Well, I’m the one trying to be reasonable here. Let’s say I back off that statement a bit, or at least clarify it.
Have there really been statements saying that members of certain political parties are likely to be murderers? If so, I don’t think I’ve read them.
Anyway, I’d say that rabid attacks like you’re mentioning are just ridiculous, period. I don’t understand them. It honestly only degrades my opinion of the poster in most cases, as they often don’t fully understand the position or motivation of the person or group they’re rabid about. This is “in most cases” and “often”, so I don’t need any responses about how I’ve made categorical statements.
I think that the attacks on religions are a bit worse, as people don’t tend to personally identify themselves at a root level as “Republican”, “Democratic”, or “Labour Party”. Our beliefs on the subject of God and morality are much more closely held and personal. Attacking those in this way is more like, “Oh yeah, well you’re wife’s ugly.” It doesn’t promote any dialog, it just shows an ignorance of whatever’s being discussed, and it’s just aimed at hurting people on a very personal level. I can’t get into that.