Partisan Discussions. How can we prevent discussions from turning partisan?

[AgnosticBoy]

One of my goals for this forum is to have a non-partisan environment, and with that I expect for Debates and other discussions to not become too partisan. The obvious negatives of discussions becoming too partisan is that the participants tend to focus more on supporting their side than getting to the truth which is what we tend to find in American politics. What we find in discussions amongst partisans is that no one is really listening to each other but instead they are trying to sell their point or their side. Common partisan tactics (unfair tactics that have nothing to do with validity) are trying to demonize, trying to silence your opponent, intentionally mischaracterizing views, trying to appeal to the audience, trying to create an us vs. them mentality, etc.

Here's a good case study on a hot button issue (from a Debate topic I started on another forum):
Is being transgender a choice?

There were a lot of good debaters on both sides in that debate. But somehow the conversation began to turn partisan and get personal. This is one of the last posts so far:
ON pg. 17

Everything that you say is so cranked, brunumb. This is not the 'science section' but the 'science/religion' section, and I don't think that you are any kind of scientist.
What do/did you do for a living, by the way?

By the way, where did you dig up that video which shows Adam and Eve as white skinned people? They look like Bfrits from Sevenoaks!!
There's no science in you, brunumb. Just prejudices.

Now anyone that has participated in debates can probably admit that this can happen to anyone. I've gone personal in debates, but I try to keep myself in check by keeping my goals in mind and reminding myself of the negatives of partisan discussions. But I also want to analyze that debate to see where or how things went wrong so I can craft some good guidelines on this forum to prevent such conversations, assuming that it is totally preventable.

Feel free to contribute. How to keep conversations from becoming too partisan? Also, if you're up to it, please explain what went wrong with the above debate. I'm not saying every post is bad, but it seems that it's heading no where good.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

My initial thinking is that too much rhetoric and personal views in the conversation. That can shift the focus from facts to personal views and opinions. That's the first problem in a debate, unless you make it clear that you are offering an opinion.

When the opinion seems to be coming mostly from one side or one group, then that can give the impression that the conversation is too partisan, or too opinionated, at the least. It's no different than watching MSNBC's take on a political issue. Unless the reporting is fair and balanced, perhaps by including more than one perspective, then it will come off as being biased and/or partisan.

Or when all people want to do is just offer their opinion, then it can become partisan when one side wants their opinion to stand out more than the other.