/r/Conspiracy discusses: What *really* is a cloud? Do clouds prove earth is actually flat?

Those tactics only work in the context of a debate specifically because they make it hard to answer the question. In a private context you can laugh it off and say "look, you dont understand, heres why", and your opponent can back off or just say something non-committal, or they canattack you and nobody wins, but who cares. In a public debate youre more time-pressured, but you also have to convince an audience whilst coming across as respectful. Those are just our norms for debate. It makes you loom bad not to be able to come up with a simple, easily communicable answer that also somehow accounts for the depth of scientific and philosophical thinking that has gone into this over that two-and-a-half (at the very lowest reasonable bound) centuries. You look, to anybody who doesnt a) have an automatic respect for these things they dont fully understand (most of us who agree), or b) have an almost gapless solid technical grasp of the issues at hand (relatively few of us who agree), as if you dont know what youre talking about.

See also people who talk a lot about "appeal to authority (people who get posted to badx subs, especially badphil) and donald trump.

/r/SubredditDrama Thread Parent