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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Looks like the BBC are about to go on another tirade about FET.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csyvn1

Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?

Many people who believe the Earth is not round first heard the idea on YouTube. But how important was the video-sharing website in helping the flat Earth movement grow?

This radio broadcast is scheduled to initially air today at 10:06PM BST, and will be available on-demand shortly after. It'll be interesting to see just how creative they get with the subject this time.

For those who don't remember or weren't here at the time: the last time the BBC touched the subject, we had to lodge a complaint regarding their defamatory misuse of our logo, ultimately forcing them to remove it from their materials.
Read the FAQ before asking your question - chances are we already addressed it.
Follow the Flat Earth Society on Twitter and Facebook!

If we are not speculating then we must assume

Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2019, 11:36:28 AM »
Looks like the BBC are about to go on another tirade about FET.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csyvn1

Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?

Many people who believe the Earth is not round first heard the idea on YouTube. But how important was the video-sharing website in helping the flat Earth movement grow?

This radio broadcast is scheduled to initially air today at 10:06PM BST, and will be available on-demand shortly after. It'll be interesting to see just how creative they get with the subject this time.

For those who don't remember or weren't here at the time: the last time the BBC touched the subject, we had to lodge a complaint regarding their defamatory misuse of our logo, ultimately forcing them to remove it from their materials.


My guess is that the larger context of BBC's reporting is going to be about how social media (i.e. videos like YouTube) can tend to influence certain people's mind into believing in conspiracy theories or non-mainstrean beliefs, such as believing that the Earth is flat as an example.

There are various papers one can access and read in what is being called "Bullshit Receptivity". Bullshit Receptivity being the tendency for a person with specific character trait(s) to be more easily believe in fake news, being influenced into believing in knowingly false notions, or conspiracy because of things like their need and want to feel secure in an uncertain world, their need to feel part of a unique group-think that makes them feel special, a sense of belonging, or their general distrust and disdain for anything having to do with the government.

Social media's influence can tend to be quite strong and so my guess is it's about the larger context of why and how certain people can tend to be more easily influenced.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2019, 11:41:59 AM by BrownRobin »

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Offline Tom Bishop

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Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2019, 05:42:12 PM »
They ask "Can the genie ever be put back into the bottle?"

Yes. By producing independent, repeatable, and conclusive evidence that the earth is a globe.

Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2019, 01:18:07 PM »
They ask "Can the genie ever be put back into the bottle?"

Yes. By producing independent, repeatable, and conclusive evidence that the earth is a globe.
Surely that exists with the WGS-84 model?

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Offline Tom Bishop

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Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2019, 07:59:39 PM »
They ask "Can the genie ever be put back into the bottle?"

Yes. By producing independent, repeatable, and conclusive evidence that the earth is a globe.
Surely that exists with the WGS-84 model?

Are you talking about the system with the small flat maps? https://wiki.tfes.org/World_Geodetic_System_1984

I don't see what that has to do with the video in the thread.

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2019, 08:06:39 PM »
Indeed - please, let's keep it on-topic.

Well, I finally had a chance to listen to the podcast. It's not as bad as I expected, so fair enough, but it's also not great. And I'm not talking about the fact that they presented our views as "wrong" - I kind of take that part of granted. What's more troublesome to me is that the overarching message of the podcast was "Flat Earthers themselves are not entirely unreasonable or dangerous, but what if their worldview serves as a gateway to other, more dangerous fringe views?"

I'm not sure how to respond to that - some people who question authority end up taking it to an extreme... therefore, we should stop questioning authority? Sounds extremely counter-intuitive to me. It's not an argument that's taken seriously (anymore) when it comes to e.g. marijuana being a "gateway drug", and I'm not sure why this case would be any different.

The journalist who prepared most of the material has been following us on social media for quite a while, and he seems receptive to critique. I'll try to reach out to him in the near future and see if we can find some common ground.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2019, 08:09:45 PM by Pete Svarrior »
Read the FAQ before asking your question - chances are we already addressed it.
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Offline markjo

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Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2019, 08:21:23 PM »
Indeed - please, let's keep it on-topic.

Well, I finally had a chance to listen to the podcast. It's not as bad as I expected, so fair enough, but it's also not great. And I'm not talking about the fact that they presented our views as "wrong" - I kind of take that part of granted. What's more troublesome to me is that the overarching message of the podcast was "Flat Earthers themselves are not entirely unreasonable or dangerous, but what if their worldview serves as a gateway to other, more dangerous fringe views?"
I can't help but to wonder if it might be the other way around.  You have to reject an awful lot of established science to accept a flat earth, so maybe the anti-vaxxer, moon hoaxer and other similar anti-science movements are a gateway to FE.
Abandon hope all ye who press enter here.

Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -- Charles Darwin

If you can't demonstrate it, then you shouldn't believe it.

Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2019, 08:45:50 PM »
They ask "Can the genie ever be put back into the bottle?"

Yes. By producing independent, repeatable, and conclusive evidence that the earth is a globe.
Surely that exists with the WGS-84 model?

Are you talking about the system with the small flat maps? https://wiki.tfes.org/World_Geodetic_System_1984

I don't see what that has to do with the video in the thread.
Tom, you asked 'producing independent, repeatable, and conclusive evidence that the earth is a globe.'

Your link is written in a very strange style, eg. 'Latitude and Longitude is described as unreliable'.  Where?  And 'When assessing this claim it is found...'  And 'We read that...'

Strange that my printed maps may be flat, but have lat/long lines on them.  You would agree that measurements of lat/long are accurate and repeatable?

Anyway, off topic!  Sorry.

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Offline Pete Svarrior

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Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2019, 04:02:13 PM »
I can't help but to wonder if it might be the other way around.  You have to reject an awful lot of established science to accept a flat earth, so maybe the anti-vaxxer, moon hoaxer and other similar anti-science movements are a gateway to FE.
Given that the correlation is rarely present (sure, there are some radicals on Twitter and YouTube, but they're in the scarce minority), I don't think either way makes much sense.
Read the FAQ before asking your question - chances are we already addressed it.
Follow the Flat Earth Society on Twitter and Facebook!

If we are not speculating then we must assume

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Offline markjo

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Re: BBC Trending - "Is YouTube to blame for the rise of flat Earth?"
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2019, 04:35:17 PM »
I can't help but to wonder if it might be the other way around.  You have to reject an awful lot of established science to accept a flat earth, so maybe the anti-vaxxer, moon hoaxer and other similar anti-science movements are a gateway to FE.
Given that the correlation is rarely present (sure, there are some radicals on Twitter and YouTube, but they're in the scarce minority), I don't think either way makes much sense.
From what I've seen of FE'er testimonials, their path to FE usually starts with a mistrust of authority somewhere or other.  Then again, my own personal opinion is that a healthy appreciation for Poe's law is just about as good a reason as any for joining the flat side.  Then again, it could also be a symptom of the failure of the various educational systems.  Who can know for sure?
« Last Edit: July 17, 2019, 04:38:41 PM by markjo »
Abandon hope all ye who press enter here.

Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -- Charles Darwin

If you can't demonstrate it, then you shouldn't believe it.