The importance of intelligent debate

[Diamond18]

I've been drifting away from the Movies forum lately for this very reason, for it seems any debate thread started about the movies degenerates into this general argument:<P>"I'm a better Tolkien fan because..."<BR>"Oh yeah? Make your own movie then!"<BR>"Peter Jackson is an [insert tasteless comment here]."<BR>"No he's not! He is Tolkien reincarnated!"<BR>"Yes he is an [ITCH], and so are you!"<BR>"Well, so are you!"<BR>"And so's your mother!"<BR>Et cetera ad nauseam.<P>This is really too bad, for then the discussion ceases to be about the movie or Tolkien at all.<P>It is a shame that there should be two "camps". I consider myself to be floating somewhere in between, so I often find myself having little interest in a matter save to express my displeasure with the ascerbic tone of the posts. But it seems when the whole mood of a thread is spiraling downwards, anything that is said is taken in an offensive manner by the readers.<P>I've been waiting for someone to start a topic like this for awhile. Thank you, Squatter, I couldn’t agree more.