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Comment by JBReefer | Hacker News Reader

That's literally the orthodoxy that makes the joke funny though. How does someone being a hollow earther hurt you? How does your sister believing in crystals impact you? People should be kinder to each other and should jump down peoples throat a bit less, that stuff is what makes the world fun.

My wife believes in that astrology nonsense, I don't really care and it makes her happy. What IS annoying are the "ackshually" people on social media any time any of that comes up - which is exactly who Flat Earth is making fun of.

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Is your position that believing in untrue things has no physical (non-societal) negative consequences?

If your sister thinks the crystals are going to cure her cancer, that's going to impact HER quite a bit. I would assume losing her to disease would impact you, right?

When parents refuse to take their children to the doctor for medical expertise, and instead give them coffee enemas, is that "what makes the world fun" in your eyes?

If I recall, Steve Jobs attempted holistic methods for treating his cancer instead of undergoing what his doctor recommended and ended up dying as a result.

>How does someone being a hollow earther hurt you? How does your sister believing in crystals impact you?

It doesn't hurt me, but those beliefs hurt society.

People have died of otherwise curable or treatable disease because they trusted homeopathy or religion over science. Flat earthers might have laudable goals in encouraging people to question their assumptions about the validity of science, but they do so by discrediting science altogether, and encouraging others to do the same.

If you can accept that "the establishment" has hidden the fact that the earth is flat since the dawn of time, then it's easier to believe things like "vaccines are really population control" or "Jews did 9/11".

>People should be kinder to each other and should jump down peoples throat a bit less, that stuff is what makes the world fun.

Putting up with self-delusion because it makes the world more fun isn't kindness.

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