In 2008...which was 16 years ago...Google had just purchased Youtube (Nov 2006) less than 2 years prior (Youtube didn't gain in uber-popularity until after Google owned them). Yahoo was still a big player in the internet (top 3), but Google was quickly gaining market share (but still not #1). In 2008, George W Bush was president. We still hadn't had 8 years of Obama.
The point being, in 2008, the internet (as a whole) was still maturing. Flat Earth "theories" had a long, long way to go, to become "mainstream news", as they are in our current world.
16 years in the internet age, is like a lifetime (i.e. Twitter only launched in mid-2006).
Point: If Ben Stein was talking about the "dangers" of Flat Earth in 2008, (in which the internet was very, very young), then he was "preaching to the (joo) choir" about the technology that was coming (i.e. digital cameras, satellites, GPS) that would unveil the lie that is globe-earth.
Because nobody in 2008 could communicate (much less prove) Flat Earth like they can today.