For anyone still unaware, the Flat Earth Theory is the simple (and misguided) belief that the earth is actually… flat. The “theory” originally started out as a joke on the internet which was then taken too seriously by a number of conspiracy theorists. Now, the Flat Earth Society has gained a worldwide cult following despite the (undeniable) evidence that the world is, in fact, round.
One of the most recent bases of support for the Flat Earth Theory is right here in the Philippines. The Philippine Flat Earth Society was founded a little over a year ago and their private Facebook group currently has nearly 4,000 members, while their Facebook page has over 3,000 followers.
These numbers may not seem too worrying, but it seems like both pages only represent a small portion of ‘believers’. The description reads “this Group is Certified by the United Council of the Philippine Flat Earth Community”, implying that a much larger group exists to overlook all Flat Earth-er affairs.
The group’s admins are said to screen members very thoroughly before accepting them, and so we weren’t able to get into the group ourselves. But according to Philippine Lifestyle News, the group is filled with memes, videos, and other conspiracy theories which support the Flat Earth view. It is also used as a platform to organize meetings for local ‘charters’.
According to PLN:
Members frequently dismiss critics of their beliefs, accusing them of peddling “pseudoscience” or being in the thrall of dark forces. Disparaging terms for non-believers include “globetard”, “globehead”, “curvert” and “illuminatipuppets”.”
There might not be anything directly harmful with what the theory propagates since it looks like the extent of the theory is a personal belief. But it does create dangerous precedence for what society is able to deem as fact.
(SCIENCE EMERGENCY: Neil deGrasse Tyson Confirms That Earth Is NOT Flat)
People are entitled to their own opinion, but does that mean they should be able to deny the truth?
