They treated the whole of general relativity as absolute fact and aggressively attacked anything that could contradict it or create even the smallest doubt, ultimately to the point of ridiculing and attacking and sidelining the very idea of an FTL physics.
They treated the whole of general relativity as absolute fact. They aggressively attacked anything. This was ultimately to the point of ridiculing and attacking and sidelining the very idea of an FTL physics. This anything could contradict it. This anything could create even the smallest doubt.