Behind The Curve

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I have a friend, Luc, who listens to talk radio. There are only two kinds of people who listen to talk radio: conservatives and masochists. And Luc isn’t conservative. Somehow giphy (2)he can listen to crackpots blowing steam out of their ears without losing his mind. Oh, he gets riled up – that’s kind of the point – but it doesn’t make him lose his faith in humanity. I cannot say the same for myself, which is why I avoid indulging in or even acknowledging this stuff in the least. People who are willfully ignorant really get my goat. Sean knows this, and it was not without a gleeful glint in his eye that he proposed watching Behind The Curve, a documentary on Netflix about the flat earth conspiracy.

Flat Earthers are…ugh. There’s no excuse and there’s no understanding them, not from a rational perspective. Although I did get the feeling that they, and conspiracy theorists in wp-contentuploads201306Brave1.giffit-in__1200x9600general, share a common mistrust for authority. They’re a group of outsiders who find a brotherhood in “believing” this stuff. And I’m still not 100% certain they’re not just having us on. I mean, can they truly believe that the Earth is not a sphere? That Big Globe has been the sinister force behind science and reality for hundreds of years?

Thankfully, this documentary doesn’t try to give credence to their impossible theories. But we do get a brief look into their psyches, into what might attract an otherwise 978672a0-cf17-0131-693e-423d576c0d42reasonable human being to the murky world of hating science and believing in baloney. And what we uncover are basically just some sad and lonely people looking for connection, and maybe a moment or two in the spotlight. On the fringes of society, there aren’t a lot of options for these people. How fantastic that all it takes is inventing an inflammatory piece of fake news, and building a community around it. That’s all it is – that, and making a few coins from the merch, which seems to double as evidence as far as these people are concerned.

The interesting thing about this documentary is that it doesn’t just give a soapbox to giphy (1)crackerjacks who put a little too much value into Youtube and not enough into critical thought. It tells us how we contribute to the problem – and I think the message transcends beyond just the conspiracy nutters. I think it’s also a reminder on how to speak to anyone whose views are polarizing to your own. It gives us all something to aim for as we hurtle through space on our beautiful, round planet.

10 thoughts on “Behind The Curve”

  1. The Whitechapel Whelk

    Funnily enough, I posted a satirical piece this morning, based on these flat earth bozos. I subbed it to one of the satire news ‘big boys’ yesterday and the editor gave it the bum’s rush. In actual fact, I don’t blame him as it’s not great and certainly not worth a cut in the ad revenue. Still, you don’t like to be bitter do yers? 🙂

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  2. orcaflotta

    Gotta love and respect Joy for not including the infamous ‘Picard’ and ‘Naked Gun’ facepalms but utilizing fresh gifs. And yes, those flat earthers are annoying even though their organisation has members from all around the globe. =^.^=

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  4. librepaley

    A thoughtful review. I was pleased the film did not waste time “disproving” flat-earthers, nor did it seek to laugh at them, or invite viewers to do so (though some of the views were absurd to the point of unintentionally amusing). The perspective it took was interesting, i.e. why some people would wish to confirm a theory based on their own perceptions rather than overwhelming objective evidence.

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  6. Liz A.

    I am rather curious about this. I saw a short teaser on some other show not too long ago. (A month or so.) It’s truly scary that in this day and age that some people deliberately misunderstand well-established facts.

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  7. EclecticMusicLover

    Sadly, most – if not all – of these crackpots voted for Trump.

    I do listen to npr (national public radio) news programs and podcasts, but they’re technically not ‘talk shows’, as they involve intelligent discussions by rational people.

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  9. mydangblog

    While I have nothing but contempt for Flat-Earthers, when you boil it right down, there are millions of people who believe in some pretty weird stuff despite science telling them it’s not true. Also, Ken listens to a lot of talk radio, but it’s mostly science shows on CBC. I think that makes him a masochist too, but at least he’s learning something:-)

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