Politics is a rough and tumble enterprise. It has never been some sort of respectful exchange of ideas. Sometimes it’s worse than others. But with a govt of such sweeping extra institutional powers as we now have, expect it to be pretty brutal. Politics is not for the faint of heart. If one can’t take it then stay out of the kitchen.
It helps me that I did my year in Nam. The “worst” that anyone can do on the Internet is weak tea in comparison. Being called foul names is merely an amusement now.
If you think the FR is bad try DailyKos or DU. At least you don’t see a lot of personal threats on the FR.
“War is the continuation of politics by other means. It can therefore be said that politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.”
— Chairman Mao Tse-Tong, in his book “On Protracted War”