Flat worlders....
Question answered by honorarykid in Scientology
Anonymous asked this question on 8/6/2000:
when will you ever get away from believing the earth to be
flat...the questions here are designed to be provocative and
insinuate criminal activity without proof and without prejudice.
In all cases the questions are coming from a select group of
people whos designs are to destroy religions..I see their
questions on other boards as well. there is only one answer to
this..flat worlders unwilling to change their viewpoint at the
expense of the majority.. so who is the group that is anti
Scientology?
honorarykid gave this response on 8/6/2000:
What an interesting take you have on the concept of flat
earthers.
That term is usually used to categorize those people who
dogmatically and irrationally and religiously hold on to their
existing beliefs, in spite of clear and convincing evidence
that their position is false.
Which group here, the critics of Scientology or the
Scientology believers, best fits the concept of a "flat
earther."
While I don't dispute that many questions are being posed
as springboards for revealing some unflattering truth about
the CoS, that does not stop the truth from being true. The
critics see evidence of wrongdoing and criminal behavior
and say "I think that there is wrongdoing and criminal
behavior here, here is my evidence." Check out these types
of answers. They usually come with references to URLs,
Scientology scriptures, etc.
Scientologists with whom I am familiar (including those who
have kindly volunteered their time to serve as experts here
on Askme.com) generally turn away from that type
evidence without even looking at it, while without any
evidence of their own, frequently claim these same critics
are criminals and SPs because their group's "scriptures" tell
them it's true.
And which of those two groups, in spite of much contrary
evidence, irrationally believes that by practicing some mildly
hypnotic trance induction drills, they will be the ONLY
people who know the real truth about the mysteries of life
and magically raise their IQs and cure their physical ill and
become the ONLY people to achieve happiness?
Which group, in spite of no hint of evidence, irrationally
teaches that the final outcome of it's mental conditioning
processes will be people who can magically control Matter,
Energy, Space and Time?
I think you know the answer, but I'll tell you anyway. It's
Scientology that teaches those things and Scientology
adherants who believe them.
I realize that these analogies aren't quite perfect to the
people in the Flat Earth Society, but I think they're close
enough to make my point.
And by now, I'm sure you've figured out what my point is,
haven't you? ;-)
Btw, there are still a few flat-earth believers out there, to
this day. But there are probably far fewer than the number
claiming to be. Most of them don't *really* believe it.
Rather they are doing it for effect, to be a part of a fun
and/or eccentric sideshow. You understand that it can be a
powerful and heady experience to be a part of a group,
right?
Again, the whole issue of being a flat-earth believer is
really just a question of how open-minded we are about
letting go of our old ideas and beliefs (even the comfortable
and comforting ones) when faced with clear and convincing
evidence that those ideas and beliefs are false. Being a
flat-earther requires that one not think critically, and
refuse to look at evidence.
To end this answer, I'd like to paraphrase a debate that
happened in England several hundred years ago.
One older, more experienced man was properly trained in
tradition, and therefore 'knew' that the world was carried
across the heavens on the back of a giant turtle.
When a scientifically minded young man asked him "but
what is the giant turtle standing on?" he replied, "you can
trick me with such questions, young man. It's turtles, all
the way down."
---
Recommended reading:
"The Deamon Hauted World" - Carl Sagan
"Mysticism and Logic" - Bertrand Russell
"Insight, untested and unsupported, is an insufficient
guarantee of truth" - Bertrand Russell (from "Mysticism and
Logic)
honorarykid gave this follow-up answer on 8/17/2000:
A quick follow-up to my previous answer.
1) Apologies, but I erred in typing the title of Sagan's book.
It's title is "The Demon-Haunted World."
2) I undoubtedly first read the story of the flat disc of
Earth, riding across the Heavens on the back of a giant
turtle in the introduction to Stephen Hawkings' marvelous
book on cosmology, 'A Brief History of Time' which is a
terrific book, which I'd also highly recommend to anyone
who wants to understand of the current state of scientific
understanding of the formation of our Universe.
Here is the entire story, quoted from the Introduction to "A
Brief History of Time" by Steven Hawkings:
----------------------------------------------
A well-known scientist once gave a public lecture on
astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the
sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a
vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the
lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and
said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really
a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise." The
scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What is the
tortoise standing on?" You're very clever, young man, very
clever," said the old lady, "But it's turtles all the way
down!"
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