It tries to show that good faith engagement is better than ridicule, but in the end it shows that flat Earthers are so contrarian that they will actively ignore the results of their own experiments and engaging in good faith is pointless.

The problem with flat earthers is that they don't listen to reason.

You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

Have you considered that there is actually more virtue in containing stupid than trying to rescue it. The audience for such communication is rarely the person afflicted because its almost impossible to convince such folks its the folks at the margins who might be convinced either way.

Consider an imaginary belief say 0.5% of the population believes that flu can be treated by shoving pancakes up your ass. If ridicule keeps the percentage at 0.5% instead of growing to 1% its incredibly virtuous whereas more respectful treatment of the belief might help you convince 0.01% to stop shoving starch in their rectum while allowing the mental virus to spread to far more people.

This theory is applicable everywhere. Every time you engage with a crazy person or a nazi imagine your audience is the other folks reading the discussion not the person you are engaging.

These people deserve to be ridiculed. It’s time we stop catering to these Idiots and allow them to face the consequences of their ignorance. Same with the MAGA minions.

Didn’t they also establish that Sargent is a hyper-religious Christian and that the majority of American flat-earthers are? If this is a religious belief for them then there’s absolutely no hope that they’ll change their views.

Hold the fuck up. Now theres DESIGNERS of the flat earth? Jesus Christ

They illuminati killed them for their insolence

Yea I'm glad the documentary uncovered that. It really shows why someone would get into this despite it being pretty easy to prove otherwise (even inadvertently proving themselves wrong) they have this little community of friends.

People like to feel like they're in on some truth that most people aren't aware of.

There was a short segment on 60 Minutes (maybe?) back in 2020 before the elections where they interviewed someone who had deprogrammed himself from Qanon.

It was the same story. He had no friends IRL, no social support, he had turned his mom onto Qanon and she was still down the rabbit hole.

He said that was the part that kept him in it for so long, even once he started questioning things. All his "friends" and close relations were part of the cult and he would have to cut ties with everyone or worse, they would turn on him and attack him as a traitor.

It would be sad if these online-cults weren't so damaging to society.

Flat Earth Follower: "So what was the result of that laser gyroscope experiment we all gave you money for?"

Flat Earth Leader: "Well it showed a 15 degree an hour rotation... So we think 'heaven energies' are affecting it."

Flat Earth Follower: Nods happily, knowing he doesn't have to change his beliefs.

The experiment he was involved in was the gyroscope one. The documentary showed what happened after his experiment "failed": he decided the experiment was flawed and needed to be refined.

The aftermath of the wood slats with holes experiment at the end wasn't shown, but based on the rest of the documentary (and the history of people with conspiratorial beliefs) it's almost certain they did the same.

RIP to Bob, though. I hope his friends & family are coping well.