There are two general categories of unfair debate -- what is called propaganda, and, of course, logical fallacies. It occurs to me that people don't seem to know how to recognize these. There are web sites that can be found in any search to help.
Basically, propaganda uses non-rational, emotional appeal. This is often negative (name calling, talking down to people, personal insults, attacking the person and their history rather than what they say, dismissive labeling, and others). They can also be positive (patriotic symbols and music, religious appeals, quotes of famous people, and others. Far and away the most effective form of propaganda is the lie -- disinformation -- invented stuff repeated over and over and made to appear legit. To defend oneself from this sort of thing requires identifying sources of misinformation by being widely read over a broad political spectrum.
One other form of propaganda is "band-wagon," where a partisan group gang up on individuals who have other views. It does not work, folks, except for those worried overmuch about what others think.
I won't go into logical fallacies here, although I sure see a lot of those too. It amazes me, and I have to think that a lot of the people around here haven't had much education or they would know better.
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