About ten to fifteen years ago, a friend of mine referred to the white streaks left behind by jet engines in the sky as “chemtrails.” I was genuinely confused, as I had never heard the term before, and I corrected him, “You mean contrails?”

He didn’t. He meant chemtrails, and he went on to espouse a conspiracy theory claiming that the trails marking the paths of jets in the sky were anything but condensation. I didn’t know what to say. I had no idea my friend, who grew up in the same town I grew up in, went to all of the same schools I went to, was so fucking stupid.

I’ve known what contrails were since I was in kindergarten. What happened to him? And why can he learn something wrong, but not something right?

So, now, every time I see a jet flying by, I’m reminded of that conversation, and how some people are just stupid, and there’s nothing you can do about it.