The Flat Earth Society is an organization dedicated to the ideology that our beloved Earth is not a round, spherical shaped planet. According to their official website, tfes.org (short for TheFlatEarthSociety.org), their purpose is “dedicated to unravelling the true mysteries of the universe and demonstrating that the earth is flat and that Round Earth doctrine is little more than an elaborate hoax.”
In what most scientists view as a humorous society of folks who have nothing much better to do with their time than to disprove something that is unequivocally true, the society surprisingly has a very significant following. The group does not have any criteria for being a member other than the belief that Earth is not round, so this opens the doors to members from the world over, including famous celebrities that have openly pushed the ideology on their large platforms. Although most folks know the general theory of the society’s belief, there are way more facts that they claim to be true that so many aren’t aware of.
Here are twenty five things Flat Earthers actually believe that we might have a hard time comprehending.
25 For Starters, The Earth is Flat
This one is a fairly obvious one, of course, but let’s start with the idea that flat Earthers believe that planet Earth is not a spherically shaped planet much like we see when we spin a globe. They instead believe that the Earth is flat, but still round-shaped.
To put it in simplified terms, imagine a thick piece of paper cut in the shape of a circle; that’s essentially what folks from the Flat Earth Society believe the planet looks like.
24 Flat Earth Evidence is Based on Senses
Much of the evidence presented by the Flat Earth Society is based on what they call an empirical approach. In other words, their approach relies on evidence they gather with their senses.
Basically, a lot of the basis of their beliefs stems from the idea that to us humans, when we look around us, we see that “the world looks flat, the bottoms of clouds are flat, the movement of the Sun; these are all examples of your senses telling you that we do not live on a spherical heliocentric world.”
This idea is detailed by tfes.org which states that we should rely on our senses to guide us in our beliefs more than anything else.
23 The Spherical World Has the Burden of Proof
Another belief pushed aggressively by those who believe the Earth is flat is the notion that the burden of proof lies with those who believe the Earth is a sphere. Based on their theory, it is not up to them to prove the Earth is flat because it looks flat so instead, it is up to others to prove otherwise.
By this logic, they feel it gives their belief more credence as they should not have to prove something that is clear to the naked eye.
22 No Human Has Ever Been to Space
In one of the more outlandish claims by the Flat Earth Society, it is their belief that humans have never exited the Earth’s atmosphere. Additionally, they are confident that we have never left Earth and entered into space because we simply do not possess the ability to even do so to begin with. In fact, it is their notion that most of what society has ever taught about space is entirely made up or exaggerated to great extents by the government.
21 We Never Landed on the Moon
As the previous entry stated, if humans have never been to space, this one should come as no surprise. It is their claim that humans have never landed on the moon and that the infamous moon landings witnessed by the world were faked in 1969 and was a big sham.
The Flat Earthers believe that any images from the Apollo 11 mission that reveal planet Earth in the distance as a sphere shaped object were merely made up by the government and NASA...
20 NASA is a Giant Conspiracy
According to tfes.org, “The purpose of NASA is to fake the concept of space travel to further America's militaristic dominance of space”. In other words, the entire existence of the United States’ space agency, NASA, is a big government cover up marred in lies, all aimed at pushing the country’s agenda to be the undisputed leaders in all things space.
Of course, according to them, this dominance is all just for show to the rest of the world since we aren’t able to actually achieve space travel.
19 Other Countries Are in on The Space Fraud Too
According to Flat Earthers, not only is NASA a giant fraudulent conspiracy run by the US government, but so are all other international space programs that have claimed to have put people into orbit as well. That most notably includes China and Russia, who have been equally involved in space exploration for decades now.
Their participation in the false notion of space exploration is not as pronounced as the US, but still very much a part of the falsehoods reported out by space agencies.
18 Space Conspiracy is Based on Money and Greed
With all this talk about space conspiracies and fraud, the biggest question in all of this is essentially “why?” Why would they go through such great lengths to fake such a massive untruth?
