Kelly Weill

Off the Edge is about one of the more bizarre conspiracy theories circulating today: belief that the Earth isn’t a sphere but instead a disk. Author Kelly Weill traces the path of this conspiracy theory, from its birth to now, when the delusion is popular enough to justify annual “Flat-Earth” conferences. Belief in this conspiracy theory accelerated in 2014, but it started humbly 150 years before, when it was overwhelmingly greeted with what it should always be: laughter and show more dismissal.

Weill digs into her topic deeply. For research she attended the Flat-Earth conferences to interview attendees and to listen to various speakers. She observed Flat-Earth Facebook groups, watched Flat-Earth YouTube videos, and listened to Flat-Earth podcasts. She understands the conspiracy theory thoroughly and what makes believers tick.

Weill’s use of all that media is meaningful. A large chunk of Off the Edge speaks blisteringly of social media, a force whose unchecked promotion of conspiracy theories cannot be overstated. YouTube in particular is hugely responsible for indoctrination, thanks to an algorithm that encourages users to chain-watch videos on whichever topic they’re exploring. Facebook and Reddit groups, by enabling people to unite and encourage each other 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, cement the delusions. Under pressure to stop this, YouTube and Facebook have changed some things, and Reddit deletes pernicious groups in general, but conspiracy theorists are forceful and persistent.

This book is a critical look at the Flat-Earth conspiracy movement but not an unfair one. Weill explains the theory, including description of Flat Earthers’ alternative disk-model of Earth, and offers a full profile of the typical believer. She doesn’t misrepresent the conspiracy movement or use a mocking tone—not that she needs to. Believers’ statements, so littered with ignorance of certain aspects of physics and inability to recognize illogic, mock them all on their own. Weill shares the proofs for Earth’s spherical shape, proofs so easy to understand and observe that I was left thinking that people who hold firm to fanciful—inventive, really—conspiracy theories must do so because they just really want to.

Off the Edge emphasizes that stubborn adherence. Reasoning with conspiracy theorists is usually futile because they’re convinced that anyone outside their clique of belief is brainwashed by the government, the scientific community, or some other large entity. However, just as anyone can fall under the spell of a charismatic cult leader or be fooled by a scam, anyone can adopt conspiratorial thinking:

"Conspiratorial thinking is not a weird pathology, experienced by some and absent in others. It’s part of a mental process hardwired into all of us. [...] The same powers of abstraction that make humans good at detecting patterns (like anticipating storms when dark clouds gather) can make us imagine patterns where they don’t exist, especially when we’re feeling stressed or powerless. Rather than languish in the unknown, we tell ourselves stories about the secret causes of our troubles."

This is an essential point, both as a buttress for the adage “forewarned is forearmed” and for keeping smugness at bay. No one is so smart as to be immune to certain things.

Additionally, cults and conspiratorial movements are similar. Cult-exit psychologist Rachel Bernstein calls them cousins: “...their followers form insular sects. Followers of both cults and conspiracy theories often grow fiercely protective of their cliques [...] you’re either helping the movement, or actively hurting it.” This is particularly true of the Flat-Earth conspiracy theory. It lacks a central, controlling god-like figure like cults have; instead members monitor each other and quickly ostracize those who show unfaithfulness to the delusion. The more they isolate themselves from the outside world and band together (made so easy by groups on social media), the more deluded they become.

This is troubling, because to escape conspiratorial belief, maintaining a connection to the outside world, especially to nonbelievers, is vital. The book ends as many of these do now, fortunately: by highlighting solutions. Weill profiles two men who were able to extricate themselves from the cult of Flat-Earth belief, and what they have in common are “Globe-Earther” friends who called them out on their nonsense. Most conspiracy theorists, however, (understandably) lose friends, and often relationships with family members, too. (This solution seems simplistic, though. Countless friends and family members of conspiracy theorists can attest to repeatedly pointing out the falsehoods in a conspiracy theorist’s thinking yet getting nowhere. The two men Weill profiles probably never got rooted in their belief, in addition to being open to hearing criticism of it in the first place. Far too many conspiracy theorists are the opposite.)

