A common argument I see used to shut people down who talk about their experiences is that their statements are simply anecdotal, not backed up by studies or statistics and should therefore be ignored.
In the modern day, studies and statistics are easily falsified, the scientific community which was once occupied by good people has been hijacked by others acting in bad faith to trick you into thinking there is logical backing to their reasoning when actually there is not.
Do not allow others to persuade you that you should ignore what is right before your eyes.
my masters thesis was titled: how I became far-right
and my supervisor was a jewish socialist, and I still got a Distinction 1st Class
also not joking, then again, it was not in the US so perhaps that made a differene