Podcasts about why people will believe anything

Investigate reporter Kelly Weill discusses Off The Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. Then Liz Pollock on her book, Lost Restaurants Of Santa Cruz County.

In this episode - John talks about the Nashville school shooting where 3 kids and 3 staff members were killed. Then he interviews journalist at the Daily Beast Kelly Weill - they talk about her book “Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything”. Next comedian Rhonda Hansome joins in to chat about Trump, the Nashville shooting, and other current news. They take calls from Dave in Washington and Michael in the Bronx. Then to wrap it up John plays a clip of John Stewart trashing the GOP and Rhonda promotes her new upcoming show.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One of the biggest myths in the history of human discovery is that the idea of a spherical earth is new. In fact, it is the opposite. The incorrect idea that the world is flat is what's new. In this discussion with Daily Beast reporter Kelly Weill, we discuss her book, "Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything." She explains how most of us have misconceptions about those who think the earth is a disc, and how those misconceptions can lead to missed opportunities to reign in dangerous conspiracy theories. She also explains how the idea of a flat earth was born in the 19th century and how conspiracy theories endanger those who believe in them, as well as everyone else. She shows how followers of flat earth ebbed and flowed, until Donald Trump took over the American presidency. Then, her reporting has found, belief in flat earth skyrocketed.Information on her book from Workman Publishing can be found here https://www.workman.com/authors/kelly-weillShe is on social media at https://twitter.com/KELLYWEILLSupport our show at https://patreon.com/axelbankhistory**A portion of every contribution is given to a charity for children's literacy** "Axelbank Reports History and Today" can be found on social media at https://twitter.com/axelbankhistory https://instagram.com/axelbankhistoryhttps://facebook.com/axelbankhistory

In this KEEN ON episode, Andrew talks to the author of OFF THE EDGE author Kelly Weill about Flat Earthers, conspiracy culture and why some people will believe anything. Kelly Weill, the author of OFF THE EDGE: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture and Why People Will Believe Anything (2023),  is a journalist at the Daily Beast, where she covers extremism, disinformation, and the internet. As a leading media voice on the role of online conspiracy theories in current affairs, she has discussed Flat Earth and other digital fringes on ABC's Nightline, CNN, Al Jazeera, and other national and international news outlets. She lives in New York.  Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flat earth beliefs have been spreading alarmingly in recent years. They offer plenty of fodder for punchlines, yes--but they also have ties to more nefarious conspiracy theories like QAnon and to other manifestations of political extremism.As a reporter at the Daily Beast, Kelly Weill has been covering it all. And she has written Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything, a book that tells the history of flat earthism, relates many stories from and about its current adherents, and traces its connections to other forms of radical belief.David Priess and Weill discussed the genesis of her interest in conspiracies; what drives people toward conspiracy theories; 9/11 trutherism as a "gateway drug" to other conspiracies; the origins of modern flat earth thinking in the 1800s and its links to religious fundamentalism; how flat earth believers took over and ran Zion, Illinois in the early 20th century; different flat earthers' conceptions of what's above, below, and around the ground; how online videos and social media helped drive a rise in flat earthism; what a flat earth conference is like; the negative impact that flat earth beliefs can have on individuals; how flat earth thinking intersects with other manifestations of conspiracism and with political extremism; how to help people who fall prey to conspiracy theories; and more.Chatter is a production of Lawfare and Goat Rodeo. This episode was produced and edited by David Priess and Cara Shillenn of Goat Rodeo. Podcast theme by David Priess, featuring music created using Groovepad.Works mentioned during this episode:The book Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kathy WeillThe book The Road by Cormac McCarthyThe documentary Behind the CurveKelly Weill's articles at tyhe Daily BeastThe podcast Fever Dreams Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we're talking about our Favourite Reads of 2022! (Some of them were even published in 2022!) We discuss our favourite things we read for the podcast and our favourite things we read not for the podcast. Plus: Many more things we enjoyed this year, including video games, manga, graphic novels, food, and more! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards Favourite Fiction For the podcast Anna Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell, narrated by Tanya Eby Episode 158 - Audiobook Fiction Jam Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg Episode 160: Biographical Fiction & Fictional Biographies Matthew Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, narrated by Nancy Wu Episode 158 - Audiobook Fiction Meghan Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler Episode 164 - Military Fiction Not for the podcast Jam Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh Episode 147 - Contemporary Fantasy Matthew Semiosis by Sue Burke Meghan Black Helicopters by Caitlín R. Kiernan Anna The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel Favourite Non-Fiction For the podcast Matthew Soviet Metro Stations by Christopher Herwig and Owen Hatherley Episode 141 - Architecture Non-Fiction Meghan The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers by Emily Levesque Episode 149 - Astronomy & Space Anna Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind by Sarah Posner Episode 162 - Investigative Journalism Jam Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King Episode 145 - Anthropology Non-Fiction Not for the podcast Meghan Fashion Is Spinach: How to Beat the Fashion Racket by Elizabeth Hawes Anna Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories that Make Us by Rachel Aviv Jam Into the Minds of Babes: How Screen Time Affects Children From Birth to Age Five by Lisa Guernsey Matthew X-Gender, vol. 1 by Asuka Miyazaki, translated by Kathryn Henzler, adapted by Cae Hawksmoor Other Favourite Things of 2022 Anna Tasting History with Max Miller Debunking the Myths of Leonardo da Vinci Jam Dirty Laundry/“Garbage Tuesday” French tacos (Wikipedia) Matthew Unpacking Meghan Favourite manga: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, vol. 1 by Sumito Oowara, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian Runner-Ups Anna Video Games: Crashlands Wobbledogs YouTube: Ryan Hollinger (horror movie reviews) Podcasts:  American Hysteria Maintenance Phase You Are Good Other (Audio)Books: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf (Wikipedia) Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty The Invisible Kingdom by Patrick Radden Keefe Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara Jam Favourite classic:  The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Episode 151 - Classics Favourite manga:  Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama, translated by Stephen Kohler (Wikipedia)  Favourite Album:  Laurel Hell by Mitski (Wikipedia) Working for the Knife (YouTube) Favourite AAA video game:  Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Wikipedia) Favourite indie video game:  Wytchwood Favourite Wordle spin-off:  Worldle Matthew Video game: Hyper Light Drifter Manga Dai Dark by Q Hayashida, translated by Daniel Komen My Dress Up Darling by Shinichi Fukuda, translated by  Taylor Engel Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki, translated by Leighann Harvey Descending Stories by Haruko Kumota, translated by Matt Treyvaud Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma, translated by Amy Forsyth Biomega, vol. 1 (just the first volume really, it does not stick the landing) by Tsutomu Nihei, translated by John Werry Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian and Elizabeth Tiernan Graphic novels: Beetle and Hollowbones by Aliza Layne A Gift for a Ghost by Borja González, translated by Lee Douglas Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud Books Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots Meghan Favourite new-to-me author: Zviane Favourite work of translation: The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate, translated by David Bowles Podcast non-fiction runner up:  Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism by Barnabas Calder Podcast fiction runner up: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Non-fiction The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summitt and Sally Jenkins Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker Runner up graphic novels: Himawari House by Harmony Becker Taproot by Keezy Young Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu Sunny Sunny Ann! by Miki Yamamoto, translated by Aurélien Estager (French) L'homme qui marche by Jirō Taniguchi, translated by Martine Segard (French, available in English as The Walking Man) Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera  Le petit astronaute by Jean-Paul Eid (French) Tony Chu détective cannibale by John Layman with Rob Guillory (French, available in English as Chew) Radium Girls by Cy. (French) Queen en BD by Emmanuel Marie and Sophie Blitman (French) Memento mori by Tiitu Takalo (French) Enferme-moi si tu peux by Anne-Caroline Pandolfo and Terkel Risbjerg (French) Links, Articles, Media, and Things Episode 140 - Favourite Reads of 2021 Episode 142 - Sequels and 2022: The Year of Book Two ChatGPT (Wikipedia) There no longer appears to be an easy way to find images sent through Google Chat anymore, so no screenshots of fake podcast co-hosts discussing reptile fiction. Sorry! I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki (Wikipedia) Brian David Gilbert - The Perfect PokéRap 24 Travel Non-Fiction Books by BIPOC Authors America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature by Kamal Abdel-Malek Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adiele Due North: A Collection of Travel Observations, Reflections, And Snapshots Across Colors, Cultures and Continents by Lola Akinmade Åkerström All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō, translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa The Travels of Ibn Battutah by Ibn Battuta Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana by Stephanie Elizondo Griest A Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African-American Travel Writing edited by Farah Jasmine Griffin & Cheryl J. Fish I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey by Langston Hughes Red Dust: A Path Through China by Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef's Journey to Discover America's New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors by James Edward Mills The Middle Passage by V.S. Naipaul Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move by Nanjala Nyabola Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam by Andrew X. Pham An Indian Among los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir by Ursula Pike Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet by Vikram Seth Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud by Sun Shuyun Richard Wright's Travel Writings: New Reflections by Virginia Whatley Smith Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori L. Tharps Give us feedback! Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read! Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email! Join us again on Tuesday, January 3rd we'll be talking about Sports non-fiction! Then on Tuesday, January 17rd we'll be discussing our 2023 Reading Resolutions!

