In Need of a Social Circle
How Flat Earth became a community
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As if the modern “information age” needed anymore nonsense passing as legitimate discussion, the Flat Earth movement has grown in recent years. Some seem to tacitly defend the misbegotten beliefs of Flat Earthers (as they tend to be called) on the principle that others have shared the same ideas on occasion. The argument does not defend the veracity of their beliefs, but contends that denigrating those who hold them is unfair. Chris Fleming, from Wester Sydney University, for example, says that the moniker “Flat Earther” is “simply a scientifically seasoned variation of ‘idiot’.” Fleming seems to suggest such a characterization is improper, pointing to a smattering of cultures that adopted the notion of a flat earth in random, and miniscule, moments in history.
Others allege that flat earthers purport to “love science,” but “don’t trust scientists.” Asheley Landrum, assistant professor of science communication at Texas Tech University, notes that the “number one characteristic” leading people to the flat earth movement is their penchant for entertaining conspiracy theories. A close second causation factor is a person’s “science intelligence.” Without knowing how various processes work, and not trusting those who do, flat earthers tend to substitute their own fantastic idea of a scientific method. This is common among conspiracy theorists—see this article on ‘chemtrail’ proponents who engage in their own version of ‘science.’
Rational people first recognized that the Earth is not flat more than two thousand years ago. Eratosthenes, a Greek mathematician, geographer, and the head of the Library at Alexandria, calculated the circumference of the Earth to within 99 miles sometime around the year 240 BCE. Ponder that for a moment, a man relatively accurately (about 99.6%) determined the perimeter of the planet based on a few simple facts—he knew the rough distance between Syene (modern day Aswan in Egypt) and Alexandria, he measured the angle of the shadow cast on Alexandria on the solstice, and he knew geometry. Two centuries before Eratosthenes’ calculation, Pythagoras suspected that the Earth must be round by mere observation of eclipses and his own understanding of geometry, sometime around 500 BCE. Pythagoras’ comprehension of geometry is legend. After all, for those who recall (with some nausea) their geometry classes in high school, Pythagoras has a theorem named for him:
I made it really big to help you relive the horror!
During Pythagoras’ time, philosophers vigorously debated the shape of the Earth. Aristotle wrote that observers held three views—that the Earth is spherical, flat, or shaped like a drum. Some have asserted that Thales of Miletus was among those who posited a flat earth, and while he did propone a theory that the planet “rests on water,” a full look at the writings of the day strongly indicate that what rested on the water was, nonetheless, spherical in his view. Anaximander created a model that situated the planet as cylindrical, or shaped like a drum, to use Aristotle’s verbiage. Leucippus held the same view, but based on very different reasons. Leucippus posited the idea that atoms swirl into clusters that move toward the center of a system and create membranes of atoms at the outer edge, thrust there by a type of centrifugal force; on that outer ridge is where suns form. The Heliocentric model later replaced this view of the Earth as the center of the universe. Anaxagoras claimed the Earth was flat and stationary—not spinning. Eventually, the spherical view prevailed.
As tended to happen in ancient days, after scholars discovered then developed some brilliant idea, philosophers and orators spread it to the populace. Plato may have made the strongest early argument for a spherical earth, though some propose that Socrates popularized the notion. Whatever the case, by Eratosthenes’ time scholars directed their energies toward learning the specifications of the planet, based on its sphericality. In around the beginning of the first century BCE (possibly sooner), Crates of Mallus—head of the library of Pergamum—developed the first globe of the Earth. By then, virtually everyone understood the Earth to be a sphere (technically a spheroid). The awareness of the spherical shape of the Earth persisted even throughout the so-called Dark Ages. (The notion of a progress-less period we call the Dark Ages itself has been repeatedly disproved).
Explorers over the next centuries knew the earth was round and planned their trips accordingly. Even the most pervasive folklore, that the homicidal Christopher Columbus traveled west to disprove a flat Earth, is false. As historian Jeffrey Burton Russell wrote nearly three decades ago,
It must first be reiterated that with extraordinary few exceptions no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat.
The assumption that Columbus sought to buck the notion of a flat Earth by sailing the ostensibly wrong way to reach the east, according to Russell, is owed to Washington Irving. Russell explained:
It was he who invented the indelible picture of the young Columbus, a "simple mariner," appearing before a dark crowd of benighted inquisitors and hooded theologians at a council of Salamanca, all of whom believed, according to Irving, that the earth was flat like a plate. Well, yes, there was a meeting at Salamanca in 1491, but Irving's version of it, to quote a distinguished modern historian of Columbus, was "pure moonshine. Washington Irving, scenting his opportunity for a picturesque and moving scene," created a fictitious account of this "nonexistent university council" and "let his imagination go completely...the whole story is misleading and mischievous nonsense."
