If your position is thoroughly thought out and solid, then people trying to ask you 'gotcha' questions shouldn't be threatening. A bad-faith inquiry won't have any impact - you can honestly answer, because your position will have fully grappled with the ugliness already. 1/
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I'm a little put off by public forums that refuse to answer 'gotcha' questions from the opposition. Why?? If the opposition has the power to make you bleed then maybe you should be looking at the gaps in your armor instead of yelling at them for using a spear.
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Potential reasons
1. Ignoring/rejecting gotcha questions as a filter because they're often brought up in bad faith; the interaction won't be fruitful
2. Gotcha questions take some nuance to address that you don't expect the questioner/audience understand/have patience for
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I see it like the difference between cheating and gamesmanship. If they're playing the same game but being lame you can still answer.
But I don't think one is obligated to answer questions from people who aren't even playing the same game. Time to answer is also a factor
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that's why I love debunking flatearthers, although they ran out of proper gotcha questions long ago and now only engage in insults and blocking. But they never listened to the answers anyway except a handful of honest guys who were converted back to the globe
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The psychological impact of a bad faith attack is often unrelated to its validity in practice. Visibly uncontrolled dislike hurts.
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The problem usually is that people will take your words out of context, misrepresent them, misunderstand them, intentionally or unintentionally. So, while I agree with your sentiment in principle, it's not fool-proof, quite literally. Just look at Peter Singer, for example.
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When did you stop beating your wife?
We're your always racist, or is it a new thing?
Re: Vox, Ezra Klein, Sam Harris, Charles Murray...
Harris/Murray have the high ground scientifically, but that doesn't matter to leftist political hacks.
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Don’t give good energy to shit situations.
A bad faith position is always a shit situation.
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Most gotchas are based on logical fallacies and simply aren't worth the wasted breath. The gish gallop gets tiresome.