The eccentric group of people who still beleive the Earth to be flat.

  Different versions of the "Flat Earth Society" exist since the mid-twentieth century 

The map of the Earth according to the Flat Earth Society. Photo: Facebook 

There is clear evidence that the Earth is round, or more precisely an "oblate spheroid," since it is flattened at the poles. For example, photos of the Earth from space. But a group of people think that those photos are fake, part of a worldwide conspiracy to hide the truth: they consider that the Earth is flat.

This is the group "Flat Earth Society" . Such organizations have existed since the mid-twentieth century. The first, called "International Flat Earth Society", was created in 1956 by the Englishman Samuel Shenton. Shenton followed the doctrine of writer Samuel Rowbotham, who proposed that Earth is a flat disc centered on the north pole and surrounded by a giant wall of ice, which would be Antarctica. The moon and the sun would be 4800 kilometers from the surface of the Earth, and what he called "cosmos", 5000 kilometers.

Shenton's main argument was that both "the Bible and the senses" proved this.

Millions of Views

Is the earth really flat? (Source)

Today, the videos that speak for the theory of "Flat Earth" have millions of views. There are Facebook groups on this subject, with about 50 thousand members. And the official society that conforms the "flat earthers", as they call themselves, declared having 9 thousand active users in their forums.

"I do not know if everyone who registers does it out of conviction, as I do, but I do know that a lot of people believe in what I believe in," 

said Daniel Shenton, the man behind the official Flat Earth Society website.

"Nowadays you can do incredible things with special effects, and the truth is that our senses show us that the earth is flat.I do not think that I am taking an incoherent posture.I only think that if we all see that the Earth is flat , then it is the scientists who should be able to prove conclusively that it is not, and I think they have not done so until now, "

added Shenton whose 40 years old, from Virginia, USA.

Their Members Speak

The Sun, the Moon and the Earth according to the flat earthers. Photo: Archive / Facebook

It sounds insane, but there are people who think like Shenton. 

The following content is a part of an interview from the Newspaper "La Nacion" from Argentina to four of these people through the Flat Earth Society forum.

"People ridicule me all the time, but I learned to accept it.Now I do not care what they say about me.I just do not believe in what NASA says or the international scientific community. Experience shows us that the Earth is flat" 

 told to LA NACION the user identified as Arseny Chijov.

For some of the most obvious objections, the "flat earthers" have studied answers:

How do you explain that there is day and night, if you do not believe in the rotation of the Earth?

"Day and night exist because the Sun rotates in a circular way on Earth, alternately illuminating the East and the West of the Earth,"

 told to LA NACION user Floyd Sales.

And how do they explain the fact that ships disappear on the horizon?

 "The ship does not disappear from view because of the curvature of the Earth. The atmosphere, at great distances, reduces visibility. This is also the reason why you can not see Mount Everest from any point on the ground" 

said to LA NACION the user The Earth.

When you tell your theories to other people, do they make fun of you?

"Yes" 

user Saac Baker said to LA NATION.

Famous "flat earthers"

The rapper B.O.B

Several celebrities were in favor of the theory. As NBA player Kyrie Irving (of the Cleveland Cavaliers, current tournament finalist).

 "The evidence is right in front of our noses, they've been lying to us for a long time, the Earth is flat, " 

Irvin said.

The statement generated a stir in the United States. Following Irvin's testimony, another basketball player, Shaquille O'Neal, said the earth is flat. But Shaq retracted and clarified that he was joking. To this day, Irvin did not explicitly deny himself.

 "It seems to me that it is important for everyone to think freely,"

 he said.

Another famous "flat earther" (one more "committed" to the cause) is the rapper BoB, who shared a debate in Twitter (social network where the musician has more than 2 million followers) with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

A rapper against an astrophysicist

The rapper went to Harriman State Park, a park in New York, United States, and took a photo with the buildings of New York City in the background. He then posted a photo tweet.

The astrophysicist replied

 " First of all, those buildings are taller than 52 meters, and your calculations are incorrect." The curvature of Earth covers only 45 meters from New York from Harriman State Park. On the other hand your way of thinking it's 500 years behind, that does not mean we can not enjoy your music. "

Pseudoscience

Many civilizations imagined the Earth as a "disc": the Greek until the "classical period," the Chinese until the seventeenth century, and the Indian, as well as American aboriginal cultures. But from 330 BC, when Aristotle proved that the shape of the Earth is spherical, Flat Earth theory was losing ground until it disappeared from the scientific community.

Aristotle observed two things. On the one hand, the stars seen in Egypt and Cyprus are not the same as those seen in the northern regions. This would imply that the Earth is spherical. In addition, the shadow of the Earth projecting onto the Moon during a lunar eclipse is curved.The practical demonstration of the theory was realized at the beginning of 16th century by the expedition realized by Fernando de Magallanes and Juan Sebastián Elcano, who realized the first circumnavigation of the world.

Today, the theory that the Earth is flat is considered pseudoscience. 

All my image sources are from Google and Pinterest.

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