> They'd rather just ban the people who disagree with them than address them in debate.
Personally, I'm not in favor of banning. On the topic of COVID and COVID vaccines, I've just avoided every "debate" and "discussion" from all sides and when someone at work wants to talk about it, I tell them to shove off (in more polite terms).
However, I once made the mistake of trying to engage in a serious discussion/debate with Young Earth Creationists. That experience is what convinced me that it's better to just ignore certain groups, and, for better or worse, the COVID anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers have exhibited the same kind of behavior so I just ignore them as well.
With YEC what I found was that:
1. They were perfectly capable of making a cogent, reasoned argument.
2. They were almost always starting from demonstrably false, or at least very questionable, axioms.
3. They would never entertain a discussion about the axioms, only about the conclusions.
(3) is why no progress could be made. There was logic in the discussion, and I could follow their logic and understand how they reached their conclusions. Without the opportunity to work backward toward the axioms, though, we could never reach a satisfying conclusion to the discussion (even if it was just, "agree to disagree").
In the situation of COVID, the anti-vaxxer and anti-masker crowds are somehow even more emotionally charged than the Young Earth Creationists I used to know. Which further disinclined me to engage in the discussion, even if they have a point that's worth listening to. And the nature of social media discussions is that, well, they mostly aren't. I mean, we're engaging in a discussion here on HN and even on this forum it gets pretty dicey at times. The stricter moderation (compared to, say, Reddit) helps a bit, but we go off the rails all the time and fail at the objective of coming together to form a discussion board.
As to why the side labeled "disinformation" is so willing to spend the time, because of the belief that they are right and everyone else is wrong and needs to be set right, and the corresponding emotional charge that the belief brings with it. When the world is out to get you, you end up with a fight or flight response. Ever had someone tell you you were wrong and felt a small surge through your body? That's adrenaline, it's a natural response but then the choice is how to deal with it. Take a breath and calm down or lean into it and fight or flee from the situation. The visible part is the "lean into it and fight" group, there are probably plenty of people that fit into the other two categories who just don't show up as often.