Duncan Lay: Flat Earther’s claim Australia does not exist and it scares me people believe it

MY favourite conspiracy theory is the one that claims Australia does not exist and is, in fact, one of the biggest hoaxes ever created, Duncan Lay writes.

MY favourite conspiracy theory is the one that claims Australia does not exist and is, in fact, one of the biggest hoaxes ever created.

If you’ve forgotten (or are stuck in an existential crisis), last year a blogger from Stockholm called Shelley Floryd put up a post that said: “Australia does not exist. All things you call ‘proof’ are actually well fabricated lies and documents made by the leading governments of the world. Your Australian friends? They’re all actors and computer generated personas, part of the plot to trick the world.”

Apparently Britain made up Australia so it could kill a bunch of convicts, rather than send them across to the other side of the world.

Apparently, Australia does not exist.

Purchasing a holiday to Australia only gets you flown to a South American island filled with actors and, presumably, animatronic marsupials.

Obviously the island’s designers were on some of Colombia’s finest exports when they whipped up the duck-billed platypus.

As laughable as this obviously is, it popped up again recently at the Flat Earth Convention in Birmingham. You know, the city that will be the next host of the Commonwealth Games. Games that will probably be won by athletes from a country that doesn’t exist.

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Flat Earthers are positive Antarctica is a giant ice wall that runs all the way around until it meets the Arctic ice wall, thus keeping the sea from draining off the side.

It’s kind of like The Wall in Game Of Thrones, only without a brooding Jon Snow.

Goodness knows what is on the other side. Hopefully not an army of zombies being led by an undead dragon. Or is that too ridiculous even for a Flat Earther?

Apparently Britain made up Australia so it could kill a bunch of convicts, rather than send them across to the other side of the world.

But while it’s easy to laugh at a story that says we are all paid actors in the employ of the British government to cover up a hideous crime from 200 years ago, there are weirder things on the net that people truly believe.

There are YouTubers out there who make a living from this. It scares me when I see how tens of millions of people are watching their wacky videos. Not all are doing it for entertainment.

The old saying a lie can run halfway around the world before the truth has put its shoes on has never held more weight.

Especially when it doesn’t even have to visit the imaginary country of Australia.