Anyone watching "Behind the Curve" Documentary about flat-earthers on Netflix?

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Just hire a plane/boat and go film this magical ice wall. If the can afford to purchase a $20,000 gyroscope, I'm sure they can find the money to go visit the end of the earth.

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Yeah I was dying for someone to ask that. Like, this isn't a debate over whether God exists where it can never be falsified. If there's a giant ice wall at the edge of the world, then you can freaking go there and see it. It's not even like they have to go into space or to the bottom of the ocean. Sailing into the unknown is a thing that is done. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years. What's stopping them?

 

[FliX]

What's stopping them?

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Lizard people obviously. As if NASA would just allow anyone to sail out to sea willy nilly.
Have you never wondered why you need a sailing license? It's to keep tabs on everyone!
Once you buy and register a boat they will secretly install GPS trackers on it and never let you sail out to the open sea.

 

[degauss]

The guy with the hammers jabbering about all the brain training he was doing cracked me up!

 

[Rad Bandolar]

I'm waiting for someone in that community to take the results of their experiments and argue that the earth isn't flat, it's actually concave.

 

[LL_Decitrig]

The paranoia the flat earthers show about the policing of Antarctica does have a minuscule grain of truth behind it. If you want to go to Antarctica you do need permission, and you have to demonstrate that your visit will not upset the delicate ecology of the continent. Unlicensed expeditions have sometimes been turned away by naval gunboats.

 

[myopic_mossberg]

I gotta say this documentary was pretty boring. After an hour my kids and I looked at each other and said, how the duck can there be more to this? Turned it off. The people are not really interesting and I didn't care about the internal squabiles amount the flat earth people.

 

[chaosaeon]

Didn't the Mark guy look straight at an eclipse and say "that's a neat effect" ? It's like they think it's some kind of massive projection or something being projected from (?) and onto the world's biggest 1million K screen lol. Also the mobile idea is so silly. If the sun was on a rotating mobile it wouldn't set and rise visually at the ground, it would always still be in the sky just smaller and smaller as it rotated away. Really, lol.

 

[Rad Bandolar]

Didn't the Mark guy look straight at an eclipse and say "that's a neat effect" ? It's like they think it's some kind of massive projection or something being projected from (?) and onto the world's biggest 1million K screen lol. Also the mobile idea is so silly. If the sun was on a rotating mobile it wouldn't set and rise visually at the ground, it would always still be in the sky just smaller and smaller as it rotated away. Really, lol.

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His references to The Truman Show are telling. I think they believe this is an artificial construct, but as you mentioned, even that doesn't hold up to their internal logic when it comes to the sun.

If you're skyping with someone in Asia and you're in North America, one of you is going to have sunshine and the other person's going to be in the dark. If the sky is a dome, how do they explain that? Is the earth double-sided?

 

[LL_Decitrig]

If the sun was on a rotating mobile it wouldn't set and rise visually at the ground, it would always still be in the sky just smaller and smaller as it rotated away. Really, lol.

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There are many videos in which flat earthers will show a sunset or sunrise and swear that they see the sun shrinking or growing.

If you're skyping with someone in Asia and you're in North America, one of you is going to have sunshine and the other person's going to be in the dark. If the sky is a dome, how do they explain that? Is the earth double-sided?

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They claim the sun is more like a spotlight, so its light only falls in a circular pattern beneath its current location.

 

[Deleted member 30411]

Yeah I was dying for someone to ask that. Like, this isn't a debate over whether God exists where it can never be falsified. If there's a giant ice wall at the edge of the world, then you can freaking go there and see it. It's not even like they have to go into space or to the bottom of the ocean. Sailing into the unknown is a thing that is done. Humans have been doing it for thousands of years. What's stopping them?