Mike Isaacson: The earth isn't flat. Everything is going downhill. [Theme song] Nazi SS UFOsLizards wearing human clothesHinduism's secret codesThese are nazi lies Race and IQ are in genesWarfare keeps the nation cleanWhiteness is an AIDS vaccineThese are nazi lies Hollow earth, white genocideMuslim's rampant femicideShooting suspects named Sam HydeHiter lived and no Jews died Army, navy, and the copsSecret service, special opsThey protect us, not sweatshopsThese are nazi lies Mike: Welcome to another episode of The Nazi Lies Podcast. Today I am joined by Kelly Weill, reporter at The Daily Beast on the fringe ideology beat and author of the book Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. Ms. Weill, thanks so much for coming on the show. Kelly Weill: Hey, thank you so much for having me. Mike: So now when I finished the book, I DM'd you to tell you that you're absolutely brilliant. And the reason why is your intentional approach when it comes to being a conduit of misinformation. You're very careful in how you reference your source material so as not to lead readers to it. Can you talk a little bit about your methodology a bit and how you dealt with your sources? Kelly: Yeah, absolutely. It's weird dealing with somebody like flat earth, which is objectively wrong, right? When you're talking about that subject, you already kind of risk platforming that conspiracy theory as if there's any validity to it. So one thing that I tried to do throughout the course of my reporting and then to replicate as I was writing this book, was not to really engage with flat Earth as though it were a legitimate theory. And I kind of had it easy there. If I were doing something like medical misinformation, I would have probably had to get in the weeds a little bit more. But as far as flat earth goes, I would go to these conferences and when I was interviewing people, I'd be really straightforward. I'd be like, "Hey yo, I'm not I'm not a flat earther. I'm a reporter; I believe in the globe. But let's talk about why you believe this thing." And for me, that was a bit more interesting than the details of what exactly they believed because flat earth is wrong, but I wanted to come to why they bought into a theory that's so wrong. And when we had those conversations about their pathways to belief, that turned out to be a lot more interesting to me than just the zaniness of this theory. Mike: Okay, and we'll get into that soon. I want to talk about some things I learned. So the first thing I learned from your book is that flat earth theory is actually not that old? Like, there were cultures that believed in a flat earth, but there wasn't the sort of pseudoscientific theory to justify it. So, when does the story of the flat earth movement start? Kelly: Yeah, totally. This is a bit of a misconception actually. I know when I was a kid I thought that there was, you know, Columbus thought he might have been sailing off the edge of the world. That's not true at all. We've known for thousands of years that earth was round because you can prove it with some pretty basic math. It's something that we've been able to do long before we could physically observe the shape of the Earth. But where flat earth theory actually comes back in is in England in around 1840. And that's when we have a guy named Samuel Rowbotham. He's a really interesting guy. He was a failed leader of a socialist commune; he had his hands on all kinds of short-lived fringe movements. I had a great time going through, you know, pre-Marxist socialist newspapers to find out what he was up to. But one of his career trajectories that didn't fail had to do with misinformation. He sold fake miracle cures, sort of a proto-Alex Jones. And he started shelling this idea that maybe earth was flat. And that idea was really alluring to certain people in that moment because, around mid-1800s, we're talking about a time when the natural sciences are taking on more and more of a role in the discourse and the importance of things like religion are taking more of a backseat. So when a theory like flat Earth comes out, it allows people to discard huge swathes of science and say, "Oh, I knew it was wrong all along. Oh, the scientists are all in league with each other to keep us in the dark." So as baffling and unscientific as flat earth was, even back then, it really did allow people to affirm their priors, to cast out information they didn't want to believe in, and sort of reshape their beliefs around this new and creative and just wholly counterfactual idea. Mike: It just blew me away that Rowbotham had no predecessors whatsoever, he just kind of built this out of whole cloth, just him in the Bible. So how did flat Earth stick around? Kelly: It stuck around because he had cronies just like any conspiracy influencer we have today. You know, I've just a couple of minutes ago compared Rowbotham to Alex Jones. He had his entourage, the people who might be like Owen Shroyers of the movement, who were even louder and a bit more virulent in their dissemination of these theories. These were the people who– He had a follower named John Hampden who just reminds me so much of one of these guys who goes on YouTube and is like, "Debate me. Debate me." And he would lure actual scientific professionals into these stupid, pointless debates over established science about the shape of the world. But because he was just so tenacious and he wouldn't admit that he had lost a bet about a scientific wager and he would go to jail because he was harassing people about the shape of the world, you know, that emotional appeal, it continued to resonate with people throughout the years. And even though flat earth has ebbed and flowed a little bit in popularity, just the wildness of it, I think ,has always had an appeal for certain people who are looking for it. Mike: So, one thing I was surprised about was that the flat earth movement was rather a latecomer, as far as conspiracy theories go, to the internet. So, what brought the flat earth online? How was it received? Kelly: Yeah, that was really interesting to me, too. Because while I was researching this, I was kind of trawling through OG conspiracy pages online. What's interesting to me actually if I might take a step back here is that conspiracy theories have always been early adopters of a lot of technology. You know, Rowbotham had a friend who was running a printing press, and he was getting his flat earth zines out. There was a flat earth commune in the early 20th century, and they had one of the earliest powerful radio programs that they could broadcast along the way. So when I was looking at early internet conspiracy theories, I did find that conspiracy theorists were some of the first voices online who were really putting out weird information. So I was deep in the trenches looking at Y2K influencers and all that. But there actually, to your point, was sort of a lack of flat earth theory early on in the internet. And I can think of a few reasons for that. For a while, flat earth theory was very tied to the Flat Earth Society, which was shepherded until 2001 by this very elderly couple. They were super literally off the grid. They lived in the desert, and they just were not the type of people to get online. And a lot of their archives actually burned in a house fire. So flat Earth really kind of took a nosedive with their deaths. It came back online when some archivalist started going through those older records of this Flat Earth Society couple. And these people relaunched the Flat Earth Society online as a forum, a discussion place where people could talk. It's interesting to me. I am not completely sold on the idea that the people who relaunched the Flat Earth Society online were genuine. I think there's a reasonable chance that they're kind of fucking around like they thought it was funny. But they did resurface this huge archive of decades and decades of flat earth writings and they put them online. And that became, I think, the basis for a lot of more genuine believers to start going through the back catalog and seeing what flat earthers had been saying for the past 150 years. And eventually, it went from this sort of more moderate discussion on forums to things that could go a lot more viral with the advent of