How do flat-earthers always have an answer for everything?
Flat earthers don't often lose arguments. To be fair, they don't often win them either, but they always seem to have an answer that allows them to at least avoid conceding defeat. Here's how that works...
There are a couple of dozen common lines of evidence that globe-earthers use to prove the Earth is round, e.g. the movement of the Sun and Moon, eclipses, the way ships appear on the horizon, etc. Flat-earthers have developed specific rebuttals to each of these lines of evidence, and any self-respecting flat-earther will have learned how to respond to common globe-earth arguments. The flat-earth rebuttals are actually wrong but they sound plausible enough to be difficult for the average person to counter-argue. In many cases the debate ends here with the flat-earther victorious.
Consider the following exchange between Robert (who believes Earth is round) and Felix (a flat-earther):
- Robert: "The way ships disappear over the horizon bottom-first shows that the ocean is curved."
- Felix: "Actually they don't disappear bottom-first. That's an illusion caused by atmospheric and other effects."
At this point, Robert may not be familiar enough with the scenario to have a response, in which case Felix wins. However, if Robert happens to be familiar with the topic, he may be able to counter-argue:
- Robert: "I've seen the effect through a telescope. You can clearly see the ship going bottom-first."
In this case Felix can fall back on what I call a safety net answer. This is a generic answer that can be called upon whenever an argument is being lost. For example:
- Felix: "I've seen lots of videos and I have a different interpretation, which I believe is correct."
Felix has now shut down the discussion by saying there are two different interpretations of the evidence, and you'll have to agree to disagree. This is a safety net answer.
Some other common examples from flat-earthers:
- "The government lies all the time, this is just another example."
- "Have you done this test yourself? If not, you don't know if the evidence is real."
- "Your mathematics is too complicated. You're just using it to confuse me."
- "I trust my own senses more than your scientific equipment."
For more information and examples, see Using a debating safety net.
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Author: Dave Owen.