Somehow, some way, the flat-earth movement continues to make waves. Legitimate news sources and social media platforms have distributed a variety of interesting flat-earth reports over the past year. This news has included an international flat-earth conference in Raleigh, North Carolina; a rapper and apparent flat-earther named B.o.B. who started a fundraising campaign to purchase satellites; and a self-taught rocket scientist who planned to launch himself from a converted motorhome to obtain evidence that the earth is flat.
Stories such as these seem to irritate many of those who recognize that the earth is actually shaped like a ball—an imperfect ball, but still clearly a ball. These “round earthers” demonstrate their frustration by commenting on the absurdity of the flat-earth movement. They sometimes describe flat earthers in pejorative ways. They provide arguments intended to stop the rotational momentum of the flat-earth movement. I even recall a Facebook comment suggesting that round earthers should secretly infiltrate flat-earth meetings to undermine their misshapen belief system. I have to ask—and I truly mean this kindly—why does anybody care?