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While you can argue about specific measurements, properties of a medium can be proven absolutely. For example, water in an Earth atmosphere at sea level boils at 100 C, or 272 F, or so many Joules per kilogram or whatever. Whichever system you approach it from, you find that water still boils at the same consistent predicted point, and that those points, when compared between systems, are identical. In that sense, it is an absolute. That's why whichever system you use to define something doesn't really matter, as long as it's internally consistent and interoperable with known consistent systems.
The raltiveness confused me also- we think as relative being as an operation between frames of reference in engineering, not as a theory based on another theory. The reason why we label almost everything as a theory is to leave open the door to future improvements, not because we aren't pretty damn sure about them.
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