Surreal April 2024 total solar eclipse renews debunked flat Earth conspiracy theories:-During the total solar eclipse on April 8, the sun and moon will be perfectly lined up to cast a narrow shadow of darkness over Earth in the middle of the day. This strange event has led to new, debunked conspiracy ideas that go against what science says.
Surreal April 2024 total solar eclipse renews debunked flat Earth conspiracy theories
Scientists say it’s another example of how quickly and easily anti-science ideas can spread.
A professor of journalism at the University of Cincinnati named Jeffrey Blevins studies social media and fake news. He said, “I’m already seeing it more and more as we get closer to the April 8 eclipse.”
Blevins is one of the experts who say that the debunked “flat Earth” idea doesn’t stop when there is an eclipse, even though scientists have a great understanding of how eclipses happen because they know so much about the orbits of celestial bodies.
There are many types of conspiracy theories. Some are safe or well-thought-out, others are based on a complete lack of faith in science, and still others are spread to make money or get elected. People who believe the Earth is flat are more likely to be paranoid, which makes them less trusting of science and officials, which is a more worrying conspiracy theory, according to Blevins.
“They’re taught not only that the Earth is flat, but also that you can’t trust science, academia, the media, or the government,” he said. “And it could make you believe in other extreme ideas as well.”
What do flat Earthers believe?
Most people who believe in the Flat Earth think that the Earth is a flat, hockey puck-shaped object surrounded by a dome, which is also sometimes called a firmament. The dome has ice walls around its edges. These people think they can prove this because the seas don’t look curved and you can’t see the horizon’s curves from an aeroplane.
They also say that photographs taken from space are not reliable and that NASA’s moon landing was a fake.
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Doesn’t a solar eclipse prove the Earth is round?
People who believe in the flat Earth don’t see it that way, but they also don’t have a single alternative idea. Most people who believe in a flat Earth think that the sun and moon move much closer to the ground than astronomers have recorded.
During the last total solar eclipse in the U.S., the news site Mic.com listed many scientific problems with the flat Earth theory that were raised by the eclipse, such as the size of the shadow it made. Recently, a YouTube movie promoting the idea of a flat Earth said that the sun and moon are about the same size.
On the other hand, experts fully understand how total solar eclipses happen. These events take place when the sun, moon, and Earth meet up in space in a certain way.
NASA says that a solar eclipse takes place when the moon moves in front of the sun. Because of that arrangement, Earth is in a moving shadow that blocks the sun’s light in some places. A small part of Earth will be in partial or full darkness during this time.
The path is very narrow because the sun is so far away and so big, and the moon is also very far away from Earth. That casts the moon’s shade over a piece of land that is the size of the moon itself. Because the Earth spins and the moon moves around in its circle, the shadow moves across the land.
Because the moon doesn’t orbit around the sun and Earth in the same plane all the time, complete eclipses don’t happen very often. A solar eclipse can also only happen when the moon is new.
There are many movies and articles online that explain what a solar eclipse is and how it works. The April 8 total sun eclipse will also be shown live on NASA.
When did people learn the Earth is round?
There’s another mistake about the flat Earth out there. This common mistake, which became famous in the 1800s, made it seem like most people thought the Earth was flat before the 17th century, when scientific study really took off.
In fact, the Greeks figured out around 500 B.C. that the Earth was round, and historians, navigators, and cartographers have all agreed with them ever since.
In England in the middle of the 1800s, the idea of a flat Earth came up again as a kind of conspiracy theory. In 1956, the Flat Earth Society was set up.
“It certainly is one of the oldest conspiracy theories,” stated Blevins.
In the 2010s, there was a bit of a rebirth among people who believe in flat Earth.
It was around that time that social networks like 4chan and subreddits really began to become famous. “There was all kinds of crazy stuff out there, and it had a chance to reach more and more people,” he said.
Why do people believe in conspiracy theories?
Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent in the UK who studies conspiracy ideas, says there are three main reasons.
The first is a need to know the truth and be sure of what you’re doing. The second is the need to be safe and have some say over what’s going on around us. Lastly, we have a social need to keep our self-esteem high and feel good about the groups we’re a part of.
“This kind of thinking can happen to anyone if their psychological needs aren’t being met at the moment,” she said.
When there is a lot of social change and uncertainty, people may be more interested in conspiracy ideas.
“This could be one reason why there are so many conspiracy theories after events like the sudden deaths of celebrities or during pandemics,” Douglas said. “A simple explanation isn’t always very appealing when it comes to something so important.” A big event must have a big or more evil cause, people think.