Debate? It was a personal attack because they took my opinion personally.
That’s not what happened. They didn’t take your opinion personally, they were pushing back against the assertion of your opinion, debating you. They were not emotional in any way.
There is such a thing as being exasperated
And you hit that point way too quickly. Honestly, it seems like you were the one being emotional and taking things personally, and not the person you were responding to.
and I have a right to experience that without justification.
No, not really. At least not if you are participating on an online forum of conversation. You are polluting the conversational ‘town square’ with your overly emotional responses, and they ruin the conversational experience for the rest of us (which is already borderline here on Lemmy). You really need to take an inner look at how you respond to others in public.
Am I sorry that they live in a shithole state? Yes. Do I have any more fucks to give? No.
Fair enough (and sorry to hear that, hope the situation changes for you in the future, truly). But that doesn’t mean you get to emotionally dismiss and/or be rude to others, delude yourself to that fact, and when they challenge you on your responses not expect any kind of pushback.
Anyway, take my advice any way you want (I’m not going to respond further), but for the record, it was given sincerely, and not to score Internet points. If we the community don’t strive for a higher standard of intercommunication with each other, then the ‘town square’ goes to shit.