Flat Earth is a Cult

/ flatearthisacult / 2 Comments

This article is not intended to offend, deride of make fun of those who believe in the Flat Earth theory. Instead, it is to offer a voice for those who feel they no longer belong in the FE community, or those who are questioning the sincerity of the movement. Whether or not the earth is flat is not the topic of this article. It is merely meant as a warning against this new and addictive cult.

Yes, modern flat earth movements are essentially cults. In fact, there are many small, micro-cults operating under the wider flat earth banner. Some of these are closely related and share the same audience and general message, whilst others are, like religious denominations, spreading different interpretation and acting as rivals. However, and it is worth repeating – involvement in a flat earth community movement is involvement in a cult.

First, let us examine the many reasons why the Flat Earth is a cult movement. For this definition, A cult can be described as any unorthodox group which has ideas devoted to a person, object or set of ideas.

  1. Mostly all cults are concerned with a new teaching of some sort. This could be a new revelation on religious scripture, or a new doctrine which leads to some grand reward for the member. In the case of Flat Earth, these cults are pushing the doctrine that the earth is flat (or sometimes concave, hollow etc) and that awakening to this fact is akin to gaining a new perspective.

  2. Cults are often concerned with their teaching being the ‘true’ or ‘only way’ to understand a matter. FE cults push this idea at the first opportunity – you have been lied to about the earth and are only now waking up the truth.

  3. Cults operate on an isolationist basis. This is to say that they often expect a member to distance themselves from non-cult members, or to give up ideas, objects or beleifs that do not fit in with the cult ideology. This is very evident with the Flat Earth cults, where members are led to believe that all space imagery is falsified, and that almost everybody in the wider media is attempting to push a “globe agenda” of some sort. Flat Earth cult members openly deride their previous interests, such as lamenting that they used to love Star Trek before they ‘woke up’ to the fact that the earth is flat. Beleivers in a globe earth are referred to as “globetards” or “ballers” – a form of isolationist practice which creates a veil of separation between the Flat Earthers and their critics.

  4. Cults use various indoctrination techniques, either subliminally or deliberately, to reinforce their ideology. In traditional cults, this can be misinterpreting religious scripture, or forcing an extreme form of confession/guilt onto the member. FE cults are often concerned with models and maps (and sometimes video ‘evidence’), yet these are almost always based on gross misinterpretation of observable fact. Furthermore, the aforementioned “globetards” are instantly derided as paid shills working to rock the boat, or as trolls who are too indoctrinated to know better. This is in effect pushing a persecution complex, which is another favourite of traditional cults.

  5. Almost all cults make wild and un-verifiable claims which differ greatly from established religions, philosophies and world-views. Popular examples could include a cult leader being personally visited by an Alien prophet, or that the members are the true chosen people of God. In FE cults, it is claimed that an enormous conspiracy to hide the shape of the earth has been waged for hundreds of years. Every single item relating to space travel is thus a hoax, and almost everything we have ever been taught is part of instilling the “globe lie”. Such extreme beliefs are significantly different from, for example, believing that the Moon Landings were a hoax.

  6. Cults give their members a sense of identity, of belonging to something special which is making a real difference. This is often done via flooding members with positive praise and affection, and leading them to believe that they are somehow special. Flat Earthers often believe that they are working for the good of mankind, and preach to an already converted crowd who constantly praise them and share their videos/articles. In fact, this is a rather important part of the Flat Earth cult, and is covered in more detail later on when we discuss cult recruiting techniques.

It is thus evident that even without delving too far into it, Flat Earth movements share many of the features of traditional religious and philosophical cults. But who is likely to join a cult in the first place? After all, most people view cults as scary and dangerous, and would never willingly join such a organization. However, people who have escaped from cults sometimes only realise they were part of a cult after having left, and later woken up to what they were a part of. In this regard, a cult can creep up on a person and they have no idea what they are entering until they are already in too deep. By studying traditional cults and their members, we can conclude that certain people are more prone to this ‘creeping up’ of cult activity than others.

  • The person may be fed up, annoyed or angry with regard to traditional religion or philosophy.

  • They may thus be confused about religious and philosophical ideas, having read conflicting or aggravating material which serves only to envelop them in more confusion. They may say “I just don’t know what to believe”, or move from one religion to another in a short period of time.

  • This can sometimes lead to them becoming distant with regards to society as a whole. They may become depressed, which can then lead to them looking again to religion/philosophy for answers, and creates a Catch 22 situation.

