From flat earthers to climate change deniers we seem to be living in a new age of ignorance. In particular, it seems as though facts are just something that you choose to accept depending on your current mood.
The whole idea behind "fake news" has created a populace that feels nothing can be trusted. It's nothing new that the media is biased, but why is there a sudden rush of distrust towards every form of media.
The bigger issue with all of this distrust is that it has become normal to go against the scientific community. It is crazy to say, and even crazier to write, but to some extent, science has become the enemy. My only question is when, and more importantly why?
I was first exposed to the flat earther movement when rapper B.o.B. took to twitter last January and sent out a storm of tweets regarding how the Earth is indeed flat.
His support was a photo of two cities in the distance approximately sixteen miles apart, and he argued that both cities would not be visible if the Earth was indeed round.
Well, for starters the Earth's circumference is 24,901 miles, so to argue that a curve would be visible on such a small portion of the Earth seems ridiculous in itself, but just for fun, we can continue on to calculate the arc angle.
Using the Earths radius of 3,959 miles and the arc length given by B.o.B. of sixteen miles, the angle calculated is approximately 0.217 degrees. So the evidence that is supposed to prove the Earth is flat is a measly picture of two cities not even half a degree apart. B.o.B. claimed that those who believe the Earth is round are simply sheep falling for the biggest lie of all time.
Since B.o.B.'s twitter rampage, I saw the flat earther movement take many forms online, but I dismissed the groups as conspiracy theorists with too much time on their hands. It wasn't until Kyrie Irving recently brought it up, that I realized people honestly believe this stuff. Now Kyrie made claims that he was only trying to show how the media will take hold of anything, but I have a sneaking suspicion that he does believe the flat earth movement.
Regardless of his beliefs, the larger realization is that people are willing to go against what has been scientifically proven. I am all for questioning what is being told to you. After all, that is the basis of science. I believe that everything should be questioned, and proof should be demanded. That's just the thing here, though, proof has been provided. The Earth is round, but these groups have elected to disagree and or ignore the proof. This mentality is evident when it comes to climate change as well. Nearly everyone has heard the claim that 90-something percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is real, and while it has become somewhat of an annoying tagline for the debate, it doesn't change the fact that 90-something percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is real. As a future engineer, it frustrates me to see such blatant denial towards the scientific community.
Even more than that, it frustrates me to see the "fake news" debate. As previously stated it should be no surprise that the media is biased. It is biased in both directions. That is why gathering multiple sources is imperative to create an opinion on something. Politics have created a division between people that makes each side hostile. Whether it's the left or the right, it seems that solving issues is not the goal. The word compromise seems non-existent in Washington. Science is not the enemy. The left is not the enemy. The right is not the enemy. The real enemy is the problems we face. Problems like climate change, the energy crisis, poverty, clean water, and war that plague our world. We should be attacking these problems, and we should be attacking them with solutions. Forget about the media, and whether or not they are giving you the full unbiased story. Forget about your political beliefs for one moment, and trust in science and humanity. If everyone could put aside their beliefs just for one day in an attempt to solve the world's issues, then the other political problems that slow down progress would fade away.
Science is the only hope for progress. It should be questioned, but not ignored. It should be seen as factual, not alternative facts. It should be used to help move us forward as a society.