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The wall is guarded by the Night's Watch, a super confidential secret organisation the shoots anyone on sight and protects the ice wall border. Don't ask how I know this because this super powerful group has the means to kill indiscriminately and without recourse but apparently someone must have come back from it to share this information with us. The group is known by and funded by the World Government and nobody has ever spoken about it outside of work ever. All the missing Black Site money goes there. That's why they "Take the Black". That's why they called it the Nights Watch in Game of Thrones. GRRM and D&D are leaving breadcrumbs for us to follow and find the giants and "wildlings" on the other side. The wildlings are an alien species that lives on the other side of the wall on their own flat earth continent and they funnel alien tech to our world in exchange for keeping everyone in. It's where some of the reptilians come from. It's where the roswell craft came from. It's where tupac and elvis live. The only way past the ice wall is by taking loads of acid, meditating and becoming a pro at astral projection. You can't get there physically but you can see it if you believe enough. it's where Kanye's next album is being recorded and where Drake has been keeping his kid this whole time. WAKE UP.

 

[onadesertedisland]

I got like ten minutes into this. These people are too stupid.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

The fucking gyroscope experiment proving to them twice that there's an inherent 15 degree shift, only for them to literally keep encasing it in what they think is Unobtanium-level barriers to muddle the Energies of the Heavens so they can get a "proper read" that hasn't shifted 15 degrees.

Fuck man. Y'all legit mental.

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Just watched the first hour

My main takeaway from this is that Chris Pontius isn't that Chris Pontius and he's actually a super awesome craftsman!

 

[ManaByte]

My astronomy professor actually didn't really believe these people existed. I need to suggest this too him to see his reaction.

 

[Lakeside]

My astronomy professor actually didn't really believe these people existed. I need to suggest this too him to see his reaction.

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Maybe the government just wants us to think they exist.

 

[chandoog]

My astronomy professor actually didn't really believe these people existed. I need to suggest this too him to see his reaction.

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By the time he finishes, his reactions will also be "Interesting..."

 

[LL_Decitrig]

My astronomy professor actually didn't really believe these people existed. I need to suggest this too him to see his reaction.

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Why do you hate him?

 

[Rad Bandolar]

They claim the sun is more like a spotlight, so its light only falls in a circular pattern beneath its current location.

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Huh. Interesting. But it doesn't make sense with what we observe. To us, the sun rises, arcs across the sky, then sets. The natural thing to think is that it just goes underneath the earth and pops back up the other side.

But for them it's not a ball of light or a disc arcing across the sky. I'd kind of like to know how they square that up with what we observe, but I don't really want to go down that rabbit hole.

Figuring out the internal logic of fictional universes is usually fun, but this one probably doesn't even make sense to itself.

 

[I KILL PXLS]

Huh. Interesting. But it doesn't make sense with what we observe. To us, the sun rises, arcs across the sky, then sets. The natural thing to think is that it just goes underneath the earth and pops back up the other side.

But for them it's not a ball of light or a disc arcing across the sky. I'd kind of like to know how they square that up with what we observe, but I don't really want to go down that rabbit hole.

Figuring out the internal logic of fictional universes is usually fun, but this one probably doesn't even make sense to itself.

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I just looked it up (gods help me) and it has to do with some "Law of perspective" bullshit that I'm not going to bother copy pasting. It's apparently the same way they explain ships disappearing over the horizon.

 

[Astronut325]

I'm one hour in and I'm thinking of quitting. I can't handle all this stupidity.

Edit:
That Patricia person... she realizes all the conspiracies about her are BS and no amount of evidence will change the conspiracy theorist minds. But she can't have that as her own mindset... nope! WTF...

 

[Arebours]

Yeah, that's true. Why pick something so easily disprovable though. I mean, you're basically fucking yourself forever or for as long as you believe it. Every other conspiracy from sandy hook to lizard people is small potatoes in comparison.

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It's the conspiracy end game. They don't start with flat earth(I would hope), but the way these theories work even if you start out with something like 9/11 it sets you down on a path where either you have to question everything or let go of the conspiracies. Some people think it's strange that these people tend to believe in every damn conspiracy theory out there but it actually makes perfect sense.

 

[Lakeside]

I wonder if these people homeschool their kids. Once they go down the path of questioning everything that is presented to them, surely they don't send the kids off to be fed "lies" every day.

