AGONISM

agonism: translation

n.

An argument or debate in which the opponents use knee-jerk aggression instead of reasoned analysis.

"Too often, in her view, American culture engages in 'agonism': ritual verbal combat, in which people reflexively boil down complicated questions to two crudely polarized positions which are set in conflict with one another."

— Jonathan Rauch, review of The Argument Culture, by Deborah Tannen, The Los Angeles Times

prebuttal

Anger and Anxiety