They said that the laser was hitting weeds.
I just got up and went and had a look at my “Earthrise” photo which is on my bookcase. You can definitely see some continents on the surface, but not all. So how do they explain the many photos since taken from orbit showing the whole disk of the Earth … but not all of the continents at once? Where do they think the missing continents are hiding?
They just deny the veracity of the photos themselves, claiming they’re fake. They don’t believe in space, so why would there be photos taken from there?
I had to turn it off after 20 or 30 minutes.
Just watched this last weekend and I’m currently re-reading Micheal Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things. The two dovetail quite nicely, and I fully agree with the contention that education takes time and attacking someone’s belief, however erroneous , isn’t going to change their mindset. Much like many religious leaders, I’m pretty sure Mark Sargent isn’t in it for the gospel, but the simoleons.
According to the documentary, many in the movement think that he and Patricia Steere are undercover CIA agents working to undermine the movement.
I suppose this is what happens when a bunch of conspiracy theorists get together. They don’t even trust each other.
Thank you for bringing this documentary to my attention.
There are some cringe-worthy sections, and the pacing is uneven, but I enjoyed the show thoroughly - particularly the experiments that they perform. Their reaction to the results is priceless !
I actually know a flat earth believer. He’s been dying to discuss it with me. So this documentary is perfect for him. I’m not sure if he believes ALL that that Sargeant guy touts (I didn’t realize his model extended to 1) no motion whatsoever, and 2) the whole “Truman Show” dome deception). But this guy I know definitely believes in the model depicted in the movie (north pole at the center of the disk, Antarctica as a ring around the edge of the disk).
What struck me about the flat earthers depicted was that it brought to mind two other “social phenomena”:
- the whole year 2K “civilization coming to an end” belief and
- religion.
You may recall in the lead-up to the year 2000, there was a number of people who were convinced that computers (with faulty code) were so prolific that when the 2 digits rolled over to 00, fundamental services (phone, power grid, transportation, etc.) would all cease. And it would be like a post-apocalyptic, every-man-for-himself situation. Similar to the flat earthers was the belief that there was this HUGE cover-up (by “the government”) to prevent the truth about this collapse of civilization being imminent (so as to avoid a mass panic).
As many ask, the problem with this whole cover-up theory (the entire space program, including the NASA museums) is “why ?” Why go to such expense and extensive deception ? To what end does it make sense to convince people of this other model of the earth and the universe ?
The aspect that reminded me of religion was the “blind faith” in their belief…despite evidence to the contrary (the experiments the flat earthers designed and executed). There’s this whole “unless I (personally) can see/experience/prove something, I can choose to believe whatever I want” (ridiculous) philosophy. I feel everyone is free to believe whatever they want, but when you start to “recruit” others to your “belief” with only “explanations” rather than “proof”, this reminds me too much of religion.
I think perhaps a more interesting documentary would be about “conspiracy theory” groups in general. Moon landing deniers, 9/11 conspiracies, con-trails, etc… Why does belief in these conspiracies give such “purpose” to these people ? Some of the psychiatrists in “Behind the Curve” touch on this, but it seems this would could use more exploration.
Yeah, I suspect it wasn’t the laser that was hitting the weed if yaknowwhatimean.
That’s as good an explanation of these people as any!
Y2K was a real problem which businesses spent a ton of money to fix, and did. I was working for the Chicago area utility Commonwealth Edison at the time and they spent a big pile on tracking down issues in computers and control systems. And because they did, they get people doubting that it was a problem in the first place.
My brother put in a LOT of overtime doing the same thing. I was skeptical as to whether it could be an issue until early 1999, when we found out that a program at the pharmacy that converted refill dates to 2000 was linked to the program that printed patient information leaflets in Spanish. That was corrected; IDK if they had that issue because I left the job a few months later. We didn’t have any problems at the grocery store, where I was working when the new millennium arrived.
The one place I encountered that did lose information was an oil chance place. I gave them my information again, and got my oil changed.
As for the movie, I watched it this afternoon and wondered how many of the people in it were trolling, and also what they REALLY did for a living. 
Mark Sargent’s own bio is contradictory, based on what I saw online.
Maybe they’re all just dedicated yet confused Terry Pratchett fans who wish they lived on the Discworld?
I’ve never ready any of these books, but I do know what Discworld is. This explanation would make as much sense as any other.
Back on the old Joe Pine Show, a Flat-Earther was one of the many “colorful” guests he interviewed. I actually found it quite amusing.
When asked about satellites orbiting the Earth:
EARTHER: They’re going *this *way (tracing a circle laterally over the desktop).
JOE: Okay, but what about the ones going *this *way (tracing a circle vertically in the air)?
EARTHER: Well, they’ve *lost *some, haven’t they?
And:
EARTHER: Now, here I have a drawing of two sets of railroad tracks. Note how they merge at the vanishing point.
JOE: Okay, but how does this prove the Earth is flat?
EARTHER: (Indignantly) Oh, well. I’m no artist.
I found it hard to believe the old man took himself seriously. 
As did I, but may go back to try to finish. I get fed up quickly with conspiracy types, their lack of logic, the constant use of “they” to describe the origin of much of their crackpottery, the embracing of all the other stupid or even dangerous CTs out there, the dismissal of science and math as being elitist tools, etc. The notion that we’re living under a dome and that the sun and moon are just “lights” has a certain lunatic charm, even if the leaders of this silliness don’t.