Resistance to Columbus’ proposal, then, actually stemmed from a dispute over the length of Columbus’ sought route. He wanted to map out a shorter route to the eastern trade markets of India and China, presumably for his own profit or fame. The committee established by those from whom Columbus sought funds for his journey initially rejected his proposal because Columbus held wildly mistaken beliefs about the size of the earth, not its roundness. In other words, they did not expect to obtain the profits Columbus hoped for because his ineptness did not give them faith that shorter trade routes existed by traveling west. Irving’s fantasized account of the whole affair, written centuries later in 1828, inadvertently contributed to upholding the myth that there was a renaissance-era belief in a flat Earth that in reality simply did not exist. As Erin Blakemore notes,
The real fools were Irving’s readers, who were taken in by his inaccurate account. And when his book became a runaway bestseller, the supposed confrontation between the rational explorer and the dogmatic official was accepted as truth.
While modern-day twaddle that gathers mainstream attention often emerges from fiction factories like TikTok and Twitter, before their advent purveyors of misinformation relied on more labor-intensive mechanisms. The primeval flat earther of the late Industrial era, Samuel Rowbotham of London, England, started wandering from town to English town in the late 1800s clamoring that the celestial bodies in the sky, including stars, could only be a few thousand miles away. Rowbotham supported his ideas by claiming that the only verifiable “facts” were those individuals could prove themselves. (Whether he ever supplied evidence of his thousand-mile hypothesis is hard to determine). Visiting the municipalities of England, Rowbotham made a fortune spreading his hokum. He also made money selling medical ‘cures’ that did not work, one of which poisoned his own children. The Flat Earth Wiki describes the theory behind this poisonous snake oil as “innovative.” Rowbotham is also famous among flat earthers for conducting the first Bedford Level Experiment that, amusedly, proved the roundness of the Earth (they, of course, reject that conclusion).
Rowbotham’s attempt at building a flat earth “society,” a community of fellow believers, failed but another Brit picked up the mantle in the 1950s. Samuel Shenton established the International Flat Earth Research Society around the time the space race between the USA and USSR started gaining speed. To account for this within his flat Earth theories, Shenton began disseminating the idea that all the space launches, videos, and other evidence comprised a “deception of the public.” He was, in a way, the first Moon Landing Hoaxer before the first astronaut even stepped foot there. Anyway, Shenton’s friend Charles Kenneth Johnson took over the organization upon Shenton’s death in the early 1970s. Johnson proffered some of the ludicrous arguments flat earthers still proclaim, such as “If earth were a ball spinning in space, there would be no up or down.” Johnson managed to muster a membership reaching around 3,500 people. But it didn’t last. By the time he died, the number had already dwindled to about 100.
In 2004, Daniel Shenton resurrected the Flat Earth Society on the internet, eventually growing it to near 500 members. He argues that the “Earth is flat because it appears flat,” a stunningly profound observation. Moreover, like his predecessors, he posits that personal inspection trumps all other evidence. Skepticism of any observations or development by anyone but him is his philosophical foundation. He is loath to trust even his own eyes, telling a reporter once that a personal trip to space would convince him of a round Earth only if “in seeing it, I would have to be convinced there weren't any tricks involved.” Finally, he sums up his viewpoint this way:
I haven't taken this position just to be difficult. To look around, the world does appear to be flat, so I think it is incumbent on others to prove decisively that it isn't. And I don't think that burden of proof has been met yet.
This statement expresses the fundamental underlying problem of many flat earthers—their inability to understand basic science fuels their dismissal of it simply because they can’t “see” it. Much of modern society functions on sciences that require knowledge of the shape of the Earth to operate—cell phones, GPS, aviation, the internet, etc. The complexity of the world is, for some, more easily waived away than understood.
Shenton is quite obviously not the only one hawking this silliness. YouTube is replete with flat earth channels. Flat earth recruiters seem driven by an X-Files type of obsession, but their reasons are many. Nearly all express skepticism of anything that has been portrayed as the product of experts or other so-called elites. It is from this same philosophical bent that many tend to say with seriousness that they believe in a ‘deep state’ or that vaccines implant tracking chips. Some find it difficult to reconcile an increasingly developed understanding of reality with archaic biblical views. Others are frightened of that which they themselves cannot understand. These viewpoints are encouraged by certain media or famous personalities who financially benefit from broadcasting long disproved ideas as if they remain in question.
Certainly some of the motivation of flat earthers comes from the attention (and profits) such foolishness brings. For example, on the Flat Earth Society website, President John Davis claims to have interviewed on the BBC, Fox, and other outlets. Indeed, this appears to be true. ABC news featured Mark Sargent on Nightline; Sargent runs the 100,000+ subscriber YouTube channel Flat Earth Clues. Sargent is a self-described “competitive video game player” who lives at home with his mother. The ABC clip received nearly 5 million views on YouTube and undoubtedly millions more on the original airing. Moreover, debunkers of flat earthers, especially on YouTube, give them substantially more attention. On the channel Professor Dave Explains, his hour-long humiliation of flat earther David Weiss reached 5.2 million views. This attention—positive or negative—is attractive to flat earthers because many of the leaders of the movement seem to lack gratification in their personal lives. In describing his own situation, for instance, Sargent said that because he was single, he “looked at just about every conspiracy you could think of. Flat Earth is something that even a great conspiracy person will dismiss. It’s ridiculous.” So Flat Earth is the conspiracy he ran with.
