I feel the same. I usually don't bother even reading replies when I post comments because all they are gibberish attacking me for not cheering mindless on about whatever the topic was. In those cases arguing is worse than pointless - it actually serves to help convince the person that he/she is in the right. The flaming going on now also has another purpose, though: to silence dissenting voices. If people are intimidated enough, they will stop speaking out. When they stop speaking out, the other side wins.
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When two people argue online in comments they both tend to come away thinking they were right and they defeated the other person.
I think you're right about people being silenced. I guess its a self-censorship for fear of hostility, if you speak out on either side of certain issues you'll have a bandwagon of ideological idiots who parrot a few key phrases they've learnt.