I take Marty D's point about not feeling like exchanging small talk about songs with someone you've come to the conclusion has attitudes that seem to you evil.

But there's also a value in people explaining why they think certain things, and listening to other people doing the same, and doing so in the knowledge that in spite of your differences you have a lot in common. And that is what we sometimes achieve here, when a thread about things where there is disagreement doesn't get derailed by bigotry and hate.

The thing is, there is room for an enormous amount of disagreement between friends about these kinds of issues. There is a limit, where the disagreement means that there is an end to friendship. I don't think you can be friends with someone who thinks that there are certain types of human beings (eg Arabs, Gypsies, Jews, "trailer trash" etc etc) - who just do not matter. But short of that, in an imperfect world, we can put up with a lot of weird and wonderful disagreements, and benefit from trying to understand them, and maybe adjust our own thinking as well.

A lot of the time in this world we find ourselves talking to people whom we agree with, and we reinforce our view, or when we are with people whom we disagree with, it turns into a shouting match. This can give us a chance to do something that isn't either of those things. We shouldn't blow it.