Arguing with Idiots: Another Hidden Talent of ChatGPT

Why It's Sometimes Necessary, and 5 Lessons I Learned from It

Writing this may end up being a big pain in my ass. I don’t care.

Like you, I’m tired of idiots sharing their ill-informed and poorly researched opinions on social media. I’m tired of watching those fragments of idiocy take off thanks to people who should know better.

There are moments when the sheer volume of stupidity can overwhelm even the most patient. This week, I hit my limit.

A post on social media—a mind-numbing mix of conspiracy theories and outright lies—took my town by storm.

The post, claiming our town had been "invaded" by a group of illegal immigrants flown in under the cover of night, was making the rounds.

Hundreds of shares before anyone even bothered to fact-check it. Laughable, if it hadn’t been so dangerous.

The post spread like wildfire.

It painted a picture of helpless, clueless men who didn’t speak English, wearing clothes with tags still attached, as if they were straight out of some shadowy government transport.

I don’t particularly care if the original poster sees this. But, I also don’t want to get back into “a thing” with the individual and their minions.

Been there. Done it. But, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about, keep reading to see the post, sans identification.

The Anatomy of a Lie

The Facebook post, with identifiers removed

Let’s have a quick look at what makes this post so awful:

1. "They don’t speak English."
   This is always the go-to tactic, isn’t it? Dehumanize people by highlighting language barriers.

   The fact that someone doesn’t speak English has zero bearing on their humanity, legality, or right to exist in the space. The presumption here is that not speaking English automatically equals being “illegal.” It doesn’t.

2. "Clothes with tags still attached."
   This one was especially bizarre. Since when does wearing new clothes mean you’re part of a secret, government-orchestrated invasion?

   If anything, it means they had the decency to show up looking decent. But let’s be real: it’s another attempt to make these people seem “alien” and “different” in a way that stokes fear.

3. "Waiting to be picked up."
   Yes, because people—whether immigrants, tourists, or even locals—get picked up at airports. There’s nothing suspicious about a group waiting for transportation.

   But, when you throw in words like “migrants” and sprinkle in just enough racial and cultural undertones, suddenly the ordinary becomes sinister in the eyes of the easily spooked.

4. "This will affect our rural communities."
   The post uses classic fearmongering tactics. It’s a strategy as old as time: stoke the fear that “outsiders” will come in and ruin everything. Some posters were even commenting WOLVERINES in all-caps. The presumption: rural America is somehow immune to change or external influence.

   Newsflash: it’s not. But suggesting that a group of men who sat quietly on a plane poses an existential threat? That’s paranoia, not reality.

The post—shared on Facebook by some well-known community leaders who should have known better—quickly rose into the hundreds (hence, ass-pains if they read this). Thankfully, the person who posted seems to have removed it as of Sunday, Oct. 6.

But, as you can see, screenshot culture means that these things stick around regardless of you seeing the error of your ways. And, they continue to poison the minds of others.

If It Seems Like I’m Taking This Personally, I Am.

See, my job as a communications strategist for the Police Department means I have to deal with thoughtless, divisive BS like this daily.

Don’t feel sorry for me, but also, don’t come at me with “That’s your job; that’s what you’re paid to do.”

No, it isn’t.

I am not paid to ensure that people on social media exercise good critical thinking skills.

I am not paid to investigate inflammatory comments that should never have been uttered in the first place.

I am not paid to “protect” people here legally from disinformation that could put them in danger, shared by idiots in our community only too eager to pass along something that aligns with their fictitious view of reality.

As it turns out, that is your job. The job of every decent human being. To be critical of the things you read and to not share them if you don’t know all the facts.

Nevertheless, two other communications personnel and I, starting on Monday morning, spent about six hours of the day reading through the post and every ignorant comment that added fuel to the fire. For example:

This pic was shared as “proof” of the invasion. It was taken outside our Burlington Coat Factory. The word “Agrico” is written across the bus.

Using ChatGPT as a starting point, we were able to determine the likely source of this transport and the individuals climbing aboard.

Our team was then able to determine that this was, in fact, the case. The workers were here legally under the H-2A program started by Congress under the administration of President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

We “trusted, then verified,” the response we were getting, you might say.

We found out the Department of Labor managed the program. Each worker had a legal visa. Even a Social Security number.

Furthermore, we had one of the only H-2A operations in the state in our neighboring community of Van Buren. And, the agricultural company using these individuals paid for transport and could only use these workers after exhausting efforts to hire Americans.

Essentially, these migrants were helping our agricultural economy, paying taxes on their wages, and doing so because Americans didn’t want to do the work.

Rather than thanking them, though, many of our community members painted them as outsiders and put a big target on their backs among potentially deranged residents who might see this as “an invasion” because someone they trusted on Facebook posted it.

Unfortunately, while we were working on this response, more lies were getting thrown into the mix. Thomas Carnival, the company that puts on the Arkansas-Oklahoma State Fair, was now employing some of these “illegals.”

Once Again, Not the Case.

My colleague had a lengthy and, at first, tense conversation with the folks at Thomas Carnival. They’d already been seeing the hate.

Fortunately, my colleague has a way with people. He was able to determine that the Thomas Carnival workers were there legally as well, as part of the H-2B program, which allows temporary employment of foreign workers in non-agricultural roles.

Same as before, these individuals were thoroughly vetted, were entirely legal, and travel costs were handled by the employer, not “taxpayers.”

