The three themes of the flat-Earth theory When conspiracy theories are part of someone’s value system or worldview, it is difficult to challenge them. While news articles can be fact-checked, personal beliefs cannot. The problem arises when people internalize disinformation as part of their identity. People invest their identity into the group and are more willing to believe fellow allies rather than perceived opponents - a phenomenon that sociologists call neo-tribalism. People who are deeply attached to one side of a culture war are likely to wield any and all arguments (including truths, half-truths and opinions), if it helps them win. One strategy they use is to take sides in existing debates. We paid attention to their debating techniques to understand the structure of their arguments and how they make them appear rational. These are mostly people of marginal social background which almost excludes the option of someone joking with answering, for instance.In a recent study, my colleague Tomas Nilsson at Linnaeus University and I analyzed hundreds of YouTube videos in which people argue that the Earth is flat. Thus a total of 19 per cent from the adult Bulgarians are hesitant on the issue of the form of the Earth or are not fully able to comprehend the question about its form while the remaining 81 per cent are answering according to science. Here one should add those 11 per cent who struggle to answer. These issues can be possibly treated with different techniques of questioning or more different wording.Įven if we accept that the question for the form of the Earth is not sufficiently clear, not entirely correct or that such statements make some people agree without reflection, the share of 8 per cent is not negligible even when calculating the possible statistical digression. The questions are of course experimental and should be interpreted as little more than hypotheses. These are the data from the latest “Gallup International” survey representative for the adult population of the country: a survey which is independent from external funding and part of the programme for monthly surveys with a quarter of a century record. 15 per cent agree with the opinion that vaccines are most often harmful for the people, 58 per cent uphold the opposite stance while 27 per cent declare to have no opinion. 74 per cent agree that people had stepped on the Moon, 9 per cent disagree while the rest are hesitant. It however appears that 8 per cent agree with the statement “The planet Earth is flat and what is everywhere written that it has a form close to a sphere is untrue”. 81 per cent of those interviewed in a provocative survey do not hesitate as to flat or globular the planet Earth is.
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