So what happens when Pat and Sam both bring factual numbers to the discussion that equally back their arguments? You mentioned science above as a modality, but at the risk of splitting hairs: Science itself has been weaponized in recent times to support political and corporate bias, reducing the term itself to a cultural buzzword. Meaning, Its collectively accepted and proven that "scientists" now seek the results to fit their own postulations/ agenda by even ignoring other numbers, opposed to "old" science as the pursuit of truth in finding and accepting ALL objective results. Not to mention how easy it is to lie with statistics. Not trying to poke holes in this example, but i do think I may be demonstrating your point (TU's) on another level.