ANTARCTICA AND THE FLAT EARTH CONSPIRACY
I have a friend who is adamant that the Earth is flat! He can spend hours explaining to me why it is flat and how we have all been conned. I asked him ‘What do you get out of believing that?’
He said that when he was younger he was a member of an astronomy club and loved learning about stars and planets and the cosmos.
But, when scientists started saying that we were living on an insignificant planet in the immensity of black space on the edge of a galaxy that was only one of millions, it didn’t sit well with him.
When he ‘discovered’ the Flat Earth conspiracy, it finally all made sense to him, almost like a religious revelation, and he felt we had been placed here for a reason and were being looked after by something greater than us.
It is very much like a religious belief for him, which is why I tend to not be too harsh with him. If it makes him happy, well who am I to dissuade him?
However, I do ask him questions, which usually start with ‘But what about…?’ and he always has an answer. Sometimes crazy answers but answers nonetheless.
So what do Flat -Earthers believe and how does it involve Antarctica?
For a start, they believe that the Earth is a flat disc and the Arctic Circle (north polar region) is in the centre. In their world view, Antarctica, rather than being a continent is actually a 46 metre (150ft) high, wall of ice around the rim of the disc.
The Flat Earth Society’s FAQ states . “Beyond the ice wall is a topic of great interest to the Flat Earth Society. To our knowledge, no one has been very far past the ice wall and returned to tell of their journey. What we do know is that it encircles the earth and serves to hold in our oceans and helps protect us from whatever lies beyond.”
The Earth’s military and NASA employees supposedly guard this wall of ice to prevent people from getting close enough to prove that the Earth is flat (and I suppose to stop them from climbing over and falling off).
I guess it is understandable that they believe there is an ice wall. It’s kind of true in a sense because in one part of Antarctica (the Ross Ice Shelf) the ice shelf forms a barrier which varies generally between 15 and 50 metres in height (dropping down to a few metres in other places). Scott encountered it when he visited Antarctica and it extends for 600 kilometres but once you find a way around it or over it, as the early explorers did, there is nothing but snow, ice and the occasional rock until you get to the other side of Antarctica.
Flat-Earther’s also believe that the moon landings were faked; that the sun and moon are the same size (51 km in diameter – 32 miles) and orbit around the North Pole about 5000 km above the Earth; gravity doesn’t exist (things just fall due to density); tides are caused by an earth magnet beneath the sea; and that ‘No independent travel is allowed below the 60th South parallel’ which is unfortunate because I must have broken a law when I went to the 77th South parallel. Now that the authorities know I’ll probably be arrested….or NOT!!!
Despite the fact that ships disappear as they sail over the horizon; that we have photos from NASA and satellites that feed our GPS systems; that if you go up high enough you can see the curvature of the Earth; and that you can actually travel independently to Antarctica, the Flat Earther’s deny all of it.
For them NASA is a key part of the conspiracy, the photos are faked, GPS is rigged, the curvature is an illusion and if you go to Antarctica by yourself you will be turned back by the military, which is kind of strange because the U.S> military flew me there in an Air National Guard ski-equipped C130 Hercules aircraft. The crew were very nice people 🙂
Given the thousands of people who have visited, worked, and travelled across Antarctica, no-one has mentioned an ice-wall.
For me the simplest proof of a round Earth actually comes from Antarctica. The early explorer’s diaries, journals and commentaries on Antarctica often mention the 24 hour daylight during summer and the complete disappearance of the sun during the 4 months or so of winter (the length varies depending on how far south you are).
For instance, in the diaries of Frank Debenham, a geologist on the famous British Antarctic Expedition 1910-1913, he writes on the 24th of April, 1911 ‘Yesterday the sun rose for the last time…it gave us a lovely sunset’ [before disappearing for a few months] or perhaps a better example is from Edward Evans, who accompanied Scott on the same expedition:
‘Although we spoke of day and night still, it must be remembered that there was really no longer night, for the sun merely travelled round our heavens throughout the twenty-four hours. Its altitude at midnight would be about 12 or 13 degrees, whilst at noon it would have risen to 28 or 29’ (Evans 1922 in his book ‘South with Scott’)
And then you have extracts from Bernacchi’s diary. He was on the first expedition to overwinter in Antarctica (Borchgrevink’s Southern Cross expedition) where his diary entry for the 21st November, 1899 states:
‘And the unwearied sun above the horizon visible right through the 24 hours, sweeping around from east to west and west to east again’
So, look at the date…1899. NASA was established in 1958. So 59 years before NASA was founded, people were talking about 24 hour sunlight in Antarctica. This is easy to explain if you envision the Earth as a globe, tilted on an angle tracing an elliptical path around the sun. It doesn’t work so well if the sun and moon are just revolving around the North Pole as the Flat-Earther’s believe.
They say, of course, that the time-lapse images that you can see on you-tube of 24-hour sunlight in Antarctica are fake, but when you read the same accounts of the sun staying above the horizon all day every day for summer or disappearing for months through winter, in the journals of explorers in the early 1900’s, long before NASA and the grand conspiracies arose, you have to wonder whether the flat earth theory simply relies on belief.
I also directly experienced it myself for a week at Windless Bight on the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The whole time I was there it was sunshine, 24 hrs a day.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story 🙂