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octoberlib

(14,971 posts)
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 05:31 PM Jul 2017

These Coloradans say Earth is flat. And gravity's a hoax. Now, they're being persecuted.

Last edited Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:01 PM - Edit history (1)

The Flat Earth movement is growing in Colorado, thanks to technology and skepticism about science


They have no leaders, no formal hierarchy and no enforced ideology, save a common quest for answers to questions about the stars. Their membership has slowly swelled in the past three years, though persecution and widespread public derision keep them mostly underground. Many use pseudonyms, or only give first names.

“They just do not want to talk about it for fear of reprisals or ridicule from co-workers,” says John Vnuk, the group’s founder who lives in Fort Collins.


He is at the epicenter of a budding movement, one that’s coming for your books, movies, God and mind. They’re thousands strong — perhaps one in every 500 — and have proponents at the highest levels of science, sports, journalism and arts.They call themselves Flat Earthers. Because they believe Earth — the blue, majestic, spinning orb of life — is as flat as a table.

The Fort Collins group — mostly white and mostly male, college-age to septuagenarian — touts itself as the first community of Flat Earthers in the United States. Sister groups have since spawned in Boston, New York, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Chicago.

At the Tuesday night meet-ups, dubbed “Flat Earth or Other Forbidden Topics,” believers invite fellow adherents to open discussions in which the like-minded confirm one another’s hunches and laugh at the folly of those still stuck in the Enlightenment.“There’s so much evidence once you set aside your preprogrammed learning and begin to look at things objectively with a critical eye,” says Bob Knodel, a Denver resident and featured guest at a recent Tuesday meeting. “You learn soon that what we’re taught is mainly propaganda.”

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/07/colorado-earth-flat-gravity-hoax/





55 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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These Coloradans say Earth is flat. And gravity's a hoax. Now, they're being persecuted. (Original Post) octoberlib Jul 2017 OP
Ho-leeey Sheeiitt!!!!! LongTomH Jul 2017 #1
I know, right? One of the founding members is an engineer! octoberlib Jul 2017 #3
Considering how many creationist "scholars" are engineers... JHB Jul 2017 #37
sorry to be a Pain in the Arse, but can you fix the second line? RoBear Jul 2017 #34
The people who created the image should have proofread..... LongTomH Jul 2017 #36
These people must not have cats. The Velveteen Ocelot Jul 2017 #2
I love this! octoberlib Jul 2017 #4
That makes perfect sense. Iggo Jul 2017 #15
LOL Dave Starsky Jul 2017 #19
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!1111 jpak Jul 2017 #22
Hahahaha! VOX Jul 2017 #35
Reminds me of a sci-if-themed board game I used to play... JHB Jul 2017 #38
Love it!!!! burrowowl Jul 2017 #48
"The more people disagree with me, the closer I am to the truth!" Warren DeMontague Jul 2017 #5
You should post a video on Youtube. It'd get a million hits and then you could start the octoberlib Jul 2017 #11
I know. There are 20somethings who are millionaires from making videos on youtube playing minecraft Warren DeMontague Jul 2017 #20
They bring their kids also......... riversedge Jul 2017 #6
This is disturbing. octoberlib Jul 2017 #12
Any Flat-Earth society that doesn't include Rincewind and The Luggage just isn't trying Aristus Jul 2017 #7
Oh, yeah!!! LongTomH Jul 2017 #10
This love_katz Jul 2017 #33
Well... sarisataka Jul 2017 #8
soon to be part of the republican platform... dhill926 Jul 2017 #9
Right? That's the scary part... WoonTars Jul 2017 #32
"They...have proponents at the highest levels of science..." Iggo Jul 2017 #13
Ft Collins, huh? ProudLib72 Jul 2017 #14
There's no end to the republican Matthew28 Jul 2017 #16
... Solly Mack Jul 2017 #17
The Flat Earth Society: how is this still a thing? Initech Jul 2017 #18
The first time I heard of the Flat Earth Society(outside of medieval times )was the Kyrie/ Shaq octoberlib Jul 2017 #25
Thanks! Good to know there's fans out there! Initech Jul 2017 #27
The Occam's Razor argument for a flat earth: no other theory so easily solves so many mysteries struggle4progress Jul 2017 #21
Lol! octoberlib Jul 2017 #30
Lmao!! AgadorSparticus Jul 2017 #52
How you can live in Colorado and claim the Earth is flat Mr. Ected Jul 2017 #23
Well, then. Where's the edge? displacedtexan Jul 2017 #24
You know those doors in the back of the krispy kreme that say "employees only"? Warren DeMontague Jul 2017 #26
*snort* smirkymonkey Jul 2017 #41
I don't think they actually believe this, or rather it's not their focus. JHan Jul 2017 #28
Here's a simple test in four steps. longship Jul 2017 #29
I tjinknthet intend as a big joke marylandblue Jul 2017 #31
Lets book a cruise for them and give them heart attacks. Keep saying "warning - we're going over! kerry-is-my-prez Jul 2017 #39
Sweet Jesus, I remember when the Flat Earthers were just... JHB Jul 2017 #40
How do people get to be this way? smirkymonkey Jul 2017 #42
Faith is the answer to that question...nt uriel1972 Jul 2017 #44
Then there is obviously something wrong with their faith. smirkymonkey Jul 2017 #45
. XRubicon Jul 2017 #43
I have an answer to his question about why do government people believe gravity and round earth.. Volaris Jul 2017 #46
I actually went to their website a few years ago for a laugh........ Takket Jul 2017 #47
40 Rapid-Fire Flat Earth "Proofs" debunked... Oneironaut Jul 2017 #49
What's on the other side of a flat earth? Kaleva Jul 2017 #50
These people showed up on the chans a few years ago. Shandris Jul 2017 #51
So they deny circumnavigation? Ilsa Jul 2017 #53
And... The real wonder here is that the Denver Post found this news worthy to print. Hugin Jul 2017 #54
This post inspired me to finally get a Photobucket account so I could post the proper response roscoeroscoe Jul 2017 #55

