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Having seen how the debate format can be broken down, can be hijacked by bad faith debaters, I resolved to list the common tactics that are used by bad faith arguers. And the four common personas I came up with were, first, the Dodger, the twister, the Wrangler, and fourth, the liar. So the Dodger wins by essentially changing the topic. So you might say something like, we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels because climate change is getting out of hand. Then they might say, on the topic of climate change, why do you drive a four wheel drive? It is a kind of a response on the same topic, but not to the point that you had raised. And so the response to the Dodger is to stay the course and to keep bringing the discussion back to the original point and highlighting that they are trying to change what the disagreement is about. The second kind of persona is the twister. And the twister signature move is to misrepresent the point that you're making. If you say, I'm opposed to increasing taxes, the twister might say, does that mean you have no concern for Social Security? It's not the argument you're raising. It's the one they're thrusting on you.

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Having seen how the debate format can be broken down, / can be hijacked by bad faith debaters, / I resolved to list the common tactics that are used by bad faith arguers. // / first, the Dodger, / the Twister, / the Wrangler, / and fourth, the Liar. // // / So you might say something like, / we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels / because climate change is getting out of hand. // // / why do you drive a four-wheel drive? // / but not to the point that you had raised. // / is to stay the course / and to keep bringing the discussion back to the original point / and highlighting that they are trying to change / what the disagreement is about. // / And the Twister's signature move is to misrepresent the point that you're making. // / I'm opposed to increasing taxes, / the Twister might say, / does that mean you have no concern for Social Security? // / It's the one they're thrusting on you. //

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To respond to the Twister, it's imperative to correct the record and say, No, that's not what I'm saying. You can often get into a position of arguing for something you don't believe, or at least the conversation splitting and you not being able to connect and talk about the same issue. The third kind of bad arguer is called the Wrangler, and this is the person for whom nothing is ever good enough. They're very good at coming up with critiques against just about everything that you're saying, but they never offer an alternative of their own. And so the appropriate response to the Wrangler is to say, Well, what do you believe? In other words, to pin them to a position so that they too have to argue in favor of something rather than always saying no. The fourth personality, and someone we see just about everywhere is the Liar. They usually don't tell one lie. They tell many. The strategy against a Liar is to choose one or two representative lies that you think best exemplifies the approach that the Liar is taking in a disagreement. Then debaters do something called plug and replace. You replace the lie with a truth. And so by plugging in the lie and then replacing it with the truth. You can demonstrate the ways in which the lie falls short and try and explain how that's symptomatic of a broader approach that the Liar is taking to the debate.

Let's follow Bo...

To respond to the Twister, / it's imperative to correct the record and say, / No, that's not what I'm saying. // You can often get into a position of arguing for something you don't believe, / or at least the conversation splitting / and you not being able to connect and talk about the same issue. // The third kind of bad arguer is called the Wrangler, / and this is the person for whom nothing is ever good enough. // They're very good at coming up with critiques / against just about everything that you're saying, / but they never offer an alternative of their own. // And so the appropriate response to the Wrangler / is to say, / Well, what do you believe? // In other words, / to pin them to a position // so that they too have to argue / in favor of something / rather than always saying no. // The fourth personality, / and someone we see // just about everywhere, / is the Liar. // They usually don't tell one lie. / They tell many. // The strategy against a Liar // is to choose one or two representative lies / that you think best exemplifies / the approach / that the Liar is taking in a disagreement. // Then debaters do something called plug and replace. // You replace the lie with a truth. // And so by plugging in the lie / and then replacing it with the truth, / you can demonstrate the ways in which the lie falls short / and try and explain how that's symptomatic of / a broader approach / that the Liar is taking to the debate. //