If someone is polite to me while "tricking" me into wasting my time providing sources, I do have to wonder who, if anyone, was actually tricked.
On the other hand, life is too short to waste talking to people who start sentences with "you do realize...," no matter how earnest.
Obviously you can't do this every time. It's not at all wrong to blow off those that are simply trying to get a rise out of you. However, in the rare cases that you do engage them, you can rest knowing that you didn't entirely waste your time.
Assuming you've accurately identified one.
> Don't answer, walk away, just stop playing their game. Although there is a part of me that wants to shout them down and ridicule them, that plays right into their bs as well.
Assuming that you have not misunderstood their intended message, or made a mistake in the formation of your belief on the matter.
My comment right here could easily be considered (evaluated as) an example of "BS". However, here it is useful to realize that there are many ways to evaluate many things, that can produce extremely different conclusions. Sometimes conclusions can even be completely contradictory, while simultaneously being objectively correct.
Disengaging from those conversations is easier though. Don't answer, walk away, just stop playing their game. Although there is a part of me that wants to shout them down and ridicule them, that plays right into their bs as well.
Sigh. Hell is other people.