"One song by Jacques Brel is worth a lifetime of passionless English droning by sweet voiced ladies or po faced men."

What the hell is happening here?
Can't someone post to this forum with an enthusiasm and leave it at that? Does it have to be this confrontational and petty jibing. I became a member of mudcat a little while ago but I found the lack of tolerance shown towards other's opinions is astounding, so I left.
I sneak back in wearing a metaphorical hard-hat sometimes to seek out the interesting/informative/amusing threads. I saw this lovely programme and opened the thread to share thoughts not thinking that it could be hijacked by anti-whatever diatribe. Serves me right.
There are several threads which ooze nastiness aimed either at the thread subjects or the posters within at the moment.
I'm all for free speech but why does it have to be used in this insulting and venomous way?
Martin Ellison