It’s a description about how so many people think about so many things. Flat earth is just an obviously silly one that we can mock people for.
The reality is that so many people simply refuse to accept new information that contradicts their previously held views. To the point where it has contributed to societal breakdown.
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s quite literally a joke about the Antarctica trip. There was one who changed their mind and was heavily ostracized for it.
Canadian_Cabinet@lemmy.ca 5 hours ago
My favorite theory from that whole debacle is that those guys actually went to the Las Vegas Sphere, which is apparently a giant green screen now (its not)
merc@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
That’s the problem. Believing in a flat earth isn’t just some weird quirk, like believing that gluten is bad for you or the number 4 is bad luck because in Chinese it sounds like the word for death. You can have beliefs like that and still maintain friendships with people who don’t share them. It’s such an illogical belief that people who express it are always mocked, and it’s also such a big “conspiracy” that believers have trouble not talking about it. That means believers tend to form a community to support each-other and defend against these insults. It’s basically an especially stupid religious community or a cult.
Giving up on your belief that the earth is flat means losing your whole community. There’s no real way to be a sphere-earther in the flat earther community. Some of the people “lose faith” but don’t admit it to the others in the community because they don’t want to be ostracized.
I would guess that the people who manage to leave the community are the ones who have friends and family that are willing to forgive and forget and welcome them back after they leave the cult. That also means that the ones who have lost their friends and family due to their wacky beliefs are never going to drop those beliefs because they’ll have nothing left.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
People do this all the time in hobby groups and other social formations.
Right now in cycling the industry is pushing a new wheel size, and people are freaking out about it and saying they will ostracize people who buy a new bike with the new wheels. And every youtuber influencer is like making videos about how they will stay loyal to the old size… and they all did this over a decade ago and in a few years they will all be huge proponents of the new wheels once they are socially acceptable to do so.
merc@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
Really? What’s the new wheel size? Get me in on this controversy!