The force with which you express disagreement is also a general cultural issue. In some cultures, disagreement is expressed as indirectly as possible; in others

The force with which you express disagreement is also a general cultural issue. In some cultures, disagreement is expressed as indirectly as possible; in others, nobody really thinks you're actually disagreeing unless you're practically shouting (or so I was given to understand by Russian colleagues). And English lies somewhere in the middle, where you're expected to express your disagreement politely (while framing your obvious scathing contempt in ambiguous Jane-Austen-like wordplay).