JHB

(37,161 posts)
37. Considering how many creationist "scholars" are engineers...
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:38 PM
Jul 2017

...that's not as shocking g as it might be.

RoBear

(1,188 posts)
34. sorry to be a Pain in the Arse, but can you fix the second line?
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:24 PM
Jul 2017

it should be "bear to look" not bare.

LongTomH

(8,636 posts)
36. The people who created the image should have proofread.....
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:36 PM
Jul 2017

.............Sorry, but, I don't have the photoshop skills to fix a photoshop image.

JHB

(37,161 posts)
38. Reminds me of a sci-if-themed board game I used to play...
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:41 PM
Jul 2017

...the cat saw an open area with nothing but little cardboard chits on it and wiped out half the galaxy while settling down for a nap.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
5. "The more people disagree with me, the closer I am to the truth!"
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 05:40 PM
Jul 2017

Which is why today I will definitively state that the Earth is shaped like an cheese doodle and O.J. Simpson is the messiah.

octoberlib

(14,971 posts)
11. You should post a video on Youtube. It'd get a million hits and then you could start the
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 05:59 PM
Jul 2017

cheese doodle earthers.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
20. I know. There are 20somethings who are millionaires from making videos on youtube playing minecraft
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:31 PM
Jul 2017

Unfortunately I am a stranger who wandered in from another century.

riversedge

(70,267 posts)
6. They bring their kids also.........
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 05:41 PM
Jul 2017


?w=620
1 of 5

Members of Flat Earth Fort Collins watch YouTube videos on the topic at a meet up on June 27, 2017 at the Purple Cup in Fort Collins. The group is skeptical of the science behind the Earth being a spinning sphere.

ProudLib72

(17,984 posts)
14. Ft Collins, huh?
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:09 PM
Jul 2017

I always thought Ft Collins would be a nice place to live. College town, Horsetooth Res for playing around. This article has dashed those dreams big time. Couldn't they move to Ft Lupton where the earth is much, much more flat?

Matthew28

(1,798 posts)
16. There's no end to the republican
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:12 PM
Jul 2017

wave of idiocy...We must fight and win over these bastards are we're going back to the stone age.

This is where the republicans are going.

Solly Mack

(90,778 posts)
17. ...
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:22 PM
Jul 2017

... “They want you to think you’re insignificant, a speck on the earth, a cosmic mistake,” Sargent says. “The flat earth says you are special, we are special, there is a creator, this isn’t some accident.”

The orthodox say their faith makes them a persecuted minority, mocked to their faces by friends and strangers for nothing more than First Amendment-protected beliefs." ...


Their "faith". A "creator". Yeah, I think we know where this is going. They're essentially calling this a religion.

They aren't saying 1st Amendment protected speech - they said 1st Amendment protected beliefs.

Both the protection of speech and the protection of religion is in the 1st amendment.

Yeah, it's laughable but...Trump.





octoberlib

(14,971 posts)
25. The first time I heard of the Flat Earth Society(outside of medieval times )was the Kyrie/ Shaq
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:47 PM
Jul 2017

thing. No, I take that back.It was Sherri Shepard on The View. I was dumbfounded. Your top ten conservative idiots is awesome,btw!

