Imagine this scenario. You are down the pub, you venture into one of the taboo subjects with some other regulars at the bar. Now, they're not your friends, they are just people that turn up in the pub on a regular basis, you know their first names. You might know roughly where they live, you might even know what they do, but that's about it. Your association with them is because they happen to be patrons of the same pub as you. You break the cardinal rule and end up talking about religion or politics or global warming! You quickly realise that you differ with one or two of the others, and some agree with you. Now my question, how likely is it that somebody would become so angry at you holding a different opinion to them, as to bring them to make nasty and personal comments about you?