The vast majority of people will get stressed talking to people they think are evil or against their values. Someone breaking down in tears because another person says they "don't give a fuck about the bloody Gazans" is not behaving particularly unusually.

The views don't matter as much as how strongly they are held.

I understand this happens and I agree but there's two options.

1. Avoid talking about politics

2. Learn to control your emotions when discussing politics even if you have a strong view.

I think 2 is a better solution otherwise the worse things get the more people will avoid talking about it.

It's worth the effort because, based on your example, if you really cared about the people of Gaza you need to stand up and defend them, not avoid the topic due to how uncomfortable it makes you feel

> it might be reasonable if you have personal close links to Gaza (e.g. you are worried about family who live there)

That's another problem with political discussions at work - you're often not sure why someone has a particular beliefs and so it's hard to know whether disagreement will be taken as an abstract difference of opinion or as an attack on their family, friends, or homeland.

"I don't care if people in Gaza die"

"Wait, you don't give a shit if like 10k families are killed?"

"No, no, it's like I don't care from an abstract point of view"

Why?

Funnily enough, one of the UK's odder, more intense, and probably mentally ill domestic terror campaigns was carried out by anti-vivisectionists.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Huntingdon_Animal_Cruelty)

Were they anti vivisectionists? Or animal testing opponents who called animal testing vivisection?

So if I now said some intentionally asinine garbage, e.g. about how dogs need to be disciplined, shown who the pack leader is, and sometimes that necessarily involves a beating, and how if you disagree you're woke, that wouldn't make you very understandably very distraught?

Because it would make me pretty distraught, and I don't think that it's because anything is wrong with the idea of not abusing animals.

Even doing this mental exercise for the sake of this conversation is already extremely frustrating for me. And I don't think this should surprise you, or is anything strange or unusual.

Actually yeah if someone stating their views in a context that doesn't directly impact you leaves you "distraught" I'd say you have an emotional issue on your end. That said, in the real world people commonly have those and avoiding the situations that trigger them is perfectly reasonable.

Let's just be clear that something can be commonplace while also being a personal issue.

I guess people getting extremely worked up in controversial threads are all just exceptional cases like I am then.

My entire point there was that this is not exceptional in the least. People having emotional issues is quite common!

Incidentally, the response you're exhibiting here - a reflexive emotional rejection as opposed to critical thought - is closely related to the phenomenon being discussed here. That exact response is often (but not always) what leads to people becoming distraught in the first place. It's an emotional feedback loop.

Examining the context we see something of a dichotomy. That mental health being harmed by political discourse is likely to indicate a problem with personal views versus that being normal and expected depending on context. I'm presenting a third viewpoint tied to the example you provided. The idea that it is related to an emotional issue which is largely independent of personal views, that this is a relatively common thing to encounter, and that people should not be criticized for taking steps to mitigate personal issues.

In other words, I am largely agreeing with you but going on to point out that it's a personal issue deserving of long term work.