Crazy proof image: The Earth is (not) flat! | Knowledge and the environment | DW

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The sad truth is that there is a lot of nonsense and fraud on social media. But some of the stories are so crazy that it’s worth looking into it again: On Telegram and other social media platforms, there’s a picture currently circulating among conspiracy theorists that is supposed to prove that the Earth is flat after all. Flat Earthers around the world are happy to finally find the ultimate guide.

One might think it’s good, nice to a few eccentrics. But there are a surprising number of interest groups with a large following who are passionate about flat Earth theory. The Flat Earth Society alone has around 250,000 followers on Facebook (although not all of them believe in this theory).

The now-promoted image and ten others are leaked images of the SpaceX satellite of American entrepreneur Elon Musk. It was also posted by conspiracy theorists from the far-right QAnon movement: “Data leak at Elon Musk and NASA – This and eleven other images are said to come from one of Elon Musk’s Space X satellites,” one wrote on Twitter. “These images were not encrypted during transmission. They could have been intercepted by NASA hackers.”

And user ancronat enthuses on Twitter: “That’s cool (!!!) Do you understand the scope of this post? The end of pool balls revolving around the sun has been announced…”

Confused Theory Story

Well, in the mythical imagination of many early cultures, the Earth was flat. But in the last antiquity, knowledge of the spherical shape of our planet prevailed. In the 3rd century AD, Eratosthenes was already able to accurately calculate the circumference of the Earth.

Even in the supposedly dark Middle Ages, no one believed that the Earth was flat, although this myth persisted until the 19th century.

That medieval people saw the earth flat is a legend from the nineteenth century.

In that nineteenth century, British inventor and author Samuel Robotham (1816-1884), among other things, published that the Earth was flat and noted corresponding passages in the Bible.

According to Robotham, the Earth was flat with the North Pole in the center and an impassable ice wall around the edge. The sun is less than 4,000 miles away from London. A hemisphere with stars is placed above the ground. It is not the Earth that rotates, but the Sun and Moon fly in circular orbits over the flat Earth.

Draw the world as a flat disk

What if the earth was as flat as a pie…

Robotham’s ideas were adopted in the United States by the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church. Founded in 1956 International Flat Earth Society Initially meaningless, the numerous images of the globe from space evaluated “flat earth” simply as a plot.

It was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the new president of the International Flat Earth Society sparked a renewed interest in the theory — and thanks to social media, belief in a flat Earth is experiencing a resurgence.

Photographic Evidence Verification

And the picture? Is this finally the ultimate guide? In the photo, the spent continents can be seen. The sun and moon can be seen from the side. Something white all over, reminiscent of ice.

This reminds us of… Some conspiracy theorists might discover something, but the photo isn’t evidence, it’s a clumsy fake. This is also shown by fact-checking by Minikama, a “platform for investigating online fraud and fake news” in German.

Fact-checkers reveal “obvious inconsistencies,” such as that the SpaceX Starlink satellites don’t even have cameras that photograph the Earth. The image “is by no means a new ‘leaked’ image, but it has been circulating all over the internet as a meme for more than 3 years,” according to Minikama.

According to fact-checkers, an image is a stereo projection, which can be used, for example, to drop a ball on a plane in geometry. This video explains the technique:

As spheres and planes appear in many areas of mathematics and its applications, holographic projection is also used in complex analysis, cartography, geology, and photography.

But these facts likely won’t convince conspiracy theorists and “flat earth” either. The majority of them will continue to believe in “alternative facts”.

  • Film Still JFK - Two heroines, a man and a woman, looking into the camera (Imago / United Archives)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    The “mother” of all conspiracy theories: the Kennedy assassination

    Director Oliver Stone, who has often dealt with plots in his films, showed a keen sense of the subject in 1991’s “JFK.” Here it’s Attorney General Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) who rejects the hypothesis that the president was murdered by a lone gunman. His theory: a vast network, the “deep” state and the arms lobby behind the assassination.

  • Film Still Witnessing A Conspiracy - Two Men Talking in Conversation (Image of Alliance / The Consolidated Archive)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    Subject in the title: “Watch a plot.”