This was an important distinction since the original poster had since doubled down on their post, claiming that even if the workers were legal, they didn’t want their tax dollars being spent on transporting foreign workers to help companies who “refused to hire American workers.”

Again, these were jobs Americans did not want. And, as it turns out, these 25 men on the flight the poster spoke of, were the Thomas Carnival employees.

After untying the various knots of lies woven into our local social media algorithms, we used ChatGPT to create a first draft that organized the findings and addressed each and every claim that threatened to take these lies off in a new direction.

I’ll show you our response in just a bit. But, the lies are piling up at this point, and I have to review them for my sake so the response I’m about to share will make sense to you. From all our work that day, here are the lies we determined we were up against:

• Illegal immigrants flown into Fort Smith from a flight in Dallas

• Illegal immigrants being bused into the city

• Taxpayers are paying for transport

• Illegal immigrants are taking jobs from Americans

• These individuals are here, we don’t know who they are, and they’re going to vote in our elections

• Fort Smith is becoming a “sanctuary city” by participating in a refugee relocation program called Canopy NWA

• Fort Smith is giving “illegals” $10,000 to move into the city (they intermingled this with MakeMyMove, a pro-remote worker program the City has that they “confused” with illegal immigrants but is actually for US citizens)

Work cut out for us, right?

Thankfully, my colleague Christina was able to do more research and confirm facts. I put together a rough draft of my research from hers and my research in seconds.

And, last but definitely not least, Josh, the City Communications Director, was able to compile our work with the research he’d done.

He also added some awesome bells and whistles, such as links to official sources where citizens could check these things out for themselves.

Then, the three of us did a final proof before putting the finished version out to the public. Click the link below, or just check out the screenshot for the final product.

City of Fort Smith Addresses Misinformation Regarding Illegal Immigrants (govdelivery.com)

5 Things I Learned About Arguing with Idiots

1. They Don’t Care About Facts.

The truth is optional for these people.

You can throw all the verified, sourced facts you want at them, but it won’t matter. The post wasn’t really about whether those individuals were here legally—it was about fear, stoking division, and creating an “us vs. them” narrative.

Here’s where a tool like ChatGPT can help. With AI, you can quickly organize your counterarguments, gather sources, and build a fact-based case in a fraction of the time.

When you're up against a wall of disinformation, speed and clarity matter. AI ensures you have both on your side.

2. Their Followers Want Blood, Not Resolution.

No amount of reasoning will “click” with these people because they’re not looking for answers—they want someone to blame.

The followers aren’t here for facts or a resolution; they’re here to feel like heroes in a manufactured crisis. But here’s the upside: when you use AI to compile a well-researched, fact-based response, the smart people watching quietly from the sidelines will step in and back you up.

In our case, ChatGPT helped put together a detailed response—filled with relevant sources and links—much faster than if we had started from scratch.

It gave our community something solid to grab onto. Once those facts started circulating, the conversation shifted.

3. You Need More Than the Truth—You Need Receipts.

Even though they don’t care about facts, you still need them.

AI tools like ChatGPT give you the ability to organize all those facts at lightning speed. We didn’t just tell people the original post was false. We showed them.

From labor programs started under Reagan to the Department of Labor's role in managing visa processes, we laid it all out in black and white.

AI helps you present information in an easily digestible way. With ChatGPT aiding the response, you can build a case that leaves no room for doubt. From there, the smart people will jump in, and the lie will lose steam.

4. People Double Down on Their Own Bullsh*t.

Don’t expect them to admit they’re wrong—they won’t.

Instead, they’ll twist things to keep the drama alive. But here’s the thing: once AI has helped you deconstruct their original claim, they’re out of ammunition.

As they try to throw new accusations or “what ifs,” you can keep pivoting and shutting them down in real-time.

And, because you’ve built your case so well from the start, they look desperate. In our situation, even when the original poster doubled down, it didn’t matter.

Our community saw they were wrong. By the time the individual tried to shift the narrative again, momentum was in our favor.

5. Know When to Walk Away.

Some battles aren’t worth your time. You don’t have to take on every idiot with a Wi-Fi connection.

AI’s beauty is that it allows you to deploy your best arguments and walk away, trusting that the smart people in your community will take it from there. That’s what happened with us.

We put our facts together, shared the response, and let it circulate.

Within a day, people had jumped in to back us up, and the misinformation started losing ground.

The original post? Again, it’s since been deleted.

Thanks to this solid foundation, people with critical thinking skills and an openness to using them—fortunately, they still outnumber the idiots—drowned out the dummies. As a result, things died down in about 24 hours.

Fighting Fire with FAIre

The truth is, we live in a time when misinformation is rampant, and it’s not going away. Social media amplifies it—even rewards it—and people are more divided than ever.

But, tools like ChatGPT give us a fighting chance. They help us craft responses that are timely, accurate, and—most importantly—effective.

So, the next time you find yourself arguing with idiots online (and believe me, you will, sometimes, as in this case, it’s too important to ignore), remember that you don’t have to go it alone.

AI is the secret weapon to cut through the noise, strike the right tone, and ensure your message doesn’t get drowned out by emotion or fear. Just make sure the truth is on your side. It still matters. No matter what you may have heard.

Join the Conversation

As always, I hope you take some practical application to your use of AI from this piece. Every week, I’m trying to dig deeper into how you can make AI more useful in work and life, along with how to leverage it.

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Now, your turn: has AI helped you push back against false info and narratives? I’d love to hear your story. Share in the comments section, or email me here.