Was in a debate with a statist at work today. Every time she sensed I had a logical argument that actually addressed her problem with what I was saying, she would change the subject or equivocate between words or put words in my mouth that we had already established were not things I asserted. She did so many mental gymnastics, I've seldom ever seen such a display up close and in person to such an extent.
At some point she said "just because you believe something doesn't make it true," after demonstrating that she believes stuff just because other people believe it, like majority rule. She became so done with me I had to push her to let me respond to that after a Gish gallop of nonsense and calling me an idealist, ironically. When she finally let me respond I said something to the effect of, "yes, just because you believe something doesn't make it true; just because you believe the majority rule system that violates the consent of the minority that we have is the best option doesn't make that true, and you have not demonstrated any reason whatsoever why it is better, therefore you have failed to defend your position one iota, even if I failed to convince you of mine: you lose this debate, or at least you have not won."
This was also after attacking my goal of theorizing about "pointless" or "useless" things and ignored my logical arguments about why scientific theory is necessary for the engineer to fix a broken machine, even if he cannot create a perfect machine.
I made it clear she knows I don't think of her as a reasonable person and I said goodbye (this was all after shift for funzies, she likes to debate with people a lot, but she doesn't like to intellectualize in a way honest with her self, I now see)
This is the face of evil. Willful ignorance. Which she projected on me of course. Fiat Christians kind of irk me but I couldn't help but laugh at how pathetic her retreats into mental backflips were. It may work on less logical people, because she is genuinely intelligent, but it will never work on me.