Why people believe the Earth is flat and we should listen to anti-vaxxers | Elfy Scott

Science communication has lost its sense of empathy and misunderstands how fear can alter a person's belief system

The internet, as we are all patently aware by this point, is awash with some incredible nonsense. In recent years, some of that nonsense has managed to gain a disturbing amount of traction: the anti-vaxxer movement, a religious belief in alternative medicine, the flat Earth theory, and even astrology have all experienced a tremendous surge of interest and support in online spheres.

Inevitably, this means that these belief systems have become all the more apparent in our real-world social interactions and sometimes it takes the good grace of social intelligence to resignedly agree with co-workers that perhaps a tumultuous month is, in fact, largely due to Pisces Season.