There’s really no limit to this kind of amazement. Let’s not forget that two of our esteemed number managed to get into a fair old claw fight over dryer lint. (I could search, cite and link, but heck, if you’re that bothered you can do it for yourself.)
Discussions of ‘greatest rock guitarist’ or ‘greatest guitar solo’ have also been known to achieve defcon 3 status for no real reason.
This is what I came into the thread to mention. Well, not just this, anything about cats really. Should they be declawed? Should they be allowed outside or kept indoors? If allowed outside, should they be kept on a leash? Does it make a difference if they’re spayed/neutered and/or vaccinated against everything a cat could conceivably catch, plus a few things no cat ever could? If they’re kept indoors all the time and never meet any other creature with the same number of chromosomes, should they be spayed or neutered (or both, to be on the safe side) anyway?
I don’t know what the deal is, but some days it seems like you can’t say the word “cat” without a couple of Pit threads opening.
So, SUV’s are safe if you’re a safe driver, right?
No. And when they pull up behind you and shine their extra bright lights into your Honda Insight’s mirrors–because they’re doing it on purpose, you know, you should adjust your rearview and side mirrors just right to reflect the light back into their morally bankrupt, Mother Earth-raping, puppy-kicking eyes.
A complete trifecta in one thread: catchphrases, jokes about the mentally ill, and humourous answers to questions.
The problem is that what is a “seemingly innocuous” topic for one person can be, for any one of a number of reasons, a really important or hot-button topic for another.
Take something like tipping. For some people, it’s just a question of whether you leave 12% or 15 or 20, or whether you should leave it on the credit card or in cash. For others, it’s a moral and/or a political issue closely tied to broader questions of labor relations, a living wage, and the importance (or otherwise) or adhering to social customs that are not legally mandated.
Similarly, the question of declawing a cat holds very different levels of importance for different people, depending on where they stand on certain questions of human responsibilty for animals, animal rights, cruelty, etc., etc.
I think the examples given in the OP are good ones, in that they show topics that really don’t mean very much, in the big scheme of things. At least not to me. 
At the same time, though, i can see a survey over wearing shoes in the house turning quite easily into a debate over the extent to which other people’s customs should be respected, etc., etc.
We need to realise that not only do we all have our own opinions on certain things, but that just because something is of merely academic or curiosity value for one person, this isn’t necessarily the case for someone else. I don’t think i’ve ever gotten involved in the whole circumcision debate, for example, and i really don’t have very strong feelings about it one way or the other. But i realise that other people do feel strongly about it, and that their strong feelings shouldn’t be ridiculed or dismissed out of hand just because i don’t happen to be very interested in the topic.
But it is still an objective fact that Showgirls blows chunks, while Starship Troopers is an allegorical masterpiece. And don’t even get me started on The Fourth Man. 
Leading up to last year’s original deadline for veterans to pay up, and the just-concluded monthl’s renewal date for charter members, those “Who’s staying? Who’s leaving?” threads quickly degenerated from simple polls to rehashings of Tubagate and various other bannings/suspensions; the “if you can’t afford the SDMB subscription, maybe you should just get off the Internet” argument; and other tangents. Look for another round next April…
I inadvertently stirred up some passion when I mentioned that it is not mandatory for men (or women) to wear wedding rings, and they don’t have to wear them on a specific finger. Link.
Threads about not touching anything in public bathrooms. Eventually, someone owns up to kicking the handles on toilets, and then they catch hell. (Probably from me; I hate that shit.)
As long as you’re not an overweight declawed cat, yes.
“Should I tip my fat vet to declaw and circumsize my cat?”
Chili threads tend to get nasty (and proper Chili does not contain either beans OR hamburger meat).
Chili heathens, who needs 'em!
Unclviny
But man if that wasn’t one of the most entertaining threads I’ve ever spent 12 hours slogging through…
This far into the thread and no one has mentioned…smoking? Especially smoking in bars?
I’m still blown away by the “I know more about videotape than you do” discussion. Shoot me if I ever open my mouth on that topic again.
Early on, I was fairly amazed at the passion generated by the question “Do you store your butter in or out of the fridge?”
My posting absolutely anything in the BBQ Pit, on any possible subject whatsoever.
:rolleyes:
Macs vs PCs. Bill Gates.
People get ridiculously vicious.
EWWWWWW! You eat that stuff! Gross!
What you should/shouldn’t do on the subway/bus.