According to tfes.org, “the conspiracy is most likely motivated by greed rather than political gains, and using only some of their funding to continue to fake space travel saves a lot of money to embezzle for themselves.” So in other words, it’s all about money according to them.
17 Photos of Earth are All Fake
In order to support their claim that the Earth is flat, this belief has to be one of their strongest, and yet it is also one of their hardest to prove. According to them, every photo ever released of the Earth has been fake. All photos depicting the Earth have been altered in some way, no matter the source.
Whether the photo is from space, a satellite, or even from a plane high up in the sky that shows the planet’s curvature, they’ve all been distorted in some shape or form, especially with such advanced cameras in existence today.
According to tfes.org, because of so much technological advances, “with this litany of problems, it's easy to see why photographic evidence is not to be trusted”.
16 The North Pole is the Center of the Earth
So although it’s been established that the Flat Earth Society vehemently denies any ability to space travel, which therefore means we cannot see the Earth, it now begs the question – what does the Earth then look like according to them? The focal point of their theory when it comes to what the Earth physically looks like is centered on the North Pole. According to them, the North Pole is the Center of the Earth.
To visualize this, it means that if you were to look at the Earth from the sky, at the very center, you would see a white patch of land (the North Pole) with all of the continents surrounding it. Their central theory being based on where Santa lives might hurt their argument a bit.
15 Antarctica is a Wall of Ice Covering the Outer Rim of the Planet
To further elaborate on what the planet looks like, let’s establish what the Flat Earth Society depicts the rest of the world to look like. As stated in the previous entry, all of the continents look the same as we imagine them today in a spherical world, only on a flat Earth, surrounding the center North Pole. Moving even further out, on the outer rim of the planet, is a white sheet of land that covers the entire edge of Earth.
This white space is Antarctica according to them. To gain further clarity, just imagine a round planet Earth drawn on a sheet of paper and the entire edge is covered in white. Rather than Antarctica being a massive continent on the southern tip of the world, it is instead a thin sheet of land surrounding the planet.
14 Ice Walls Hold the Oceans In
So why is it that Flat Earthers believe the continent of Antarctica to be this thin layer of ice land wrapping around the Earth? The explanation is rather simple. In fact, it’s probably a bit too simple to put it mildly. The purpose of this layout is for Antarctica to serve as an ice wall around the planet to hold all of the ocean’s waters in.
In other words, there’s a giant ice wall covering the Earth preventing the water from escaping and falling over the side of the flat planet we live on. This is definitely an interesting theory, to say the least.
13 No One Has Ever Fully Explored Antarctica
When presented with an overwhelming amount of evidence that Antarctica is not in fact a layered ice wall that covers the Earth, but instead an actual massive piece of land located in the southern hemisphere, the Flat Earth Society simply counters with the notion that we have no way of knowing this to be true because according to them, no one has ever fully explored the continent. And those who have been able to explore it at great lengths simply have not lived to tell about it.
12 The Earth is the Center of our Solar System
When confronted with the question of how, from a physics standpoint, the Earth is able to orbit the Sun when it’s not a sphere and instead a flat piece of mass, the explanation by Flat Earthers is pretty simple: The Earth does not orbit the Sun.
This is the case because instead of the Sun being at the center of our solar system, our planet is instead. This obviously goes contrary to everything that science has ever told us about our solar system.
11 The Sun Orbits the Earth
Elaborating on the notion that our planet Earth is the center of our solar system, the Flat Earth Society also claims that because it is the center, everything in our system revolves around Earth. That not only includes the Sun, but all other planets, asteroids, and satellites as well.
It goes without saying, that there is very little evidence to substantiate such an outlandish claim while there is a significant amount of data to support the theory that our solar system orbits the Sun, including Earth.
10 The Sun’s Orbiting of Earth Determines Seasonality
Generally accepted as factual science, the different seasons we experience on our planet throughout the year are all a result of how the Earth rotates and spins around the Sun with a series of other contributing factors and variables.
According to Flat Earthers, this theory is unfounded in fact or science and is all wrong. They claim that instead, it is the Sun’s orbiting around our flat planet that determines when and how long our summers, winters, falls and springs turn out to be.
