If one cannot defend one's assertion by answering straightforward questions, avoiding unpleasant questions via rhetorical insults are indeed an effective alternative, especially in a community with sufficient lack of diversity of beliefs and thinking styles. Humans do love to circle the wagons to defend their most cherished ideas.

Downvotes work well too, as does rate limiting accounts that do not stay within the boundaries of the community overton window.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-censorship

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_corridor