sites like YouTube. Mike: Okay so let's talk about the algorithm. How did flat earth wind up profiting from the YouTube recommendation algorithm? Kelly: Yeah, this was huge. And throughout this book, I wanted to be careful about ascribing flat earth's resurgence to any one thing, you know, any one website or any one algorithm. That said, YouTube has a lot of blood on its hands as far as flat earth goes. Basically, for quite a long time YouTube's algorithm would promote videos that it thought people would want to watch. It actually still does this, but they've done tweaks that hamper flat earth, I'll get to that in a minute. But basically, what people really want to watch, what people really want to click on at two in the morning, is not necessarily factual information. It's not really the “Eat Your Vegetables” kind of video. It's the weird scintillating stuff. If you see a video in your sidebar, a recommended video on YouTube and it says, "Is earth really flat?" Yeah, you're gonna click on that because it's just so weird you have to find out what that video is about. Because those videos performed so well, because they tapped into this curiosity and this weird factor, they started overperforming in the algorithm, and they appear to have been promoted overwhelmingly. So conspiracy YouTubers would realize that, "Hey, I can get a lot of views by having a title that references flat earth.” So from a confluence of people making flat earth videos because they're being cynical, because they knew it would get a lot of views, and people who are actually starting to get earnestly converted from these videos going and putting their genuine beliefs in these new channels, we started seeing this huge swell of flat earth videos and a pretty powerful recommendation algorithm that gave those videos a disproportionate share of traffic. I do want to note that YouTube kind of acknowledged this and changed its algorithm in 2019 specifically so that flat earth would not be such an issue. Mike: One thing you didn't draw a comparison to, or maybe I missed it, and I'm about to regurgitate one of your points, was to multilevel marketing. Like, these YouTubers are not just looking for converts to watch their videos, so that they can get monetized ads or whatever; they want converts to make videos themselves and then reference their videos so that they can get traffic that way. Can you talk a little about the culture of the flat earth movement on YouTube? Kelly: Absolutely. I think the multi-level marketing comparison is such an apt one, and I'm actually kind of mad that I don't make it in the book, because it's relevant. And you bring that up. But literally the first Flat Earth conference I went to, this one flat earth celebrity YouTuber came up to me and she started talking to me. She goes, "Oh, I didn't realize you are a reporter. I was gonna say you should maybe make some videos about flat earth." Because she thought I was there and I was being genuine and... I'm gonna say something really mean. A lot of flat Earthers are kind of like boomer men that you don't want to watch a video of. And I was a 24-year-old woman so I think that was what was going on. [laughs] But to that end, yeah, flat earthers don't just want to preach; they want to convert. And they want to build this community around themselves and around their videos because that's what keeps the theory going. Flat earth in and of itself could just be a set of talking points that you accept, and then you move on with your life. But for a lot of flat earthers, it becomes a way of life. It becomes a community that they build, and frankly, a set of relationships that they cling to because they often have deteriorating relationships with the rest of the world when they convert to this theory. So there's a very strong community basis in flat earth and other conspiracy theories. And I definitely think that flat earth YouTubers are often trying to make more flat earth YouTubers, and they're trying to promote a community that will further promote their videos. Mike: Okay. So another thing I liked about the book was the way you brought human dignity to a lot of the people you talked about (not so much the cult leaders and grifters, but just kind of average people). Can you talk a bit about the people you met during your reporting and some of their backgrounds? Kelly: Absolutely. I mean, there's no one profile for a flat earther. I know I just said a lot of them are kind of boomer guys. And maybe the average flat earther is a little bit older. But there's a surprising diversity in how people come to flat earth. When I was talking to people, I was trying to get a sense of, you know, “what were their priors?” Initially at the first flat earth conference, I went and started asking people about their political beliefs. And I found that although this movement does skew conservative, a lot of people were very disenchanted with politics and they didn't really affix themselves to a tidy political profile. So what I started doing was looking into that disaffectation. Why were people dissatisfied? Why were people looking for such a radical alternative explanation for the world? And I found quite a lot of pathways to flat earth. A lot of them are fairly upsetting; a lot of them had to do with people who were looking for new forms of community because they felt alienated in some sense, people who were looking for religious alternatives, a lot of people who came from faith traditions where they didn't fully feel like they were getting the right answers. So when I was talking to people, I think I was in a certain sense maybe trying to diagnose what exactly had gone a little bit wrong to lead them to this movement. And I found the people who were actually quite forthcoming with me, were quite generous in explaining their path to flat earth. So that's something I tried to do regardless of, you know, if somebody told me they were a Trump supporter or an Obama fan who had completely fallen out of political circles. I just tried to try and keep an eye on that human element. Mike: Okay. You have this chapter, Alone in a Flat World, where you talk about people losing their social lives to flat earth. This seems to play into this 21st-century decentralized cult phenomenon. You talk a lot about QAnon too, which is similar. So there are flat earth organizations, but apart from getting high-rolling flat earthers to a conference once a year, they don't really hold on to the movement. That's coming from the YouTube culture. Kelly: Yeah, absolutely. I think a decentralized cult is a really interesting way of thinking about flat earth and frankly a lot of other conspiracy communities. It's hard to strictly call it a cult because there's no one leader, there's no one person they take marching orders from. And yet it has a lot of the hallmarks of a cult. There's a central idea that you have to adhere to and block out all the other noise. You have to distance yourself from people who criticize this idea. It's a very in-group out-group affirming structure. And it's interesting when I started looking at that model for flat earth, it was pretty easy to apply to a lot of other fringe movements and frankly some not-so-fringe movements. I thought it was really interesting to apply to Trumpism, and I know that sounds like a very Twitter-lib talking point saying, “Oh Trump is a cult leader.” But in the more maybe psychological aspect of it, where you do think about people's willingness to create this community around a central figure or central idea at the expense of the rest of their entire world. I think that was really interesting. And it also, for me, explains why it's so hard to pull people away from these figures or ideas. Because they're not really operating on “debate me” facts and logic; they're operating on very emotional grounds. They tie a lot of their identity to flat earth or a political ideal. And so when you're trying to help them disengage from that, I think you need to also try and have some element of emotional healing. You need to offer an alternative to what sustenance they're getting from that movement. So yeah, that was definitely a model that helped me while I was thinking about flat earth and why people believe. Mike: Yeah. It's like when I was doing my research on fascism for my Ph.D.