"leave me the fuck alone" Well put Foamy...Well put!

I see where you're coming from, and I disagree.

Sometimes, you do have to pick a side. Sometimes, the opposing position is not valid, and has no merit. People are still arguing that the world is flat, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Any evidence to the contrary is met with conspiracy theories and oddball speculation that has no basis in science, or, hell, anything. They're not really worth listening to, because there's nothing there that can be verified, or looked into.

Does that mean it has to be strictly Us v. Them, and that as soon as someone identifies, or is identified, as group B you have to shut things down and stop trying to listen? No. You can be opposed to someone, and still be reasonable. I'm doing it right now.

On the other hand, though, by trying to remain neutral on everything, you can end up falling into the trap of "Enlightened Centrism", where you start seeing anything less milquetoast than "Eh. I don't really care about this." as an extreme, and somehow equate a complete lack of an opinion, or any emotional attachment as some kind of virtue in and of itself. That only serves to make you look like an obnoxious douche when you start talking down to both sides, even if one, or both of them, have a point.

Also, I think most people want things to escalate these days. Most of them are spoiling for the opportunity to die for a cause, or be a rebel against something, and a good fist fight in the parking lot of Denny's gives them just that.

"I feel that all of us just want stuff to calm down"

YOU'RE WRONG!

"We want all that anger, rage, and hate to fade, and that's never going to happen if we..." I'm gonna cut you off right there and say "That's never going to happen" period.

Agreed. So people have to choose a side between: 'a' staying ignorant and animal like, or 'b' pursuing an intellectual approach to life.

Oops.