Whilst I agree to a degree that the pendulum sometimes swings too far in the other direction in German political discourse, the attitude of "us versus them" is

Whilst I agree to a degree that the pendulum sometimes swings too far in the other direction in German political discourse, the attitude of "us versus them" is rarely useful. Say we took a culture legitimizing rape, how about Saudi Arabia due to persecution of Women reporting rape under extra-marital sex laws. We could brand them as "the enemy" and sit there in righteous indignation, but this accomplishes precisely nothing in changing the culture. Worse yet, due to our adversarial stance, we risk alienating Arabs that agree with out views on the issue, ones that could help us shape attitudes and laws in their home country. The lack of tolerance of the opinions of "the other side" permeates far further than that. What does one accomplish when one calls a Republican who is worried about immigration a racist? At best you upset him, at worst you elect Trump. Or you sit down with him, listen to his worries, and work together to step closer to the truth. Now the last thing you mention, ostracizing people that lean further right in Germany, I agree with you, that is a knee jerk reaction, and harmful. Again, if someone has an extreme opinion, we should try to understand how they arrived at said opinion, weigh its merits and suss out its holes. That is in a sense, also an issue of lack of tolerance.