The Conspiracy that the Earth is flat has taken a new fresh breath of life in the wake of the internet and has surged in popularity. Most people have at least heard of the modern-day ‘Flat Earther’. But popularity in the conspiracy world is still not a huge accomplishment, and the notion that people really do believe in it has been propelled by certain celebrities in recent times. (do Tila Tequila and B.O.B still count as celebrities?) In reality, there are many fans of the theory, but a lot less who take it seriously. And that's really a more accurate view of this theory, the Discordian view, that most people completely miss. So let's get into it, the secret history of the flat earth.

People have believed the Earth is flat for a long time. However not as long as your local schoolhouse would make you think, the idea that most medieval people thought the earth was flat is a misconception. Most learned people at the time had been exposed to the idea that the Earth was round and it was generally excepted. The non-learned people of the time were much to busy to be concerned with earth-shape-philosophy.

But prior to the Greek sciences, a large portion of the world did think the earth was flat. Well, that's actually a misnomer as well, they just assumed it was flat because there was no other way to perceive it, It wasn't till the invention of maths that humans could understand astronomy to a level which would explain the shape of the earth. However this simple concept of accepting information as you perceive it is one of the core ideas of all conspiracy, Solipsism, the idea that the individual is the only one who can be trusted to understand the information it receives.

But the existence of the modern flat earther started in the late 1800s. It was perpetrated mostly by one man, Samuel Rowbotham, known by his much cooler pen/stage name, Parallax. He wrote a pamphlet on ‘Zetetic Astronomy’, but was better known for his lectures and debate skills. From 1850 up until nearly the time of his death in 1885, he would travel around the United Kingdom and hold lectures and debates on the subject of the flat earth. He was reportedly an elegant speaker and was able to remain level headed in even the most heated debates. Hundreds of newspaper articles also attest to the fact that he would almost never lose these debates. His reputation grew and he was invited to speak at town halls and universities across the nation, leaving many educated people questioning their held beliefs.

The twist on this story is that Samuel dropped out of school, never finishing elementary. History remembers him as a fast-talking charlatan, but everyone agrees that he was extremely well versed in his theory and an excellent speaker, willing to debate anyone of any academic level in the matter. He essentially made a career out of poking holes in the academic theory, and it was easy to do at the time. The basis of his argument, The Bedford-level Experiment, was equally provable, at the time, like most other experiments that argued the earth was round. Today, with modern techniques, we can disprove the Bedford-level experiments. But this poking holes in academia still happens today. The question should be should we shame the hole poker? Or should we demand a higher standard of scientific evidence, one with fewer holes?

Well, history already decided in the case of Samuel aka, Parallax, the verdict being a solid shaming in the history books. After his death, the Zetetic society that he found to support the theory slowly died off after the turn of the century.

However, in 1956, His ideas were revived. The Flat Earth Society was found by a man named Samuel Shenton. Shenton read the Zetetic Astronomy, which had evolved into a book over the years when he was young and clung to the theory. Over the years he compiled piles of scientific evidence, leaving the more religious bends of the theory behind. Despite his controversial view, he was elected as a fellow in both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Astronomical Society, showing that he was quite popular in academic circles. In fact, famed astronomer Patrick Moore was an even a member of the society for a time. Why did academics include him in their clubs and attend his seminars when his ideas were so contrary?

Well, the answer lies in the dry sense of British humor. Humor might be misleading because it wasn't entirely a joke. The British scientist of the era could appreciate this thought, that the standards of proof are malleable. It provided them with a lens to look at their own work, with extra scrutiny. To examine what really constitutes as proof. They found this thought experiment so valuable that they included its creator in their societies.

And there is a good amount of evidence that Shenton was in on the joke. He often spoke at Science fiction conventions, and in fact, the body of most of his work was retired to a science fiction society owned by a friend and a president of the Flat Earth society, perhaps showing a sense that he was aware that his work was fictitious. Many people say he did firmly believe the theory, but a lot of his behavior and interactions might suggest that this could have just been him playing a character. In 1963, After astronaut John Glenn orbited around the earth, The Flat Earth Society sent him a membership card with a note saying “OK Wise Guy”, a clear example of dry British wit.

Whether or not it was a joke, Shenton passed away and the works that weren't stored went on to the possession of people who would use the theory as proof of the validity of religious doctrine. But the value of the concept as a thought experiment continued on. The Flat Earth Society was picked up in Canada by a trio of writers and philosophers in 1970.

