Now let's put this in perspective just to show you what this ,Mikeman is.
When this carry on happened, Mikeman was 4 years old and he's willing to DEFEND his stance on what happened that day.
Why is that relevant? From what I have gathered, this event happened only to a limited area. He could be fifty, but if he wasn't there like most people all he could use is reports and accounts: what he is using anyway.
As someone who's been on your side of the case before, arguing desperately against the official truth, I sympathize with you. However, one thing I had to do, and which everyone like us must do, is to think and rethink every word we utter. The slightest mistake would draw ire, because our views would be so unpopular.
It is this that makes me doubt your veracity. I have been, as you put it, a 'free thinker arguing against official lines.' I know how that feels, and I have lived that life. There is no room for a slip-up, and everything you do is careful, like walking on eggshells. You make sure to check every fact, however minor, you use. You don't utter a single thing that could be viewed as a mistake, and you make secure every statement you make.
You do not use such evidently an obviously false claims as you have done, because you would know that to do so would be to permanently ruin your credibility in the eyes of anyone who does not think as you do: and if the only people you speak to are those that agree with you, then your time as a freethinker is wasted.
For example, were you genuine, the question you would have asked would be "What is your motive in asking this?"
Simple, short, to the point, free of any aspect that could be misinterpreted or turned against you, and evasion would be clear. After his response, you would then begin as you have, stating that the topic is out of date, and that his stated motivation must be inaccurate for some realized, accurate reason, followed by what you believe must be the case.
That was all. No absurd arguments against age, as if that would mean anything, and no guesswork, and no frankly bewildering parables.
I find the idea of a Flat Earth laughable. However, the kind of person I do have a problem with is the sort who pretends and claims to be a freethinker, only to ruin it for everything who genuinely thinks as they claim to. If there is genuinely a problem with the official truth, as there certainly is in my time, you damn everyone. You ensure that all they think of, when they think of contrary views, is a joke. What seems like a small deal to you is actually a truly serious matter.
I hate people like you, and believe me, I have reason to. True freethinkers have lost their lives, and you would make light of their deaths by feigning freethought and anti-establishment tendencies, for the sake of sharing absurdities and insults.
Yeah right, you mentioned it before.
Yes, I have heard of it. It has been spoken of a great deal in this time. I didn't know any actual details about it, which is why I said I don't know what it is. Forgive me for my shorthand. What I know could be summed up in a line, unlike what someone who has lived for a long period of time in a world where it is known and referenced and has had an effect.