Cape Town has, unfortunately, become inextricably linked to the Flat Earth Society.