    After the Kennedy assassination, the Watergate scandal, and the Vietnam War, parts of the American population were extremely unsafe. Filmmakers like Alan J. Bakula picked it up in the 1970s. Bakula filmed his own Paranoia trilogy, and one such movie was “Witness to a Plot” in 1974 with Warren Beatty (right).

  • Film still The Untouchables doing research at a newspaper desk at a typewriter (picture-alliance/dpa)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    Classic plot: “Untouchables”

    Of course, Bakula’s film “The Untouchables”, filmed two years later, is one of the classics of plot films. It’s the story of journalists Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford). The two reveal a political conspiracy that will later go down in history as the “Watergate Scandal”.

  • Filmstill The Manchurian Candidate - Man in the crowd with notebook in demo (Imago/Entertainment Pictures)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    Old and New: “The Prismatic Filter”

    Richard Condon’s “The Manchurian Candidate” was shot twice, in 1962 against the backdrop of the Cold War with Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey, in 2004 with Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington (our photo). In the new film, the Middle East conflict replaces the Cold War theme. The complex plot revolves around “remote-controlled” murders under hypnosis and all kinds of plot myths.

  • Film still - Vanilla Sky with Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise - two heroines, a young couple, walking down a street laughing and embracing each other (photo-alliance / United Archives / Impress)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    Psychedelic plot: “Vanilla Sky”

    This material has also been filmed twice, first in 1997 in Spain (“Abre los ojos” by Alejandro Amenábar), and then in Hollywood in 2001 by Cameron Crowe under the title “Vanilla Sky” with Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz. It’s not about a political conspiracy, it’s about a company programming and controlling people. At least that’s what that means.

  • Scene from The Da Vinci Code - Da Vinci Code: A couple walking into the crowd (Imago / United Archives)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    A whole bunch of conspiracy theories: “The Da Vinci Code”

    A recent classic of the plot genre (among others with Tom Hanks) is “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) based on the bestseller by Dan Brown. Listing all of the plots and theories that play a role in the film would do too much here. It’s about religion and the church, about “God’s work” and the “Holy Grail” and more. It was very successful, and the movie “Illuminati” followed.

  • Film Still The Ghostwriter - a man with security officers in front of a demonstration (Kinowelt)

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    Conspiracy films from the Old Continent: “The Ghost Writer”.

    The vast majority of films on this topic have probably been made in the United States in recent decades. But European cinema also has a lot to offer. Roman Polanski directed a particularly successful film ten years ago with Pierce Brosnan. But “The Ghostwriter” also plays in the United States. The film, which is about political intrigue, foreign and economic policy, was mainly shot in Germany.

  • Z static movie - People in a Small Space (Photo Alliance / United Archive): Several people in an elevator

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    European Plots: “Z”

    The Greek-French director Konstantin Costa-Gavras is a master of political films that often deal with plots of all kinds. He became famous in 1968 with his movie “Z” (Our Picture), which was followed by other films about alleged and real plots. Time and time again, Costa-Gavras pulled the rug out from under the spectators’ feet.

  • Movie - Still 23 Nothing As It Seems - A man is threatened by two other people with a gun (Image Alliance/United Archives) Two men threaten a third man with a gun.

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    German plot: “23”

    German cinema has also devoted itself to this topic from time to time. Young Hans Christian Schmid did particularly well in 1998 with the film “23 – Nothing is as it seems.” A young computer hacker (August Diehl on the left) becomes obsessed with a global conspiracy – the number 23 plays an important role. A movie that is still relevant today.

  • Still Good Seuss movie - with Ferdinand Marianne (Aliance Pictures / AKG Pictures): A man in historical costume in the courtroom

    Everything invented? Conspiracy theories in cinema

    It is also a plot movie: “Jude Seuss”.

    They were Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Films: The Propaganda Works Made by the National Socialists between 1933 and 1945. The most famous of these were “Jude Seuss” with Ferdinand Marianne (photo). But unlike the previous nine movies listed here, which were made for entertainment, these plot films are about action. They should explain the anti-Semitic incitement of the Nazis.

    Author: Jochen Korten


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