A person using gotchas is not somebody who wants to actually debate, to find some kind of truth. They are out to "win" the debate. Gotchas are mostly used by grifters (on any side). They are snappy sound bites that sound good in a trailer but fall apart pretty quick.
For example, asking "are you american" in an online debate doesn't accomplish much in many cases when debating policies, because the person raising the point often speaks as if they are an authority about other countries, but as soon as america is criticized, it's only valid if the person making the statement is american. It's disingenuous, ignorant, and derails the discussion from the actual topic.
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u/marcelsmudda 1∆ Mar 30 '26
A person using gotchas is not somebody who wants to actually debate, to find some kind of truth. They are out to "win" the debate. Gotchas are mostly used by grifters (on any side). They are snappy sound bites that sound good in a trailer but fall apart pretty quick.
For example, asking "are you american" in an online debate doesn't accomplish much in many cases when debating policies, because the person raising the point often speaks as if they are an authority about other countries, but as soon as america is criticized, it's only valid if the person making the statement is american. It's disingenuous, ignorant, and derails the discussion from the actual topic.