Gish Galloping
The Gish gallop overwhelms an opponent with a rapid-fire torrent of weak, dubious, or false claims, more than they can possibly refute in the time available.
Name origin
Named after creationist Duane Gish, who used the technique in debates.
The asymmetry is the point
It takes seconds to assert a falsehood and many minutes to debunk it. The galloper “wins” the optics even when each individual claim is wrong.
Defense
- Refuse to play on their terms; pick one or two strongest claims and refute them carefully
- Name the tactic
- Don’t accept the implied “if you can’t refute every point, I win” frame