SCHEER: The thought of the "flat earth" of today | Opinion

Can we ever "save" the planet?

After watching the CBS Sunday Morning edition this weekend, I'm less excited about it.

This is because it seems, at least in some cases, that we must first convince people that we are living on a real planet.

The morning show included a segment titled "See, Is it Believe?", Which dealt with a group called "Flat-Earthers".

Yes, as their name indicates, members think the Earth is not round, but rather a flat disk with a small sun floating above and an ice wall on the sides that contains the oceans.

As a devotee has said, "Terre-Terrains" are convinced that the Earth is "flatter than a pancake".

That's not all they believe.

Patricia Steer, one of the greatest leaders of the Flat-Earth movement, told the CBS reporter that the photos of the Earth taken from space are false, that the sun and the moon are neither so Far or far as astronauts have been told, astronauts never ventured into space or landed on the moon and there is no rover created by NASA running around the planet Mars. As Steer explained, the Earth-Flatlands know the truth: man has never traveled in space and NASA is part of a larger plot or, as she has said, of a "great game of chess" in which all of humanity is "the pawn". "

Another part of the segment included an interview with "Mad" man, Mike Hughes, a California limousine driver who had actually built and fired his own rocket as part of his effort to get a good view of the world. above for himself. .

Hughes flew and landed his rocket on a test flight and is now working on a combined craft of balloons and rockets that he hopes to be able to take him 62 miles into the sky.

Hughes argued that people should question everything – the government, the 9/11 attacks and, yes, even all those scientists, pilots, astronauts and other experts who concluded, by hard evidence, that it Many decades ago, we live in a mudball and not in an apartment. disc of land.

Hughes says he is open to refuting the Flat-Earthers theory during his next mission, but expects to see a flat Earth next time.

There was no discussion on the concept of "global warming".

Of course, this sort of thing would seem to start and stop with the acceptance of the basic principle that we are actually living on a "globe".

I found the whole segment fascinating because I think it says a lot about the world – or the disc, if you prefer – in which we live – or today – .

In the media, we often find ourselves at odds with those who want to test the information provided through in-depth research and proven fact-checking methods, based on their personal observations, perceptions and biases.

The world of politics is there, because people often insist that events that have never really happened have actually happened because they've heard about it on Facebook or because their fame or favorite world leader said so.

Internet does not help.

As Tom Nichols, professor of national security at the Harvard Extension School and author of the book The Death of Expertise, told CBS News, many people think the Internet is full of concrete information. big, a "big dumpster" where nothing guarantees that what we see or read is true. When the interviewer pointed out to Nichols that the Internet offered more "democracy" regarding information sharing, Nichols argued that it was not such a good thing.

"Acting knowledge, more democracy is not good. Absolutely not. We do not decide how quickly things speed up in the void by voting on it, "he said.

As Nichols illustrates in his book, things seem to be turning nowadays, even if, as Earth Flatlands suggest, the Earth itself is not really so.

Where the masses once respected the opinions of scholars, scholars and learned minds of men and women of science, more and more people seem more and more comfortable with the idea that if something is not part of their direct experience, it can not be true. "

"People have lost confidence in the experts," he said. "We have developed a kind of inverted snobbery that says if you have an education, if you are in a well-known institution, you must by definition be a liar."

That includes whimsical reporters and editors, as well as the valuable journals they represent, I'm sure.

One last thought: Do Flatlanders reading Superman comics crack at the thought of a newspaper called "Daily Planet?"

Be kind to each other, whatever your beliefs.

Goodbye to Hazel

Several readers inquired about the absence of the cartoon "Hazel" in our comic pages. The company that distributes comics in our newspapers recently informed us that it would not make "Hazel" available. No explanation for the change has been provided.

We are sorry to have to announce the news to our fans of "Hazel" and hope you find something else in the comics to keep you smiling and thinking.

Contact Regional News Director Mark Scheer at 282-2311 ext. 2250.