Why are we so divisive?

The military is drawn from society (of course) and right now society as a whole is going through a really cantankerous, partisan period. It's unfortunate; in a way we're all "taking the bait" in ways large and small.

It doesn't help that a lot of the media outlets, in a quest for rating and "buzz", are purposefully framing debate topics in a way to generate outrage beyond sensible parameters.

There are a lot of hot topic issues out there LCDR (Join to see). I think a lot of people want their opinions to be heard. Can't blame them. Unfortunately this leads to some heated discussions. If done respectfully, a lot can come from it. If you try to stand on a soap box and only push your personal agenda/views or fail to acknowledge the opinions of others then, yes that brings on a lot of conflict.

LCDR (Join to see)
Conflict breeds conversation which causes people to think and consider points that they may not have thought about previously. I'm not in the business of converting people to my idea of what's right, but I'm certainly in the business of interjecting my thoughts into a topic that I feel strongly about. I mean, I'd find it really boring if we have a bunch of threads where someone posted an article and you just got a bunch of "Hooahs" (or hooyah /oorah/et. al) and nobody had to use their brains.

I think it's important to see what other people think about a topic because you might just become a little more educated because of it.