  • They may be the type of person who craves emotional support, but is having trouble finding somewhere they ‘belong’. They could also be emotionally needy and largely distrustful of people around them.

  • They feel that their life lacks purpose, or they wish to find something to belong to and something to ‘make a difference’ with.

  • They are very often suffering from long-term unemployment or financial difficulty, or find themselves redundant/retired and suddenly lack the previous ‘purpose’ that their jobs gave them. This can lead to having too much idle time on their hands, resulting in long sessions of worry, depression and endless searching to rekindle the ‘purpose’ they have lost.

One can see the above traits in a startling number of people in Flat Earth communities. For example, it is not uncommon to see FE discussions live for 24 hours a day, with the same people joining in every day for long sessions. This is not possible with an employed person or someone with commitments in their lives. Furthermore, Flat Earthers have grown to resent most other philosophies and religions, and cling only to those which reinforce their beleifs. They often move from one Flat Earth ‘model’ to another, and when in-fighting happens between micro-cults, a mass migration can occur to another similar model or FE cult.

This begs the question of why Flat Earthers continue to engage in FE cults, when so few appear to be happy even within their communities. However, similar behaviour can be found in traditional cults, where members often report feeling unhappy or even physically hurt by the practices of the cult, but continue to meet with the group on a regular basis. This is often due to a combination of the character traits of the member (such as those on the above list), and also the ways in which cults recruit and keep their members.

  1. Cults find an emotional need and aim to fill it. In the case of traditional cults, this can be claiming to have direct contact with Jesus or God, or claiming that the world will soon end and only they will be saved. In the FE world, it is often the suggestion of awakened reality – the idea that they are above and beyond the concerns of those who still beleive the earth is round. In this way, FE cults have grown out of the wider “truther” communities prevelent online.

  2. With the use of buzz-words and loaded topics, cults can quickly indoctrinate those who are prone to joining them. This can gradually lead to the member abandoning things outside of the cult, as they feel that the world is trying to mislead them or even do evil to them. In the FE community, moving back to the globe is to rejoin the shills and trolls. To abandon Flat Earth is to fall back into Atheism, reductionism and loss of the ‘superior’ Flat Earth reality.

  3. The cult creates an appeal which is seen to be lacking in the world outside. In traditional cults this is often the promise of salvation or redemption, and in FE groups it is often the appeal of knowing a secret. Indeed, even if deep inside they reject the idea that the earth is flat, they spread these ideas in the community as it appeals to their Ego to know a ‘secret’ that almost every other human on earth does not know.

  4. The cult gives the members a false sense of approval, belonging and a sense of purpose. Many cults deny that they have leaders, as “we are all leaders” and all performing special work. This can be a very powerful draw in cult communities, and suicide cults are extreme versions of this falsified sense of belonging (“it is so important to me – I will die for it.”)

Point number 4 is a very important part of Flat Earth movements, and is one of the main reasons why even those of whom are uncomfortable with the community develop an addiction to it. This works in many ways:

  • The Flat Earther becomes dependant on the community. They may believe that those in the group are their genuine friends, or that they have a captive audience who are learning great things from their videos and chats. The community begins to feel more important than their previous life and interests, as it gives them a falsified sense of making a difference.

  • This can quickly lead to isolation. More and more evenings are spent on Flat Earth channels instead of with family, friends and hobbies. Before long, a large portion of their life becomes dedicated to the movement, and because they believe they are doing important work, they do not realise nor care that life is passing them by.

  • In some cases, they may even start to distrust those in their real life who do not believe the earth is flat. This is a type of brainwashing and it is surprising how quickly one can reconstruct their view of reality when subjected to isolation, addiction and false love/approval. The person only feels “at ease” when communing with others who are “like them”.

  • Since many in these cults suffer from various mental issues, the sense of family, belonging and approval in the FE community is like a drug. Even though this love and support is completely false (they very seldom meet in person, for example), it makes the member feel that their work is somehow worthwhile. People in FE cults often refer to each other on a first name basis, and spend long periods of time in chats and discussions where they wear their hearts on their sleeve. This becomes even more important than the earth being flat to many members.

  • They may even feel indebted to the cult and other members. They may miss appointments or other commitments to instead spent time on a Flat Earth discussion. Because of the drug like effect of the false community, they start to see their involvement in the cult as more important or worthwhile than ‘wasting’ their time on other activities. They may even feel guilty for missing a Flat Earth live chat or discussion, under the belief that the community wants, needs or desires their input.

