Get
your fleece-lined tin foil hats at the ready, a gang of prominent flat-Earthers
are reportedly interested in going on an expedition to Antartica, hoping
to reveal the true nature of our planet once and for all.
As
reported by Forbes,
prominent flat-Earthers are showing interest in a trek across (or at least
towards) Antarctica. How they plan to go about this is not clear yet,
but the pipe-dream looks to address one of the great totems of the
flat-Earth theory: What's the deal with the South Pole?
"All
we have to do to shut this debate down once and for all is get the distance of
the coast of Antarctica,” Jay Decasby, a prominent flat-Earther, told Forbes.
“If
we can get to the coast of Antarctica and sail all the way around it, we will
get the distance that will prove it’s the outer edges of flat earth and refute
entirely every single argument anyone can possibly try to pitch for the
sun-worshipping cult of heliocentrism."
Ahead
of the release of the documentary The Flat Earth: To The Edge And Back,
controversial YouTuber Logan Paul has also expressed interest, claiming: “If I’m going
to put my name out there [as a Flat Earth supporter], I want to know the
facts.”
"I
am that guy that will make it to the edge," he added, according to Forbes.
Whether or not he’s “just trolling,” remains to be seen.
However,
as the flat-Earthers are all too aware, the Antarctic Treaty of 1961 could make
this difficult. The main purpose of this international treaty is to deny any
claim of territorial sovereignty in Antarctica. However, flat-Earthers argue it
strongly restricts private exploration of the area. That said, the treaty does
stipulate that the area should have “freedom of scientific investigation”.
Whether or not this stuff can be defined as science, however, is another
question.
The
nature of Antarctica is a constant bugbear for flat-Earthers. The Flat Earth Society explain on
their website that “along the edge of our local area exists a massive 150 foot
Ice Wall… The Ice Wall is a massive wall of ice that surrounds Antarctica. The
shelf of ice is several hundred meters thick.” The purpose of this wall, so the
theory goes, is to obstruct explorers from passing beyond.
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