There were actually two messages in the "famous picture", one which was as stated, one which was an inartful subtext.
There were two ways to take that picture, and the message you got was highly dependent on your gender and whether you were sensitive to receiving that message.
The problem is, and I think what all the hostile posting is about, that the inartful subtext message is one of great familiarity to many posters, not just those who post here. With that history, the results were expected, that being a meltdown of epic proportions.
What's remarkable is that, much like has been discussed when discussing tricky subjects, the key to actually having a decent conversation with hot-button issues is to take care in the words you select. When referring to people and their behaviors or attributes, avoid the construction "X are Y", if you must say something like this, say "some X are Y". Don't stereotype the people you are conversing with. Don't treat the people you are conversing with like an enemy to be beaten or destroyed. Don't come into the conversation with a closed mind or the thought that you are going there to teach, not to learn. And whatever happens, don't expect the person you are conversing with to not try to relate personally to what you are talking about, to participate from their own experience, and to forward their own takes on the topic at hand, despite your wishes that they simply just agree.
Much of the problem in those threads is familiar, a simple throwing out of these principles. Look, I don't care how important a topic is to you, if you can't handle your perceptions and conjectures and ideas being questioned without presuming that someone is attacking you or diminishing the importance of what you are saying, maybe the "echo chamber" is a better place to post those threads.
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