Flat earthers, by their very existence, are conspiracy theorists that make those who believe conspiracies such as that Oswald did not shoot Kennedy, the fact that all of the world is being secretly run by a cabal of Jewish bankers, and that the airplane that crashed into the pentagon, was just an optical illusion seem mainstream. Just think of all the people in all of the professions over all of the centuries who would have to have conspired to hide this from us. Not only that, think of how tight that conspiracy would have had to have been that nobody out of all of these groups throughout all of the centuries, ever "break" ranks and spill the beans and actually show us the proof of the flat earth. It actually wouldn't be that hard to prove. Lets see the edge of the earth. Not an imagined view of how it could be there, and how this grand conspiracy could hide it, but the actual edge of the earth.George Clay, I am wondering how flat earthers explain away those who worked on the space station in space (and other astronauts that have been out there, orbiting earth). Surely, those people who orbit and who work in space can see that the earth is a globe.
I think that as Latter-Day-Saints, the nature of our beliefs, provides fodder for the fringe to buy into conspiracies, even more than other groups. We have the Book of Mormon. We are told that the Book of Mormon is a type that warns us of things that might happen to us, just as it did in ancient times here on this continent, unless we are vigilant. It tells us about a secret combination of Gadianton robbers, who were key to the downfall of the great Nephite Nation. We are warned that there will be "Gadianton Robbers" of our time. That is to say, there will be evil men conspiring to destroy our freedom, and take power for themselves, and we should be on the watch for them.
Everything so far is true and important. The problem is that this leads to a thinking that everything is a conspiracy, and every group that is identified as a conspirator, is actually one, and responsible for the mess that we are in. It leads to a blindness to the sickness and evil that comes from embracing everything as a conspiracy. One doesn't have to really do anything other than get up on a soap box, feel smarter than everybody else, and "warn" us against those conspiracies. It also blinds people to the same evil, and self serving motives of groups and individuals promoting "Conspiracies".
I submit that by far the most insane of these is the "conspiracy" to hide the fact that the earth is flat and at the center of the universe. It defies reason in so many ways that it is hard to imagine anybody believing it at all.
Now a problem with this that I have been struggling with over the years, is that the Book of Mormon is right. There are evil men conspiring to bring down our government and society. We may not be little marionettes being manipulated by strings as many conspiracy folks believe, but there are conspiracies, and they can do much to destroy this country. But how can you be credible in such warnings, after warning people about the conspiracy to fool people into believing the world is spherical, and that the plane crashing into the Pentagon was an illusion.
I submit that you don't need to be looking into dark corners to see the conspiracies. I would submit that recent news regarding the "deep state" in our government trying to manipulate the news and public opinion is ample evidence of that. Also, the flip side of that coin is the guy that is currently in their cross-hairs. President Trump. He is the flip side of this same mentality. For so many, he is either the villain who must be defeated, or the hero who will save us.
Too many can't see that in reality he is also a pretty bad guy, maybe with some better ideas than those of the "deep state" that don't want to let go, but still not that good. The real truth is that we didn't have, and don't have any good choices for a white knight to save us, so we would be best to concentrate on gaining personal righteousness, and teaching our neighbors, righteous principles, rather than sitting around looking for bigger and stranger conspiracies under every bed and in every corner.
Regards,
George Clay
