Negotiation isn't a moment-to-moment thing. It's a process, which is often begun by people staking out entrenched positions. From that perspective, as distasteful as I find some of the protest tactics to be, there's no doubt that issues have been raised to general consciousness that haven't gotten a lot of press otherwise. The reality is that politeness is a privilege of those who are comfortable, those who have easy access to platforms, and those whose causes are already well represented.

And let's be honest, the discourse is always driven by feelings. I detect feelings in Stephen Fry's piece. "Rational" is often code for "agrees with me".