Logic behind the flat earth theory

The most known, ignored and ridiculed conspiracy theory throughout the United States and the rest of the world is the flat earth theory. This is the conspiracy theory that everyone has heard of and either dies by its truth or makes fun of relentlessly. Much of the evidence used by flat earth society members is scientifically inaccurate and poorly researched, however some decent points are brought up by the research.  

The flat earth theory and the Flat Earth Society, (the organization that promotes the flat earth theory), have their own website that contains a large amount of literature about reasonings behind the earth ‘being flat’. There are many examples on this site that are outlandish and make no sense, but a small variety of the articles make some sense.  

The first thing that comes to mind when people say the earth is flat is of the pictures NASA took which proves the earth is round. These photographs seem like evidence that the earth has to be round. Ignoring that most flat earthers believe no one has been to space, NASA has announced that the majority of these pictures depicting a spherical earth are digitally edited. NASA has reasoned that this is due to the lack of images taken by a space station and the inability to take enough images for a full depiction of the earth, but most flat earthers ignore this reasoning.  

Most of the Flat Earth Society does not trust the government and believes facts, (such as the earth being round), is the government attempting to coerce people into believing and following anything. If a person is forced to discredit or not trust any source that takes government funding, is government sponsored, or has a large affiliation with a government, then the majority of the reports which claim the earth is round are discredited. This is not to say that a government is so corrupt that nothing can be trusted, but the majority of flat earthers believe that.  

However, the flat earth society’s reasoning begins to fail when considering what the government’s motive for lying is. There are many aspects where a person can reasonably deem the government to be corrupt. However, no matter how corrupt a government is, there is no reason to sustain a lie as complicated as the shape of the earth. By lying about a matter as simple as this, there is no reward for the government to lie.  

Additionally, we live in a society that is able to do its own scientific research, math and other tests to prove or disprove if the earth is flat. In today’s age, there would be at least a few scientists who would have discovered that the earth is flat. When researching the flat earth there is little proof of the earth’s flatness, instead only disproof that it is round.  

The flat earth society makes many good points about the corruptness of the government and questioning what a person knows. However, they offer no proof about the legitimacy of the argument, and provide little evidence to prove a theory, deeply routed throughout science and culture.