Yes, I think my focus is ideally less on “debate specific examples” (I can easily think of many that I think would be extremely controversial, some of which have been brought up in the comments) and more on what sort of meta-rules would be appropriate to use in order to try and protect ourselves more generally and be the type of community that doesn’t fall for this stuff.
OK, then I’d suggest trying to nip them in the bud, because once they get momentum behind them I suspect they’re almost impossible to stop until they’ve sort of run their natural course. And the only thing I can think of to do that is to apply the same old rules of evidence and argumentation that we all know and love.
On edit: And after they’ve become hard to challenge, I guess it couldn’t hurt to just not feed them, and perhaps subtly bringing up issues and ways of thinking that might not be obviously related on the surface, but might lead people to think twice. I don’t think attacking those things head on usually works; it just hardens opinions and makes you a pariah. If there are physical actions associated with the problem, you can also find ways not to contribute to those or even to sabotage them.
Yes, I think my focus is ideally less on “debate specific examples” (I can easily think of many that I think would be extremely controversial, some of which have been brought up in the comments) and more on what sort of meta-rules would be appropriate to use in order to try and protect ourselves more generally and be the type of community that doesn’t fall for this stuff.
OK, then I’d suggest trying to nip them in the bud, because once they get momentum behind them I suspect they’re almost impossible to stop until they’ve sort of run their natural course. And the only thing I can think of to do that is to apply the same old rules of evidence and argumentation that we all know and love.
On edit: And after they’ve become hard to challenge, I guess it couldn’t hurt to just not feed them, and perhaps subtly bringing up issues and ways of thinking that might not be obviously related on the surface, but might lead people to think twice. I don’t think attacking those things head on usually works; it just hardens opinions and makes you a pariah. If there are physical actions associated with the problem, you can also find ways not to contribute to those or even to sabotage them.