If there can be a catchy way to make it happen, maybe "Uses a terrible source" could be paired with "Uses a source terribly." The thing where they cite a real source while insisting it says the opposite of what it says is really notable when it happens.

https://lemmy.ml/search?q=natopedia&type=Comments&listingType=Local&page=1&sort=New&titleOnly=false

Having an objective source of truth undoes their way of doing things, so they have to dismiss anything from Wikipedia out of hand. As is tradition, their way of doing that is to assign it an insulting nickname so that anyone who brings it up is subject to bullying.

Other suggestions:

• Before we talk you have to watch this YouTube video
• You're a transphobe!
• "already been debunked"
• You just hate leftism!
• "NATOpedia"
• Bad sourcing (in particular citing a source that says the opposite of what they say it says)
• Ignoring inconvenient questions
• Controlling the conversation (ex. insisting that a counterpoint is "not what we're talking about" so refusing to address it)
• Changing the subject

I literally picked up one of the oldest of the old school oscilloscopes from a clearing-out-the-lab table and had it in my closet for years. Never did a thing with it. But it's an oscilloscope! Badass.

It's not just about the person you're talking to, though. For every comment, about 99% of the people reading it will be different from the person who you're "officially" talking to.

No, you're a Zionist front. And you're transphobic.

Like it’s such a weird comment.

Taken factually, yes. It's not meant factually. It's meant tribally, to tag someone as "enemy" by assigning something irredeemable to them and marking them as a hated enemy in the eyes of the group. That's why the tags are always the same, and have nothing to do with anything the person actually said or did.

But why should we give Tankies liberal fairness when they despise liberalism?

Because it's an important way that people who are confused by that tribalism can get un-confused. There is a strong impulse to "fight back" against the "enemies" or dunk on them, which I'm guilty of plenty of times, but also, I do think that being normal and reasonable with people helps to defuse that "all your enemies are Zionist neoliberal CIA NATO Hakeem Jeffries supporters" propaganda.

A big part of the .ml echo chamber is really emphasizing to each other what their opponents believe, so they won't have a chance to hear what the actual "enemy" point of view is and they won't believe it when they hear it. I think that is such an important part of the propaganda specifically because if they get to hear what the actual viewpoint is, it makes a lot more sense and undoes that "they are horrible and enemies on purpose because they hate you" worldview.

A lot of the "deprogramming" that you hear about from tribal identity comes from direct personal interaction with the enemies, and realizing that they are just people with sort of reasonable ways of looking at things. That's not what they were raised to believe about the enemies, it can be powerful to undo it.

Me? Transphobic? You seem to have the wrong guy pal

It's part of their MO. Anyone who disagrees with them in any way is (a) Zionist and (b) transphobic.

It is part of why they stake out these absolutely wild positions (we need to not call out Dragonrider for trolling / Hamas didn't rape anybody on October 7th), to bait people into disagreeing with them from the "wrong side," and then they can get all scream-y about the accusation and have something real to point to that actually sort of vaguely looks like they have a point. Then, they take that little grain of sand and spin it up into a world-spanning pearl where the whole of MOG is Zionist and transphobic. It actually works pretty well.