By David Futrelle
I‘m going a little off-topic tonight because I’ve found, well, one of the most creative conspiracy theories I’ve run across in a long time.
In the midst of a discussion of transgenderism on 4chan’s famously antisemitic /pol/ board several months ago, one apparently drunken anon let slip a little theory he’s been kicking around involving Jews, math, and the flat earth:
I did Nazi this one coming, as they say.
Drunkish Anon’s comment inspired a bit of a discussion in the thread, as several math-loving Anons, momentarily setting aside their antisemitism for the greater good, attempted to convince their confused colleague that, yes, negative numbers are a real thing, and the earth really is a sphere — while all around them the other Anons spewed assorted terrible thoughts about trans people.
Such is the state of debate in 2018.
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Corrupted math? Isn’t that more commonly called algebra?
Really, Drunken Anon nAmed himself perfectly.
DA’s rant sounds exactly like something you’d get from a drunk stranger- the type one immediately wants to get away from.
He hits all the right. Alt-right
buttons, for sure:
Insane conspiracy theory, check,
Damn Jews, check
Lack of education, check
you could probably squeeze some misogyny out of that,, as a good portion of the mendacious hated math teachers were women- and quite possibly, ….gasp…..(((feminazis)))) to boot
I’ve been watching a lot of videos debunking the whole flat earth movement,this sort of thing isn’t uncommon.
The original Nazis rejected the theory of relativity (and much else) because it was based on “Foreign (i.e. Jewish) mathematics”. They attempted to construct an ‘aryan physics’ more in line with Volkish ideology. That put them at a serious disadvantage when it came to starting an atom bomb project.
Nice summary here.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-2-pro-nazi-nobelists-attacked-einstein-s-jewish-science-excerpt1/
After the war, some physicists claimed they’d deliberately gone down the wrong route to sabotage the project; but covert recordings of their conversations when they were POWs show they’d just cocked up.
…among other reasons.
Now I’m just thinking of the Polandball joke where instead of a ball, Israel is a “4-dimensional hypercube,” and when they ask why, it just says “Jewish physics.”
@Alan: Fascinating article! But I’m disappointed to see my boy Friedrich von Schelling misused so. Naturphilosophie may have a mystical bent, of a sort, but it’s certainly not anti-science, and fie upon those who would use it so.
So I skimmed the thread, briefly because goddamn, no one needs that in their life. And a few things leapt out at me. One, transitioning after leaving the military. I enlisted partly because I had little other prospects, and partly because it was masculine as fuck. No one would question shit, not even me. And that worked for a time, until it didn’t. So as usual, these assholes get cause and effect backwards.
And two, fuck these assholes.
Looks like we got more of those Nazi flat Earthers! Remember them everyone?
There are, for real, Nazi Flat Earthers, and they need to fall off the edge of the world
https://www.wehuntedthemammoth.com/2017/04/10/there-are-for-real-nazi-flat-earthers-and-they-need-to-fall-off-the-edge-of-the-world/
Folkish math is fascist Lysenkoism.
Also, drunkish anons are truly of the Hardcore Stupid.
Ah, yes, good, old Judenphysik…
It is quite common in Nazi circles over here to disregard relativistic and quantum effects.
That someone tried to tie flat earth into it really doesn’t surprise me.
I’m a nuclear physicist. We occasionally got very interesting crank calls while I was a student at that chair.
Well crap, this person is onto us.
Can’t wait for these asshats to start boosting Welteislehre, tbh.
Okay… someone hold the camera while I tell him about imaginary numbers. Make sure you get a good angle when his head explodes. It’s for science.
@Knitting Cat Lady:
Quantum effects like lasing and what goes on in field-effect transistors?
They should be made to fully adhere to their beliefs, which would therefore mean no Internet for them.
It really does seem like if you scratch the surface of any conspiracy theory, you’ll find a thick layer of anti-Semitism.
This is unreal. I hope this guy Is kidding, as well as drunk.
Is there ANYTHING the Jews haven’t corrupted for their own nefarious ends? Why – and to what end – would they corrupt higher mathematics? Did they think no one would notice?
Or, would they foist the bogus math on the goyim, and keep the bad-ass math for themselves?
These are all rhetorical questions. Math has never been my strong suit, much to my own loss.
I’ll see your “flat earth” and raise you one “reptilian alien invasion”….
Very innocent of this guy to think mathematics is or should be in any way related to things that really exist.
Not going to buy into their nonsense, but otherwise “Corrupted Math” seems more appropriate =_=
In a related note, another year without ever having to use quadratic functions or the perfect square trinomial.
Alt-righties: facts don’t care about your feelings, snowflake! ‘Cos they’re facts! They are immutable!
Also alt-righties: help, help, teh joooooz have corrupted the facts!
Seriously, I need to have to start wearing a whiplash collar around these fools… ?
Will this joke ever get old?
I hope not.
All conspiracy theories wind up with the Jews, because anti-Semitism is the oldest conspiracy theory of them all.
Personally, I think the Earth is shaped like a Burrito.
Anyway, if it really WAS flat, cats would have pushed everything off of it by now.
Finally, the definitive, irrefutable proof I was looking for!
@Amtep
Aw, you beat me to it!
You know, it’s funny to think about the kind of edgelord crap I used to find humourous. Outside of the context of 4chan, it might still be worth a chuckle, but this is the same board that at once wants to take itself seriously as an investigative body while at the same time playing these stupid “just memes bro” games.