-- that I didn't complete-- [laughs] one of the articles that I came across was talking about how the condition for someone deprogramming themselves from the Nazi movement, and from cult movements in general, is not only kind of a disillusionment with the movement that they're in but also kind of like an alternative that they can jump to, like a landing pad of a community that they can segue into without having to basically be alone in the world. Kelly: Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's funny. There were a few interesting anecdotes earlier this year, and I can't fact-check them, but I think there's the plausibility to people who were saying that they had former QAnon relatives who dropped it when they found something that met that same need. One of them was an aunt who got really into K-pop, which has this huge really loud online fandom, right? And so if the aunt was into QAnon because she wanted that community around her, well there's actually something comparable and infinitely less harmful in stanning BTS or whatever. And then the other was someone whose relative was into QAnon because she liked the puzzle element, and she got into Wordle. And she did 500 Wordle knockoffs a day. And that was just kind of taking the place for her. So I think people don't turn to these ultra-irrational things for no reason at all, they're seeking some unmet need. And if we can hopefully redirect them into something as harmless as BLACKPINK or whatever, that's definitely preferable. Mike: Yeah. Okay. One interesting thing that you did in the book, which I'm not sure that you even noticed, was you adopted some of their manners of speaking. So like in particular, more towards the end of the book, you start using "flat" to refer to flat earthers in the way that someone might use "gay" to refer to someone who's gay. You describe someone as being flat. You do point out also that they often use the phrase "coming out of the closet." So can we talk about how badly these people want to be gay? [Kelly laughs] But was there an acculturation process in talking to and understanding these people, though? Kelly: Yes. And also in terms of the coming out, what's so funny to me is these people really do want some legitimate form of victimhood because they do feel victimized and so they're just borrowing the language of the queer community, which is funny because a lot of these people are quite religious and conservative and are actually anti-gay, which I just thought was wild to see. Yes, there definitely was a process of learning how to talk to these folks. I think one of them was– I was never, like I said earlier, I was never really trying to debate people. There was one thing that I had to dodge almost every time I went to a conference or I was talking to a new person on the phone, was I said, "Hey, I've got my views, you've got yours. I don't know that we're going to come to any synthesis in the course of a 30-minute conversation." But yeah, I did try and hue pretty closely to their language. People would refer to themselves as being members of a community. When I talk about flat earth I, even now, refer to it as a community. I think because I've spent so much time around them, and hearing that term and actually kind of accepting that it is for them, a very communally based thing. One thing I had to dodge quite a lot was discussions of religion. I'm very much an atheist. This is very much a religiously-influenced movement. Although flat earth doesn't necessarily have to be religious, it's predominantly quite Christian. So just kind of learning how to approach a discussion like that, and be able to honestly represent my views without putting them off. And that's a little challenging sometimes. I'm also of Jewish heritage, and a lot of, frankly, there was a good deal of anti-semitism there. So, you know, just talking in open terms about faith I found was helpful. And yeah, you do kind of adopt the vocabulary a little bit. And I hope to put it in a way in this book that folks can read and feel like they were somewhat immersed in flat earth without completely giving them credence. Mike: Yeah, I definitely got that sense. You devote a chapter to flat earth fascists, but in all, it didn't seem that significant to me. Is this a misperception on my part? It didn't seem like there were that many flat fascists. Kelly: No. I'm very glad to say that most flat earthers are not fascists. But by that same token, I did feel like it was relevant enough that I had to put it in the book. And I think that's because it speaks to a broader issue with conspiracy theories. I think conspiracy theories are very, very useful to fascists, to totalizing movements in general, because they do allow people to cast out information that they don't want to grapple with. They allow people to have a very reduced view of the world and to perceive enemies where they don't exist, to perceive persecution where it doesn't exist, to form these in-group out-group associations. So I was fascinated by the existence of some flat earth nazis, which they are around. One of the biggest flat earth video makers also has multiple neo-nazi rap albums. So it bore mentioning. But I thought it was maybe a good way to draw connections between something like flat earth, which is so zany that I think most people can laugh at it, to something like QAnon which is an equally absurd conspiracy theory but has way more fascist momentum behind it. QAnon is just a fascist fever dream. So I thought that I had to, in some way, make an allusion to how these conspiracy theories can be weaponized for something that's less funny than flat earth. Mike: Yeah. So your last chapter is about one of my favorite things to do, and that's leaving. Talk about the people that left flat earth and what we might learn from their stories. Kelly: Absolutely. It was challenging for me to find people who left the flat earth movement who were willing to speak for this book. And that's not because a lot of people don't leave flat earth, they do, but they're kind of embarrassed about it. They don't want to go on the record, because it is an embarrassing thing to be wrong about. So I'm very, very grateful for the people who did speak to me on the record about this. And something that they told me was that there was this intense feeling of overcoming themselves almost to leave flat earth. They had sunk so many relationships into this theory. They'd alienated people; they'd been very argumentative about this theory; they'd been passionate about it. There were sunk costs, right? They didn't want all of it to have been for nothing. And so they put off leaving the theory really as long as they could, as long as they could still plausibly believe it. One guy told me that he was–at the end of his belief–he was so distressed that he couldn't look up at the sky. He didn't want to see a sunset because it would disprove flat earth. And he didn't want to look at it and grapple with that. So I think it took a tremendous amount of personal honesty and bravery for these people to say, "You know what? I was actually wrong. And these losses that I've experienced from flat earth were exactly that, they were losses." But I do think what helped the people I spoke to was having a community around them outside flat earth who helped them leave and didn't make them feel like idiots, who welcomed them back even though they'd been on a long strange trip for a couple of years. And so I think going back to that idea of community, that idea of having alternatives, being able to have a safe landing, I think, was the most helpful thing for these people. Mike: Okay. Kelly, thank you so much for coming on The Nazi Lies Podcast to talk about flat Earthers. The book again is Off the Edge out from Algonquin Books. Thanks again, Ms. Weill. Kelly: Thank you so much for having me. Mike: You missed reading Off the Edge with us in The Nazi Lies Book Club, but there are still plenty of great books from our upcoming guests to read. Come join us and support the show by subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start as low as $2 and some come with merch. Check us out at patreon.com/NaziLies and follow us on Twitter @NaziLies and Facebook at facebook.com/TheNSLiesPod [Theme song]

