The Conversation contributed the article to Space.com's expert voices.
The assistant professor is from the Hanken school of economics.
A segment of the population believes that Earth's round shape is either a theory or a hoax. As many as 11 percent of Americans think the Earth might be flat, according to polls conducted by YouGov America and FDU in the last two years.
There is an overlap between conspiracy theories that can act as gateways for radicalization.
By studying how flat Earthers talk about their beliefs, we can learn how they make their arguments engaging to their audience.
My colleague Tomas Nilsson at Linnaeus University and I analyzed hundreds of YouTube videos in which people argue that the Earth is not flat. To understand the structure of their arguments, we paid attention to their debating techniques.
Taking sides in debates is one of the strategies they use. If it helps them win, people who are deeply attached to one side of a culture war will use any and all arguments. Neo-tribalism is a phenomenon in which people invest their identity into the group and are more willing to believe their friends than their enemies.
People internalize misinformation as part of their identity Personal beliefs can't be fact-checked. It is hard to challenge conspiracy theories that are part of a person's value system.
We found out that flat Earthers take advantage of culture wars by putting their own arguments into the logic of the debates. The debates can be very personal for both sides.
There is a debate about the existence of God that goes back to antiquity. There are debates about faith, creationism, and Big bang. The argument within the Christian right is based on the idea that people are swayed away from God by using pseudoscience.
A common Flat Earther refrain is that God can only be seen in a flat plane. One flat Earther said it.
They invented evolution to convince you that God cares more about monkeys than you, and they invented the universe to make you believe.
Ordinary people stand against corrupt politicians and celebrities in a conspiracy theory. The theory says that knowledge is power and that those in power try to keep it for themselves. People are easily controlled if they believe what they are told. The Earth appears to be flat to the untrained eye. Flat Earthers see themselves as part of a group of people who fight against tyranny.
There was a spirited debate about the presence or absence of God in the US constitution. Rational people should trust their own reason and experience rather than relying on authority, according to this secularist view. Experts who use "book knowledge" or "nonsense math" are distrusted by freethinkers. Flat Earthers use personal observations to test the validity of the Earth's shape. They think of themselves as visionaries and scientists of the past.
It is difficult to counter misinformation on social media. Fact-checking can be a bad idea because it can become a personal opinion or value.
To respond to flat Earthers, you need to understand the logic that makes their arguments persuasive. Selecting a government scientist as a spokesman for a counterargument may be useless if you know that they find the arguments unconvincing. It might be more appealing to make a homemade experiment that anyone can replicate.
A counterargument can engage that logic if you can identify the rationality behind their beliefs. The only person who can say that you don't need the flat- Earth beliefs to remain true to your faith is an Insider of the group.
Flat-Earth theory and the great replacement theory appeal to a sense of group identity because of their appeal to a sense of group identity being attacked. If they fit into the grievances, they can be rational. Since debates on social media only require posting content, participants create a feedback loop that can't be fact checked.
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