According to the Greenville News, a "Flat Earth" activist was arrested last week after screaming at kids on a playground at a school in South Carolina.
The incident was captured on YouTube by the activist, Nathan Thompson, in a video titled "RED PILL THE YOUTH" — a common phrase among far-right and conspiracy theory activists based on the famous scene in "The Matrix" where Neo is offered a red pill that will allow him to escape the simulation.
"Listen, guys, they're going to teach you you live on a spinning ball — that doesn't make it true. It's not real. The floor is not moving a thousand miles an hour," said Thompson in the video, sporting a "FLAT EARTH" shirt. He throws pamphlets over the fence and shouts "Space is fake! You're not on a spinning ball!"
On the video, the students seem incredibly confused by the outburst. One shouts "Are you crazy?"
The Flat Earth conspiracy theory posits that the Earth is in fact a two-dimensional disk, with the North Pole as the center and the South Pole as a wall of ice surrounding the edge — and that the Sun and Moon are small orbs that circle around above the disk. Evidently, all scientists, natural philosophers, and world governments have been lying to the public for millennia, although various Flat Earthers disagree on the exact reasons why.
In reality, anyone can easily prove for themselves the Earth is spherical in a number of ways. One of the easiest is to go to the ocean and watch ships appear or disappear from behind the curvature.
Nevertheless, a small subculture of conspiracy theorists continues to insist the Earth is a flat disk, propelled by online platforms that allow them to spread their ideas far and wide.
Recently, prominent Flat Earth activist "Mad" Mike Hughes died after launching himself in a homemade, steam-powered rocket in the California desert, attempting to reach space so he could determine for himself the shape of the planet.
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