The Real Flat-Earthers

We all know that the earth is round, but, only a few centuries ago, it was almost universally accepted that the earth is flat...

What if pink elephants could fly?

What?! Are there not mountains and valleys all around us? They didn't notice those? They didn't dig wells hundreds of feet deep?

No, people have always known that the earth is not a flat plane.

It can still be "flat-ish" though, you say. True. It can be a cube or a pyramid or a cylinder or a dodecahedron and we are just living on one side. Let me ask you though: do you really believe that anyone thought the earth is shaped like a cube?

They didn't see the circular sun every day? The spherical moon was nonexistent? Nobody ever noticed that lunar eclipses are always circular? When the masts of ships rose above the horizon, just as they do now, nobody gave them a second glance? Are you kidding me?

The truth is that prior to Columbus it was not common knowledge that the earth is flat. In fact, Eratosthenes calculated the radius of the earth with an error of less than 2% in 240 B.C. The flat earth idea became popular in the 19th century and is perpetuated by elementary school teachers to this day.

The point here is not that we are wrong about something, yet again. It is that people accept this myth, a symbol, if there is any, for gullibility, without a second thought. "Of course," they say, "we are extremely enlightened. Those barbarians could never comprehend something so large. It would make their puny little brains explode. Ha ha ha. Stupid ignorant people..."

Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but my point stands. With just a little thought, some serious reasons for doubting the myth about the myth can be found. I think it is very clear that we are the real flat-earthers here.