Sometimes I’ll just be like ‘you’re not a high school social studies teacher, you don’t need a works cited page. Either believe it or not.’ Other times I’ll point out their pattern of behavior and argument strategy before they even get to the final stage, where they say since it didn’t come from a reputable source it doesn’t count. They don’t seem to grasp all of their beliefs are being influenced by propaganda sources so of course any real news will seem strange to them. They’re interesting creatures.
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Some advice from someone who used to do the exact same thing and get nowhere, just stop.
This person is not engaging with you in an honest way, they do not want an honest discussion or debate, they are not interested in finding middle ground or the facts, they want to WIN and that's it.
Debate is healthy and something I'd encourage, but what you might have failed to learn from your friend is that some fights are better left alone. The best way to deal with someone like this guy is to have the argument publicly and change other people's minds when they see how delusional he is, consider him a lost cause.
You'll feel much better afterwards, I remember the feeling of frustration after having an argument with these kind of people and I suspect that's why you wrote your long post!
I don't mind having them with him, I need to sharpen my discussion/debate skills and I don't think he's too far gone yet. But these discussions were held in a small discord server of friends in a channel where everyone could see, another person engaged as well but it was more due to their mistrust of big pharma and a fear of things they read about Africa's experience with hcq which transitioned into another interesting discussion about individualism and collectivism. I think I can at least convince him (the original friend) that things aren't as bad as they seem and it isn't the end of the world and that Trump isn't as bad as he thinks, but it'll take some time.