Initech

(100,095 posts)
27. Thanks! Good to know there's fans out there!
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:52 PM
Jul 2017

Yeah that one was one of my favorites from the last season. Shaq went off the deep end.

struggle4progress

(118,320 posts)
21. The Occam's Razor argument for a flat earth: no other theory so easily solves so many mysteries
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:34 PM
Jul 2017

What happened to the dinosaurs? What happened to the mummy of Ramesses the First? Why aren't there medieval witches anymore? Where did King Edward V go? Where did the crew of the Mary Celeste go? What happened to Amelia Earhart?

The flat earth hypothesis provides one simple answer to these and many similar questions: they all fell off the edge

Mr. Ected

(9,670 posts)
23. How you can live in Colorado and claim the Earth is flat
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 06:39 PM
Jul 2017

Is beyond me.

Other than that, it makes a lot of sense. Except for everything about it.

JHan

(10,173 posts)
28. I don't think they actually believe this, or rather it's not their focus.
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:02 PM
Jul 2017

their aim is to challenge Science ... any and all of it because Science challenges religious fundamentalist supremacy.

longship

(40,416 posts)
29. Here's a simple test in four steps.
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:02 PM
Jul 2017

Step 1: Get in your car.
Step 2: Drive to the summit of Pikes Peak.
Step 3: Get out of the car.
Step 4: Jump off the summit.

No gravity? You decide.

kerry-is-my-prez

(8,133 posts)
39. Lets book a cruise for them and give them heart attacks. Keep saying "warning - we're going over!
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:44 PM
Jul 2017

If it was night time and pitch black, it might work.

JHB

(37,161 posts)
40. Sweet Jesus, I remember when the Flat Earthers were just...
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:46 PM
Jul 2017

...a drinking club for contrarians. A get-together for habitual chain-yankers. They weren't serious about it. It was the reactions they liked, not the idea.

This bunch look to have "CT phone home" for a motto.

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
42. How do people get to be this way?
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 07:51 PM
Jul 2017

There is so much evidence out there to refute their premise, how can they just ignore all that and make shit up the way they do?

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
45. Then there is obviously something wrong with their faith.
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 08:06 PM
Jul 2017

Religion just makes most people stupid. They can dismiss scientific fact without the slightest inquiry. Just because, god.

Volaris

(10,274 posts)
46. I have an answer to his question about why do government people believe gravity and round earth..
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 08:07 PM
Jul 2017

Because Facts win wars.

Takket

(21,600 posts)
47. I actually went to their website a few years ago for a laugh........
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 08:34 PM
Jul 2017

I'll say this much.... they are fundraising for a billboard or whatever......... I'll donate to them but not for a billboard......... I'll donate to fund a commercial space trip about Space X or one of the private ships to send one of them into space, orbit the Earth, and come back down. If you can go all the way around and come back to where you started, you will know the earth is round.

of course i'm not really serious. much better uses of all of our money.

this is the problem with conspiracy theories. you get some smooth talking PT Barnum types to put it out there and the people who buy into it at the same time won't listen to the other side. A lot of it goes to plain old fashioned narcissism. "I'm really smart and can't possibly be wrong or not understand something, so this must be right..."

 

Shandris

(3,447 posts)
51. These people showed up on the chans a few years ago.
Fri Jul 7, 2017, 11:09 PM
Jul 2017

Just the rare thread before, then slowly picked up. Last year they were a dime a dozen, and now their numbers have thinned a bit. Not sure what they're shilling for, but most of the nazi's consider them an alphabet psyop.

Interesting that they were alluded to in a speech by President Obama, wherein he mentioned we didn't have time to 'wait for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society'. Now these people are supposedly the first group.

Ilsa

(61,695 posts)
53. So they deny circumnavigation?
Sat Jul 8, 2017, 12:12 AM
Jul 2017

How do they explain that you can fly westward and eventually end up where you started? They don't believe compasses work? No magnetism?

I thought this was an onion article.

We're doomed. Don't give these people Narcan.

Hugin

(33,177 posts)
54. And... The real wonder here is that the Denver Post found this news worthy to print.
Sat Jul 8, 2017, 12:23 AM
Jul 2017


Next they will be printing stories about how chocolate milk comes from brown cows and thunder is Thor rolling potatoes down the cellar stairs.

roscoeroscoe

(1,370 posts)
55. This post inspired me to finally get a Photobucket account so I could post the proper response
Sat Jul 8, 2017, 01:39 AM
Jul 2017


I mean, really?!!?

People, you're not being persecuted, you're being mocked for making fools of yourselves. There's a difference.
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