In 350 BC, Aristotle discovered through observations that the Earth was round. It was already noted by ancient Greeks that the Earth was spherical, as far back as 500 BC. This means it has been over 2,000 years since we made this discovery.
Nowadays, we can see through the technology we have that the Earth is round, so denying that is like denying the existence of the Sun.
Everyone has the right to have an opinion about anything, but you can't have opinions about obvious facts. Things that have been proven and are visible are not open to different opinions. So why are we even having this discussion? How is it that people still believe that the Earth is flat?
In a time that we didn't have the technology and ability to see things as we have now, we could possibly excuse the argument. But at this point, there's no excuse. I can't even understand what's their argument, that's because I don't have any interest in wasting my time trying to understand utter nonsense.
But one would wonder why am I even talking about this. I'm writing in a publication which is mostly read by college students, who even if they're majoring in English still have at least a minimal understanding of science. Enough to know that the Earth is not flat.
But the sad and embarrassing reality that I've been avoiding to tell you thus far, is that we here at UCF, the second largest university in the nation, have a Flat Earth club. Yes, you heard it right.
In their mission statement, they say: "We welcome anyone interested in the debate over the shape of the earth and whether or not there is disinformation being pushed onto the global community."
That's a contradiction! If the Earth is flat then we can't have a "global" community?! Unless they don't understand what a globe means.
What's even more disturbing is that they must have a faculty adviser in order to start a club on campus, I wonder who that is? I don't think a faculty member who believes the Earth is flat or condones this thinking should be teaching at this university. And please don't say this is their opinion because you can't have an opinion on a fact. We can have opinions on many things like if it's hot or cold, the food we prefer or even the color of something. But I can't say that it's my opinion that there's no Sun. See how that sounds.
Additionally, in order to start a club on campus, you have to have a minimum of 15 members. This means that we don't have a lone wolf who is coming up with this nonsense.
College is supposed to be a place to exchange knowledge and have constructive debates on different issues. It's not a place to promote ignorance and nonsense. I really hope this club is a prank, but even then it's bad news. The fact that a club can get money and resources from UCF for the purpose of making a prank is wrong. So, either way, it's a bad mark on our reputation.
It seems that as society advances, there will always be some segment that insists to go back in time, in this example to the dark ages. My fear is that this ignorance will spread further and we will have a larger segment of our society wasting their time arguing over proven facts instead of finding solutions to our problems.
