My ideal approach (not that I always do so) is more to stop taking sides and talk about the plus and minuses of each side.

Right. I suppose refusing to chant slogans is a good way to avoid the supercritical slogan ping-pong.

I lean towards abort mostly out of learned helplessness, and because if I think about it soberly enough to strategize, I see little value in any strategy that involves sorting out someone's confusion instead of disengaging. Just my personal approach, of course.

Thanks for bringing up alternate damage control procedures; we'll need as many as we can get.