In my observation, these topics
are dear to many people, so they get heated. So far so good, no problem imo in being passionate.
But as they get heated, someone throws out a word like "ignorant," and the person it's directed to gets pissed. The problem in this, is the 2 parties have different understandings of the definition of 'ignorant,' and even though it wasn't meant to be derogatory, but instead: "lacking knowledge or understanding of a particular thing"..., it was taken that way, then the name-calling starts. Words have connotations that can take a written discussion into territory that no one intended, but yet it happens all the time.
Add in slang, cultural differences, bias, beliefs based on incorrect information, etc., and the whole thing devolves into a food fight. Sh!t gets taken the wrong way, is a big part of the problem, ime.
Which come to think of it, what's the problem? Don't we all like to look at car crashes and train wrecks? What's a little bandwidth wasted on a good argument and name-calling, that'll draw people in like flies to s**t?
Personally, I welcome a good discourse on sensitive topics, if people could just remain civil, and be careful to say what they mean, clearly, because there always seems to be someone that knows more than I do about a particular subject, and as such, sometimes I learn a thing or 2. And other times, the whole thing's just damn hilarious to read!
But what do I know? The Thunderdome is barely gettin' used!!