9 Humans Are Mistaken When They See the Curvature of the Earth While Flying
It’s a pretty common idea that has not only been claimed by average people, but has even made its way onto our social media platforms. Browse just about any photo uploaded to social media that is related to traveling and you will quickly find a picture from an airplane’s window seat showing the vast skies and land below.
In these pictures, the planet’s curvature can be witnessed because the altitude the planes have reached is so high that it’s actually visible to the naked eye. According to Flat Earthers, this is merely an illusion and not something we are actually seeing.
8 The Earth is Not a Planet
This claim is clearly one of the bigger ones that the Flat Earth Society makes when attempting to support their evidence of our world being flat. They actually state that our planet is not a planet at all. Because Earth is at the center of the solar system and everything in it rotates around it, it cannot be a planet.
When asked what the Earth is, there is not a clear cut answer provided, but Flat Earthers are certain it is neither a planet, nor a star.
7 Solar System Planets Are Round Unlike Earth
Based on the previous entry’s claim that Earth is not a planet, this belief aligns with that theory. Unlike Earth, all other planets in our solar system including Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are in fact round. This is because these circular objects and the rest orbiting in space are in fact planets.
This entire belief system again goes back to the notion that Earth is the central object in space with everything else surrounding it.
6 Ships Reach The Other Side of Earth By Circumnavigating the North Pole
This one is tricky to explain, but Flat Earthers explain away the fact that a ship can set sail in the ocean on one side of the planet, like China for instance and end up on the other side in England.
According to them, the ship is not voyaging around the planet, but is instead circumnavigating its way around the North Pole since that is the center of the world. In other words, one can feasibly sail around the world by navigating around the center of it.
5 Earth Cannot Be a Globe Since We Don’t Fall Off of It
In one of the more juvenile claims that the Society of Flat Earth makes, this one is definitely up there as far as grasping at straws goes. They claim that every day we prove we aren’t living on a spherical shaped planet because we don’t fall off it and into space.
If we imagine a globe in our room on our desk and place a small action figure toward the bottom somewhere near Antarctica or South America, it will fall off the globe. By this measure, since we don’t do the same, the Earth has to be flat. This of course, completely neglects the entire existence of gravity.
4 Using a Leveler Proves Earth is Flat
In what is a pretty anecdotal and childlike approach to proving the Earth is flat, members of their society have taken to using a leveler tool in experiments. For those who aren’t aware of what a leveler is, simply think about a construction worker using the tool that ensures the board they are putting in place is flush or level with the ground.
According to them, the mere existence of the tool proves the Earth is flat because otherwise, nothing would be level if it was not.
3 Earth Cannot Be a Globe Since There Isn’t Any Mention of it in the Bible
In an attempt to disprove the spherical shape of the Earth by using unscientific methods, but instead using religion to push their agenda, Flat Earthers have taken to the Bible as a means to make their argument. They state that because the Bible makes not a single mention of the shape of the planet being round in any way, this is further prove that it isn’t.
This of course is based on fallacy because that is the same as saying that because the Bible makes no mention of unicorns, then we can deduce that they are real. The argument simply doesn’t hold up.
2 The Flow of Rivers Proves Earth is Flat
Another fact that they prove is a claim that the Earth is not round is based on our planet’s rivers. When looking at rivers, we see that they flow downhill in different directions. Based on their beliefs, the fact that rivers do not flow uphill is proof that the planet isn’t a sphere.
According to Flat Earthers, if the Earth was round, then rivers wouldn’t have any issue traveling upstream, but instead all go downstream. This of course is contrary to physics and science, again discounting the existence of gravity.
1 Perpendicular Walls Prove Earth is Flat
Using manmade structures to further push their agenda, the Flat Earth Society cites that because our walls are perfectly perpendicular to one another, this proves we live on a flat planet. The idea is that because two walls facing each other on a skyscraper are perfectly aligned and symmetrical, it proves the planet has no curvature. If there was one, the walls would bend in some form. There is more than enough scientific theory to disprove such a notion.