It is thus abundantly clear that involvement in a Flat Earth cult is a potential problem which could lead to addiction and neglect of commitments if allowed to take it’s course. There may be a compulsion to check-in on the latest Flat Earth news, and when fights and disagreements take place, they may feel very real and important to the member.

Indeed, so called ‘Flat Earth Drama’ is a very common occurrence in this field. This is largely due to the nature of the micro-cults which build themselves around Flat Earth, as well as the belief that the community is comprised of real friends and not just Internet avatars. It is not unheard of, for example, to see Flat Earthers in great emotional distress over an Internet disagreement, as if a friend or lover had spurned them in some way. This is made even more potent by the fact that many in in these groups use their real names and pictures on the Internet, and appear to put a large amount of trust in the people at the other end of the chat room.

There is also the splintering of the community, or the micro-cults which are formed by certain personalties within the movement. Some of these are worryingly similar to traditional cults, such as those with a leader who believes themselves to be the Messiah and calls for followers to adopt their ‘new’ model of a non-globe earth. Others are less harmful but still include a segregated community, often with a leader or logo/banner, and often based on a slightly different variation of Flat Earth. For example, some may believe the earth is an infinite plane, whilst others believes in an ice wall and dome. In some cases, this leads to certain segments of the Flat Earth movement being labelled as ‘disinformation agents’, shills or sometimes ‘controlled opposition’.

Most of the time, this Flat Earth drama passes without any serious repercussions. However, because real names and pictures are so often used, it is a real possibility that libel and other laws may be broken during these heated and often emotional fall outs. This is even more so when one considers that Flat Earthers are prone to believing that their groups are getting infiltrated, often by alleged government shills or even sometimes even “Satanic Networks”.

This is an offshoot from other “truther” communities which sometimes overlap with Flat Earth cults. It is not unusual however for Flat Earthers to even turn against their favourite conspiracy theorists, especially when the theorist is not themselves a Flat Earth believer. This overlap with truther theories and distrust of those spreading the theories is a poison concoction. This is even more so when we consider that Flat Earth is largely a quasi-religious cult, and thus they are prone to the extreme religious delusions that media, culture and the wider world is Satanic, Evil or designed to enslave them.

There is also the strange phenomena of anti-flat earthers, or those labelled so often as shills, trolls or agents. Many in this group claim to be bewildered that modern Flat Earth societies exist, and so challenge the believers to explain their views or return to the globe. That said, there exists a smaller but still prevalent number of anti-flat earthers who show up in the chat rooms on a daily basis and for long periods of time. One cannot help but conclude that in some cases, being addicted to “trolling” or fighting against flat earth is another form of micro-cult and thus connected with the larger Flat Earth picture.

If you have been part of a Flat Earth cult and wish to remove yourself from the community, you may find this a struggle, depending on the situations which brought you into the cult to begin with. Some people lose faith that the earth if flat but still continue to lose time, friends and even money to the addictive habit of Flat Earth movements. If you feel that this has become a problem for you, it is strongly suggested that you begin to transition away from FE and all other cult activities. To finish, here are some starting points to help you on your journey away from the harmful effects of the Flat Earth movement.

  • Try not to get trapped. You may find that you are constantly invited to Flat Earth chats and that people begin to “miss you” when you leave for a while. This is all superficial and false. If you are serious about leaving the community, do not accept any invitations to join their discussions, and do not comment on the videos and articles any more.

  • If you are a member of a wider religion or philosophy, spend more time in those communities instead of Flat Earth. It is also suggested to return to old hobbies and interests that you neglected upon joining this cult.

  • Find a genuine replacement for whatever it was that Flat Earth gave you. This could be any number of hobbies and interests, as well as simply spending more time with friends or family for support, instead of strangers on the Internet.

  • Study the Flat Earth movement from a perspective of ‘outside looking in’. Read about it’s history and test the hypothesis’ that it makes with your own outside judgement. Most of what they teach in Flat Earth is highly subjective and completely unimportant to leading a full and happy life.

  • Distance yourself from those you knew in the Flat Earth movement. This may require removing or changing your Internet alias and deleting any videos, articles or chats you have online regarding this matter. On the rare possibility that you did meet a genuine friend amongst the falsehoods, send them an email after a period of time has passed, and let them know that you have fallen away from Flat Earth but they are still welcome to talk to you about other things.