Rule #18 from The 25 Rules of Disinformation | The Vigilant Citizen (and the others are worth a read too)
Emotionalize, Antagonize, and Goad Opponents. If you can’t do anything else, chide and taunt your opponents and draw them into emotional responses which will tend to make them look foolish and overly motivated, and generally render their material somewhat less coherent. Not only will you avoid discussing the issues in the first instance, but even if their emotional response addresses the issue, you can further avoid the issues by then focusing on how “sensitive they are to criticism”.
Amazing how many people do this without any Machiavellian ends in sight. Or perhaps I just get wound up too easily.