This is just a sample of our Patreon exclusive bonus episode. You can hear the episode in full by becoming a member at: https://www.patreon.com/indoctrination Our returning guest for this Patreon exclusive Bonus episode is Award-winning author and journalist Kelly Weill. Kelly reports for the Daily Beast covering right-wing extremism and conspiracy culture. She has more than two decades of experience at The Wall Street Journal and other major outlets and is the author of the incredible new book "Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything " Kelly shares her thoughts from the past several years covering flat earth conferences and conspiracy culture, offering unique insights into the thinking of those who have gone off the edge into conspiracy theory. Together Rachel and Kelly reflect on how people get lost in these ideas and explain how loved ones can become their stewards back to reality. You can find Kelly's excellent work with The Daily Beast here: www.thedailybeast.com/author/kelly-weill Her Book "Off The Edge" is available here : www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/564…694-off-the-edge Keep up to date with all her work by following her on Twitter @KELLYWEILL Thanks to all our Patreon supporters for making this episode happen!!

A conversation with Kelly Weill, a reporter for The Daily Beast, co-host of the Fever Dreams podcast, and author of the book OFF THE EDGE: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. Her and Hope discuss the history of the Flat Earth Movement, the overlap among conspiracy theory groups online, the implications of de-platforming misinformation-spreaders, ways to bring conspiracy theorists out of an alternate reality, and much more. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hope-jacobson/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hope-jacobson/support

