The process of critical thinking often gets abused by those who want to portray themselves as something more than they are.
Taking a step back is just as important as taking a step forward. But people like to be vocally aggressive with their stances, not actually considering other angles of which to approach the rhetorical central consensus.
Still, I'd rather people babble about meaninglessly than actually go caveman over non-material, non-critical circumstances(not mutually exclusive).