Today the nature of debate appears to have become very polarised with "tribes" emerging and little room for debate and discussion. Perhaps this was always the case, but it appears to have been amplified in the world of social media and internet discussion forums. I have extricated myself from most of the ones I used to participate in due to the inability for them to result in meaningful debate and for them to typically result in one side being called a Nazi.
How has the internet contributed to this situation?
I believe it is because of the lack of face-to-face contact when conversing via an online forum. When discussing things in person social niceties are more likely to take over and for people to naturally disarm their emotions before things get out of hand. When discussing things online the natural urge not to end up fighting with someone is not in place. Having the last word in an online argument becomes more important than actually being correct in what you are saying and, therefore, actual arguments disappear only to be replaced by tropes and broad insults. And depending on the website where the discussion is taking place a certain mob rule can prevail where like-minded people converse around common themes and anyone disagreeing with the mainstay of opinion gets written-off without any serious consideration.
The internet has therefore become a place to have one's existing opinions reinforced instead of learning something new. What a pity for something that, at first, promised to free people from the establishment media of old. It just shows that technology can change but people never do.