This time around they were more outright with there message, the Canadians not being able to pull off the sly satire that the Brits version did. They wanted people to realize that they were willing to accept scientific theories without actually physically experiencing or seeing the evidence for themselves, and then they wanted to challenge that notion. The group even received funding for a movie form the Ontario council of Arts. The film was shown to school children, as a kind of mockumentary meant to promote the idea of critical thinking and free thought. It was also to show you can make a convincing argument for anything if you try hard enough and so taught skepticism of media.

Through the lens of history, the Canadian Flat Earth society is the only one that is actually acknowledged as a thought experiment. History paints the rest as pseudo-scientific quacks, even the ones liked by scientists. But with a hard glance at the history of the ‘movement’, a lot of evidence suggest that this has really been the motive; an interesting way to test, not a new scientific theory, but to test how theories are presented and how we can be convinced of something whether or not it's true. However there were some writers who did hint at knowing this truth, but it is rarely mentioned in the Flat Earth debate.

Robert Anton Wilson and Bob Shea co-wrote one of the greatest sci-fi trilogies of all time, The Illuminatus! Trilogy, which was finished in 1975. The book is a crude mixture of historical fiction and psychedelic science fiction, blending true facts into impossible narratives. Which parts are historical and which parts are impossible is also debated. The book is the Finnegans Wake of the conspiracy theorists and includes several out-there theories. However, it only mentions the Flat Earth once.

At the end of the over 800-page novel is a list of appendices. One of them lists groups that are actually Discordian fronts for their larger operation named OM (operation mindfuck.). The Discordian movement is a semi-anarchic philosophy/theology. The followers figuratively and sometimes literally worship the Greek goddess of chaos, Eris (or the Roman Discordia). And since chaos is the true governing force of the universe, governments, religious groups, and any group that tries to impose a sense of control on the universe or its inhabitants are unnatural and illogical. The purpose of OM, according to the authors of this semi-fictional tome, was to cause confusion and discord within these groups, as to return them to a more natural state.

One of the main ways they did this was by granting honorary memberships to certain people from secret anarchist groups, essentially to confuse and mock them. For example, noisy or over moralist neighbors might receive an invite to a fictional banquet of the St. Famine Society for War Against Evil. Or membership for the Fraternal Order of Hate Groups might be given to “libertarian groups that show conspicuously authoritarian behavior.” Due to the artistic nature of most Discordians, it's hard to tell how many of these groups were ever real or active. They may have been more of ideas meant to inspire random people to send letters on their own.

Most groups listed as OM fronts don't have any online presence and perhaps have died off in the last 43 years, but one does have a large presence, The Flat Earth Society. According to the Illuminatus! list of Discordian OM fronts, The Flat Earth Society was set up to give membership to “legislators or citizens’ groups dedicated to preventing the dissemination of ‘modernistic’ ideas in education.”.

I think it's very interesting that this was written towards the end of the three most prominent Flat Earth Groups. The theory which challenged established schools of thought in a radical and really somewhat humorous way, would by its very nature, appeal to people of Discordian thought. They would naturally, by the parameters of their mission statement, disseminate the literature of the Flat Earth Society to conservative groups. This could explain the more religious bend the theory has taken in more recent years. This popular group could have carried it into the internet age where they continue to have a laugh at people who believe it and the people who get heated debating it.

. Perhaps the people who purported it did truly believe or perhaps not, but the fact remains it was popular, and in many cases profitable, subject of debate. And that fact remains today. There are several websites claiming to be the one for the flat earth society, a variety of forums that will host the debate and even shops selling merchandise to ‘Flat Earthers’. But instead of assuming these people are crazy, think for a second perhaps they know a great Discordian secret. Instead of viewing the Flat Earth as a malicious evangelical conspiracy to denounce science, think of it as The Colbert Report of conspiracies. A conspiracy that is just a group having a laugh at a satire, a joke on; preachers who believe it, scientists who debate it seriously, and the Conspiracy Theorist who feels it only discredits their whole field.

The truth is, in a roundabout way, it does discredit all those people. But it's not about debating the shape of the earth, it's about acknowledging the limits of human perception, the rigidness of belief, and the futility of trying to apply complete logic to the chaos of reality. As they say, there's truth in jest, so perhaps enjoy a laugh the next time you hear about the Flat Earth, or share an article about it on Facebook, if you're a dedicated Discordian buy a T-shirt, You’re in on the joke now.

P.S As to the author's personal opinions of the shape of the earth, It is obviously not flat because it is hollow



P.S.S For those wanting to support Discordia but not on the Flat Earth level, consider becoming a pope of the House of The Apostles of Eris.