[jallegro]

Hi - I'm a new member. Just wondering about the origins of the society as per the slogan, "Deprogramming the Masses since 1547."  Why 1547?

[Tom Bishop]

Where does that slogan appear on our site?

[jallegro]

I saw it here. I assumed it was an earlier version of the same group.  Do you have any idea where 1547 comes from?

http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm

[Tom Bishop]

I saw it here. I assumed it was an earlier version of the same group.  Do you have any idea where 1547 comes from?

http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm

You assume too much.

[jallegro]

Oscar, thanks for taking the time to explain this to me.  I had no idea that that site was set up to mock the Flat Earth Society. I am a professional historian by trade who is interested in dates and I thought maybe something was published in Europe in 1547 that resonated with the Society's views.  It is only five years earlier, in 1542, that Copernicus famously mocked Lactantius for his so-called "childish" views on the earth's non-spherical shape.

Tom, there is no need to be rude.  I was asking an honest question. You offend me.

[geckothegeek]

There are those who also question whether this and the other Flat Earth Society Forum website are just "jokes" and/or "hoaxes" too. Both this and the other website seem to have exactly the same format.

Does anyone know where that statement that the ice ring is guarded by armed guards from NASA originated ? I came across another website which states that Isaiah 40:22 is proof of a flat earth. They said they had never heard of the ice ring -NASA guards connection.

Unfortunately there are a lot of "spoof" websites on the Internet.

[geckothegeek]

Hi - I'm a new member. Just wondering about the origins of the society as per the slogan, "Deprogramming the Masses since 1547."  Why 1547?

Does this Flat Earth Society have any information on origins of  the society and dates of the beginnings of the society ? Were there others before Rowbotham ?

[Tom Bishop]

The claim that NASA is guarding the Ice Was was put into the original FAQ on the theflatearthsociety.org site by former forums moderator Cheezejof as an explanation for why people have not gone to Antarctica and have seen discrepancies.

Myself and others campaigned against the idea that the coast is guarded, instead providing alternative explanations for why people may claim to have crossed or circumnavigated it. For instance, we posted maps showing that explorers are actually traveling over a very large peninsula sticking out of Antarctica, and are not crossing it exactly in half, suggesting that they may actually be crossing a peninsula on the Ice Wall. Our efforts in showing that there are alternative explanations, and in questioning evidence for the guard theory, resulted in the removal of the NASA guards reference from the FAQ.

[geckothegeek]

Thank you for the information.

Regarding my second question.
Do you have any infomation on the FES itself ? When it was formed, if there were previous organizations, etc. ?

[Tom Bishop]

Well, the Flat Earth Society was started in the 1950's by Samuel Shenton. Rowbotham's society was called the Universal Zetetic Society, a free thinking society which investigated subjects beyond just the shape of the world.

As to whether there were people who believed that the earth was flat prior to Rowbotham, yes, early Greece philosophers debated such things. The Ancient Egyptians and Ancient Babylonians were Flat Earthers as a society. It is worth noting that the Ancient Babylonians were expert astronomers and mathematicians, and could predict the Lunar Eclipse and other phenomenona with accuracy.

[geckothegeek]

Is this website really a "spoof" website ? That's all right if it is. It does serve a purpose as a valuable source of information. From viewers like us. Thank you.

[Thork]

Is this website really a "spoof" website ? That's all right if it is. It does serve a purpose as a valuable source of information. From viewers like us. Thank you.

Do you think we'd set up a facebook, twitter, websites etc etc and run it all for years and years for free for a joke? That some of us have been answering questions here and on the other old site for 8 years or more? That we'd plough in thousands and thousands of man hours maintaining the forum, writing FAQs, wikis, literature, making diagrams, maps, illustrations, visiting universities and students, doing podcasts, interviews and tons more ... for a joke?

It would be one hell of an elaborate prank if we did.

No, its not a spoof website, how very dare you?

[Pete Svarrior]

Is this website really a "spoof" website ?

Depends on what you mean by "this website". Given the posts you're responding to, it would appear that you failed to properly process the context of the conversation.

The website mentioned by the OP - http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm - is indeed a spoof. It's kind of obvious if you spend a minute reading it. Then again, that assumes that you did something right for a change.

[geckothegeek]

Well, if you really get down to the nitty-gritty. It just seems that it defies credibility that anyone would even think, much less believe, that the earth was flat or even have any doubts, thoughts or beliefs that the earth was a globe.

