I would agree that there exists a distinct and mostly disjoint set of people: flaggers vs debaters, to use the OP's terminology. I don't see that tension going

I would agree that there exists a distinct and mostly disjoint set of people: flaggers vs debaters, to use the OP's terminology. I don't see that tension going away. It's certainly a long-standing tension online. I disagree fairly comprehensively with everything after that first point, and I'll leave it at that to avoid the flamewar. :-)