The Weaponized Polite Debate

Sealioning is a form of online harassment where someone feigns polite curiosity to exhaust their target. By demanding endless evidence for settled topics, they use civility as a shield to drain a victim's time and energy.

The term comes from a 2014 webcomic where a character incessantly pesters others for proof that sea lions are friendly, despite the surrounding chaos. It functions like a human denial-of-service attack, clogging up conversations with bad-faith questions. While the requests appear sincere on the surface, the true goal is to derail discussion rather than learn. It is a masterclass in using manners to bully others into silence.