Anon's coworker is a flat-earther

On the one hand, yeah. Worrying about stuff that you have barely any control over won't get you far. But on the other hand, that guy's vote counts as much as yours. And if he already believes such silly conspiracy theories as the flat earth theory, he will be easily swayed by whoever is the loudest contrarian.

The problem is that flat-earthers aren't just that. They usually believe in all kinds of other kooky stuff as well, and some of those beliefs pose an active danger to society.

Weird that the OOP thinks it's "intellectual superiority" to simply have your facts straight.

I miss when people were ashamed of being stupid, now they feel proud about it.

See here's the thing, if you believe silly stuff and keep it to yourself, that's fine. People who believe in silly stuff never keep it to themselves though.

Flat earthers generally vote for people who are hell-bent on erasing workers' rights. That's why I would be arguing.

We used to make fun of people like this. Humiliate them. Alas, no more. Everyone's opinion is now valuable.

I can totally understand not really wanting to engage with these stupid people but to suggest that it doesn't matter that he believes that is disingenuous.

If he's stupid enough to think the Earth is flat then he is stupid enough to do other things in his actual job wrong or in a dangerous manner.

Anon wouldn't have gotten anywhere with that argument anyways. If your goal is to make them stop believing then you have to ask questions without seeming like you're leading him to a certain conclusion in any way.

sorry, I wouldn't trust anyone with those beliefs in any position of responsibility.

But he votes and talks to other voters. Our lives are in their vocal minority hands.

I love how it is considered to be intellectually superior even though you’re stating easily verifiable facts that we also should have learned while being kids.

Fuck that. You’re wrong, and here’s why.

Anyone stupid enough to believe the earth is flat will kill you by accident.

Normal day at the NASA factory

This is the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard.

I believe in truth and that facts do matter. I also teach young people. Being a wage earner was not a bad thing, but I yearn for the freedom to live an easier life, eventually. I want that for everyone. False beliefs are traps that hold people back from being their best selves. Carry flat-earth beliefs as a core foundation and look at what differences it would make. Geostationary satellites, and all the tech jobs that go with servicing that sector, just disappeared. Ditto solar. Travel to distant places, and time zones, becomes an insolvable problem. Your co-worker is holding his life back by believing in medieval superstitions.

It is a kindness to challenge people to find what is true.

Nah dude flat earthers actually show up to the polls, unlike anon. Gotta start showing up anon!

At the wage-slave bit, I was hoping that anon would try to raise the coworker's class-consciousness.

Given that stupid and uninformed (or misinformed) people get a vote on topics that affect me, no. I'm not gonna let slide that people believe outright provably wrong bullshit. It's still a problem.

so this is where we're at? fuck it? let them believe what they want? yeah, we're fucked.

Haha, it’s so funny that this guy believes in ridiculous “science” like flat-earthism. Anyway, I’m going to wander crowded indoor areas without a mask during a pandemic, see ya!

This happened to me, except it was an antivaxxer coworker, and he gave me his preventable disease right before I was supposed to be going on an international ski trip with friends for my birthday. I wanted to murder him :)

Man, a lot of comments on here are giving me reddit debate lord vibes. People talking about "the truth matters", but the way a lot of them are saying, it sounds like they just want to ego boost and dunk on/bully someone that they perceive as inferior; which I suppose could also be called "asserting intellectual superiority".

Chances are that any argument you use on them is something they've already heard, and the more you push and demean them the more defensive they will probably get, and the harder it will be to convince them. And even if you did manage to pressure and shame them into believing the earth is round, that won't suddenly make them good critical thinkers.

[lemmy disliked that]

Anon has found the way of the masters

Eh nah. Pointless debate and argument is kek