Some people are attributing this phenomenon to the internet, but I don't think that's accurate. I studied Russian history in college and the writings of variou

Some people are attributing this phenomenon to the internet, but I don't think that's accurate. I studied Russian history in college and the writings of various members of the communist intelligentsia had the same vitriol. Particularly the writings between Lenin and Karl Kautsky. My professors called it "maximalism", a term that hasn't caught on in general use. It's meaning is the belief that anyone that disagrees with you even in small ways, disagrees with you fully. I think this attitude is what occurs in OS communities, where people who generally agree find themselves in angry exchanges.