Why do people believe in the flat earth theory?
A two-pronged approach to capitalize on the anti-elitist mindset and religious beliefs to evoke the public’s passion towards scientific and religious topics.
A two-pronged approach to capitalize on the anti-elitist mindset and religious beliefs to evoke the public’s passion towards scientific and religious topics.
The origin of flat earth theory was never directed at the end product – the shape of the Earth. Instead, it is about the distrust towards those in power, especially when conflicting information is being disseminated by the scientific community to the public due to the difference in the amount of information and technological capabilities at a certain time.
To flat earthers, it is difficult to believe that the actions of scientists are altruistic instead of self-interested or conspiratorial.
While it is important to be critical of the things you read and consume, the flat earth community has twisted the idea of “knowledge for all” by inciting hatred towards experts. Flat earthers call themselves the “truth-seeker” and believe what they are doing will lead to the salvation and redemption of humankind.
Unfortunately, instead of seeking the truth about the world, they are seeking for truth that fits their worldview.
Believing that the Earth is a spinning spherical globe would mean denying the literal truth of the Bible. Prolific flat earthers target the conflict between the Biblical text and scientific findings to incite reaction and unhappiness towards science and gain support for the flat earth theory.
Even though religious institutions accepted the Bible allegorically rather than literally and do not endorse flat earth theory, this does not stop flat earthers from using the Bible as evidence in books and videos for their claims of a flat and static Earth.
The theory became the perfect space for extreme Biblical literalists to restate the authority of the Bible in the face of the perceived scientific attack, protecting their faith.
People are motivated to maintain cognitive consistency but when faced with information that threatens their beliefs, they experience cognitive dissonance.
To reduce this psychological discomfort, flat earthers dismiss and avoid information that states the Earth is spherical and instead, employ biased information selection to seek evidence and people who would agree with them.
Flat earthers are not unintelligent people. In fact, they can be seen doing their own research, conducting experiments, and organizing conferences to discuss and share their findings. However, while science is built upon unbiased evidence and rigorous experiments, evidence gathered by flat earthers and other conspiracy theorists is based on the motivation to reject.
This leaves no room for discussion which causes communication to be difficult and the divide between flat earthers and science to grow.