The “Global” Deception: Flat-Earth Conspiracy Theory between Science and Religion

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The main claim of this article is that Flat Earthism constitutes a superconspiracy theory (in Michael Barkun’s terminology) that combines and rejects elements of both science and establishment religion. The argument is well made and the evidence robust, especially the combination of print and social media. However, the contention is somewhat underwhelming – there are few scholars of conspiracy theories who would disagree with the superconspiracy characterisation, and it doesn’t tell us much that is new. However, there is surprisingly little academic analysis of the Flat Earth phenomenon, especially in the Italian context, and so this article merits publication. There are some improvements that could be made. The first is straightforward: to include a reference to Kelly Weill’s recent book on Flat Earth (_Off the Edge_). It is a trade rather than academic publication, but it offers some very thoughtful considerations of the recent surge in Flat Earthism in the US. And this leads to the second recommendation: although this article will be a welcome addition to the scholarly literature in this field (precisely because it considers forms of conspiracism outside the US), it would make the piece much stronger if there was some more consideration of the similarities – but more important, the differences – between the manifestations of Flat Earth belief in the two countries. In particular, the differing religious context needs some consideration (especially the evangelical and Creationist traditions in the US, versus the erosion of trust of Catholicism in Italy, and even the current resurgence of Christian populist traditionalism with Meloni). Instead of considering these more specific social and political contexts, the author points merely to generic social psychology aspects for the belief in conspiracy theories in general. The final recommendation for improvement is to include a brief discussion of why this case study matters to those outside the fairly niche realm of conspiracy theory studies. The final conclusion is potentially very interesting: “The flat-earth narrative carries these demands and implements a radical reinterpretation of the whole of human history as a global deception perpetrated by a power elite to which it responds with a counter-knowledge deemed salvific and emancipatory for its supporters.” But why is that particular counter-narrative getting attention in Italy today? And indeed, how significant is Flat Earthism in Italy: if not in number of actual believers, but in the underlying social factors that make this form of alternative epistemology attractive to some people? In short, are Flat Earthers in Italy an obscure and insignificant sect, or do Flat Earthers share underlying views that chime with wider society, meaning that the phenomenon tell us something important about contemporary Italian politics?

Author Response

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Reviewer 2 Report

This article undertakes to achieve two aims: to present the history of flat-earth theories and to present the results of empirical research into the state of flat-earth theories in Italy.
I have several major issues with the paper.
The first is that the short history of flat-earth theories does not appear to present anything substantially new beyond what has already been done in existing scholarship on this topic. What is done is that this history is interpreted within Foucault's theory of genealogy. But this does not seem to lead to any significant new insights that have not already been achieved by careful historical study.
The second issue is that the part of the article examining the status quo in Italian flat-earth theories is only weakly connected to the historical section and could just as well exist as a separate article.
Thirdly, and perhaps most fundamentally, this article is really one primarily about the history of ideas. As such it is far from clear to me that the journal is the right venue for this article, which appears to me to be focussed upon family histories rather than upon Foucault scholarship - those two being quite different uses of the term 'genealogy'.
The most valuable material in the paper to my eyes is the discussion of the Italian situation when it comes to flat-earth theories. I would recommend that the authors rework their material to focus upon this material - perhaps drawing out its relevance to other similar phenomena or other contexts.

It is clear that the paper was written with someone with a very good grasp of the English language with only minor infelicities revealing that the author is not necessarily a native speaker. For example, in the very first sentence they describe flat-earth theories as a 'stigmatised' conspiracy theory where in English this word suggests that the negative attitude described is unjustified - something that is both hard to claim about flat-earth beliefs and something that also does not fit with the term 'conspiracy theory' which is necessarily understood as negative (regardless of how one explains some people's allegiance to such beliefs).

Author Response

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