https://www.alainguillot.com/kelly-weill/ Kelly Weill is a journalist and the author of Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3k3A1Ht

This episode we're talking about recent media we enjoyed! We discuss TikTok food, video games about boxes, French language books, Pokemon, and more! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards Media We've Been Consuming Anna: B. Dylan Hollis TikTok YouTube Pumpernickel (Wikipedia) Ryan Hollinger Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson Matthew: Unpacking How Unpacking's Developers Designed 2021's Coziest Game Hyper Light Drifter Wandersong Meghan: L'homme qui marche by by Jirō Taniguchi The Route of Ice and Salt by Jose Luis Zàrate Football-Fantaisie by Zviane Zviane's comics available in English RJ: Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton Pokemon Legends: Arceus Pokemon Showdown Wikipedia:Unusual articles Volkswagen currywurst  Danish Protest Pig Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon Other Media & Things We Mentioned Just Plain Wrong - The Pacifist Vampire Soul Dilemma: Three Books about Amish Vampires & Mennonite Assassins The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle (The Amish vampire book Meghan read) Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Wikipedia) Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico Smile (Beach Boys album) A pixel artist renounces pixel art Thread on Twitter about Dracula Pokemon: Everything You Need To Know About The Great War Theory Morbius (film) (Wikipedia) Diverse Books Reading Smackdown challenges VPL staff to read outside the box Featuring the Diverse Reading Victory Belt Depths of Wikipedia 20 Recent Detective Fiction Novels by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers' Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of our lists can be found here.For this retroactive genre from Episode 025, we're featuring detective fiction by BIPOC authors published in the last 2 years.  Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia Murder of Crows by K. Ancrum Padoskoks: A Jacob Neptune Murder Mystery by Joseph Bruchac Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien Mimi Lee Cracks the Code by Jennifer J. Chow The Dance of the Serpents by Oscar de Muriel The Lady of Zamalek by Ashraf El-Ashmawi, translated by Peter Daniel The Conductors by Nicole Glover The Red Palace by June Hur The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur The Case of the Burgled Bundle by Michael Hutchinson The Dying Day by Vaseem Khan Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee The Verifiers by Jane Pek Inspector Chen and the Private Kitchen Murder by Xiaolong Qiu Sleep Well, My Lady by Kwei Quartey Far from the Light of Heaven by Tade Thompson Give us feedback! Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read! Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email! Join us again on Tuesday, May 3rd when we'll be discussing the genre of Astronomy & Space non-fiction! Then on Tuesday, May 17th join us for our 150th episode!

Kelly Weill is a reporter at The Daily Beast. She recently published a book on Flat Earth conspiracy theory followers and what their beliefs can tell us about the ways people can arrive at absurdly false beliefs. She joins SH!TPOST to talk about her new book and its lessons for the rest of us.Follow Kelly on Twitter: @KELLYWEILLGet the book: “Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything” at Workman PublishingSubscribe to the SH!TPOST newsletter at shtpost.substack.comSH!TPOST is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at shtpost.substack.com/subscribe

This time we are honoured and delighted to welcome special guest Kelly Weill of The Daily Beast (etc) to talk to us about her new (and excellent) book Off The Edge, a history of Flat Earth, the current state of the Flat Earth movement, and our cultish and conspiratorial times generally.  A fun and thoughtful - and sometimes melancholic - discussion. Off The Edge links Off the Edge - Workman Publishing Amazon.com: Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything: 9781643750682: Weill, Kelly: Books Kelly's Twitter @KELLYWEILL Show Notes: Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay ad-free and independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to at least one full extra episode a month plus all backer-only back-episodes. Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618 IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper Jack's Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_ IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1

It feels like the COVID-19 pandemic launched a thousand conspiracies. From microchips in the vaccines, to using bleach to treat the virus, to a shadowy cabal controlling it all, vast swaths of America fell prey to false thinking. But it has also enflamed a conspiracy theory that has nothing to do with viruses and vaccines. Journalist Kelly Weill has covered flat-Earthers for years. In her new book, “Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything,” she says the flat Earth movement is a microcosm of how and why conspiracy theories thrive and spread. On this week's Big Books and Bold Ideas, Weill and MPR News host Kerri Miller had a fascinating discussion about the culture of conspiracy, why flat-Earthers believe what they do, and why presenting the facts to true believers doesn't usually change their minds. Guest: Kelly Weill is a journalist at the “Daily Beast,” where she covers extremism, disinformation, and the internet. Her new book is “Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything.” To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.  Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or RSS. Subscribe to the Thread newsletter for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

But so is a round Earth. So how do these square pegs in round holes justify themselves? With YouTube videos, of course, but also sometimes with some violence. Mike talks with Kelly Weill, author of Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything about these sometimes-problematic folks. In the Spiel, Mike considers the case against an opera about Emmett Till that was co-written by a black composer and a white librettist. And in Senate Judiciary Hearing news, Senators and potential Supreme Court justices agree: murderers are bad. Produced by Joel Patterson and Corey Wara Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com To advertise on the show, visit: https://advertisecast.com/TheGist  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beowulf discusses the ravings, of QAnon, the delusions of Washington DC, and talks with Kelly Weill, author of "Off The Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything."

On this week's Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Daily Beast journalist Kelly Weill are extremism, disinformation and the Internet. They talk about “Off the Edge … Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything”. Then Moira speaks with Dr. Dale Christiansen from TFF Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Deborah Levine, Medical Director of Lung Transplantation and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at UT Health San Antonio. It may be possible to inhale most of our present-day drugs, which has many benefits.

On this week's Tech Nation, Moira speaks withDaily Beast journalist Kelly Weill are extremism, disinformation and the Internet. They talk about “Off the Edge … Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything”. Then Moira speaks with Dr. Dale Christiansen from TFF Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Deborah Levine, Medical Director of Lung Transplantation and Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Center at UT Health San Antonio. It may be possible to inhale most of our present-day drugs, which has many benefits.

