What is a continent?

As much as I try to limit the amount of space in this blog devoted to certain individuals, there are some whose boundless stupidity never ceases to amaze. Today in Skypeland, Mucus the muck expert was holding forth on what a continent is.

Mucus claimed that there are only three continents on earth, that everyone agreed with this and that it was a simple matter of geography. One of these continents Mucus identified as "Australasia". At some points in the conversation Mucus tried to claim that South America and Africa were not separate continents because they were once joined and then separated because of plate tectonics. However, seemingly in contradiction to this, Mucus alleged that only geography was relevant in defining continents, not geology.

Mucus was smug and self-satisfied when he confidently declared that geology could not possibly have anything to do with continents, since geology was about rocks. He was positive that this argument was unassailable. However, the moderator S asked Mucus what continents were made of. Mucus did not know, and when S revealed that continents were made of rock, Mucus was taken aback and did not know what to say. Mucus responded with a viscious string of insults and invective, threatening to attack S and anyone listening.

Mucus was angry, and confused, and sputtering. Mucus threatened to physically beat anyone who disagreed with him. He was upset and he insulted everyone listening. I am not really sure why he was unhappy, or why this issue was so important to him.

Of course, the definition of the term "continent" is somewhat arbitrary. For example, some designate Europe and Asia as separate continents and some do not. What makes this episode notable is that Mucus became so incensed when anyone disagreed with him or challenged him on anything. He refused to explain himself when questioned, and just slung insults around instead.

To doublecheck, I looked up the term "Australasia" and found out that it refers to a region "south of Asia". It was coined in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses. de Brosses defined it as part of Oceania, including Australia, New Guinea and neighboring islands, but excluding Micronesia, Polynesia and Antarctica. It is definitely not a reference to a supercontinent of some sort, the way "The Americas" might be, or "Afro-Eurasia".

Anyway, there is no way to settle an argument with Mucus when he is foaming at the mouth. He is always positive that he is correct, and that is that. And Mucus will rant and rave like a lunatic and demand that his views be respected as much as anyone else's, or maybe even more than anyone else's. What might be a chance for people to exchange views and possibly learn things turns into an opportunity for Mucus to put his endless supply of stupidity on display for all, and then to aggressively defend it.

I have heard this far too often previously. Nothing new really. And so I left.