Author Topic: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley  (Read 3841 times)

Offline Peter B

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1268
Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« on: January 16, 2022, 09:21:28 PM »
Scott Manley has uploaded an impressive video about the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga. As I write this, over 900k views.

But I was astonished at the number of comments from flat earthers.

I seriously had no idea they existed in such numbers!

Gah!

Offline smartcooky

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1959
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2022, 03:33:06 AM »
Scott Manley has uploaded an impressive video about the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga. As I write this, over 900k views.

But I was astonished at the number of comments from flat earthers.

I seriously had no idea they existed in such numbers!

Gah!

Pound to a pinch of dog turd they will be multiple accounts for the same few people.
If you're not a scientist but you think you've destroyed the foundation of a vast scientific edifice with 10 minutes of Googling, you might want to consider the possibility that you're wrong.

Offline Peter B

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1268
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2022, 05:45:27 AM »
Scott Manley has uploaded an impressive video about the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga. As I write this, over 900k views.

But I was astonished at the number of comments from flat earthers.

I seriously had no idea they existed in such numbers!

Gah!

Pound to a pinch of dog turd they will be multiple accounts for the same few people.

Ah, good point.

Offline Zakalwe

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1588
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2022, 05:56:30 AM »
There's always been idiots in the world.
It's just that modern communications allow them to spread their nonsense far and wide in ways that were impossible only 40 years ago.
"The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' " - Isaac Asimov

Offline onebigmonkey

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1582
  • ALSJ Clown
    • Apollo Hoax Debunked
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #4 on: January 22, 2022, 04:14:54 AM »
It occurred to me that EPIC:DSCOVR might have a view of the eruption, and sure enough...





I also double checked that it wasn't some sort of pre-existing cloud by overlaying DSCOVR's image and stretching it to fit Himawari:



:)

The flat earth muppets have no explanation as to how the pressure wave was recorded by met stations world wide in a way totally consistent with a spherical Earth and impossible on a flat one.

Offline Peter B

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1268
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #5 on: January 22, 2022, 08:45:16 AM »
Nice photo matching work, OBM.

Those muppets, as you appropriately describe them, have indeed been silent about the shape of the shockwave. Instead, most of the conspiracism relating to the eruption has been claims that it's either a nuke or a meteorite. The idea that a volcano that's been erupting intermittently for a decade might erupt again apparently is crazy talk - they're convinced that the first H8 image of the eruption is instead showing something heading in for impact.

Yes, I've been slumming it on YT, trying to engage with flat earthers and the odd Apollo denier. There is some industrial-strength denialism and conspiracism at work there.

But the other thing I've noticed is the BS approach of the makers of the flat earth videos. As defined in an article from The Conversation (https://theconversation.com/bullshit-is-everywhere-heres-how-to-deal-with-it-at-work-135661) these people aren't interested in facts, or even in lying, they just say whatever they can to maintain the controversy, keep people coming back to be conned and sucking in more marks. I find this particularly repellant.

Then there's the steady stream of comments (not all of them trolls, I'm sure) from people who've obviously been watching the videos and been convinced by them. The combination of naivete and arrogance is depressing, so I'm also motivated to do my little bit to plant seeds of doubt.

Perhaps the most amusing part of it is when other commenters confidently dismiss flat earthers as crazy left-wingers, only to be informed that all flat earthers who've express political opinions are actually Trump supporters...

Offline raven

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 1637
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2022, 04:15:09 AM »
Perhaps the most amusing part of it is when other commenters confidently dismiss flat earthers as crazy left-wingers, only to be informed that all flat earthers who've express political opinions are actually Trump supporters...
Well, their scientific views are downright prehistoric, so why not their social and political views as well?

Offline gillianren

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 2211
    • My Letterboxd journal
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2022, 01:09:58 PM »
Calling them Muppets is an insult to Muppets.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline bknight

  • Neptune
  • ****
  • Posts: 3107
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2022, 05:45:02 PM »
Calling them Muppets is an insult to Muppets.

Snicker.  :)
Truth needs no defense.  Nobody can take those footsteps I made on the surface of the moon away from me.
Eugene Cernan

Offline Peter B

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1268
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2022, 01:58:03 AM »
Calling them Muppets is an insult to Muppets.

Calling them [insert term here] is an insult to [insert term here].

Offline gillianren

  • Uranus
  • ****
  • Posts: 2211
    • My Letterboxd journal
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2022, 10:47:42 AM »
Granted, but the whole point of a lot of Muppets is that they're trying to learn.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline Peter B

  • Saturn
  • ****
  • Posts: 1268
Re: Tongan eruption and Scott Manley
« Reply #11 on: January 25, 2022, 03:44:32 PM »
Granted, but the whole point of a lot of Muppets is that they're trying to learn.

Yes, fair point.

It's just that statements of that form keep cropping up in comments about flat earthers.