I find this interesting as well. Flamewars are counterproductive, but if I had to pick between flamewar and no discussion at all, I'd probably pick flamewar. After all, it seems like flamewars sprout when ideologies clash, and shielding ourselves from ideological clashes feels like it encourages insularity of opinion. On the other hand, one could argue that heated arguments increase polarization, so I'm not really sure what should be done. I just think there needs to be more dialogue on topics that people disagree on, not less.