Conspiracy and Conditions: Meet the Flat Earth founders
By: Peter S Matthews
Tags: Inspiration, Mental Health, Science, Conspiracy Theories, Awareness

It’s the most out-there theory, but one of the most obvious. If the ground is flat, how can the world be a globe?

There’s much more to it. The Flat Earth world is paranoid, pious and proud of it.

I hope to make this a series on conspiracy theories, and the effect they can have on people with mental conditions.

Origins: Fundies and freethinkers

The Flat Earth conspiracy theory started in the 1800s. A man named Samuel Rowbotham didn’t like that science was pulling people’s beliefs further and further from the Bible.

Rowbotham started the first Flat Earth Society to prove religion right. He was thinking the same thing as the Vatican when they jailed Galileo: If God made the Earth, why would it not be the centre?

This brings up more questions. Why would a world full of sin be the centre of the universe? Who says the Garden of Eden is on the Earth at all? Is humanity God’s only child?

And if the Earth is the centre of God’s creation and Jerusalem is God’s chosen city, why did Rowbotham believe the North Pole was the centre of the flat earth?

When Samuel Rowbotham died, Lady Elizabeth Blout carried on his legacy and gave a mission statement to the Flat Earth Society:

It would use science “in confirmation of the Holy Scriptures.”

And there’s the Flat Earth movement in one sentence. It’s an ark, created to steer science back toward the Bible. The literal interpretation of the edition of the translation of the Bible you’re using.

One word thrown around a lot in Flat Earth is ‘zetetic’. This means using science to show that paranormal phenomena exist.

After Rowbotham’s death, the Flat Earth Society soon died off …

… then another Samuel came along in the ’50s. Samuel Shenton. Though he wasn’t big on religion, he refused to believe satellite pictures of the earth were real. He dedicated his life to proving that those new photos of the Earth had been faked.

When Shenton died, Charles K. Johnston took over the Society. And he was just as Christian as the first Samuel. He took good care of the Flat Earth society until the ’90s, then lost the members’ contact info in a house fire. Membership died off ….

… then another Shenton came along.

Daniel Shenton is the current organiser of the Flat Earth Society. He was inspired by ’80s musician Thomas Dolby, who has a song called Flat Earth. Dolby didn’t believe in the theory, but was the first person Shenton invited to join the Society. And he accepted.

Shenton was a star of the 2019 documentary Behind the Curve, where Flat Earthers use science to chase Samuel Rowbotham’s dream: To prove that the world is a flat, God-made hub. The experiment tells them that the earth is a globe.

The mythology

Most Flat Earthers believe that the earth is a disk. The continents are arranged like the shape of the U.N. flag (Charles K. Johnston tried using the U.N. flag as evidence that the earth was flat) and around the rim is a giant sheet of ice — like in Game of Thrones, according to the latest Shenton. That sheet is Antarctica.

There’s a heated debate about whether or not the earth has a dome over its top. Detractors accuse believers of thinking they live in a snow globe.

Why does it have to be God?

Remember Rule One of conspiracies:

A conspiracy theory is a great way to feel like we know more than the average person. Secret knowledge goes hand in hand with spiritual beliefs. The Church has a history of going against science and vice versa.

Apart from that, it’s tradition. Rowbotham started the conspiracy theory by announcing that science was lying.

This has become a tenet of Christian fundamentalism. The words of the Bible, however you may interpret them, trump everything.

But a lot of the Flat Earth beliefs aren’t in the Bible. The Flat Earth beliefs are a combination of strong egos pushing theories and good old conspiracy thinking. One of which, at the moment, is a series of accusations going through the community that top members are government agents.

There’s one important question here: If the Flat Earth is true, why does the government need to keep tabs on people who know? It can’t be some collusion between government and science. So many politicians are hard, anti-science Christians.

The Flat Earth Society is made of many extremely public figures, who show their work for both citizen and government. But these accusations show how dangerous the theory can be to someone having a delusional episode. It’s a breeding ground for paranoia.

A lot of artists

Thomas Dolby isn’t the only artist to get mixed up in the conspiracy theory. The Canadian Flat Earth Society was founded by a writer, a poet and a musician. Creatives. Dreamers.

If you’re into conspiracy theories, you probably relate to this profile. The creative mind is about the infinite, intuition, what feels right.

And the Flat Earth idea has inspired artists right back. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books were set in a flat earth. Bad Religion have a song called The Flat Earth Society, which criticises the belief. But as we’ve seen, disagreeing with them doesn’t disqualify you from giving the Flat Earthers ideas.

Why this specific idea?

The Bible has passed through a lot of hands, and each one has added and taken out things. For example, the Roman emperor Constantine is said to have cherry picked large portions of the Bible to suit his brand of Roman Catholicism. Then, it’s recorded, he added a line to the end of the last book: He who changes anything in this book will be denied his place in the Holy City (or the Tree of Life, or the Book of Life, depending which translation you use). [1]

Was Constantine the first one to be damned because of that change? Rules are rules.

So you’re convinced of the trifecta:

Scientists are lying

Every word of the Bible is true

Flat Earthers have figured out the truth using science

In the meantime, I’d like to know why we can’t they decide whether or not there’s a dome over the earth.

Everyone is so Messianically sure that they’re right. But they can’t agree. Why is that?

There could be a chance that we’re safe, that no science tells the truth like it’s designed to do. And maybe everyone believes they’re right, even while they disagree.

If you were a scientist, a really passionate follower of the truth, would you take shill money to stop doing what you love?

Read around with an open mind, even on the first page of Google where you might disagree with a few of the pages. You deserve to liberate yourself with knowledge.

If you want more like this, Disspoken got you:

How to get outside (of your social anxiety)

What will a chiropractor really do for me?

Footnotes:

[1] Different translations of Revelation 22:19