Paranormal Vs.: Episode Twenty-Four with Mark Sargent

Come join Kell Ridley, Matt J B Atkinson and Michael Kopf as they talk with Mark Sargent. In 2015, Mark Sargent released a series of videos he created on YouTube called Flat Earth Clues, which questioned the accepted shape of the Earth. The series attracted two million views, propelling the rise of the modern flat-Earth movement. Mark works to convince others that the Earth is a flat disk, with a giant wall of ice around the circumference. An indestructible dome is claimed to be attached to the rim, making it a closed system. He claims that stars and planets are not physical places but simply lights attached to the dome. Mark alleges all world governments have been lying about the shape of the planet, and that NASA faked the Apollo program as well as all other space exploration programs. An article in The New Yorker explained how Mark's video series was instrumental in converting people to his viewpoint. It reported that Darryle Marble, who would later be a featured speaker at the first-ever Flat Earth Conference, Mark says that being single was a contributing factor to his discovering and believing in the flat-Earth conspiracy. He said, "Most people get married and have kids. But if you don't, you have a huge amount of free time on your hands." According to Mark in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, as of 2018 his YouTube channel had accumulated ten million views and he had become a full-time YouTuber. Mark has been a speaker at numerous flat-Earth events in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. He describes himself as a recruiter for the movement, and has been called its main organizer by media including the Los Angeles Times. He was extensively interviewed for the 2018 documentary Behind the Curve, a Netflix documentary about the flat-Earth community. He also expounded on his views in a self-published book titled Flat Earth Clues: The Sky's The Limit in 2016. Critics point out that the flat-Earth beliefs promoted by Mark are pseudoscience: the theories and assertions are being based on beliefs rather than scientific knowledge. Experts classify them as a purposeful denial of reality called denialism. Mark also incorporates other conspiracy theories into his flat-Earth beliefs, accusing astronauts of being Freemasons. He also believes that Cryptids such as Bigfoot also exist.

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