General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Fructose and HFCS: Once again the "skeptics"* are wrong. [View all]Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)...and present a few of the more annoying traits subcultures tend to share.
In closed groups like DU, one's status within the community is often measured by one's perceived authenticity. The more authentically liberal you seem to be, the higher the social ladder you climb. This isn't a conducive environment for a free exchange of ideas, because the status of those at the top is completely dependent upon the presumed truthfulness of certain assumptions. Tout the benefits of psychotropic drugs and you threaten the social status of REAL LIBERALS obsessed with the pharmaceuticals industry. Question the the anti-GMO panic and you threaten the social status of REAL LIBERALS who may or may not have jumped the gun on that whole "organic and local" thing. A number of posters have so invested their sense of authenticity in these topics that there is no way to have a nuanced discussion. That is why the response is always sharp and often accusatory.
It's the same reason believers get pissed off when atheists criticize their religion.