Flat Earth conspiracy theories have run rampant in recent years, despite fairly conclusive proof that our planet is shaped like an orb (William Shatner wouldn’t lie to us would he?). Yes, for some reason, a substantial demographic of America’s more internet-addled folks have taken it upon themselves to prove that if you pilot a yacht far enough into the ocean (or rig up your own private rocket and fly it into the stratosphere), you’ll eventually discover that we’ve all been lied to about the shape of our planet.
IndieWire reports that a new reality TV show is in the works that will pay conspiracy theorists money to pursue their beliefs that the Earth is shaped like a frisbee-like disc rather than the sphere that it is. The show, which is described as a “part docuseries, part competition show,” will supply conspiracy theorists with “$US50,000 worth of resources” to conduct “research.” Ultimately, the contestants will present their findings to a panel of scientists, theologians, and cartographers. If they can convince a majority of the judges that the Earth is, indeed, flat, they will win a cash prize (they won’t).
The series is premiering on The Network, a relatively new free streaming app that appears to have a pretty limited content selection so far (the site’s website only advertises two original programs). Surely with its new conspiracy-themed show, the platform is hoping to grow its audience by drawing in people eager to laugh at the gullible yokels who believe this medieval delusion.
The main thing I don’t understand about Flat Earthers is that there are so many better conspiracy theories on which to waste your time and energy. The JFK assassination, for instance, has 60-plus years of weird rabbit holes to go down. Jeffrey Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself, similarly, has a much more rich tapestry of threads to pull on. But…the Earth being flat? Who cares? Whether the Earth is flat or not, it doesn’t have any real bearing on your day-to-day life. Also, the Earth is round.
Of course, this particular theory has a history that is notably intertwined with religious fundamentalism (its been referred to as a form of “extreme Biblical-literalist theology”), which may help explain why some of its believers have such an unusually rigid resistance to reason. One of the more prominent flat Earth conspiracy theories is that the planet is actually encircled by a giant wall of ice, which is guarded, for some reason, by military forces to keep the world’s citizens from knowing THE TRUTH. It doesn’t help that a number of prominent voices in pop-culture/rightwing infotainment complex have occasionally indulged the delusion (former Fox News anchor and dipshit extraordinaire Tucker Carlson once said that he was “open” to the theory).