[mcphage]

> I feel like "bad faith" is now a thought-terminating cliche. As long as people can suggest someone is acting in "bad faith" (maybe doing a "Gish Gallop", a "false equivalence" or even just "motivated reasoning") then they can instantly ignore everything they've said.

The problem is that many people do argue in bad faith. Sure, in some cases it can be difficult to prove—although not in this particular case—and recognizing that fact prevents you from wasting your time in pointless discussions. Even if you have unlimited time to spend arguing with people on the internet, surely you'd want to spend that time having an honest conversation, right?