My point is that it is pointless to have these conversations here, because no exchange of ideas takes place, no intellectual curiosity is satisfied, and bad fai

My point is that it is pointless to have these conversations here, because no exchange of ideas takes place, no intellectual curiosity is satisfied, and bad faith arguments are the norm. You may not like that point, but that doesn’t make it any less of a point. For whatever reason (I already presented my thoughts on those reasons as I see them) this site can’t handle this discussion, and the results are distracting and disheartening. I suspect that a major reason I haven’t yet mentioned is that everyone who isn’t identifying as being on a “side” stays the hell away from them. That leaves the raving ideologues for the most part, with a smattering of the same being shouted down for not hewing to what is Obviously Correct. My substantive point is that the moderation on this site should treat this like any other instance of politics that it buries, because it is, and because it creates the same kinds of endless and repetitive arguments and flame wars.