How does this have anything to do with what ‘mizza said? I also took this as comparing flat earthers and occupy Wall Street. Grouping together a bunch of similar things and then adding in another dissimilar item as part of that group is a backhanded way of making connections between the items in readers minds.
It can work to create a positive or negative connection, but the connection is still implied
The connection is that they're highly controversial views from different groups. The professor is saying he was giving his students a chance to critically engage with various controversial ideas to sharpen their reasoning skills, and to get them used to dealing with views that might be quite contradictory to their own or to the mainstream.
It can work to create a positive or negative connection, but the connection is still implied