How to Debate People who Refuse to Wear Face Masks

The basic debate skills you need to beat anti-maskers on social media

“If liberals are so f***ing smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?” -Will McAvoy, Newsroom.

People like Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder love going to college campuses to challenge the beliefs liberals hold. They know they can win every argument because younger people lack basic argumentation skills.

That’s the reason you’ll never encounter Ben Shapiro in a debate against Bernie Sanders because Ben knows he will lose.

However, not every conservative can argue like Ben Shapiro or Steven Crowder. Most conservatives and liberals lack the same basic argumentation skills. To debate anti-maskers, use these basic debate skills to win arguments against them.

Ask Probing Questions

I love to argue with people on Facebook. It comes naturally to me since I am a debate coach. Yesterday, my city posted on their Facebook page a picture of a new city ordinance.

It stated those who don’t wear a face mask outside of their residence will receive a fine of $250. Someone (let’s name him Bill) commented, saying,

“You people do realize they CANNOT do this!!!”

Arguing with people directly won’t help you, and it won’t convince them to change their minds. The only result is you will cement their ideology upon themselves because humans are resistant to change.

That’s why the saying goes, “don’t argue with stupid because they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience”.

Instead of directly attacking the person’s ideas, ask probing questions. This is what I said on Bill’s comment:

“Why can’t they? Under what law?”

He failed to tell me what law prohibits our city from passing that ordinance, but let’s move on.

Debaters in high school learn that asking questions is the best way to catch flaws in your opponent’s arguments. Clarification is key.

Asking things like “where did you hear that?”, “how do you know that?”, “what do you mean?” or “why do you believe that?” are basic questions opponents will find hard to answer when they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Overwhelm them with facts

Bill followed up with a comment, saying:

“Masks cost money! Is the city going to buy them for us?”

Let’s be serious here. You need not write a whole paragraph, or even a page, to answer this. They won’t read it. You’re probably skimming through this article yourself, checking how long it is and how long you’ll take to finish reading it.

It’s a lot easier to write a simple sentence or two to get a point across. Here was my reply:

“Yes. Masks cost $3. As opposed to a $100,000 hospital bill.”

I followed up by posting this link. CNBC reports the costs of going to the hospital for treatment could cost about $75,000 for the uninsured.

Bill replied to my comment and my link by saying,

“You go ahead and listen to whatever you want. I have insurance. I only have to pay my co-pay.”

Naturally, I responded by bringing up the cost of those with insurance.

“Oh. Ok. In that case, you’ll only pay $1,300.”

I followed up with this link from The Verge. Providing facts from credible sources shows you uphold your argument through evidence, something debaters do frequently.

Overwhelm them with basic facts and support it with evidence to leave them speechless.

When they resort to insults, you’ve already won

Once people lose arguments, they resort to insults. If they’re calling you stupid, it’s because they have nothing else to say to you.

Debaters win rounds when the opponent provides no evidence to the argument presented. When the opponent resorts to insults, usually the judge has already decided who won the argumentation.

Them calling you stupid is a compliment. They’ve silently acknowledged you’re right, but publicly refuse to admit it. Here’s what Bill said to the link I posted from The Verge:

“I have better insurance than you think. Move on I’m done with idiots like you.”

As I previously mentioned, once they have nothing to say, they resort to insults. Since he asked me to move on, he’s admitting he doesn’t want to argue with me anymore.

I brought him up to my level and beat him with experience. There’s no point in continuing the argument. Anyone who sees these comments will decide for themselves who won.

You are not their teacher. They need to teach themselves

I have no idea if Bill opened the links I sent him. I don’t get paid to teach him, and he didn’t ask to be educated. All I can do is provide him with the resources to educate himself. That is the prime takeaway from this article. You can argue with them, but don’t expect to teach them. They must learn to educate themselves. If there is a law that says the city cannot pass that ordinance, I challenge Bill to find it and teach me instead.

Educate yourself first before trying to educate others

Before you try to educate others, educate yourself first by looking it up. That was the first thing I did after reading Bill’s comment. I googled “can a city fine you for not wearing a mask.”

I didn’t find any specific law. All I found was that other cities across the nation have already implemented the same law or a variation of that law.

That’s why I asked Bill what law says the city cannot fine people for not wearing a mask. I could not find the information and sought to educate myself.

If someone says they can’t wear a face mask because they have asthma, would you believe them? Educate yourself first before trying to argue with them.

According to this article, there are exceptions for those with medical conditions. People with extreme asthma cannot and should not wear face masks.

Don’t expect to win them all

You can’t beat everyone you meet in an argument by using this article. Even with my years of knowledge in debate, I often lose arguments to my debate students because they know how to argue better than I do. They’ve picked up the skills necessary to debate by competing in tournaments.

Remember, debating is a skill not easily learned. Learn to educate yourself before you attempt to educate others. Only then can social media prosper, and check your sources so misinformation can cease to exist.

If you feel your child should learn how to argue, encourage them to join the debate team at their high school. Critical thinking is a skill many children do not pick up in high school.

That’s exactly why I advocate for the elimination of multiple-choice questions in schools. You can find that article here.

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