Comedian Dom Joly took flat Earther to the ‘edge of the Earth' and the most bizarre thing happened next
Greek philosopher Aristotle was the first to observe that Earth was circular and mathematician Pythagoras first revealed that our planet is spherical, but centuries later, there are still those who believe that it's flat. Recently, a comedian and author of “The Conspiracy Tourist,” Dom Joly shared that he was baffled to learn that people actually thought the Earth was flat and decided to debunk this myth.
He just could not understand how so many people held on to the idea of a flat Earth despite scientific evidence including photographs from space proving otherwise. Initially, he thought it was the effect of the lockdown that had shaped this kind of irrational thought process, as per UNILAD. But when such takes kept popping up, he was stunned and decided to trace its roots himself. “I realized that conspiracies used to be fun. They used to be funny. Like, is Elvis alive and working in a chip shop? And now, it seemed that conspiracies were becoming a bit more dangerous,” he recalled.
Soon after venturing on a quest himself, he came across a flat earther who believed the earth had 4 corners, and one of them was in 'Newfoundland,' on Canada's Fogo Island. "I took one of them on a road trip to the 'edge of the Earth'. And we looked off this cliff, and there was no drop [into nothingness],” he recalled. Sharing in an interview with Times Radio, Joly spoke further about the trip and said that he could see nothing.
“Not much spoilers here, we looked over that we couldn't see a drop. He was very disappointed,” Joly recalled. Joly wasn’t satisfied and wanted to explore more but after a tedious journey, when they were unable to find an “edge,” the flat earther ironically accused the comedian of “roaming in circles.” Despite their earnest search to find something concrete, there wasn’t much to be found, but the flat earther was firm in his belief. So much so that he even accused Joly and the person guiding the boat of being paid by businessman and philanthropist George Soros to prove him wrong. The comedian titled the idea one of the most “ridiculous” things to promote. He further explained how conspiracies simply go on and on and there’s no end to it, which makes it harder to convince either party to forego their beliefs.
“I can see why it's so easy to start to believe that stuff because that is your reality,” he remarked. He also suggested that such theories could be the effect of distress and other upsetting events across the globe. "I think conspiracy theories happen often in times of economic and social unrest... because I think what happens is, as humans, we are very logical people, we like order. And when stuff is chaotic, and big things happen, like 9/11, or Covid, and your life gets thrown in the air, we don't like it. We try to find patterns. Conspiracy theories give you patterns. They give you reasons for why things have happened,” he concluded.