My question for a Flat Earther

[Goodheart]

Yeah, it wouldn't be "Explain a lunar eclipse. What makes the shadow on the moon?" They have an answer for that: that's not really a shadow. The moon is a self-changing light capable of forming shapes, like an LED panel. blah blah blah

And, no, it wouldn't be "Why do ships disappear over the horizon, bottom first?" They have an answer for that, too: that's just refraction of light. blah blah blah

None of those answers make a lick of sense, of course, and I'm certain they'll have an answer, too, for the one I want to ask... it's just that I've had a fascination with these people lately, and I've seen umpteen youtube videos about them and their whacky "theory", but I've never seen anybody ask them something obvious:

"Your claim is that the powers that be, and NASA, and astronauts, and governments, and historians, and who knows else have all been false with you... that the photos are fake, the experiments are fake, the math is wrong, the instruments are rigged, blah blah blah. But answer me this: WHY? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? Why is it important to those powers that you should believe the Earth is round instead of flat?"

Seems like an obvious question, but curiously I can not find it posed to any Flat Earther on any youtube I've seen. Anybody?

[Chainfire]

1. The more you attack ignorance

with science or logic, the more they dig in their heels. I don't care if they believe the world is flat, that the moon landing was faked or that the government is spraying us with chem-trails every day. If it keeps them harmlessly occupied, so be it.

[Goodheart]

2. I believe that the celebrities of the movement are frauds, and I don't like their attacks on science

especially when they're insincere about it.

But they rank low on my list of concerns, to be sure. I just find them interesting.

Why are they like that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I'd add to that "why do you claim southern hemisphere inhabitants lie about their stars?"

People in the northern hemisphere see their stars revolve around the celestial north pole, roughly where the star Polaris is. So most flat earthers say Earth is a disc with the north pole at its centre, and the Pole Star directly above that.

But in the southern hemisphere, they see their stars revolve around the celestial southern pole, which the Southern Cross points to. This is notable enough that several nations have the Southern Cross on their flags.

If the stars follow 2 poles (and near the equator, you can see they're roughly opposite each other), then you've basically got a rotating 3 dimensional object for Earth. The mathematics of observation then shows it's roughly a sphere, but without any math you can still say "it's not flat". So they think 800 million people (plus anyone who has visited and looked at the night sky) are part of the conspiracy.

The movement of the stars was central to the acceptance of a globe in classical times, long before people made round the world voyages and so on.

[Goodheart]

4. There are a million questions like that.

I want to know why Magellan's crew would lie. Or Neil Armstrong would lie. Or Sally Ride would lie.

And why would anybody want you to believe the Earth is round if it's not actually round? What's to gain? What difference does it make to somebody powerful enough to pull off what you think is the greatest scam in history?