There's this wonderful group called the Flat Earth Society, it's been around for a while. There's always been a few members who take the group very seriously, but for the majority of the members, it's purely a joke. People would propose these absurd theories, and most people understood it was not meant to be taken seriously.
Then somehow there was this modern movement of people who truly believed the world is flat. I heard them promoting the same exact theories that I had heard years before, and when I tried to point that out to some of them, I was called an idiot.
Flat-earthers have ruined The Flat Earth Society. Now normal people believe the Society is real flat-earthers, and real flat-earthers hate the Society because they realized it was all about mocking Flat Earth beliefs.
To me, the entirety of the world is ridiculous, and you have to just laugh at it, otherwise it's all very depressing. People are far too humorless and serious, while society gets even more ridiculous.
Maybe in a rare case, here and there. But you better believe this modern moment isn't trolling.
I've met plenty people who strongly identified with this movement and had several lengthy discussions with them. Literally all of them showcased not just a strong belief in a flat earth (and other easy to disprove conspiracy theories), they also clearly suffered from myriad of clearly identifiable psychological pathologies, underpinning all of it. Not the kind of things that someone who's just trolling would be able to fake (easily, or at all). More like the kind and severity that any sane society (both as a social group and as an institution) would provide psychological or even psychiatric assistance with. But that might just be the bigger issue at hand here.
It appears that insanity has increasingly become a somewhat acceptable (or unstoppable) norm rather than an exception in our modern societies. In particularly in the Western ones driven by capitalism, or so it appears. Instead of treating psychological pathologies for what they are, today pretty much "opinion" has become a "valid" opinion.
I guess that taking the concept of freedom of expression (itself no doubt a good thing) to absurd extremes, clearly doesn't help.
It probably doesn't help either that politicians (of all colors) appear to have no issue with exploiting these collective insanities for their own equally insane goals.
All in all, I think all of it are rather indicative sings of a society that is gradually running off its tracks, like a barometer is indicative for weather to come. I don't see this getting any better anytime soon. Particularly not in the US and EU.
Ha! I didn't know about this "flat earth society" thing. In the light of what you have just explained, it seems that it ended up in an extremely fun state of affairs! At least, from the point of view of an outsider. Cannot wait to meet one of those people (of whatever "sign").
Then somehow there was this modern movement of people who truly believed the world is flat. I heard them promoting the same exact theories that I had heard years before, and when I tried to point that out to some of them, I was called an idiot.
Flat-earthers have ruined The Flat Earth Society. Now normal people believe the Society is real flat-earthers, and real flat-earthers hate the Society because they realized it was all about mocking Flat Earth beliefs.
To me, the entirety of the world is ridiculous, and you have to just laugh at it, otherwise it's all very depressing. People are far too humorless and serious, while society gets even more ridiculous.