I have never actually met a person who buys the flat earth story. As far as I can tell, the Big Lie is that there are any "flat earthers" at all.
On YouTube, there are a few small clusters of crazies with cameras, posting videos. They don't count, due to deeper motives that drive YouTube exhibitionism. The YouTube flat earther is not operating for the standpoint of honesty. They want clicks and views, and acting out in strange ways will net them high counts. The stranger the better.
Meanwhile, the original flat earth prank seems to be a thing that famous basketball players were messing around with, just after the 2016 election. Mostly, seeming to target Shaquille Oneal as a goof, and get him to express confusion and maybe take it with a grain of salt, which would then be stretched to him buying it, hook line and sinker. Not unlike the "fish are not wet" video.
In the post election climate, however, it grew into a life of its own, and now we have people like you pushing the concept as if people really live the prank as if it were their lifestyle, and that what you see on YouTube is not simply personas hamming it up for the camera.
On YouTube, there are a few small clusters of crazies with cameras, posting videos. They don't count, due to deeper motives that drive YouTube exhibitionism. The YouTube flat earther is not operating for the standpoint of honesty. They want clicks and views, and acting out in strange ways will net them high counts. The stranger the better.
Meanwhile, the original flat earth prank seems to be a thing that famous basketball players were messing around with, just after the 2016 election. Mostly, seeming to target Shaquille Oneal as a goof, and get him to express confusion and maybe take it with a grain of salt, which would then be stretched to him buying it, hook line and sinker. Not unlike the "fish are not wet" video.
In the post election climate, however, it grew into a life of its own, and now we have people like you pushing the concept as if people really live the prank as if it were their lifestyle, and that what you see on YouTube is not simply personas hamming it up for the camera.