Moving on to the homeschooling (potentially), what do they teach the poor kids?

 

[Slayven]

I am 10 minutes in and they are not flattering Mark at all. Seems dude was looking for something to fill a void and flat earth was it.
And the NASA debunker guy, are they serious he looked like and SNL skit

 

[opticalmace]

My astronomy professor actually didn't really believe these people existed. I need to suggest this too him to see his reaction.

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Neat, what kinds of things did you learn in the class? I don't come across too many people here that have also taken astronomy (that I know of).

 

[Slayven]

do he not get the irony of comparing his movement to Life of Bryan?

 

[Bishop89]

Saw it the other week. Couldn't stop cringing.

They don't actually show any proof on their side, nothing.

Just a laser that they can't fund and maths is the devil.

 

[Slayven]

The cat lady must be loaded, her house is the type house I only see on home makerover shows

 

[Skade]

They are going on a cruise to find the wall next year.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jan/09/flat-earth-cruise-nautical-navigation

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Well, they'll see Antartica from afar, say "See ! There is the wall !", film it for a few minutes and then go back home feeling like the mission was a success.

Or, maybe, follow the coast of Antartica for a few days, think there is no end to it, and call it a day.

 

[AniHawk]

hbomberguy did a video about this at the end of 2018. the netflix doc alludes to mark sargent's unrequited love for patricia, but hbomberguy points out sargent's made a video to highlight how pretty he thinks she is.

the whole video is 40+ minutes but it's a good watch.

 

[Slayven]

I am dead at the start button thing, that is platinum lowkey shade.

 

[Kain]

It's a story of unrequited love between two lost souls fighting against all odds in a world dominated by science and giant domes with pretty special effects

 

[uzipukki]

I am dead at the start button thing, that is platinum lowkey shade.

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I was cracking up at the part about the Gyroscope they bought. Like c'mon. Can't be that dense.

 

[bic]

Just watched last night. I wouldn't have a problem with flat-earthers if their views didn't hurt anyone else but they also talk about how they don't trust vaccines, don't believe in climate change, and are anti-trans. Garbage people.

 

[OnkelC]

My main takeaway from this is that Chris Pontius isn't that Chris Pontius and he's actually a super awesome craftsman!

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Thank GOD I wasn't the only one...
First thought reading the name was "My, Partyboy has aged poorly".

 

[LastCaress]

My astronomy professor actually didn't really believe these people existed. I need to suggest this too him to see his reaction.

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I am going to start a movement denying these people exist, they're all part of an even bigger conspiracy to keep us from the globe earth theory. I'll reverse paranoid them.

 

[TheAuldTriangle]

Mark Sargent is such a narcissitic, ego maniac. His intentions are so obvious, he loves the attention his role as "THE" flat earth guy.

 

[steejee]

I was cracking up at the part about the Gyroscope they bought. Like c'mon. Can't be that dense.

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It's classic cult/true believer type stuff. You go in with absolute certainty that this new thing will prove your beliefs that you've been mocked/marginalized for (see all the doomsday date people, eg 2012), then suddenly in brutal straightforward fashion it shows the opposite of what you believe. Instead of taking that as evidence you're wrong, you instead rationalize it as being a problem of you doing something wrong, eg you did the test wrong, or miscalculated the date, etc.

Basically every piece of evidence that shows you're wrong becomes just another piece of evidence that you're actually right.

It becomes really hard to break out of that train of though as it becomes a sunk cost issue - you put so much of your life (and time, money, effort, relationships) on the line for this belief that having to stop and admit that it was all a waste becomes harder and harder.

 

[Fluffernutter Pancake]

This documentary was amazing ---- anyone throwing in the towel in the first few minutes is missing out on something that almost reaches Spinal Tap and Best in Show level of comedy. The best part is that it is unintentional by those being filmed.

