Anyone who's braved a Thanksgiving conversation with an uncle or commented on a Facebook post or really is just alive in the year 2020 knows that convincing a skeptic to change their mind is nearly impossible. A hostage negotiator may say that empathy and not logic is often the best weapon against COVID-deniers, but should you want to engage in a debate about the reality of the virus that's led to over 150,000 American deaths, it's best to come armed with cross-examination skills.

Since lawyers aim to convince a jury rather than the witness themselves, this isn't a perfect parallel, but plenty of the same techniques apply. Two law professors, Lara Bazelon (USF) and Spencer Pahlke (Berkeley Law), humored our questions about how to use their decades of legal acumen to disarm someone distrustful of science, or worse, a troll posting memes showing Bill Gates as a "plandemic" puppet master (who also spreads cancer through 5G cell phone towers, obviously).

Like any lawyer taking on a difficult case, the first thing to do before interacting with a COVID denier is prep work. You can expect a spread offense of many divergent theories not covered in mainstream media, so Google "what sources do coronavirus deniers rely on most commonly.