Former Flat Earthers Divulge What Made Them Come Around On The Topic
It takes a lot for someone who used to firmly believe in something proven time and again to be completely false to finally see the light.
While it may seem conspiracy theorists are incapable of abandoning their strongly held beliefs, it is possible for them to come to their senses.
Curious to hear specifically from one particular demographic of converts, Redditor jbarms asked:
"Former Flat Earthers. What made you come round?"
Former flat-earthers really listened to those who knew how to persuade them what they believed in was false.
Explaining The Job
"I talked to a flat-earther about my job working for a company that tracks ship locations, routes, and speeds by satellite. We also had ways of monitoring carbon emissions based on fuel consumption and known weather conditions. None of this would work at all if the earth was flat."
"Not a jot of it. I could only explain the most basic concepts, but it was enough for him to understand and realise that I was right and that he’d been convinced by someone who had no practical experience of the spherical nature of the Earth. I think that’s what really did it - my experience was really tangible. This happens then this happens then we measure this etc etc... no theory, just practice. A bit like showing a child a rock dropping to the ground in order to explain gravity, rather than giving them the whole theoretical shebang. Y’know?"
– Administrative-Task9
Jumping Theories
"The mobius strip earthers had more compelling arguments."
– jnhummel
Yes To The Sphere
"I convinced a flat earther, temporarily, by asking him if it was possible for a sphere to be so large that you could not tell it was a sphere my simply being on the surface of it. It took him a while, I used an analogy of a extremely long line that was so slightly curved you could not tell so by looking at a small section of it. Eventually he said yes to the sphere and I told him that was how big the earth is."
"A few days later he reverted, most of these people aren’t mentally stable, they believe in a lot of conspiracies."
"Edit: Corny edit, but as connoisseur of flat earth content my personal favorite is Professor Dave on YouTube. He is a underappreciated dude who just had a Science channel on YouTube and got brigaded by flat earthers for an unrelated video. He made like 6 video responses in total just owning these guys but they eventually gave up. Check it out."
– McClain3000
Testing The Plumbing Theory
"I was debating a flat earther in Mexico, and I asked him about how GPS worked if there were no satellites. He said that they had devices in the ground to route you."
"I told him the Mexican government is barely able to put decent water pipes in the ground; would he really think they had the tech to put routing devices in the ground?"
"He chuckled with a thousand mile gaze."
– mzaouar
A little sardonic wit helped people see the light.
Growing Up
"Quote I got from somewhere..."
"for 5 years I believed the Earth was flat, then I turned 6"
– -QED-
Helpful Tool
"What I like to do is use telescopes. This telescope is strong enough to see distant stars and galaxies, yes? Okay, look out this direction across the ocean. Can you see Europe?"
– HavanosArcova
Tourist Attraction
"Look, it's really easy:"
"If the Earth is flat, there would be an edge(s). And there would be a f'king Disney park at the edge, and we could bungie jump off the side and paraglide into the void etc etc."
"Someone would be making an absolute sh*t ton of money off of it - if it existed."
"Guess what? Nobody is doing that - adn in this world where absolutely everything is exploited for profit - if no one is making money off of it - it does.not.exist. No edge. Not flat. Get a clue."
– Gedwyn19
A Trusted Source
"A serious answer here."
"The thing that made me stop was just the question 'why would nasa lie to you.'"
"I will try replying to all of yall but will go to a study hall so ill reply later."
– The_Holy_Fork
Why Keep Up With The Ruse?
"This a solid point, there's no way 70,000 scientist could keep it a secret."
– needsmoreusername
For some people, it's all about finding their community.
Inside Look
"I watched a documentary about flat earthers called 'Truth behind the curve' and my analysis from watching that these flat earthers are a group of people who found a community to be a part of. It’s a shame their community is based on a lie, but I saw a bunch of people who were to be part of a community."
"Most of the people were social awkward and whatnot, and so an opportunity to be an influential figure within the community so they double down on their flawed logic."
"The more against you are of them, the harder they rep their flatness."
– imthatguydavid
The Compass Tells All
"I saw that documentary too. The experiment was 'if the Earth is round, this compass will move 3 degrees.' It did, so then they made a new compass and got the same result! Another one was they said 'If the Earth is round, this light won't hit that piece of wood!' It doesn't, so they get a new piece of wood and get the same result."
– UnfinishedComb
The Final Verdict...
"They actually did an experiment, and that if they got one result, the earth was flat, if they got the other, it was round."
"Experiment showed that the earth is…drum roll…round! They claimed it was human error that caused the 'wrong' result."
– SourMelissa
If you were a former flat-earther, congratulations for finally coming to the other side.
We'd love to hear how you were able to be convinced of the truth.
And if you are like the rest of us, how would you persuade someone to join our camp of round-earthers?
I know what you're thinking... "Yeah right, there's no way there are any EX flat earthers out there..." I had the same thought when I first saw the Reddit thread I'm about to share with you. But it turns out, there are - and they're much more willing to speak than people might think.