incontrovertible
[ in-kon-truh-vur-tuh-buhl, in-kon- ]
adjective
- not controvertible; not open to question or dispute; indisputable:
absolute and incontrovertible truth.
Synonyms: unquestionable, undeniable, incontestable
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Nick could not believe he was having this conversation. It was utterly ridiculous. There was no way a reasonable person could believe such an insane idea. And yet, his roommate, Steve, was arguing for it.
“Look,” Nick said with a sigh. “It’s not something you can argue with. It’s like trying to say the sky isn’t blue or the grass isn’t green.”
“I have yet to hear one single piece of evidence that supports the Earth being round.” Steve said firmly.
Nick wanted to slam his head into something. Maybe a bit of temporary amnesia would make him feel better. As it was, he had to deal with this utter insanity.
“No, you haven’t heard any evidence you’ll accept. There’s a difference.”
“If it was valid, I’d accept it.”
“I doubt that.” There was so much he could say. But it was useless. Steve was determined to die on his incredibly stupid hill, and there was nothing Nick could say to change that. He had tried. Many, many times.
“Look, all I’m saying is show me water sticking to the outside of a ball spinning at a thousand miles and hour. Just show me that, and then we can really talk.”
“You want to know what the really sad part about this is? It’s that you don’t know why that’s a stupid argument, and you won’t even accept the reason it’s a stupid argument.”
“Try me.” Steve said, crossing his arms with complete confidence. Nick sighed. He knew he was going to regret this.
“First of all, rotational velocity is not measured in miles per hour. It’s measured in revolutions per second. Or minute. Or hour. Or whatever unit of time is relevant to the rotating object. Earth’s linear speed is roughly 1,000 miles and hour, but that translates to one full rotation in slightly less than 24 hours. In other words, once per day. That’s really not that fast. You only think it is because you find big numbers scary.
“Second of all, the reason we don’t see water sticking to a small ball is the very, very, very big ball directly under us. I won’t say the ‘g’ word, because you’ll immediately poo-poo it, but it’s there and it’s the reason why you won’t see what you think you’d see. I can keep going, but I can tell you’re about to give me a resounding rebuttal.”
“Pff. Where’d you learn all that, NASA?”
“School. NASA has nothing to do with it.”
“That’s what you think. NASA has infiltrated all walks of life, just to perpetuate the globe lie.”
Nick was once more reminded of Mark Twain’s words on the futility of arguing with stupid people. If he kept going, all he would get out of it is a headache. But if he could just leave one lasting remark that could maybe get through Steve’s thick skull, there might be some hope for the day yet. The problem was actually doing that.
“Look, it’s obvious you’re too far gone to learn anything. But I’ll leave you with this one thing to think about: what causes the tides on a flat earth?”
And with that, he left, heading back to his room. He knew that would not do anything. Steve would simply go to other flat earthers and find some excuse that would sound kind of right to the scientifically illiterate. But at the very least, it got Nick out of the argument. And for now, that was good enough.
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Yes, flat earthers really are that dumb. They have routinely been proven wrong, and yet stubbornly refuse to learn anything. It's like they're intellectual black holes.
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