Kelly Weill details the stories of those whose involvement in flat Earth excommunicated them from jobs, families, or friends, thereby driving them deeper into the social circles of the conspiracy theorists. Weill explains that “Many flat-Earthers wear rejection as a badge of honor.” This suggests that these adherents were antisocial to begin with. She notes further,
Flat-Earth and other conspiracy theories are community affairs, driven by a push and pull of simultaneous rejection from mainstream society and affirmation by a small cohort of fellow believers… The more a person identifies with a persecuted in-group, the more likely they are to suspect evil deeds by a threatening out-group
In a study Weill cites, researchers discovered that social identity and the perception of intergroup threats consistently predicted beliefs in conspiracy theories. This backs the hypothesis that flat earthers tend to harbor antisocial beliefs predicated on fears of some societal ill, fears that typically remain unsupported by evidence. Naturally, they gravitate toward others wholly willing to accept the necessary fabricated narratives they insert in place of the absence of evidence. Groups who face real threats by racist, classist, or other inequitable societies, but lack redress through any official means, also show a particularly strong affinity for conspiracy theory groups. In their case, however, fears of society ills are very real. Researchers Joseph Uscinski and Joseph Parent describe generally that:
Conspiracy theories are essentially alarm systems and coping mechanisms to help deal with threats. They tend to resonate when groups are suffering from loss, weakness, or disunity.
Whether the threat is real or merely perceived, conspiracy theory groups operate like any other, providing a type of group defense.
Another flat earther, Robbie Davidson sought to overcome the stigma of them as socially isolated “kooky” people. Davidson organizes the Flat Earth International Conference each year. He told the Guardian,
It’s very cathartic being around other [flat Earthers]… It’s so important, because we’ve been isolated and abused, and now we can breathe, relate and connect with like-minded people … I’d say only 20% of flat Earthers are actually out of the closet about this. What you see now is just the first wave. There’s a bigger wave coming and it’s gonna catch the world off guard.
Davidson’s last sentence illustrates the other emotionally gratifying element for flat earthers. As a group comprised primarily of antisocial, fearful individuals, the notion that a flat earth society will quietly rise and then somehow take the world by storm is a compelling one. It doesn’t make any logical sense, but it offers a feeling of privilege lacking for them in the real world. Conspiracy theories offer people with feelings of inadequacy “the opportunity to reject official narratives and feel that they possess an alternative account,” that they are privy to knowledge the rest of the world is not. It provides them a sense of sociopolitical control or psychological empowerment, however falsely. These sensations are insulated from introspective criticism by the fact that adherents tend to exhibit lower levels of analytic thinking and possess low levels of education.
Looking Ahead
Stagnant conspiracy theories lack longevity, so most tend to evolve over time. Shauna Bowes, a clinical psychology doctoral student at Emory University says, “We can think of many conspiracy theories like a virus, because they take on new life as they spread.” Stopping or mitigating the damage done by the spread of conspiracy theories is critically important. As the death rates of non-vaccinated people from COVID showed, belief in dark fantasies can be a factor in life or death. While we may be inclined to refer to people who succumb (both figuratively and literally) to conspiratorial beliefs as ‘idiots,’ denigration largely causes believers to hold tighter to their mistaken views. Kellogg School management professor Cynthia Wang advises, “You can actually shift someone's mindset so they see fewer conspiracies. The key to doing that is giving people a sense of control over their lives, even in small ways.” This is, of course, easier said than done. While plenty of qualified people have written articles and even books on managing a loved one who has fallen into the hole of the conspiracy-driven world, withdrawing that person back to reality is difficult and can approach impossible. As Jovan Byford, a researcher of conspiracy theories for two decades, points out, “There is, of course, no guarantee that [any] advice will be effective. There are no incontestable arguments or fail-proof strategies that will always convert a conspiracy theorist to scepticism.” All you can do, it seems, is try.
For an analysis of another conspiracy theory, check out my debunking of chemtrails.
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I am a Certified Forensic Computer Examiner, Certified Crime Analyst, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Financial Crimes Investigator with a Juris Doctor and a Master’s degree in history. I spent 10 years working in the New York State Division of Criminal Justice as Senior Analyst and Investigator. I was a firefighter before I joined law enforcement. Today I work both in the United States and Nepal, and I currently run a non-profit that uses mobile applications and other technologies to create Early Alert Systems for natural disasters for people living in remote or poor areas. For detailed analyses on law and politics involving the United States, head over to my Medium page.