Brandolini's law

Brandolini's Law from Wikipedia.

 

Brandolini's law, also known as the bullshit asymmetry principle, is an internet adage that emphasizes the difficulty of debunking false, facetious, or otherwise misleading information: "The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude larger than is needed to produce it."

This is why distinguishing good faith participants from monomaniacal advocates is so important.  No one changes their mind easily or quickly but a free exchange of information, interpretation and opinion can lead to an evolution.  

But those who are there solely to win?  There is nothing you can say to change their mind.  They are not committed to an argument.  They are committed to getting their way.  And Brandolini's Law is a favorite technique.  

I encounter it a lot in the public sphere.  My city goes through the motions of public meetings around major change events.  They are entirely for spectacle.  The agenda is set by vested interests and developers and nothing the residents say will change that.  

The astroturf speakers for the vested interests always deploy Brandolini's Law.  They make a ridiculous claim.  You counter the claim with cited evidence.  They pronounce the cited evidence as flawed.  You ask where is it flawed.  They then do some handwaving.  Arguing from the facts and evidence is hard work.  Far easier to make glib and unsubstantiated claims and disparage with no basis any hard data to the contrary.