Spend enough (almost any) time on the internet/irl suggesting that we – you know – DO something about climate change, and you will come up against people who think they are dead-smart when they try to spring the old ‘hypzel’ trap.
Hypocrisy-zealotry trap
If you DO give up flying/meat/the internal combustion engine etc, you are a zealot who has cut themselves off from normal people and presumes to be morally superior. Nobody should listen to you or your arguments.
If you DON’T, then you are a stinking hypocrite. Nobody should listen to you or your arguments..
This is simply one of the “unsympathetic counter-rhetorical strategies” that is used by those who want to defend the status quo.
See also -“Mr Gotcha” by the brilliant cartoonist Matt Bors