I lost it at around 17 minutes when the guy was like, "We're all super successful & smart ---- I've met hundreds of fellow Flat-Earthers and none of us live in our Mom's basement".........................then the film immediately cuts to Mark Sargent, leader of the Flat Earth movement, who indeed actually lives with his Mom

 

[Michael F. Assbender]

I dunno...when Elon posted "Why is there no Flat Mars Society", the FES responsed, because Mars has been observed to be a sphere. SO maybe (maybe), if they got blasted into space, they'd be like "Interesting".

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[HardRojo]

Watching this right now. Why does the main guy (who looks like he's 50) look like such a loser who acts like a teenager and still lives with his mom?
Also, whenever possible, let's simply grab this dude, take him to space, make him observe Earth's roundness and bring him back so that he can say "Yeah I was wrong, Flat Earth is no more".
Edit: Oh god this guy with the mental training who's clearly an antivaxxer and said dinosaurs were made up... holy fuck! NO NO NO NO NO NO! WHY!? Oh man he's anti evolution theory as well... IS THIS FOR REAL!? AAAARGGH!

 

[MilesQ]

Watching this right now. Why does the main guy (who looks like he's 50) look like such a loser who acts like a teenager and still lives with his mom?
Also, whenever possible, let's simply grab this dude, take him to space, make him observe Earth's roundness and bring him back so that he can say "Yeah I was wrong, Flat Earth is no more".
Edit: Oh god this guy with the mental training who's clearly an antivaxxer and said dinosaurs were made up... holy fuck! NO NO NO NO NO NO! WHY!? Oh man he's anti evolution theory as well... IS THIS FOR REAL!? AAAARGGH!

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Wait, that's his mum? I thought it was a girlfriend/partner.

 

[nekkid]

Watching this right now. Why does the main guy (who looks like he's 50) look like such a loser who acts like a teenager and still lives with his mom?
Also, whenever possible, let's simply grab this dude, take him to space, make him observe Earth's roundness and bring him back so that he can say "Yeah I was wrong, Flat Earth is no more".

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Well the documentary points out that these people have build friendship groups and a community around this "belief", and in Mark Sergent's case he has built notoriety. He is someone of worth to a decent amount of people.

So the reality is that you could show any of these people indisputable proof (keep watching), but they will always reject it because it's not just their belief that disappears, their entire lives would fall apart. It's quite tragic (in the literal sense).

 

[Zero83]

I tried to watch it, but I had to turn it off after that particular quote from the OP. I can't handle this amount of stupidity.

 

[HardRojo]

I tried to watch it, but I had to turn it off after that particular quote from the OP. I can't handle this amount of stupidity.

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It's definitely hard on the brain. Taxing.

 

[ss1]

The best thing about this documentary is how people don't trust each other In flat earth movement and they accuse each other of being CIA plants etc. It's like an Inception-styled conspiracy within a conspiracy, within a conspiracy mentality.

 

[Slayven]

The gyro thing needs to be highlighted more. When it proved them wrong, they upped the ante until it wasn't no longer attainable in reality THEN incorporated the findings into their lore. This is why it is self defeating to argue with these people

 

[Kenstar]

The gyro thing needs to be highlighted more. When it proved them wrong, they upped the ante until it wasn't no longer attainable in reality THEN incorporated the findings into their lore. This is why it is self defeating to argue with these people

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its like being in a car, seeing mile markers go past every minute, speedo indicates 60mph, windspeed measured from pulled down window indicates 60mph,engine rpm combined with current gear indicates ~60mph, and concluding the universe is moving past your car at 60mph while you actually remain still

 

[selfawarekeyboard]

Just watched, I loved it, like its all complete crap but I love this stuff.

At the end they seem to mention they are securing funding for some research group to go visit the ice wall? Or did I misunderstand ? How can I keep up to date on the trip? - this could be whale wars esq goodness.

 

[Spiderz]

What's the moons of Jupiter thing that comes up a couple times?

Also, do they have an explanation for why none of them have just gone to the ice wall?

 

[selfawarekeyboard]

My understanding is that the moons of Jupiter resemble a miny solar system, and it was this that historically lead people to believe in our current solar system model. Of course it could ( why am I typing this) just be projected onto the dome wall.