Sense, Nonsense, and Not-Sense

Knowledge and information interests me on a personal level. (Good choice in professions, right?) But the article that always seems to be missing for me is the one where the people are able to be honest and have frank, accurate discussions with each other about the things that make them unique, whether kinky, fannish, furry, geek, nerd, or whatever. (That even includes the boors, the asshats, and the -ists). Not about someone finding their like-community (although that's important - when I give a response to 3rdofjune, I'll probably touch on that quite a bit), but everyone being able to come together, regardless of their viewpoint, and have a real discussion without fear, prejudice, or violence. I know it bites both ways, though, and so I'm trying to figure out what that would be like for both the subculture and their greatest detractors to be able to freely exchange and examine information and everyone coming out better-informed, even if their decisions don't budge.