I'm sure I'm not alone, but that is the reason to wonder if "this website" is just one more "spoof website"  Mind you, if it is or if it is not,  IT'S OK !

But once again  I really do enjoy "this website" for the discussions that go on on this website. By "this website" I mean "The Flat Earth Society Forum".

And I have read the website in question. It makes no claims for not being a "spoof website."

Once more my two quotes (they're not original)  which I DO really mean sincerely.:
"From viewers like US. Thank YOU." and "From all of US to all of YOU. Have a great week."

But seriously. I was just wondering if Rowbotham had ever formed a Flat  Earth Society as such or if he just traveled around England presenting his lectures and promoting his writings and books ?

And in all honesty, IMHO "Round Earthers" should really stay off "this website."

[geckothegeek]

The claim that NASA is guarding the Ice Was was put into the original FAQ on the theflatearthsociety.org site by former forums moderator Cheezejof as an explanation for why people have not gone to Antarctica and have seen discrepancies.

Myself and others campaigned against the idea that the coast is guarded, instead providing alternative explanations for why people may claim to have crossed or circumnavigated it. For instance, we posted maps showing that explorers are actually traveling over a very large peninsula sticking out of Antarctica, and are not crossing it exactly in half, suggesting that they may actually be crossing a peninsula on the Ice Wall. Our efforts in showing that there are alternative explanations, and in questioning evidence for the guard theory, resulted in the removal of the NASA guards reference from the FAQ.

This may be a question for the "Ask Tom Bishop" topic thread ?. How do you regard the charts, maps and aerial and satellite views of Antarctica as a continent and reports of tourism ?

[Tom Bishop]

I believe that Antarctica is a continent, per the Flat Earth Bi-Polar model, so that point is moot for me.

But the mono-pole people would argue that the satellite pictures of Antarctica found in Google Image Search is actually a composite, and there is no single picture of Antarctica from space, except from the Apollo missions.

[geckothegeek]

I believe that Antarctica is a continent, per the Flat Earth Bi-Polar model, so that point is moot for me.

But the mono-pole people would argue that the satellite pictures of Antarctica found in Google Image Search is actually a composite, and there is no single picture of Antarctica from space, except from the Apollo missions.

How about the maps ?

[geckothegeek]

Most of those maps are just copies of various projections made from the globe.
Gleason's and Middleton's are copies of the Unipolar Azimuthal Equidistant Projection map made from the globe.
One FE has said "There is no flat earth map."

[huh?]

First of all the Arctic circle is in the North Hemisphere in the Southern hemisphere it is called the Antarctic Circle.
 
Secondly it is actually a latitude and not the continent, so yes it is a circle.

Thirdly it is called Antarctica because it is opposite the Arctic

[geckothegeek]

Quote from a previous post by Orbisect-64.:

"c) Isaiah 40:22 is good proof to a Bible believer. The Hebrew word CHUGH is literally translated "a circle, as drawn by hand." It's literally impossible to draw a sphere, because that is a three dimensional object. The word chugh is used four times in the Bible, all four in relation to earth, and in two places it says that God drew or inscribed a circle on the face of the water. The word for sphere is DUR and it's also in the Bible, but it was never used in relation to the earth—the Bible writers knew the difference between the two words and avoided dur in connection to earth's shape—and God would also know the difference."
-(Unquote)

It has been pointed out on another website. The quote from Isaiah 40:22 is explained in just the opposite of what is quoted above. The ancients did not know the earth was a sphere in their times and expressed themselves in terms of what they observed at that time - that the earth looked flat to them - and expressed themselves  in the language of the time - circles. God allowed them to do so . But God knew the true shape of the  earth.
 
http://www.crivoice.org/circle.html
(Quote)
"While there are many graphic depictions of ancient cosmology, we need to keep in mind that this was not a pictorial conception, but a functional and descriptive one. It is we in the modern world who tend to want visual imagery and reduce ideas to graphics and charts. Yet for ancient people this was simply a way of expressing what they saw about the operation of the physical world.

Also, we should not conclude that this way of talking about the physical world is what the Bible teaches as a reality, something in which we must believe in order to believe Scripture. Instead, this is the way ancient people talked about their experience of the world in the absence of any scientific knowledge about the processes at work in the world. Certainly we would describe the world today in much different terms. But then we live 3,000 years later in human history with much more knowledge about the physical world, and a different conceptual model and different vocabulary with which to describe the world."
-End of Quotes-