Threads on here surely have room for opposing points of view?
Why insult and chase away someone who doesn't come from the same camp?

I agree wholeheartedly. If any of us learn anything, it often depends on being exposed to a different point of view. So there is certainly a place for all comers.

People who desecrate statues are morons. It's a childish and destructive type of protest

That one has got me thinking a bit. Firstly, it is often the lower end of graffiti, like painting on a moustache, so I agree to that extent. And the costs of repairing whatever has been done are also reasons to object to that form of protest.

But it was the word 'desecrate' that got me going. Strictly speaking, that is intimately linked with the idea of 'sacred'; it is that infringement of the sacred that offends. But people are people: we all have strengths and weaknesses, things to be proud of and things less so. A statue or symbol that promotes the things to be proud of is one thing, but it is a distortion to pretend the other aspects don't exist. So actually I think sometimes the form of protest that involves revealing the limitations of a 'heroic figure' and thus lowering those exalted has its place.