Ask A Genius 1131: The Lady Flat Earthed
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/10/31
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What has been your experience interacting with people analytically enveloped in dogmas like Flat Earth Theory?
Rick Rosner: MAGA supporters generally tend to be more susceptible than others. I deal with that a lot because I post anti-MAGA and pro-Democrat content regularly, hoping to convince some people to vote for Democratic candidates and against Trump. Not infrequently, MAGA supporters pop up to argue with me.
I’ve had several interactions with this one lady whose Twitter handle is something like “See You Later.” If I have civil discussions with people here, I sometimes invite them to come on Lance vs. Rick. I invited her, but she must be more active in setting it up. When I invited her, she said, “Be prepared; I’m a flat-earther.”
And it turns out she is. Yesterday, as I was arguing in favour of Democratic policies, she was warning me to buy gold and silver because some big conspiracy was coming. She claimed shadowy government forces have been suppressing the true price of these metals for decades—standard conspiracy stuff. I responded, saying that we could herd an asteroid into Earth or Moon orbit in the future. We’d have all the precious metals we could ever need with a heavy metal asteroid.
Jacobsen: And her response?
Rosner: In her flat-earth way, she said, “None of that exists. Outer space doesn’t exist. Asteroids are ice and water moulded into something else.”
I have yet to have her explain the specifics to me, but it’s all an illusion I’ve brought into her mind. According to her, everyone on Earth has been tricked into believing this nonsense about space and physics, and only flat Earthers know the truth. For example, she claims rainbows are evidence of a flat Earth because they reflect some supposed deeper reality. We were talking about rainbows today—though I forget how we got on the topic—and she insists my understanding of physics can’t be true.
She argues that rainbows appear at a 42 to 45-degree angle from the sun, but then there are double rainbows, with the second rainbow at 50 degrees. Some angle of incidence or something. I explained that a double rainbow occurs when light bounces around inside water droplets more than once. It’s simple. The intense, brighter rainbow is formed when light refracts, bounces once, refracts again, and hits your eye with the sun behind you. The double rainbow is caused by light bouncing twice inside the droplet before returning to you.
But she had an issue with my use of the word “bounce.” She said, “Light doesn’t bounce.” I asked, “What made you think light doesn’t bounce?” And I explained, “Every mirror ever! Light bounces off the mirror, off the back of the mirror.” Then she replied, “That’s not bouncing; it’s reflecting.”
How do you work with that. I can post her tweets and quote-tweet them so others can see them, but let’s be honest: There aren’t many people left on Twitter since Musk bought it and drove 80% of the good folks away. Still, this lady is fun to score points off of, but trying to get her to believe anything resembling basic physics isn’t easy.
I thought we should interview her because what she’d tell us would be un anything we’ve ever heard. There are some Trump voters I can have civil discussions with on Twitter, and we probably agree on some things. I’m not super far left. I’m less left than 30% of the population, which means I’m more liberal than 40% of liberals but less liberal than 60%. I’m pretty mainstream.
Some MAGA arguments can’t persuade me because they’re so far out there—they aren’t even necessarily conservative; they’re fanatically pro-Trump. But there are some conservative ideas I can agree with. For example, Lance has an argument that’s only semi-racist—that welfare policies from the ’60s onward have been destructive to Black families because, under certain rules, you could get more money as a single person than if you had a partner living with you. If that still exists or if they’ve addressed it.
Welfare, or assistance food stamps, is essential for helping people in tough situations, even if those situations last a while. But I’m willing to hear Lance’s argument. Suppose a system perversely rewards being broken up or having only one parent. In that case, I’m open to discussing what can be done. In that way, Lance and I could have a reasonable discussion, and there’s potential for some agreement on aspects of the issue.
So, yes, I can talk with some Trump voters because only some things they believe are entirely out there. I have Trump voters in my family—I’m pretty sure. But I don’t talk to them about it because it would bum me out and piss everyone off. They vote for Trump because they’re high earners and don’t want to pay high taxes. They know he’s terrible, but they know his tax policies.
So there you go. That’s the nature of it. If someone wants to be civil, even if they don’t agree with me, or to poke fun at me gently instead of calling me nasty names, I’m fine with that, too. We can discuss more if you want.
My interactions with modern Republicans come in several varieties. There are the ones who are “fuck off to hell” types—the biggest assholes—and I mute them. Suppose someone has fewer than 1,000 followers, and all they do is retweet big accounts Libs of TikTok, Tucker Carlson, or Trump. In that case, I won’t learn anything from that person; they’ll frustrate me. So, I mute them. I mute dozens of people every day.
Rosner: But if someone has a bigger account, a unique point of view, or they tweet about more than politics— sports or TV—they’re not some MAGA idiot pumping out MAGA stuff 24/7. I won’t mute them. So, there you go.
Rick Rosner, American Comedy Writer, www.rickrosner.org
Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, www.in-sightpublishing.com
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