Finland Doesn't Exist

MattShizzle · Post by **MattShizzle** » Tue May 30, 2017 5:55 pm

This is the most bizarre conspiracy theory I ever heard.

link

The idea here is that where we all think Finland is is actually just ocean, and that Japan and Russia conspired to persuade the world there's a country there, to cover up the fact that Japan does unlimited fishing and whaling there with no international oversight. Today we're going to study why a tale so trivially disproven as that can actually survive to become passionately believed by a small but vocal group of conspiracy theorists.

On any map, Finland borders Russia to its east, and its south and west borders are in the Baltic Sea. To its north, Finland connects to Sweden and Norway. Believers in the conspiracy theory have drawn a new map in which most of Finland is simply erased, extending the Baltic Sea all the way to the Russian border; and the northern third of Finland is simply renamed as more of Sweden, thus extending Sweden's territory significantly. And thus is the Baltic Sea greatly expanded as well, giving those Japanese fishing boats plenty of space to do what they do, unpestered by fishing regulators.

How would such a thing come to be? According to the conspiracy theory, after World War II, Russia found itself short of food (and this is quite true). Japan was facing a related problem, in that they found they'd been overfishing and needed new waters. So they approached Russia with the idea of granting them secret fishing rights in the Baltic; and to hide it from the rest of the world, they'd mutually agree to tell everyone that much of the Baltic Sea was actually a landmass called Finland so there's no need for anyone to try and regulate fishing there. Russia agreed, and together they built the Trans-Siberian Railway to facilitate the endeavour, and as a quid pro quo, Japan donated much of its catch to Russia.

Finnish people, supposedly, are actually Swedish, but have been convinced that they live in a country called Finland, and since it's all forest anyway, nobody is the wiser.

Abominable Intelligence · Post by **Abominable Intelligence** » Tue May 30, 2017 7:53 pm

Yes. Most bizarre I've ever heard as well.

Maybe we can pretend America and Israel don't exist? Surely the world would be more peaceful.

Sey · Post by **Sey** » Tue May 30, 2017 8:07 pm

I knew it!
%*&@%$# Japanese!

Jobar · Post by **Jobar** » Tue May 30, 2017 8:33 pm

I don't think that's any crazier than flat-earth theories. The Finland-mythers would have to be carried all the way to extreme northern Europe to physically demonstrate the wrongness of their notion; but with care, you can test the sphericity of the Earth from anywhere you can see the night sky, or a distant horizon.

MattShizzle · Post by **MattShizzle** » Tue May 30, 2017 8:55 pm

But pretty much everyone thought the Earth was flat until the 3rd century BCE. The funny thing about this one is it started apparently as a joke, and people started actually believing it. I heard this on the Skeptoid podcast today and was just struck by how markedly bizarre it was. They claim it was invented after World War 2, yet Finland and Russia fought each other at the time of WWII...

Peez · Post by **Peez** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:50 pm

[quote=""MattShizzle""]...yet Finland and Russia fought each other at the time of WWII...[/quote]That is what They want you to believe.

Peez

Jobar · Post by **Jobar** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 2:28 pm

Always wondered who They were. Anyone as powerful and seemingly infallible as They appear, I'd really like to join up with!

Peez · Post by **Peez** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:45 pm

[quote=""Jobar""]Always wondered who They were. Anyone as powerful and seemingly infallible as They appear, I'd really like to join up with!

[/quote]You don't join Them, if They want you then They will come get you.

Peez

Jobar · Post by **Jobar** » Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:02 pm

Oh.

Well, damn. I updated my Evil Genius resume for nothing, then.

Aupmanyav · Post by **Aupmanyav** » Fri Jun 02, 2017 4:22 pm

What to talk of Finland, even the world does not exist. It is all 'maya'.

Peez · Post by **Peez** » Wed Jun 07, 2017 6:34 pm

(View video on YouTube)