Part of me agrees, another strongly disagrees. Refutation works in a rational society, and we don't live in one.

Quoting the fantastic Terry Pratchett: "A lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on."

This has a few consequences: 1) Most of the damage is done. 2) Correcting the lie/misinformation takes a lot more effort that it takes to spread the lie. 3) The lie/misinformation can cost lives (missinformation on vaccines, coloidal silver, etc)

It doesn't help that some people and publications make money by selling lies and inflaming people (tabloids, many 'influencers', etc). And also that some supposedly respected institutions are often the originator of those lies (e.g. health risks of smoking, excess sugars, etc)