Reporter Kelly Weill has spent most of her journalism career covering misinformation and conspiracy theories. As a recent college graduate in 2016, Weill entered the media world at a time of immense change, when terms like “fake news” and “disinformation” became part of the mainstream American vocabulary. Coinciding with this time was the rise in “Flat Earthers,” a group of people who support the idea that “we all live on a flat plane, under a solid dome, ringed by an impossible wall of ice.” In Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything, Weill sets out to explain where the fringe theory of Flat Earth came from, how it relates to other conspiracy theories, and what it is about society that leads people to believe things that most consider inherently untrue. Kelly Weill is a reporter at The Daily Beast, where she covers extremism, disinformation, and the internet. She is a frequent media contributor on the topics of her work and has been featured on Nightline, CNN, and Al Jazeera, among other outlets, to discuss conspiracy theories, such as the Flat Earth theory and similar ideas outside of mainstream acceptance. She holds a dual degree in journalism and English from New York University. Moderated by Anna Merlan Merlan is a New Mexico-born, Los Angeles-based journalist and author, specializing in subcultures, alternative communities, conspiracy theories, crime, belief, death, sexual violence and women's lives. She is currently a reporter at Motherboard, a division of VICE. Her work has also appeared in Rolling Stone, BBC Travel, Topic, and on the op-ed page of the New York Times. She is the author of the book Republic of Lies. . . Do you believe in the importance of international education and connections? The nonprofit World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth is supported by gifts from people like you, who share our passion for engaging in dialogue on global affairs and building bridges of understanding. While the Council is not currently charging admission for virtual events, we ask you to please consider making a one-time or recurring gift to help us keep the conversation going through informative public programs and targeted events for students and teachers. Donate: https://www.dfwworld.org/donate

Sam hosts Kelly Weill, reporter at the Daily Beast, to discuss her recent book Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything. Kelly begins by situating her research into flat earthers as a case study in people's inclination to faith and belief, separating the flat earth belief from other conspiracies in how – rather than fitting itself within established views of reality – it forces its believers to truly throw out all known information about our world. She and Sam then work to unpack the flat earth canon, walking through the enclosed disk surrounded by ice that is our “earth,” and how this view stemmed from the global construction itself. Next, Kelly dives into how, despite this being rather disprovable, flat earthers tend to not be dissuaded by contrary evidence, as she walks through different attempts to find this ice wall (both legitimate attempts and grifts), before she and Sam jump back to England in the 1840s, in the midst of a shift from religion to natural sciences, to look at Samuel Rowbotham's foundational works on the flat earth and how they served to make sense of a rapidly changing view of our world. They then move to the 1900s in America, with the founding of the town of Zion, Illinois as a Christian fundamentalist, theocrat-ruled community that quickly was overtaken by a flat earth doctrine, and work through the malleability of this particular conspiracy in fitting alongside countless other beliefs. Moving into contemporary times, Sam and Kelly discuss the role of social media in giving flat earth the boost it needed to push it onto the fringes of the mainstream (oxymoron, sorry), as they dive into the artificial promotion on YouTube and Facebook before they look to the relationship between flat earthers and the other conspiracies flowing through the modern Right-wing, discussing how Q Anon and anti-vax believers are jumping on their overlap with other conspiracists to recruit even more to their side. They wrap up their interview by discussing the flat earth influencer hierarchy, and look into governments, Jews, and witches as the antagonists at the core of these theories. Sam also touches on Russia's continued attacks on civilians and hospitals, and Trump's appearance on an MMA pod to discuss his relationship with Putin and Ukraine. And in the Fun Half: Sam is joined by Matt and Brandon as they dive into Ben Shapiro soft-pitching a new anti-environmentalist conspiracy theory, Fox News giving a voice to the voiceless CEOs of the petroleum industry, and the building bad-faith tension between Jen Psaki and Doocy Jr. They also hold an extensive conversation on the nationalization of the energy industry, Frank from Minneapolis discusses would-be watershed-moments, and Fox News hosts a discussion on false-flag bioweapons. Ben from Worcester gives his own flat earther insight, and Matt gets into Crypto dating scams, plus, your calls and IMs! Purchase tickets for the live show in Brooklyn March 26th and Boston on May 15th HERE:   https://majorityreportradio.com/live-show-schedule Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here:  https://madmimi.com/signups/170390/join Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Support the St. Vincent Nurses today! https://action.massnurses.org/we-stand-with-st-vincents-nurses/ Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Matt's other show Literary Hangover on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/literaryhangover Check out The Nomiki Show on YouTube. https://www.patreon.com/thenomikishow Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out The Letterhack's upcoming Kickstarter project for his new graphic novel! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/milagrocomic/milagro-heroe-de-las-calles Check out Jamie's podcast, The Antifada. https://www.patreon.com/theantifada, on iTunes, or at https://www.twitch.tv/theantifada (streaming every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7pm ET!) Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Subscribe to AM Quickie writer Corey Pein's podcast News from Nowhere. https://www.patreon.com/newsfromnowhere  Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop The Majority Report with Sam Seder - https://majorityreportradio.com/ Buy tickets to see Sam with Francesca Fiorentini at the Bell House in Brooklyn TONIGHT here: https://bitchuationroom.com/

Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything with Author Kelly Weill. https://www.amazon.com/Off-Edge-Earthers-Conspiracy-Anything-ebook/dp/B08WK7XCQ4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1646427754&sr=8-1 Twitter: @KELLYWEILL Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conversations with great minds: Kelly Weill, Journalist-The Daily Beast / Author of the new book, "Off The Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything."Ukraine/Trump/Authoritarianism - Are you feeling a Sense of Doom or Hope?Why Big Oil & the GOP are Sabotaging Ukraine, America, Our Atmosphere & Our Next Generation.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

--On the Show: --Kelly Weill, journalist at The Daily Beast and author of "Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture and Why People Will Believe Anything," joins David to discuss conspiracy theories, conspiratorial thinking, overlaps between conspiracism and political extremism, and much more. Get the book: https://amzn.to/3MktZiv --Russian forces have seized their first major Ukrainian city, Kherson, a city of about 300,000 people --There are increasingly reports of Russian troops surrendering in Ukraine without a fight, many crying and asking for food while trying to call home --The January 6 Trump riot committee has released a list of possible criminal charges committed by former President Donald Trump --Donald Trump, in his latest deranged interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, takes credit for Ukraine's ability to fight against Russia thanks to the weapons he sent them --A stunning new poll from CBS/YouGov shows that 78% of those who watched Joe Biden's State of the Union address this week approved of it --Republican Congressman James Comer refuses to condemn fellow Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert yelling out to heckle Joe Biden earlier this week during his State of the Union address --Radical Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert defends her heckling of President Joe Biden during this week's State of the Union address --Voicemail caller asks David to defending communism, even though David is not a communist and doesn't defend communism --On the Bonus Show: Russian convoy stalls, Iowa Governor signs flat tax into law, oil prices surge over Russia-Ukraine war supply fears, much more...