Off the Edge is mostly about the Flat-Earth conspiracy movement, but Weill also talks about general conspiratorial belief. Right now a significant number of bored people can’t accept that life could possibly be as ordinary as it is and need to subscribe to notions befitting sci-fi or espionage novels. This isn’t simply kookiness; it’s dangerous. Widespread conspiratorial belief (and it is growing) contributes to societal instability. It isn’t hyperbolic to say that if a conspiracy theory is allowed to spread until it becomes the dominant belief, it threatens lives. The Department of Homeland Security labels white-supremacist extremism a domestic terror threat, and conspiratorial belief and extremism (especially antisemitism) tend to go hand in hand. We need books like Weill’s because the first step to solving a problem is to recognize it. On the personal level the first step to preventing a problem is to recognize it—everything about it. show less

Journalist Kelly Weill has spent much of the last decade covering the rebirth of the flat-earth movement, which has skyrocketed in the age of social media, where anyone can be a producer of films claiming anything imaginable. How on earth has such an easily disproven assertion attracted so many new adherents? Are flat-earthers automatically more prone to adopt other equally ludicrous beliefs? Weill provides here some history, background and insight into an alarming development.

Equal parts show more fascinating, depressing and infuriating, this book feels important in that it attempts to help us understand how people fall down the rabbit hole (a phrase used frequently by flat-earth interviewees) of conspiracy theories. That said, I'm not sure I'm much closer to understanding, from a psychological standpoint, how an otherwise intelligent person could deny not only what countless scientists who dedicate their entire lives to studying and researching conclude, with evidence, but also observations they can make (and personally have made) using their very own senses. It's heartening to learn that YouTube and other social media have modified their algorithms from directing maximum traffic to conspiracy channels, but it is clearly too late for a lot of folks out there. The cynic in me also can't help but wonder how many of the guys cashing in (merch, conferences, fundraising, etc.) on someone else's susceptibility to conspiracy theories actually believe themselves in what they are peddling. Wilbur Voliva sounds creepily and unsettlingly like Trump in speech, mannerisms and actions. show less

I've read a lot of books on conspiracy theory, and a lot of conspiratorial books. This is one of the few I've read recently where I learned something new. Several things in fact, from the Indiana roots of the flat earth movement historically to a reasonable and cogent explanation of how conspiracies metastasize and recombine, sometimes into bizarre forms (one chapter is titled "Flat and Fascist").. I could quibble over a couple of minor points and over her rather tepid attempt at a solution show more to what I'm coming to believe is an unsolvable problem, but I won't. This tome deserves all five stars. Read it and laugh, then weep. show less

Before my review, a rant: While reading this history of a specific conspiracy theory, I was dismayed that there were no citations of sources backing up the narrative; sure, this all hangs together but the author could have made it up out of whole cloth, I thought. So imagine my surprise, when I reached the end of the book, to find that every chapter was bolstered by extensive notes detailing original sources after all! I read this in e-book form and there were no indications of footnotes in show more the text, so one would have to somehow remember to check for notes on every page. This is an extremely terrible choice on the part of the publisher; I apologize to the author for thinking badly of her because of their decision….That said, this is actually a very engaging story about how the concept of a “flat earth” evolved from its beginnings in early 19th Century Britain through to its resurgence via internet wormholes in modern times. Ms. Weill also discusses the merging of conspiracy theories, showing how, for example, many (though by no means all) flat earthers also subscribe to antisemetic ideas of world domination by the Jews, and how Trump and his acolytes built on the ready-made audience of conspiracy theory adherents to try to overthrow a legitimate election via new conspiracy theories ever-more divorced from reality. I would note that describing one early flat earth proponent’s action as being a “buzzkill” was highly anachronistic; on the other hand, the flat earthers’ decision to call the rest of us “globe earthers” is just lovely! Recommended; but demand that the publisher fix that citation problem mentioned above! show less