@thisismyusername – yes, there I will agree. “Common ground” is the sister to “false equivalency”, and both are distortions of truth. There is not always a counter-argument and there is not always a good point on the other side.
But here’s my problem with absolutism. (this is where you will disagree with me):
Much as I despise racism, neo-naziism, fascism, etc., even if we totally abhor it, we have to understand that it comes from somewhere. Meaning that we have to take it seriously enough to learn where its proponents are coming from and why they believe the way they do. Because if you don’t understand its origins then you can’t effectively act against it. That’s not common ground, by any means – rather, it is “know your enemy”.
Example: I think that religious fundamentalists are a threat to the American way of life in their work to make the US a Christian theocracy. There is no middle ground with the extremists who think that. But – I need to study what and why they espouse what they do in order to counter it.