How to respond?

[Lepetitpiggy]

There is someone in my work life who is proving very difficult to work with. Not a colleague, but someone I see fairly regularly. He has opinions that are miles away from mine and will argue the toss forever.
Current issues are -The vaccine: it is not tested properly and can cause long term effects as is made from RNA which will change DNA;

Covid generally : Governments worldwide are using it as population control;

Brexit - is a Very Good Thing as we dont need anything from Europe as we will get everything from the USA.

And dont get me started on his hero worship of Trump.
Now, I dont want to he is wrong or right (although I do believe he is utterly wrong on pretty much all of the above), but how do I parry this?
I'm not stupid but I get so angry inside when he starts that I cant speak! He calls me a media sheep, and keeps saying that respected scientists who 'know' things are all silenced by the media.
I want a sensible conversation but how??!

Id tell him that you will just have to agree to disagree and you don't want to discuss anything except work related things.

If he carries on I'd just tell him to bore off. Every single time.

I have no patience for this.

This is a perfect solution! Thanks. I just get so heated when he rants on about stuff. The whole Black Lives Matter issue was particularly difficult to cope with, although I did manage to blow his ridiculous statistical findings out of the water.

Just divert the conversation back to work, or the weather. tell him directly if need be that you don't want to discuss religion or politics at work. don't worry about making conversation with him if he still can't do so in a civil and work appropriate fashion.

Yep, definitely agree to disagree and leave it and that, don't waste your time trying to change people opinions, it will just leave you frustrated and emotionally exhausted. I should know, l've met a surprising amount of them since covid.

I’d not tell him to bore off, even if you disagree with his opinions, you don’t need to be rude, just because he is.

Just divert the convo away or walk away, if you want a conversation accept it’s not going to be with this guy.

He can only argue the toss with someone who is engaging with him, surely?

Ignore him. Grey rock. No response whatsoever. Blatantly turn your back, put some earphones in or get up and walk off while he's mid sentence.

He'll soon get bored of needling you and go find someone else to annoy.

I will do all of these :) We have plenty of other things that need discussing so I'll cheerfully say 'No more politics from now on' and move forward.
It is bloody hard though as he is very likely to be hideously affected by Brexit.

Why get worked up? Move away, change the subject. These types tend to be narrow minded and difficult generally, and make very wide sweeping statements.

If this is someone you meet through work I think these sorts of conversations are inappropriate anyway .

This shows the different environments we work in as no one would dare voice such things where I work !

Disengage and don't give him an audiance! You can't argue with stupid!!!!

I wouldn't even bother disagreeing. I have a person like this, i just smile and nod till they bugger off.

Thanks- you're all absolutely right. I will disengage !