Rebuttal / debate responses for political issues

October 26, 2023 8:06 AM

I lean toward the left side of U.S. politics on most issues, but I find myself around people who skew further right. I love to debate and talk politics, but have a hard time remembering facts and figures on the spur of the moment. What are some websites I can review to keep myself back 'up-to-date' with info?

I keep myself generally aware of what's going on in the world, but I also forget it quickly. I find myself chatting with people who can spout out facts off the top of their head. So I'd like to be able to respond to such statements/questions as:
--Well, what has Biden done that's so great?
--But the economy was so much better under Trump
--The dems in the senate haven't done anything, but the republicans are great.
--But gun control hasn't worked in Chicago, why will it work here?

Ideally, I'd love a site that's just up-to-date with small bullet points of either non-partisan facts/figures, or slightly left-leaning information (or even slightly righ-leaning could be ok). Like "Biden pushed for XYZ bills, but was blocked X times by senate republicans." Or "Trump built xyz miles of border wall, but ABC is a direct result of that." Or information on social/political issues like abortion and gun control and healthcare.

Please don't tell me to just read NPR.org or CNN.com. I would prefer something that is a bit more curated.

posted by hydra77 to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Would it be helpful to remember that most people on the right don't care about facts, figures, debate, or being correct, but instead just claim to care about those things in bad faith to distract and confuse their interlocutors, wielding words like pastiche in order to waste your time. It costs them nothing to say words with no meaning, and you're trying to invest a great deal of energy in rational argument, which is not the game they're playing. Frankly if you engage at all in a "debate", you've been played for a sucker, you've lost.

Instead perhaps take the initiative by talking about equality and fairness and justice in general terms and if you get pushback just say "why would you say that" "why do you believe that" "why do you think it's true" "what do you mean?" and make them waste their time trying not to say the odious things in their heads out loud.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:58 AM on October 26, 2023 [17 favorites]

Try talkingpointsmemo.com
posted by charlesminus at 9:31 AM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

These aren't factual arguments. This is tribalism, you are highly unlikely to change minds by having facts and figures at your fingertips.

If you could summon all the facts in the world around the gun control argument it wouldn't change their mind or get them to admit their position might be wrong. At best, they'll move the goalposts to something else. "Well, I don't care. That's just the price of freedom to own guns."

That said - I don't think what you are searching for exists in the form you're asking for. The closest thing I'd recommend is following ProPublica topics and maybe What the Fuck Just Happened Today?, Mother Jones has sections on topics that may help. You might like Exposed by CMD, though it's very left and a bit on the sensationalist side.

The Media Bias site has lists of sites that are biased one way or another as well as an indicator as to their factual reporting - so you might look at that for sources that are to the left and rate high or very high for factual reporting. See also their factual news.

Oh, and if you want facty facty facts about elections in the U.S., you'll find a wealth of stuff on Ballotpedia. You can dig into your elected officials and look at ballot measures by state, as well as dig into things like Biden's executive orders and actions.
posted by jzb at 9:53 AM on October 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

I read Heather Cox Richardson most days. She provides context and citations. Reuters and AP do daily news overviews. I subscribe to NYTimes and WaPo digital versions, so I have some general grasp of what's up.

If you're discussing a subject with reasonable people, they have some understanding of facts and context. But Trumpies don't. People who argue in bad faith only want to win. Read about the Logical Fallacies. This can really help you sort out opposing views. Sometimes people just believe different things or weight pros and cons differently. Sometimes people have been given bad information or have poor reasoning skills. Too often, people argue from an emotional perspective and are unaware of how cultural, anthropological issues influence them.
posted by theora55 at 10:17 AM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Jay Kuo.
posted by Melismata at 11:59 AM on October 26, 2023

Something I tried doing but didn't keep up: take notes when reading.

When you're reading the news, or blogs, or social media, or watching things, note down any facts and figures that might be useful in such discussions in future. Not, like, constantly, but when something jumps out at you.

I think it can help if you keep someone in mind who you might argue with: "Oh, unemployment has fallen for the third year running!* My friend Bob McTrumpy is always saying the economy's worse under Biden... ooh, I should note these figures down to use against him."

* Not a fact, just a made-up example, do not note this down.
posted by fabius at 5:45 AM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mark McKibbin on Threads:

I grew up in a community that, in the most recent voter registration update, is approximately +10 Republican, so I’ve spent a lot of time talking with people I disagree with about politics. One of my rules of thumb is to always ask at least three open-ended questions about what they believe before going into my opinion in any significant detail. I have found it makes the conversation far less tense and more productive.

and

I will say that the minute I feel like the exchange is beginning to resort to personal attacks, I give myself permission to politely excuse myself from the conversation! Protecting your mental health is a must.

posted by Winnie the Proust at 6:42 PM on November 12, 2023