Daily Beast extremism and internet journalist – and leading voice on online conspiracy theories – Kelly Weill offers a definitive, humane  and compelling history of the Flat Earth movement. She discusses her new book OFF THE EDGE: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything  with Radio Free Galisteo's John Shannon. Buy Kelly's Book: https://www.workman.com/products/off-the-edge/hardbackSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/radiofreegalisteo?fan_landing=true)

This week Alice and Kim revisit one of their favorite topics, International Women's Day, with stories from women around the world. Plus, new nonfiction about Flat Earthers, abolition, and Greek myths. Follow For Real using RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. For more nonfiction recommendations, sign up for our True Story newsletter, edited by Alice Burton. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Nonfiction in the News West Africans and the history of smallpox inoculation: Q&A with Elise A. Mitchell [Royal Society] 4 lessons from the life of global health visionary Paul Farmer [Vox] Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder Britney Spears set to pen tell-all book in bombshell $15M deal [Page Six] New Nonfiction Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill The Republic of Violence: The Tormented Rise of Abolition in Andrew Jackson's America by J. D. Dickey What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes International Women's Day Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory by Kimberly L. Craft It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race, edited by Mariam Khan Njinga of Angola: Africa's Warrior Queen by Linda M. Heywood Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot by Masha Gessen To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War by Tera W. Hunter Reading Now White Negroes: When Cornrows Were in Vogue … and Other Thoughts on Cultural Appropriation by Lauren Michele Jackson The Story of You: An Enneagram Journey to Becoming Your True Self by Ian Morgan Cron The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap That Shaped America by Matthew Pearl

"PLUTO RETURNS and SOME OTHER SICKO DIDN'T HANG HIMSELF" 2/19/22 Infinite Plane Radio From The Desk of Tim Ozman 2/19/22: Pluto Returns on Tuesday Here are a few things to look forward to for this Tuesday, 2/22/2022: Kanye West is releasing Donda2. The last album release was accompanied by a burning house, a burning Kanye, and occurred on the day where Burning Man festivals were typically performed. 2019 marked the 33rd and final one at Black Rock City, Nevada. 2020's was canceled although an Antifa rioter played the role by setting himself on fire with his own Molotov Cocktail. We also can look forward to the release of Kelly Weill's book "Off the Edge: Flat a, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything". Pluto returns: the planet-not-planet, returns to where it was on July 4th, 1776 when 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. Kelly the Curvert: "Everyone can observe the Earth's curvature over a couple of miles. It only takes a couple of miles for the Earth to curve eight about like feet down, at which point you wouldn't be able to see an ice skater." (Link to audio). Kelly Weill thinks two miles is enough distance for the Earth's curvature to hide ice skaters. It's funny but also not funny. She's not a lazy researcher. What we have here is a confirmation bias. She likely thinks that boats go over a hill of water when they are too far away to see with the human eye. Pluto Returns: recently, Joe Biden joked about the time he left a dead dog on a republican's doorstep. His other dog story was stranger. Imagine (in slow motion) a wet, naked Joe Biden chasing Major the White House dog, only to slip while pulling its tail, resulting in a twisted ankle. I'm on the topic of dogs because Pluto the Disney dog was created in 1930, the same year Pluto was designated a planet. Interestingly, the planet has a silhouette of Pluto the dog's face on its surface. So this recent "dead dog" joke could be a cryptic Pluto reference. Aleister Crowley, or whichever entity possessed him to write The Book of The Law, asked,"Is a God to live in a dog?," often taken to mean Sirius, the Dog Star. Reversed spelling as a basic cipher is a standard tactic by the Illuminati. (The neighborhood dogs are going wild, presumably barking at the moon, as I write this). So on to Pluto Returns: On 2/2/2022, Pluto will enter the same place it was on July 4th, 1776. This is a "return" because it is a cycle, a 248-year cycle. What does 1776 mean in this context? Let's look at a few things: Illuminati founded Declaration of Independence The height, in feet, of the One World Trade Center that replaced the Twin Towers 888 = Jesus in Christian numerology, so 888 x 2= 1776 or 2nd Coming Also, Pluto = Hades. In the Summer of 2021, the ritual kidnapping and death of Gabby Petito followed the story of Persephone, the incarnation of Virgo, and her kidnapping and descent into the underworld, or Hades. There are many reasons to have your sights on Tuesday. Now I hate to be all doom and gloom and dark prophecy so here's a bit of light: 'The View' host Joy Behar will wear a face mask 'indefinitely." Thank you again for staying tuned in to Infinite Plane Radio and for subscribing to this newsletter. Tim Ozman, IPR, Host Here's a link to order Kelly Weill's new book: https://www.amazon.com/Off-Edge-Earthers-Conspiracy-Anything/dp/1643750682 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/infinite-plane-radio/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/infinite-plane-radio/support

-- On the Show:-- Kelly Weill, reporter at The Daily Beast and author of "Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything," joins David for another discussion about the last year in conspiracy theories and more. Get the book: https://amzn.to/3SmpwiN-- After weeks of Republicans denying they would ever consider cutting Social Security and Medicare, Mike Pence appears on CNBC and says they should consider cutting Social Security and Medicare-- Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker brutally slams Ron DeSantis for his recent stunt in Chicago-- Emily Kohrs, a member of the Trump Grand Jury in Georgia, has been on a bizarre media tour that some worry could endanger a possibly forthcoming indictment of Donald Trump-- Failed former President Donald Trump goes to East Palestine, Ohio for an event related to the train derailment and it goes horribly wrong-- Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have been subpoenaed by the special counsel investigating January 6-- Fox News is now openly running Ron DeSantis propaganda specials-- Another voicemail caller confused about David's political orientation-- On the Bonus Show: Texas bill would ban nearly all gender-affirming care including for adults, lawyers for Steve Bannon sue over legal bills, Florida lawyer argues pregnant inmate's fetus is being illegally detained, much more...⚠️ Use code PAKMAN for a free supply of BlueChew at https://go.bluechew.com/david-pakman