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this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024
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I absolutely think that if someone's shifting topics aggressively as an argumentation tactic it's productive to point it out.
You don't gotta dwell on it but calling out if someone's using bad faith tactics is part of your communication with the audience (and then, I agree, pivot it back around to just talking about what you wanted to talk about.)
Very briefly I suppose. Just be aware you're opening another door for them to deflect more, by arguing about that now.
Arguing with who? If they can get you deflected by starting an argument about something else, that's on you. Just say "Lol nice Gish Gallop" and continue explaining the truth.
Here's an example of what I was talking about -- it's a little bit shooting fish in a barrel because the guy was pretty unpopular anyway, but I still felt it was worth articulating some of the positive-side talking points (not just "Biden's good I like him," which is easy to misconstrue into something, but specific tangible examples that are easy to get your head around). But, at the same time, calling out how silly the person's POV on it was. You can't get drawn into a back-and-forth, no; that side of it I do agree with. But if you're playing cards with someone and they're trying to cheat, it's absolutely okay to point out "hey he's cheating, this is how" as long as you're also continuing to play the game.
Yeah, that works. It's very briefly touching on it. Personally though I prefer to keep a laser focus on the most relevant points. Acknowledging anything they do that is outside of the topic of the conversation gives them further engagement on whatever they're doing. It's an offshoot of the don't feed the trolls philosophy I suppose, except in this case its not feeding a trolling method while continuing to engage with the troll themselves.
I think when the convo is reviewed, it becomes pretty clear to an observer who is staying on topic and who is taking the shotgun approach.