Photo via u/killHACKS/Reddit
February 8, 2022, 2:21 pm*
A resurfaced clip that was popularized in 2018 by the documentary Behind the Curve is again making the rounds on social media as people laugh at the guy who conducted an experiment to try and prove the Earth is flat, only to conclusively prove that it’s very much round. The documentary focuses on the so-called “Flat Earther” community that has emerged online as human beings collectively lose their minds in this late-stage capitalism hellscape, but this one guy, in particular, embarrasses himself to such an extent that the clip keeps going viral.
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In the brief clip, Flat Earther Jeran Campanella tries an experiment in which a man in the distance shines a light at a set of two fences with parallel holes. They reason that if the Earth is flat, holding the light at the same height as the holes will cause the light to shine through. When they test this out, however, no light can be detected by the experimenters’ equipment.
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Then, when he has the guy hold the light up at 23 feet instead of 17, the light shines through.
Campanella can only repeatedly call this “interesting” as his own experiment seems to show that there is a curvature to the planet, putting his partner at a slightly lower elevation than the fences.
According to commenters who have seen the video, the experiment did nothing to change Campanella’s mind, instead opting to blame his failure to get the results he wanted to on uneven terrain and various local debris. Worse, when he later attended a Flat Earth convention, he got on stage and lied to his fellow conspiracy theorists about the experiment, claiming that he did see the light shine through at 17 feet rather than letting them know that they believed in an absurd lie.
Flat Earthers have been known to go to extreme and even deadly lengths to prove their conspiracy theory is real. We can never forget the tale of “Mad” Mike Hughes, who built a rocket to try and prove the Earth is flat only to die when the craft’s parachute was torn away during launch, leaving him to crash into the desert below and suffer a very embarrassing death. Other Flat Earthers have attempted similar stunts only to discard their findings that the Earth is round when they get back from the hospital.
While many of the supposed “leaders” of this conspiracy theory community are likely doing things like this as a way to scam their followers out of money or at least get some YouTube income, it’s real easy to stumble on weird and extreme antisemitism in these online rabbit holes. Aside from baffling and irritating many a normal family member at Thanksgiving, strange conspiracy theory networks often function as a pipeline to white supremacist and antisemitic groups who believe Jewish people secretly conspire to run the world.
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This does mean, however, that you’re clear to feel good laughing at people like Campanella who run around proving themselves wrong for wide audiences. Reddit’s not holding back either way.
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*First Published: February 8, 2022, 2:20 pm
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