It's Just Like Chernobyl!

I went out recently with a guy who gets pretty into conspiracy theories. On date one we talked about how he doubts whether or not 9/11 was a terrorist attack or an inside job, along with whether or not school shootings have really happened or if they were staged by the government to help enforce stronger gun control laws. I disagreed with him but thought I'd still give him a chance because he's a nice guy. The next date was conspiracy-free, but date 3 was a doozy. A small town near where we live came up in general conversation with ourselves and some of his friends. He joined in the conversation at this point to say, "That city has a nuclear plant in it. They also dump tons of nuclear waste out there. That's why everyone is so dumb. It's the effects of the radiation. I bet there are more people out there with cancer too. One time, I think my mom's family lived in a city where there was radiation and two of her siblings got cancer during their lives. That city is totally inhabitable (yes, that's a direct quote). It's inhabitable like Chernobyl because of all the radiation."

I let him talk for a while, considering whether or not I should come clean about my connections to that city. I decided to jump in after a few minutes to tell him that the city in question was where my grandparents live, where my mother was raised, and where I worked for the last three years. There's no nuclear plant. The cancer ratio is no higher than any other community I've lived in. After trying to kindly say these things he still maintains that it's just like Chernobyl!