RE: Flat Earth, Hollow Earth, Minecraft Oh My.
I personally love that these "theories" have become popular recently, I do not support them in the least, but it is nice that they take strength because you show distrust and raise new questions, I do not think they are very scientific but they put many people to doubting science and not taking it as a religion.
I feel that a pseudo inquisition was forming around science in which you could not even question it, and that is not correct, doubts, questions, and all these things are supposed to be what essentially differentiates science from religion, we really are not 100% sure of anything, so even the most intelligent people can be wrong.
People who say that they should not debate or talk to the flat-earthers, are the same that in the past they said that the science was a heresy.
I have a lot of problems with a lot of the so-called "scientific" community today. For many of the reasons you shared.
There are many people using the labels science, and scientists when they are unworthy of the labels due to failure to follow the scientific method. They become more dogma, an political.
Asking questions is good.
That doesn't mean the question was genius.
Yet we should be able to ask questions, and encouraged to do so.
And perhaps ask: Why are these questions being asked?
I watched the following video the other day...
The first 30 minutes or so are pretty amazing all the things discovered and the reactions they receive. It backs up what you are saying.
By the way, as LeBron would say; the earth is flat like a ball. 😅